Dear Editor,
I am sure we’ve all seen the video of the horrendous and inhumane beating of the young lady that surfaced on the Internet recently. I’ve since seen so many opinions on the matter and some are very shameful, finding reasons to justify the father’s actions. As if there could be any justifiable reason to be so cruel to another human being or even an animal.
I am writing this letter as a concerned citizen; a concerned Guyanese woman.
After seeing the lackadaisical effort given to the matter by the officers of the law, I can’t help but wonder and ask myself something every Guyanese woman should be asking themselves, ‘What if that were me’?
Violence against women has been a plague in our once peaceful country and I, myself have been a victim of such but not just that. I have also been a victim of the extreme unprofessional attitude of the police officers in domestic violence cases. I remember being yelled at by the inspector outside the door of the courtroom when I decided to pursue my case of domestic violence further, “Why ya wan punish the man more?? the man done spend a night in the lock up!!!”
I was made to feel like the bad one for trying to make sure he pays for his crimes against me and they made me feel as though I was being too harsh on him. Then the same inspector went into the courtroom and told the magistrate I am agreeing to go to counselling (which I never agreed to). Imagine being sent to counselling with a man that went to your workplace and found you alone and slapped you and threw you to the floor and then went away and came back looking for you with a cutlass in his car. Imagine being in couple’s counselling with someone I did not want to be in a relationship with.
That’s the system for Guyanese women who are victims of violence against women! Completely unjust!
This system needs a swift intervention before we lose the majority of our women to the hands of these monsters disguised as men. Serious rules and consequences need to be put in place for these police officers handling cases of violence against women because domestic violence or any form of abuse is serious and needs to be dealt with seriously!
We as a people need to come together and fight for justice for the young lady in the video that was beaten! Both men and women!
We should not let this be another case of abuse swept under the rug simply because the perpetrator is of high status in the world of finances!
Let us not allow these abusers to stain the name of our dear country!
“Violence against women isn’t cultural, it’s criminal…”- Samantha Power
Yours faithfully,
J. Smith