Dear Editor,
As we were doing our daily monitoring of the newspapers we read the accounts of the young woman whose throat was slashed by her child-father ‘Jealous man stabs woman, slashes her throat,’ SN April 21). In yet another horrible story of domestic violence against women two things struck us as possible steps forward in the campaign against this violence: the reported police decision that they would take this case forward whether the woman wanted it or not; the news the following day that the woman was willing to go ahead and press charges.
We applaud this woman for her courage because we know she is probably fearful for her life. We should all support her. If all women who are abused quit saying that they want to “finish the story” and follow through until justice is served, and if the police continue to act the way they reportedly were ready to in this matter then we can say we are getting somewhere in combating domestic violence. This kind of behaviour could pave the way for more women to come forward with their stories, for more cases of domestic violence to reach the courts, and for the conviction rates and sentences for woman beaters and woman killers to go up, sending a clear message to the criminals who commit this abuse that we have had enough.
In closing, Editor, we want to repeat what we’ve said before: magistrates, whether male or female, should deal with domestic violence matters as quickly as possible so as not to stress out the women who are victims, or give their abusers any opportunity to either beg or threaten them. In addition, the police have to do much much more to make protection orders work by responding promptly to reports of abusers violating orders against them. This is essential for women to feel protected and for the law to have effect.
Yours faithfully,
Wintress White
Shirley Shaffeek
for Red Thread