A nine-months pregnant teenager has been placed behind bars in a Toronto-area jail to ensure she testifies against her boyfriend after lodging a domestic violence complaint against him. Noelly Mowatt, 19, doesn’t face any criminal charges but for nearly a week she’s been held at the Women’s Centre in Milton, a provincial jail near Toronto.

A judge ordered her to be placed in jail on a material witness warrant after the Crown prosecutors in her boyfriend’s case expressed concerns she wouldn’t testify at his trial.

The warrant was issued after police said they tried several times to serve her with a subpoena to attend court.

Mowatt is expected to be released after she testifies at her boyfriend’s trial on Friday. Christopher Harbin, 25, is facing eight charges, including assault and forcible confinement.

But her lawyer says Mowatt’s due date is early next week and she’s worried she may give birth while in custody.

“This is an outrage. It’s totally unjust,” lawyer Lydia Riva said on Tuesday.

Riva said such warrants are usually used to make street gang members testify, and she’s never heard of it being used for a victim of alleged domestic violence.

Women’s groups say they are worried the case may deter other domestic violence victims from reporting such crimes.

“It’s a really difficult decision to pick up the phone and call the police on your spouse,” said Leslie Ackrill, manager of Interval House, a shelter for battered women.

“It’s one of the things that so many women fear because they fear retaliation from their spouse. And now they’re going to fear retaliation from the authorities.”

Abused women take about 6 times to leave a domestic abuser for many complex psychological and social reasons. Noelly Mowatt as a  victim is the first in Canada to be imprisoned. Is this going to become a norm?
How is jail a healthy place for a scared teen witness? 
A law professor and experienced crown prosecutors  says  the crown is required to pursue these cases even if they interfere with the autonomy of the victim. She says giving autonomy to the victim in what is a public prosecution, because the victim is subjected to intimidation from the abuser.

This is wrong. Jailing pregnant domestic violence witnesses under this kind of warrant   no matter where they are on the psychological journey is sending a very wrong message to other women  who struggle with coming forward. 
There are safe places complainants other than jail where they can be supported while waiting to testify in court.  She’s 19, scared, distrustful and jail is not a place that is going to help her move forward.  This shows a lack of trust and dismissal by the courts over the many qualified women’s groups able to provide her shelter, safety and legal, and psychological counsel until her court date Friday.

Her baby is due the following week, once she testifies she will be released. Let’s hope qualified groups step forward to help her.
So Canada thinks it’s okay to put domestic violence people who have stepped forward in jail. Again, this is not a solution, and can give legal authorities the idea they can do this at their discretion.

Update: She has been released after testifying.