Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires“applicant’” means a person described in section 3 of this Act, who applies, or on whose behalf an application is made for a Protection Order, an Occupation Order, a Tenancy Order, a Counselling Order, an Order for payment of financial compensation, an Interim Order, or any other order specified in Part II of this Act; “child” means a person under the age of eighteen years who ordinarily or periodically resides with the applicant, whether or not the child is the child of the applicant and the respondent or either of them, and includes– (a) an adopted child; (b) a stepchild; (c) a child who is treated as a member of the family or who resides in the household residence on a regular basis but who is or has not been married; 7 (d) a child, whether or not a child of either the applicant or the respondent, who is or has been living in the household residence as a member of the family; (e) a child of a man and woman who are legally considered common law spouses, whether or not the man and woman still cohabit as common law spouses; (f) a child of a man and woman who are or have engaged in a visiting relationship as cohabitants; (g) a child of whom either the man or the woman is a guardian; “Clerk” means the Clerk or Deputy Clerk of the Court; “cohabitant” means a person who has lived with, is living with, or is in a visiting relationship with, a person of the opposite sex as a husband and wife although not legally recognised as a common law or legal spouse of that person; “Court” means the Family Court established under the Family Court Act or a court of summary jurisdiction; “de facto spouse”, in relation to a person, means a person of the opposite sex to the first-mentioned person who is living with the first-mentioned person as that person’s husband or wife though not legally married to each other, or if not living together, is a parent, but not a grandparent, of a child of the first-mentioned person, or is pregnant by the first-mentioned person, and includes a cohabitant, a person in a visiting relationship; “dependant” includes a person over the age of eighteen years who by reason of mental or physical disability, age or infirmity is reliant on either the applicant or respondent for his welfare; 8 “domestic violence” includes physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or financial abuse committed by a person against a spouse, child, de facto spouse, or any other person who is a member of the household of the applicant or the respondent; “drug” means a substance or product prescribed under Part I, II or III of Schedule II of the Misuse of Drugs Act; “emotional or psychological abuse” means a pattern of behaviour of any kind, the purpose of which is to undermine the emotional or mental wellbeing of a person, including– (a) persistent intimidation by the use of abusive or threatening language; (b) persistent following of the person from place to place; (c) depriving that person of the use of his property; (d) interfering with or damaging the property of the person; (e) the watching or besetting of the place where the person resides, works, carries on business, attends for education, or happens to be; (f) making persistent or unwelcome telephone calls to the person; (g) the wilful or reckless neglect of a child, spouse, or dependant; (h) the forced confinement of the person, child, spouse; 9 (i) verbal or non-verbal threats of physical (j) inducing, coercing or forcing a person, without the person’s consent, to take a drug that alters the will of that person, or that reduces the capacity of that person, to resist; “financial abuse” means a pattern of behaviour of any kind, the purpose of which is to exercise coercive control over, or exploit or limit a person’s access to, financial resources so as to ensure financial dependence; “guardian”, in relation to a child, includes a person who has custody of that child; “household residence” means– (a) in relation to both spouses, the dwelling house that is used habitually by both or either of them as the only or principal family residence together with any buildings or improvements appurtenant thereto and wholly or mainly used for the purposes of the household; (b) in relation to a man or a woman who are no longer spouses or in relation to de facto spouses, the dwelling house that was last used habitually by either of them, before or after they ceased to be spouses or de facto spouses, as the only or principal family residence, together with any land, buildings, or improvements appurtenant thereto and used wholly or mainly for the purposes of the household; “Interim Order” means an Order made under section 11 of this Act; 10 “Minister” means the Minister responsible for Social Development or Social Services; “Occupation Order” means an Order referred to in section 8 of this Act; “Order” includes a Protection Order, an Occupation Order, a Tenancy Order, a Counselling Order, an Order for the payment of financial compensation, or any other order prescribed in Part II of this Act; “parent” means a person who is a parent or grandparent in relation to a child, dependant, spouse or respondent, as the case may be– (a) by blood; (b) by marriage; (c) by adoption; and includes a guardian or any person who has actual custody of a child; “personal effects” includes privately owned items, such as clothes, keys, or identification documents, that are regularly worn or carried on one’s person; Schedule I. “physical abuse” includes any act or omission which causes physical injury and includes the commission of or an attempt to commit any of the offences listed in Schedule I; “police officer” means a member of the Belize Police Department; “Protection Order” means an Order made pursuant to section 4 (1) of this Act; 11 “respondent”’ means a person against whom an application for an Order is made; Schedule I. “sexual abuse” includes sexual contact of any kind that is coerced by force or threat of force and the commission of or an attempt to commit any of the offences listed in Schedule I; “spouse” includes– (a) a woman who cohabits with a man as if she were in law his wife; (b) a man who cohabits with a woman as if he were in law her husband; (c) a former spouse; (d) a de facto spouse; (e) a former de facto spouse. “Tenancy Order” means an Order made pursuant to section 8 of this Act; “tenant”, in relation to any dwelling house, includes any (a) whose tenancy has expired or has been determined; (b) who is for the time being deemed under or by virtue of any enactment or rule of law to continue to be the tenant of the dwelling house, and the term “tenancy” has a corresponding meaning; and “visiting relationship” means a non-cohabitational relationship between a man and a woman who, although not legally 12 recognized as common law spouses, have or had a relationship which may or may not have produced a child.