Dear Editor,
I read very carefully that story of abuse brought by a young lady against Robeson Benn jr. After reading the said story I immediately decided to pen an article in response to this matter in a hope that at least one more woman can be helped. Firstly, this story has all the trademarks of the modern day soap opera scenes that have taken over the Guyanese landscape where man and woman relations are concerned.
You hear these horror stories of a man abusing a woman then the usual silence where the alleged victim stops short when that matter is to be prosecuted in court. It boggles the mind the way how these women think. At a time when they should be up in arms all fired up to see the abuser punished in the severest of ways there is this sudden change of heart and the case goes cold. The reason these women downgrade the abuse to one of rough and serious “love” tantrums defies intelligence. We, the thinking public know fully well that most of these cases do not have a desired happy ending.
Then, the finger pointing or blame game begins, the police did not act responsibly, they failed to respond to the cries of the victim? Why didn’t the police take her reports seriously and have him arrested? Why! Why! Why! The questions keep coming and invariably the police get the worst of it. But is this the real story when you look at the matter from the right perspective? When someone like the woman in the Robeson Benn jr case shows great reluctance to prosecute him what can the police do? When the victim is not serious about the allegations she raised what must the police do? These are the facts of this case and if our women do not get a grip of themselves this issue of being abused goes right down the chute.
They must see the matter through to litigation in a court of law and not the other way round where public opinion is sought, hoping to get sympathy and a conviction. It does not work that way. Even when the matter goes to court we know how some women become amnesiac making a waste of the court’s time.
The point I am making is, this matter of abuse must be taken seriously enough by the victim in order for us to make some headway in getting rid of the scourge.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Adams
