Three stories about the rape of children disturbed me recently. In one instance, it was reported that a 21-year-old man was remanded for the rape of a 12-year-old girl. His defenders claimed that he is quiet and honest, hardworking, and intelligent. He deserves a second chance, they said, while also making clear that they knew the rape of underage children was wrong. The underage child deserves to be spared the sentence of a possible life of misery if she is not helped through interventions like counselling.
In another case, it was alleged that a teenager was raped by a man in his forties. Some of the defenders of this accused said that she wanted it. They said that there was an affair. The police are accused of tactlessly questioning the victim in the presence of the alleged rapist. Why does this happen in Guyana? When the police are more suspicious of the raped than the rapist, it reinforces what a depraved society we exist in and that officers need ongoing training and to be more compassionate. A few days after the alleged rape, the teenager died by suicide.
Another teen was raped on her way to the shop by a 29-year-old man who forced her into bushes and committed the act. We cannot be sure our children are safe even on a short trip to the shop.
Guyana’s rape stories occur every day, yet the outrage is silent, occasional, or selective. Most of Guyana’s rape stories are perhaps not reported because the defenders of rapists are sometimes the relatives of those who were raped, or their friends and they choose to silence or threaten the victims. Some are more concerned about the shame it would bring to the families of the victims, and so the victims are often left with open wounds and no salve.
I hope this message encourages the defenders of rapists to think about their error in judgment. I understand that rapists are relatives and friends, and that even strangers will sometimes support those accused when they believe the rapists instead of the raped. But too often the raped are thought to be culpable in their victimisation. This line of reasoning goes: “They were dressed provocatively. They were flirtatious. They were in a relationship with the rapist. They gave consent but then withdrew their consent.” Even raped children are sometimes accused of “asking for it.”
How can anyone defend and support rapists when their actions contribute to destabilising the society? The sickness of the mind runs deep here. Does supporting rapists eradicate the risk of their supporters suffering because of the disorder they create? There is confusion in the minds of those they hurt; they often exist on the edge of a precipice. There is fury and the need for revenge in the defenders of the raped. Are we not all at risk in this growing insane asylum of Guyana’s hurt and traumatised? Here is where trauma is often ignored and therefore unaddressed. Here is where our healing circles are too small.
The raped are often so hurt that they cannot heal or are so traumatised that they cannot forgive so their suffering manifests in the destruction of first themselves and then their pain bleeds into the cracks of our imaginary wholesome society. The moral compass is broken and there are no lines that cannot be crossed when the hurt have not been restored and have become numb to the burn of their hellish existence.
It is the rapists who should suffer when they create unholy unions their victims did not seek. It is the rapists who should be harshly judged. They are often unrepentant. They will look their victims in their eyes to taunt and further torture them. And when they are put on trial, they will tell every lie and blame the victim in hopes of being set free because they have the audacity to think that they should not pay for their crimes.
Defenders of rapists, how can you pity them? When you stand in support of them and do not mourn those who have died before death because of being violated by the rapist, is your peace of mind not at risk? I cannot understand nor do I want to try to understand those who support some of the most depraved. I will conclude that they are also depraved. That the inherent madness that can be triggered at any time if we do not engage in healthy habits, has overcome the sane in them. I will paint them all with the same brush of contempt and yes, I will conclude that their support of one rapist means that they stand with all. Whether it is a child or an adult, someone you know or a stranger, there is no excuse for the violation of a person’s body and mental wellbeing.
We need harsher punishment for rapists. In our “civilized” society, no longer do we stone offenders or hang them in public. But the rape of children, especially, generates violent thoughts. It creates fear in parents, to think that our children are at risk and often it is not even strangers who harm them, but those we trust.
I am sure some of Guyana’s rapists can be reformed, but many will never be, especially when there are enablers. Repeat offenders are not rare in our society.
I can never entirely understand the struggles of those who have been raped. I have listened to many stories and some people never heal. The prevalence of the rape of Guyana’s children, especially, concerns me. We are not doing enough to protect them from those despicable members of society. The punishment for rape is not enough because it happens daily and the rapists often are never prosecuted. I do not think that sentencing rapists to death is too harsh, especially those who violate children. Perhaps only then will we begin to see a decline in these horrendous acts.
