The Domestic Violence Act says sexual abuse is ‘any conduct that abuses, humiliates, degrades, or otherwise violates the sexual integrity of the complainant’. Sexual abuse can, among other things, be the following:

• Forcing sex on a person (rape)
• Sexually assaulting them in other ways
• Sodomy
• Touching someone in a way that makes them uncomfortable
• Forcing oral sex on a person
• Incest (where a child’s parent/brother/sister sexually abuses him or her)

Legal remedies in sexual abuse cases include:

• Laying a criminal charge against the abuser, for example for rape or sexual assault (See: Steps in laying a criminal charge against another person)
• Getting a Protection Order against the abuser under the Domestic Violence Act (See: Problem 8: Getting a Protection Order)
• Making a civil claim to claim compensation for pain and suffering
  (See: Civil Claims)