Lawyers, women find the snags

Forcing spouses to testify against each other could backfire, say women and lawyers.

A woman who chose not to testify against her husband said yesterday that if she had been forced into it, he could have gone to jail or been fined.

Either of these would have punished the family.

The charges had given her husband a "shake-up," and he stopped the abuse.

But she thought the law change could be good for women in violent relationships who needed to face up to the men who had power over them.

The chief executive of Women's Refuge, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, said it was not good to force anyone to give evidence against their will.

"How much credence can you give such testimony?" she asked.

Gary Gotlieb, Auckland barrister and Law Society evidence committee member, said the committee believed it would have been better to extend the existing law to cover those in nonmarital relationships.

"It's a disappointment," he said.

"Husbands and wives will now have to be guarded in what they say in the bedroom."