What Happens When Police Are Called for Domestic Assault in New Brunswick?
Once police attend a domestic call, the arrest and the charge are out of your hands and out of your partner’s. New Brunswick runs a pro-arrest, pro-charge policy for domestic assault and intimate partner violence (IPV). Once officers arrive for a domestic assault in New Brunswick, someone is usually leaving in the back of the car.
Your partner cannot stop it. If they tell the officers they do not want charges, the investigation continues anyway. The decision to charge belongs to the police and then to the Crown, not to the complainant.
Police Identify a Primary Aggressor and Arrest on Reasonable Grounds
Officers in Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John follow the same protocol. They identify a “primary aggressor” and, if there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe an assault or threat occurred, they arrest that person.
They take warned statements from everyone present. They photograph injuries and damage. Under the Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Act they can seize firearms and the Possession and Acquisition Licence on the spot.
There Is No Domestic Assault Offence; Section 718.2 Makes Partner Assault Aggravating
There is no offence called “domestic assault” in the Criminal Code. The charges are ordinary assault and threat offences. What makes them domestic is Section 718.2, which makes abuse of an intimate partner an aggravating factor at sentencing. The same shove that would end in a peace bond between strangers is treated harder between partners.
Types of Charges You May Face
A domestic call usually produces more than one charge:
- Assault, Section 266. Applying force without consent. No injury is required.
- Assault causing bodily harm, section 267. Force that leaves an injury interfering with health or comfort.
- Uttering threats, section 264.1. Threatening death or bodily harm, or damage to property.
- Criminal harassment, section 264. Conduct that makes the complainant fear for their safety.
Release Comes with a No-Contact Order and Usually a No-Go Condition
After arrest you may be held for a bail hearing. In IPV files the Crown often opposes release on the ground of risk to the complainant. If you are released, it will be on conditions.
No-Contact Orders
The standard condition is no contact, direct or indirect, with the complainant. That means:
- No texts, emails or calls.
- No messages passed through friends or family.
- No likes or comments on their social media.
Can I Go Home?
Usually not. If you lived with the complainant, the release order will include a “no-go” condition barring you from the residence while the case is open. Breaching it is a new charge, failure to comply with a release order, and bail is much harder to get the second time.
Crown Policy Puts Safety First, but Diversion Exists for Low-Risk Files
Public Prosecution Services has written guidelines for IPV files, and safety of the complainant is at the top of them. Even so, not every file ends in a conviction.
The Adult Diversion Program
New Brunswick runs an Adult Diversion Program for lower-risk domestic assault cases. A first offender whose conduct was at the low end may qualify. You must accept responsibility for what happened. You will likely be required to complete anger management or the Changing Ways program. If you finish, the Crown withdraws the charge and there is no conviction.
Domestic Violence Courts
Moncton and Saint John run specialized court processes for IPV files. They aim at early intervention, with resources for both the accused and the complainant, rather than a trial a year later.
Sentences for Domestic Assault in NB Rise with Children Present, Prior Breaches and Choking
On a conviction or guilty plea, the judge weighs the gravity of the offence against your degree of responsibility. Section 718.2 pushes the range up because the complainant was a partner.
Factors That Increase the Sentence
- Children present during the incident.
- Prior violence, or prior breaches of no-contact orders.
- Choking or strangulation.
- Evidence of coercive control.
Provincial Protection Orders Run Alongside the Criminal Conditions
New Brunswick has provincial protection orders that run alongside the criminal conditions. They are different instruments and breaching either has consequences.
Emergency Intervention Orders
Under the Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Act a complainant can apply to Service New Brunswick for an Emergency Intervention Order. It is a civil order, granted quickly, and it can give the complainant exclusive occupation of the home and order you to stay away.
Section 810 Peace Bonds
Where the evidence is weak, or the complainant does not want the case to proceed, we may negotiate a section 810 peace bond. You agree to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, and to conditions such as staying away from the complainant, for up to 12 months. In exchange the Crown withdraws the charge. No conviction, no record. In this province a peace bond is often the outcome that saves a career.
A Conviction Affects Travel, Work and Parenting, and the Defence Works to Avoid One
A domestic assault conviction affects travel, employment and your access to your children. The work a criminal defence lawyer does on these files:
- Bail variations. Applying to let you return home, or to allow contact for exchanging the children.
- Diversion. Making the case for the Adult Diversion Program.
- Testing the evidence. Reading the police notes and witness statements for the gaps.
- Resolution. Ending the matter with the least lasting damage.
The Crown Proceeds Without the Complainant, and Victim Services Keeps the Complainant Engaged
New Brunswick Crowns run “evidence-based” prosecutions. If the complainant recants or refuses to testify, the Crown looks for other proof: the 911 recording, body-worn camera footage, the neighbour who heard it, the photographs. A recanting complainant does not end the case.
Victim Services
Once a charge is laid, the file goes to Victim Services, part of the Department of Justice and Public Safety. They keep the complainant informed about the court process, help prepare a victim impact statement, and explain your release conditions.
Victim Services does not work for you. Their function is to keep the complainant engaged with the prosecution. If the complainant tells them they are afraid, getting the no-contact condition lifted becomes much harder.
Changing Ways Is the 12 to 20 Week Program Courts Order Instead of Jail
For domestic assault without serious injury, New Brunswick courts favour treatment over jail, and Changing Ways is the program they use.
What Is Changing Ways?
It is a group intervention for people who have used violence or abuse in a relationship. It is usually a condition of a suspended sentence or a conditional discharge. The program runs 12 to 20 weeks of group sessions on regulating emotion, the effect of violence on children, and de-escalation. If the court orders you to attend and you skip sessions, the result is a breach of probation charge, which often ends in jail.
Uttering Threats Is Judged Objectively, and Context, Ambiguity and Credibility Are the Defences
Many domestic calls involve no touching at all. The charge is uttering threats, and the test is objective: what the words meant, not what you meant.
The Legal Standard
The Crown does not have to prove you intended to carry out the threat. It has to prove that you said the words, that they were meant to be taken seriously, and that a reasonable person in the complainant’s position would have felt threatened.
Common Defences
Context. Words said in frustration that no reasonable person would take as a real threat of death or harm.
Ambiguity. Words too vague to amount to a threat against a person or property.
Credibility. A complainant with a reason to invent the threat, most often a parenting dispute in family court.
A Domestic Assault Charge Is Raised in the Family Court Case
A domestic assault charge during a separation is raised in the family court case. Family court judges in New Brunswick treat IPV allegations seriously when deciding the best interests of the child.
Parenting Time
If the no-contact order covers the children, or the incident happened in front of them, your parenting time may be supervised or suspended. Social Development may open a file on the home. Everything said in the criminal case can surface in the family case, so the two have to be run together, not separately.
New Brunswick Crown Policy Blocks Late Withdrawals, So the First Appearances Decide the Case
The New Brunswick Crown Policy Manual discourages counsel-to-counsel deals to withdraw IPV charges unless there is a “fundamental change in the evidence.” That means the bail hearing and the first appearance, before positions harden, are the moments that matter most.
Challenging the Primary Aggressor Finding
Police make a fast decision on scene about who the aggressor was. If you were defending yourself, or the other party started the physical confrontation, that evidence has to be preserved now. We look for scratches and bruises the police did not photograph, a text history showing harassment running the other way, and roommates or neighbours who saw it differently.
The First Court Date Is Election and Plea, and You Do Not Plead Before Disclosure
The first appearance is for election and plea. You choose how you will be tried, by a Provincial Court judge or by judge and jury, and enter a plea.
Do not plead until your lawyer has the full disclosure package: every note, photo, recording and video the police collected. Only then can anyone say whether the case should be fought or resolved.
FAQ
Can My Partner Drop the Charges?
No. Once police lay a domestic assault charge in New Brunswick, the Crown controls it. A complainant can sign a non-prosecution affidavit and the Crown can still proceed if it believes it has enough other evidence.
What Happens If I Accidentally Break a No-Contact Order?
The law does not recognize an accidental breach. If you see the complainant in public, leave. If you text by mistake, you can be arrested and held until a new bail hearing. Follow the conditions exactly.
Will I Go to Jail for a First-Time Domestic Assault?
Jail is possible but not automatic. Many first offences end in a conditional discharge or a suspended sentence with probation. Injuries, threats and choking push the outcome toward custody.
How Long Does a Domestic Assault Case Take in New Brunswick?
Six to twelve months for most files. A Provincial Court trial takes longer. Early resolution discussions with the Crown can shorten it.
Will a Domestic Assault Charge Affect My Ability to Travel to the United States?
Yes. U.S. Customs and Border Protection can see CPIC, so a pending charge can get you turned back at the border. A conviction is usually treated as a crime involving moral turpitude, which bars entry unless you obtain a U.S. entry waiver first.
What Happens to My Firearms and PAL If I’m Charged with IPV?
Police can seize your firearms and your Possession and Acquisition Licence at arrest under the “red flag” provisions. Nearly every release order for a violent offence adds a weapons prohibition. A sustenance exception exists for hunters and people who need a firearm for work, but it is rarely granted in domestic files.
Can I Change My No-Contact Order So I Can See My Kids?
You can apply for a bail variation. The Crown will usually consent only if the complainant gives revocable written consent and there is no immediate safety concern. We often negotiate “incidental contact” terms limited to arranging childcare or attending family court-ordered visits. Do not make contact until a judge has signed the varied order.
The full range of claims the firm takes on appears under injury law areas, and calls start at the Moncton office.