She can apply to the family court, the magistrates court or a religious court for a protection order under the 1991 Prevention of Violence Within The Family Act. This can be granted for an initial period of three months, renewable up to 6 months, and , if specially recorded reasons are give, it can be given for up to a year.

The order can remove a husband from the family home and forbid him from coming within a certain distance of it, or from the wife’s place of work etc. He can have any weapon he possesses removed and be forced to undergo rehabilitation treatment. He can be imprisoned if he breaks the order.