It is hardly surprising that the Women's Resource Centre is unhappy about the decision on Tuesday to lock a woman up for unpaid fines after she went to court seeking a protection order against a battering boyfriend.

The fact that the woman was released after intervention by Health and Family Services Minister Nelson Bascome is welcome, but it is to be hoped that talks between the Women's Resource Centre and Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves will prevent this kind of event from recurring.

It may be that Mr. Greaves had little choice in imprisoning the woman.

Magistrates give people time to pay fines and those given the time are made aware that if they fail to do so, they will be imprisoned.

The cavalier attitude of many people towards "time to pay" has resulted in the courts being owed more than $1 million and the magistrates are right to take a dim view of those who show contempt towards the court.

Nonetheless, there will be special cases such as this one and magistrates should use what discretion they have to avoid having to lock people up in cases like this, where the woman had sought sanctuary at the Physical Abuse Centre and no doubt had little more in her possession than the clothes on her back.

To have then sought the protection of the court only to find herself being jailed must have been a terrible experience and could, as the WRC notes, deter other women from seeking protection orders from batterers.

It would be an indictment on our system of justice if a woman - or man - was severely injured or killed by a batterer because they had an unpaid fine and were therefore afraid to seek a protection order.