ON THE day that the Scottish Parliament held a debate about a proposed new domestic abuse bill, Ayr author Michael Malone published his new book.

‘A Suitable Lie’ tells the tale of a domestic abuse sufferer but not from the traditional angle. The protagonist is male.

It’s an issue that can sometimes be over looked but for every three domestic abuse victims, two will be female, one will be male.

Of his book, Malone said: “It shows domestic abuse from a male point of view. It is about a guy who’s had a difficult life, his wife died during child birth. He meets someone and he thinks that it could be his second chance at happiness but it turns out to be very different.”

Charity the ManKind Initiative, along with supporting male domestic abuse victims, produce statistics about domestic abuse to highlight the issue. In their most recent figures it was found that one in four women and one in six men suffer domestic abuse in their lifetime.

However, Malone stresses that both male and female domestic abuse victims are as important as each other. 

He said: “There’s a concern that we can take the focus away from women and I don’t want to do that but we need to highlight male victims as well. One domestic abuse victim is too many.

“I think we don’t always take it seriously. We quite often laugh at the idea. There is no way you would laugh if it was the other way around.”

Abused Men in Scotland (AMIS) is a charity that aims to address the gap in service provision for men experiencing domestic abuse.

A spokesperson for AMIS said: “We provide direct support to men experiencing domestic abuse, as well as helping to improve mainstream service responses and campaigning for further inclusion of male victims in the wider narrative on domestic abuse. We are the only organisation in Scotland dedicated to this cause.”

Malone was following the debate and pointed out just how many people are affected by domestic abuse. He said: “In the Scottish Parliament debate, they said police were called out to domestic violence 60,000 times.

“About 79% of those involved women victims. The other 21%, that’s some 15,000 men.”

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson used the Scottish Parliament debate to condemn the “pernicious, coercive and controlling behaviour” of perpetrators.
The SNP MSP said the new bill will create a specific offence of “abusive behaviour in relation to a partner or ex-partner”.

Holyrood’s three main parties were broadly supportive of the bill with Labour’s Claire Bakers saying: “We are in principle very supportive of introducing the new offence and of the intention to include those who commit psychological abuse and engage in coercive and controlling behaviour.

However, she urged the Scottish government to “learn any lessons” from England and Wales, where similar legislation has already been introduced.
Conservative MSP Douglas Ross said that domestic abuse was a “monstrous and multi-faceted crime”, adding that “destructive effects can continue to reverberate long after the abuse has come to an end."

However, he raised concerns that a senior figure in the Crown Office had told MSPs it was better for domestic abuse to be an aggravating factor in cases than for a separate offence of domestic abuse to be created.

“We have to ensure we get this right. It is an important piece of legislation that people will be looking at for many years to come,” the Conservative said.

AMIS can be contacted on their confidential hotline on 0808 800 0024 from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can visit their office at the Eric Liddell Centre, 15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4DP.
You can also contact Somerset-based Mankind on 01823 334 244.