The agony of vicious marriage breakdown was laid bare in court this week when an AVO against celebrity accountant Anthony Bell was vehemently dismissed as a “pack of lies” by his lawyer, Chris Murphy.

Former test cricketer Stuart MacGill, Bell and Geoffrey Edelsten’s first wife Leanne Nesbitt are all going through legal battles as their domestic partnerships fall to bits.

And enmeshed in these sagas have been the controversial AVOs or Apprehended Violence Orders, also known as an ADVOs in domestic cases — the go-to paperwork created to swiftly protect victims of domestic violence.

But the system is not perfect, as hundreds will attest.

Bell went public with a robust denial of any wrongdoing when it was revealed he had been issued on January 5 with an interim AVO banning him from going near wife Kelly Landry after drinking alcohol or taking illicit drugs.

“I deny the allegations and will defend myself in court. I abhor all violence and I am faithful to my family,” he said.

The vitriol in the packed courtroom on Thursday was reportedly eye-watering with Murphy telling those in attendance that a furious Bell never wants to see his wife again and has demanded a divorce.

The AVO was a “fallacious case brought by someone suffering some sort of celebrity deprivation”, Murphy said.

Bell, his lawyer said, accepted the 12-month interim AVO so his children would not be harmed by a “nasty court case”.

media_camera Kelly Landry (pictured) has taken out an AVO against husband Anthony Bell. (Pic: Brianne Makin)

Meanwhile, a lawyer for MacGill agreed to a 12 month ADVO on Thursday, without admitting fault, after an interim one was sought by police on behalf of fiancee Julie Singleton, former wife of multi-millionaire advertising tycoon John Singleton.

And Nesbitt made a complaint against her live-in lover Mark Fabian. A Sydney magistrate told the 54-year-old he was banned from going within 50m of her and their NSW south coast home.

Without commenting on the merits of these cases now before the courts, it is important to recognise AVOs were originally designed to give efficient protection to ban the aggressor from the usually female victims of domestic violence and those in genuine fear for their personal safety.

No one would dispute that they have saved lives.

But dig a little deeper and there is a dark underbelly of ordinary but near suicidal men in the everyday community — and some emotionally broken women — whose lives are ruined even before their AVO is tested by a court.

The stories are heartbreaking, like one mum I know whose estranged husband threatened to go to authorities with claims she had molested their young son unless she gave in to his settlement demands.

He told his ex-wife he would have her served with AVOs on behalf of their son and daughter and she would only ever get to see them under supervision.

It is terrifying that a document that is meant to protect a person could be used as a weapon against them. And often when they haven’t done anything wrong, especially if the claims triggering the AVO are false.

It can have a savage and irreparable effect on wellbeing, health and careers.

And that’s before you factor in any effect on children dragged unwittingly into the emotional mess.

media_camera Stuart MacGill and Julie Singleton. (Pic: Adam Yip/The Daily Telegraph)

Figures from the NSW Department of Justice show that 28,383 final ADVOs were issued by courts in 2015-16. That is up on 26,914 for the year previous and 26,241 for 2013-14.

I abhor domestic violence and would argue that any reasonable person should pursue an AVO on their spouse or partner only as a last resort.

But given the publicity and popularity of this technique, we should question whether it is the fix du jour — an easy way to resolve problems with the full force of the judicial system behind you.

Barry Guidera, CEO of Dads in Distress national support group for fathers struggling to cope, says AVOs — and IVOs or intervention orders in Victoria where the threat of violence is not even a factor — are increasingly being used as weapons of revenge.

It’s a taboo topic in the mudslinging battle domestic violence has become in this country.

Ask any family court lawyer and they will tell you that when warring ex-partners feel they have a score to settle — rightly or wrongly — they will pull just about any punch, even resorting to vexatious claims that have little or no substance or truth.

And the loose time frame on having an interim case examined guarantees torture for the person involved. Guilty until proven innocent, the punishment, including family alienation, can begin immediately.

Surely the time is ripe to introduce a 14 day limit — a put up or shut up clause to prove allegations of violence and to deter greedy divorce lawyers who steer clients towards the AVO route.

As one broken dad with an AVO revealed to me: “The courts are clogged, the kids get brainwashed against you because you are not allowed to see them and penalties start long before the conviction.

“Everyone gets treated like a criminal — whoever gets the IVO or AVO first has the upper hand.”

media_camera Leanne Nesbitt. (Pic: Stephen Cooper)

The situation Guidera describes is grim, illogical and cruel — and sadly becoming more frequent because there is no link between child support and the family law court orders, he says.

“A common story is that the break up is pretty much initiated by the female who has decided it is going to happen. The man comes home to an empty house and the locks are changed. So he’ll end up doing a bit of couch surfing and all the rest of it.

“The next step is going through the process of getting contact (with kids). But if that gets denied, they (the dads) can’t raise their voice (in frustration) or they will get an AVO on them. AVO in place, then they’ve got to go through the court but the court orders (to tests AVOs) can take anything up to 18 months.

“Within that process they get letters from child support agencies saying ‘Because you have zero per cent care (no interaction with kids), you have to pay full child support.”

False accusations then open up a new chapter of horror.

“Of course (the dad) he has spent years isolated from his children so any chance of a relationship is gone, “Guidera said. “And we wonder why the men’s suicide rate is so high.”

I know of a nonviolent, passionate Italian dad of two girls who, while under an AVO, texted a friend of his estranged wife’s saying he was “so worried about his family”.

The friend went to police and it was classed as a breach. The father was arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted and thrown in a cell for the night. It is now five years since he has seen his kids.

There must be strict laws in place to protect victims of DV. But are AVOs in their current form the answer?

That remains to be seen.