BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Acting Director of Gender Affairs, Ceilia Christopher, disclosed that 593 cases of domestic violence between 2008 and 2011 were brought to the attention of their office.
Christopher made this revelation on Wednesday (May 25) at a press conference held in response to the growing concern by the Ministry of Community Development over the rising incidents of domestic violence and sexual offences.
The Acting Director said there were 105 reported cases in 2008 and 68 of them were brought to trial. In 2009 there were 175 cases with 99 taken to trial, while 2010 saw a total of 245 cases with 111 being tried and, so far, for 2011 there have been 68 reported cases with 27 of them already tried.
Christopher said that the reported cases were a result of the department’s ongoing public awareness programme taken to schools, churches and aired on radio stations.
Also at the press conference was Ulester Douglas, Director of Training at the Atlanta-based organisation Men Stopping Violence.
He told the attendees that there are many persons who witness various forms of abuse but remain silent.
Douglas posited that women are prone to domestic violence because of the misconceptions imposed by society.
“These constant messages of how deviant women are, we ought not to be surprised when violence follows, because their aim is to keep her in line because men are suppose to control their women,” Douglas said.
He said messages like “women can’t be trusted”, “women will cook your head”, “they will steal your stuff” and “women are after your money” are the misconceptions of women in society.
Christopher said 85 percent of his organisation’s clients are women and that they offer several services for victims, including counselling, social assistance and education.
