A woman who ended an abusive relationship with her husband two weeks ago got a severe beating from him after she returned to his home on the Corentyne to uplift items belonging to her 11-month-old baby.
The badly beaten woman, 28-year-old, Serojanie `Shabana’ Charlie, who was unable to walk because of the extent of the beating, had to be treated at the Port Mourant Hospital.
She told Stabroek News on Friday that the 48-year-old man whom she shared a common-law relationship with for over one year punched her mostly in her eyes and left side while her screaming baby was in her hand.
She said she turned to her side in an effort to shield the baby and begged him to stop because he would hurt their baby “but he tell me he ain’t concern and he started to butt my head against the wall.”
The woman said at this stage she fell to the floor and her nose started to bleed but the man just left her there writhing in pain and walked out. She was taken to the hospital and then to the Albion and New Amsterdam Police Stations where she reported the matter. Police went to the man’s home on more than one occasion to arrest him but he could not be found and Charlie is afraid that he would return to Suriname where he lived for a while and not face any penalty.
Recounting what triggered the incident, the woman said she accepted an invitation to spend the night at the man’s house after he “behaved nice” but he became annoyed the next day after her relatives called her to inquire if she was alright.
She said the man was always in the habit of kicking, cuffing and slapping her and even pulling her hair but she never reported the incident to the police because “he threaten me that if me put the police on he me have to hide because he would write me off…”
Meanwhile, Carmen Kissoon, head of the Camal’s Home, an orphanage at Albion which also provides shelter for battered women, told this newspaper that the woman went to the home for assistance.
She said she was surprised to see the state the woman was in and lamented that no woman should be treated in that manner. She hoped that the man would be caught soon and face punishment for his actions.
Kissoon said that in most cases the police do not like to get involved in domestic abuse especially since the women would often reconcile with their husbands because they may have a lot of children and are unable to care for them.
But, she said the police need to “press actions when the women go back to the men [for wasting the ranks’ time].” She also said that there are too many cases of domestic violence in Berbice and that women should be more educated about their rights.
She added that Berbice does not have a legal aid system and the abused women have to hire lawyers. But the cases ended up being dropped because they cannot afford the lawyers’ fees. “Women should be represented before it is too late…” Kissoon remarked.
