Myths About Family Violence

• Myth:Family violence is rare...
  
  • Although statistics on family violence are not precise, it's clear that millions of children, women and even men are abused physically by family members and other intimates.
  • Myth:Family violence is confined to the lower classes...
  • Reports from police records, victim services, and academic studies show domestic violence exists equally in every socioeconomic group, regardless of race or culture.
  • Myth:Alcohol and drug abuse are the real causes of violence in the home...
  • Because many male batterers also abuse alcohol and other drugs, it's easy to conclude that these substances may cause domestic violence. They apparently do increase the lethality of the violence, but they also offer the batterer another excuse to evade responsibility for his behavior. The abusive man -- and men are the abusers in the overwhelming majority of domestic violence incidents -- typically controls his actions, even when drunk or high, by choosing a time and place for the assaults to take place in private and go undetected. In addition, successful completion of a drug treatment program does not guarantee an end to battering. Domestic violence and substance abuse are two different problems that should be treated separately.
  • Myth:Battered wives like being hit, otherwise they would leave...
  • The most common response to battering-- "Why doesn't she just leave?"-- ignores economic and social realities facing many women. Shelters are often full, and family, friends, and the workplace are frequently less than fully supportive. Faced with rent and utility deposits, day care, health insurance, and other basic expenses, the woman may feel that she cannot support herself and her children. Moreover, in some instances, the woman may be increasing the chance of physical harm or even death if she leaves an abusive spouse.

Adapted from:: "Preventing Violence Against Women, Not Just a Women's Issue," National Crime Prevention Council, 1995.

 Source: http://www.dm.usda.gov/shmd/aware.htm

Sex-filled love story that ended in murder

Sex-filled love story that ended in murder

By JADA LOUTOO Wednesday, January 11 2012

 

 

 

MURDER VICTIM: Georgiana Sookoo...

HER FREQUENT taunts about her infidelity with a former lover, and his inability to satisfy her sexually, may have led Vishwanath Sharma to chop his wife of eight months ten times, leading to her eventual death.

“I lost control, or lost consciousness, or something,” Sharma said as he defended himself at his trial where he is charged with the murder of his wife, Georgiana Sookoo on October 24, 2003 at Mc Shine Street, Sangre Grande.

Sharma, 49, is before Justice Hayden St Clair Douglas in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Criminal Court.

Sookoo was chopped about the face and body. She died at hospital.

In an emotional defence, Sharma said he regretted his actions, and preferred that his wife was still alive, even if she did not want him anymore.

Sharma’s evidence was a “story of love,” his attorney Daniel Khan told the jury in a rare opening address.

Khan said his client was not denying he killed Sookoo. Khan said he chose the uncustomary move to address the jury because he did not want to confuse them since his client had pleaded not guilty to his wife’s murder.

“I have not challenged the evidence of the prosecution. You will hear that he killed the deceased. You will hear of the events leading up to the incident. His is a story of love; love gone wrong.”

During his testimony Sharma repeatedly said he loved Sookoo. “I love her very much. I wanted things to work out for us,” he said.

Describing the incident which ended the life of his wife as a travesty, Sharma said he hated himself for it.

“I really loved her. I know I am not no saint, neither that it is for me to say I haven’t done anything wrong but there are things that happen to me, and my wife. I took responsibility for it because I loved her very much. Even if she didn’t want to live with me any more. I still prefer that she be alive, and unharmed,” he said in tears.

Sharma admitted to having made several mistakes in his life, including being a womaniser, selling drugs, and using alcohol.

He said he was scared, and believed he lost control because of what she told him of her sexual encounters with a former lover.

“I believed when she said those things to me, I lost control. I must have chopped her,” he said.

Sharma testified that it was only after his wife’s screams he looked at her, he saw her damaged face. He panicked and ran.

According to the autopsy report, the left side of Sookoo’s face was partially torn off during the frenzied attack. She was also chopped on the head with the cutlass which cut through the outer bone of her skull, her arm, hand, leg and foot.

In explicit details, Sharma spoke of Sookoo’s repeated taunts of his inability to satisfy her sexually, and the description of her relationship with the man she was having an affair with, including the fact she was having anal sex with her lover.

He said there were times when she would say she loved him, and times when she said she did not. “Sometimes she would threaten me,” he said. As he began his evidence, Sharma said he had moved to Canada in 1988. He lived in Canada with his wife Cynthia, and their four children. He moved to Canada to seek a better life, but was deported in 2000 after he was convicted for trafficking cocaine.

His wife and children remained in Canada, and on the same day he arrived in Trinidad, he saw Sookoo — whom he had known since his childhood days, and had a previous relationship with her, prior to going to Canada — on the side of the road. He stopped the taxi and they spoke. The next evening, he went to Sookoo’s home at Mc Shine Street. They spoke and made love, he said. He moved in with Sookoo and they began living together. He said leaving his wife and children in Canada left him sad and frustrated, but reconciling with Sookoo, made him comfortable.

“We started getting closer and loving each other,” he said. Sharma said they became so close people would refer to them as “love birds” and commented that they looked cute with each other.

The atmosphere of love did not last. Things started to change about 2002, after Sookoo found a letter from his wife, Cynthia. Sharma said he asked Sookoo if she had gone crazy because of the way she was acting.

She chopped him on the left hand, and he had to undergo surgery, he claimed.

After that, Sharma said things returned to “normal” until they fought again and Sookoo asked him to leave.

He began renting in St Augustine until one day when she visited him at his workplace. They had lunch and spent the afternoon and night together in his apartment. They began seeing each other regularly, and he moved back in with her after she asked him to. Again things returned to normal, he said, and Sookoo told him she wanted to get married.

“I told her that’s fine with me,” he said, The couple married on February 27, 2003. “I loved my wife;. I was in love with her.”

Some three months later, Sharma said he returned home and found one of her friends inside. The friend was Sookoo’s former lover Marvin Wilson, Sharma claimed.

“I asked what was going on. She told me this is her home, and she could do as she pleased.”

“I was sad and very disappointed, because it wasn’t long ago we got married.” After Wilson left, things again returned to normal, Sharma testified. “But it did not remain so.”

A few weeks later, he returned home again to find Wilson and two other friends in the kitchen drinking. They began arguing and he said Sookoo flung a knife at him. He received stitches and “things went back to normal, for a few days.”

He recounted an incident at a wedding of a relative where he said Sookoo spent the night dancing with Wilson. He called her aside and spoke to her about it, because he was uncomfortable with it. When the couple returned home, he said she was sitting spread-eagled on the sofa in the kitchen. When he told her he never had sex with someone as beautiful as she looked in the dress she wore, she threw an iron at him as he was about to kiss her.

He received a cut to his head. Yet again Sharma said things returned to normal and then in August or September, Wilson began visiting more regularly.

“Things get uptight with me and my wife. We were quarrelling every day, or almost every day over the affair she was having with Wilson,” he said. It was then she began taunting him about her sexual relations with Wilson.

“Things were getting rougher daily,” he admitted. ‘She’d always say things to hurt me.” He said when he questioned her about her overnight stays, it would cause more argument.

“I was depressed, and I know it seems strange, but I loved my wife and was trying to make things work out,” he said.

The couple again had another physical altercation after Wilson came to the house early in the morning, and Sookoo went out to speak with him in a sheer nightdress. He said he told her to change, because she was almost naked and she picked up a bucket and swung it at him.

Sometime later, the couple again got into a heated argument after he asked her why her hair was falling off. He claimed Sookoo again explicitly told him of her sexual exploits with Wilson.

Two days before the attack, Sharma said he was chased by Wilson, Sookoo, her son and some of Wilson’s friends as he was returning home, and was forced to run to a neighbour’s house to call the police. After the police spoke to the couple, Sharma said he took some clothes, and left.

He returned to the house on October 23. At first, Sharma said Sookoo was sleeping, but then he said he made a mistake, and that she was not at home. He said he returned to the house at about 1 am and went to her bedroom. She awoke and asked him what he was doing there. “I said you are my wife, and I want to talk,” he said.

They went to the kitchen, Sookoo, he said, pulled a cutlass and told him her children did not want him coming there. He disarmed her, and they went outside and began talking about reconciling. He said they began hugging and kissing for a brief moment until she felt the cutlass under his shirt. He said the cutlass was the same one he took from her, and explained to her that he had it for his protection in the event the guys rushed him.

He said his wife accused him of wanting to make problems for her because she was with Wilson. The two began fighting for the cutlass when he said he tugged it away and she fell to the ground screaming. “At that time I felt the reason why she was doing this to me, was to drive me crazy, or put me in a place to get hurt. I was scared,” he said.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,153556.html

He hid the cutlass behind a wall

Thursday, January 12 2012

Sharma then admitted he may have chopped his wife and heard her screams, and that of their neighbour Sherifa Mohammed. He said he ran to the mosque on Coalmine Road, crossed come bushes, and went to the river where he washed his clothes.

He then went behind the mosque where he showered, and hid the cutlass behind a wall.

Sharma then went to his mother’s house where he stayed.

That same morning the police took him in for questioning, and he handed over the clothing he was wearing. and took them to where he hid the cutlass. In cross examination, Sharma admitted he gave a confession statement to the police.

Sharma said he had no medical certificates to verify the injuries he received as a result of the physical attacks by his wife, nor did he report them to the police.

He said he knew Sookoo and Wilson were involved in a relationship before, as well as admitting to living with Sookoo while still being married to Cynthia. He said he was never violent towards Sookoo.

The trial continues today when prosecution Jennifer Martin resumes her cross examination.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,153559.html 

Murder accused: I chopped her in fit of rage

...Court hears of physical abuses during arguments

 

Published:  Thursday, January 12, 2012

Derek Achong

 

A 49-year-old man, charged with chopping his common-law wife, yesterday admitted to doing so in a fit of rage after an argument about her infidelity. The accused, Vishwandath Sharma, made the disclosure while testifying in his trial yesterday before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Assizes. Sharma is before a 12-member jury for the murder of his wife, Georgina Sookoo, 40, on October 24, 2003. Sharma, who burst into tears several times while testifying, told the court he had confronted his wife on several occasions before her death about an extra-marital relationship but was physically abused by her each time.

“I loved her very much. I wish the whole incident did not happen... I just wish she was alive today,” Sharma said. During his three-hour testimony, Sharma claimed he was stabbed, chopped and hit over the head with objects, including a heating iron, by his wife during heated arguments. However, when asked in cross-examination Sharma could not provide any documents to prove his claims of abuse at the hands of his wife. He denied ever retaliating during the turbulent relationship besides on the night of her murder and claimed she constantly ridiculed him about his sexual inadequacies.

While being led through his testimony by his attorney, Daniel Khan, Sharma admitted to returning to her home on the date of her murder in an attempt to reconcile. Sharma said: “She tell me I just trying to make trouble for she and her lover. “I had the cutlass by my waist and she grab it and try to pull it away. “I grab the cutlass from her and she fell to the ground. I don’t know if it was the comments she was making or she screaming that make me chop her,” Sharma admitted. He said he fled the scene when he realised what he had done.

Sookoo, who was chopped across the face, later died while receiving treatment at hospital. “I have made mistakes, used and sold drugs in the past but I never meant to hurt or murder anybody,” Sharma said. Although Sharma claimed Sookoo was having an affair, he admitted he never actually caught her in the act. He also admitted he was deported from Canada in 2000 for drug-trafficking offences. He also said he had a wife and four children in Canada before being deported.

When arrested after Sookoo’s murder, Sharma provided police with the murder weapon which he stored at a mosque near where the attack occurred. After providing a witness statement where he admitted to chopping Sookoo, he was charged by ASP Neville Sankar of the Sangre Grande CID. In his signed witness statement after the incident, Sharma told police:  “I done do the job, now I have to pay the price.” Sharma is also being represented by Shoba Nandalal, while the matter is being prosecuted by Jennifer Martin. The matter continues today.

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/thursday-january-12-2012/murder-accused-i-chopped-her-fit-rage

Ex-wife: He used to beat me all the time

'Dragged naked in the road...'

By Nikita Braxton-Benjamin nikita.braxton@trinidadexpress.com

Story Created: Jan 5, 2012 at 11:53 PM ECT

Story Updated: Jan 5, 2012 at 11:53 PM ECT 

 

THE EX-WIFE of the man charged with the killing of four-year-old Amy Annamanthudo yesterday testified of the abuse she faced at the hand of the murder accused during their 15-year relationship.
Lou-Ann Davis yesterday spoke of being beaten with a piece of wood and cutlass and dragged naked in the road after jumping through a window to escape from King.
"I divorced him in 2006 because he was abusive to me while I was married to him...He used to beat me all the time," Davis said, as she gave evidence in the San Fernando First Criminal Court before Justice Anthony Carmona.
King is charged with beating his step daughter to death on May 15, 2006.
Back in October, the State's main witness Andre Rocke testified that he peeped through a hole and saw King hitting the child 20 to 30 times as she hung by her hair at King's house.
Pathologist Hughvon Des Vignes gave evidence that Amy suffered lacerations, tears, bleeding scrapes and bruises to her brain, eye, neck, chest, shoulder, hand, heart, lungs, spleen, liver, adrenal gland, kidney, abdomen, pelvic area, upper, mid and lower back and bottom.
Yesterday, Davis spoke of an incident of abuse she suffered from King 10 years ago.
She said she had separated from him and was staying in one room at a house she rented from a man for whom she cooked and cleaned. The couple's daughters were staying at King's place as Davis said she had nowhere else for them to live. Davis and King had two daughters together; baby Amy was Davis' daughter and King's step-daughter.
Three days after Davis left King back in 2001, he came over to her one-room place.
"He told me the children were crying and told me if I could come up the road and talk to them."
Davis said she got ready and when she met King by the gate, he slapped her on the face.
She testified that he took her back upstairs, kicked down the front door and carried her in the room to pack her clothes.
"All that time in the room, he was beating me with a piece of wood. A two by four," Davis said.
She said while they headed back to his home, King threw away the piece of wood and had a knife in his hand.
"We walked back to where he lived, he locked the door behind me and told me he had a bottle of kerosene and a lighter by the stove," Davis said.
She told the court King threatened to burn her.
"He carried me in the bedroom and told me to take off all my clothes...He began to take off his clothes and while (he was) undressing, I jumped through the window, naked. I twisted my right ankle," Davis said.
"Marlon King came across by the neighbour with a cutlass in his hand. He grabbed me by my hair and I fell to the ground and he start dragging me (to his) home in the road. He hit me two lash with the cutlass in my belly," she said.
The mother of King's children said that men who were working across the road "picked up stones and pelt him to let me go."
She said she was released and neighbours gave her clothes and she went to the Marabella police station.
She testified that she spent two months in hospital following the attack.
Davis also yesterday recalled an incident in which she said King made her perform a sexual act on him after waking a one-year-old female from sleep to look on.
She said she separated from King back in 2001 and divorced him five years later.
Davis remarried in 2008.
She said after their separation, a private arrangement was made where King would keep his two daughters on weekends.
But she noticed different strangers at the house whenever she went to drop off the children. She asked King about this.
"He told me he would lend out the place to people when they came by him to have sex there...He told me when that happened he would carry the children by his father to spend time and then come back down the road. He said he would lend it out on weekends," Davis said.
She said she was uncomfortable with this but continued to take the children there to keep the peace with King.
"If I didn't carry the kids, he would come down by me and make a set of noise," she said.
The children are now teenagers.
Defence attorney El Farouk Hosein told Davis she was not telling the truth and she was never beaten by King.
"I live happy for two years with Marlon King and after that it was downhill," she told the court during cross examination.
The trial is expected to continue today where State attorney Mauriceia Joseph said she would close the prosecution's case.

Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Ex-wife__He_used_to_beat_me_all_the_time-136786793.html

Hinduism rejects violence against women

Published: 

Sunday, January 1, 2012

UN Women in the Caribbean recently funded a three-phase programme aimed at promoting the role of faith-based organisations in “increasing awareness to change attitudes and influence behaviour amongst people from all walks of life, as essential to preventing and ending violence against women.” The collaboration established a partnership between UN Women and the Hindu Women’s Organisation of T&T. One of the outcomes was the publication of a booklet entitled Hinduism—An Overview & Rejecting Violence Against Women.

While Pundit Bramdeo Maharaj, a former president of the Inter-Religious Organisation, presented the Hindu overview, Brenda Gopeesingh presented the position of the Hindu Women’s Organisation in addressing violence within the Hindu community. The booklet was launched at the newly refurbished Divali Nagar Auditorium during the “16 Days of Activism” which represented the period between November 25 and December 10—the days which the UN has reserved to vigorously address the Elimination of Violence Against Women since 2008. The audience included members of the Maha Sabha, Swaha, Saathi, the Raj Yoga Centre, the Satya Sai Organisation the Rape Crisis Centre, the Institute of Gender Studies, CAFRA and the Network of NGOs.­

In her introduction, the president of the HWO, Henny Charran observed that “gender-based violence is a societal scourge wrecking havoc on family life, communities, and countries—indeed on the entire planet.” She expressed the view that “we cannot stand by silently without making efforts to bring about change which will eliminate violence against women and pointed out that “there is no room within the Hindu tradition for violence.”

His Worship, the Mayor of Chaguanas Orlando Nagessar, who was the feature speaker at the function, identified Violence Against Women as “an issue which should be focused upon all the time and on an ongoing basis. He expressed the view that the core values of most religions are basically the same. He cited the Jerry Springer programme as one that incites violence and referred to the television as the “electronic baby sitter.”

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/sunday-january-1-2012/hinduism-rejects-violence-against-women

Woman shot as new year breaks

Published:  Monday, January 2, 2012

 

A 26-year-old woman was shot yesterday while asleep at her house at Erica Street, Laventille. Megan McKenzie was up to late yesterday warded in stable condition at  Port-of-Spain General Hospital. A report said around 12.05 am,  McKenzie was in her bed when she heard several loud explosions. She soon felt a burning sensation in her left leg, police said. She was taken to the hospital she was treated and warded.

Detectives said McKenzie’s house was “full of bullets and probably was shot by someone who was ringing in the new year.” They said McKenzie was not a target in the shooting. Officers of the Besson Street Police Station are continuing investigations.

 Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/monday-january-2-2012/woman-shot-new-year-breaks

‘Plannass’ Attack - The Attack With the Side of a Cutlass (Machete)

Man to pay wife $1,500 for ‘plannass’ attack

Published:  Friday, December 30, 2011

Reshma Ragoonath

A Pleasantville father openly declared his love for his wife yesterday after pleading guilty to plannassing her with a cutlass on Christmas Day as she held their two-month-old son. However, security guard Wendell Scipio, 27, was refused bail when he appeared before San Fernando Magistrate Annette Mc Kenzie charged with two counts of assaulting his infant son, Joshua. Scipio, who was moved to tears, begged for forgiveness from his wife, Whitney Edwards, after pleading guilty to two counts of assault against her.

 

“I am very sorry to my wife for what happened. I love she and I love my child. I does take care of my child. If she could forgive me for everything that happened,” he sobbed. Mc Kenzie had asked for a medical certificate to determine Edwards’ injuries in the attack.  However, court prosecutor, Ramdath Phillip, said Woman Police Constable Langley, who charged Scipio, was unable to secure one from the doctor who attended her. On Wednesday, Scipio appeared before the court charged with assaulting Edwards on December 25 at their home on Falcon Crest, Pleasantville. He also was charged with assault, occasioning actual bodily harm.

 

He was also charged with the same offences which were allegedly committed on the couple’s infant son. Scipio was ordered to pay $1,500 in compensation to Edwards or serve four weeks simple imprisonment. He was fined $2,000 or 45 days hard labour. He was reprimanded and discharged on the assault, occasioning actual bodily harm.

Scipio pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to his son. He will reappear in court on those charges on January 26. He was advised of his right to apply to a judge in chambers. The couple was at their home around 11 pm on Christmas night when an argument broke out, He took up a cutlass and beat Edwards. He also cuffed her while she held their son. She received abrasions while her son was allegedly hurt in the altercation.

 

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/man-pay-wife-1500-%E2%80%98plannass%E2%80%99-attack

Major Loss of a Young Mother of Two - Different Views

La Romaine mother stabbed to death

Published:  Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Ayanna Phillip

Heading to patronise Gulf City’s Boxing Day sale, a La Romaine mother met a tragic death when a male relative confronted her stabbing her more than five times about the body. Ayanna Phillip, 23, of 1 Byron Street, La Romaine died instantly after being dealt multiple stabs to the chest, neck and abdomen. Phillip worked as an attendant at Playdium Game Room and Restaurant, located at South Trunk Road, La Romaine. Investigators said around 2.15 pm, Phillip left her workplace to go to Gulf City Mall where she planned to purchase a gift for her nephew. A co-worker said Phillip wanted to take advantage of a 50 per cent sale at the mall, located close to Playdium. However, while walking out the gate, a male relative confronted Phillip and accused her of going to meet a male friend.

Police said an argument broke out and the man took a kitchen knife and stabbed Phillip repeatedly. Speaking at crime scene, Phillip’s mother, Joanne Sylvester, said she spoke to her daughter before she left for work. “She was in a jolly mood. We planned to have the usual Boxing Day lime home. I had just come out of the shower when I heard that (name called) stabbed her up.” Joanne said Phillip has two children— Lashaunda, aged four and Ajala, two. “She was a good person, very kind hearted and loving,” Joanne said. A blood stained kitchen knife was found close to the body. Joanne said the relative had often threatened to kill Phillip.

“They lived by me. He was always accusing her of something or the other,” Joanne said. Several of Phillips’ co-workers also wept at the scene. Manager of Playdium, Donnie Basdeo, said Phillip started working over a year ago. He said she was dedicated to her job. Owner of Playdium, Anand Ramesar, said that he planned to provide counselling for the workers. He also said that he hoped to set up an Employee Assistance Programme (EPA) for his team. Police officers from the San Fernando Homicide Bureau including Supt Hackshaw, Insps Singh and Parsons, Sgt Halls and Cpl Elvin visited the scene. Police were searching for the relative up to late yesterday.

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/tuesday-december-27-2011/la-romaine-mother-stabbed-death

Woman stabbed to death

 

By LAUREL V WILLIAMS Tuesday, December 27 2011

POLICE investigators were last night searching for a man who stabbed and killed a 23-year-old woman outside her workplace in La Romaine yesterday. Dead is Ayanna Phillip of 14 Byron Street in La Romaine. She was the mother of two children.

Phillip worked as an attendant at Playdium, The Family Game Room and Restaurant, located at the back of Club Maracas (formerly Sting night club) along the South Trunk Road in La Romaine.

A police report stated Phillip was walking out of the establishment at about 2.15 pm yesterday when the man confronted her. The report added that he was accusing her of being unfaithful. Newsday learnt that at the time she was on her way to Gulf City Mall which is located nearby to purchase a gift for a relative.

During the heated confrontation, the suspect pulled out a knife which was hidden in his clothes and stabbed her multiple times about the body.

Phillip fell to the ground where she died minutes later.

The suspect however escaped as Phillip’s motionless body lay covered in blood on the ground.

When Newsday visited the family’s home, relatives refused to speak about the incident. Investigators from the San Fernando CID and Homicide Bureau (South) visited the scene and Cpl Ramlogan is investigating.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,152793.html

Broken One - Til Shiloh & Gary Acosta

This is a very well done video!

Domestic Violence and The Elderly

Elder abuse occurs around the world and is most often committed by family members. Let’s hope that safeguards will also be stiffened for those living in their own home.

Wheelchair-bound woman found dead

Published: Mon, 2011-12-05 18:54

Reshma Ragoonath

 

Lackrania Polly Samdeo

A life of filled with alleged abuse ended yesterday for wheelchair-bound mother of five Lackrania Polly Samdeo. The circumstances surrounding her  death, however, were still to be ascertained late yesterday after the 58-year-old woman’s semi-nude body was found under her mattress which was discarded in a vacant lot near her Penal home. Samdeo’s wheelchair remained overturned a short distance from her body. An autopsy will be conducted later today to determine the cause of death.

A male relative has been detained for questioning. Samdeo’s body was discovered around 8.45 am by her son, Ramesh Ramlal, 24, of Digity Trace, Penal. He, together with Samdeo’s niece, Rajwantie Mohammed, 43, of Barrackpore, went to the woman’s house at Railway Road, Suchit Trace, Penal, to check on her. Ramlal said his mother suffered beatings at the hands of a male relative. “He did not treat her good at all...He would beat her and do all kind of things to she,” he said. “I tell him about it one of the days and he tell me if that is my business...I leave and I walk out.”

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2011/12/05/wheelchair-bound-woman-found-dead

Many Are Touched by Domestic Violence

Man killed after threatening wife

Published: Sun, 2011-12-04 19:52

Kevon Felmine

 

A 33-year-old Central man who threatened to murder his former common-law wife and her family has been killed during an altercation in Chaguanas yesterday morning. Nigel Collins alias Boxer, of Myers Avenue, Longdenville died while being attended to at the Chaguanas District Health Facility. Police said around 5.15 am, Collins went to Freedom Street, Enterprise Village, where he stormed into the home of his former common-law wife. While his three children slept, an enraged Collins whipped out a gun, pointed it at their mother’s head and threatened to kill her. She said Collins started to beat her about the body before running off to a nearby apartment where her mother and 22-year-old brother lives. It was reported that Collins also began making threats to their lives.

Fearing for their safety, the woman’s brother picked up a cutlass that was lying nearby and dealt Collins several chops to his neck, head and upper body. The assailant fell to the ground and the family contacted the police and ambulance. Officers from the Central Division led by Superintendent Johnny Abraham, Inspector Wayne Lawrence, Inspector Thecla Meharris and Sergeant Susan John visited the scene. The officers recovered a cutlass and a .380 pistol loaded with several rounds of ammunition. Two people were detained and have been assisting police with investigations. Police said Collins was employed as a part time “bouncer” at Rich Gold Bar in Chaguanas and was known to them for having committed several criminal acts. Inquires are continuing.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2011/12/04/man-killed-after-threatening-wife

Electronic Monitoring Perpetrators......What Do You Think About This

 ‘Ankle bracelets’ for wife-beaters coming—Volney

Published: Sat, 2011-12-03 20:28

Gail Alexander

 

Domestic abuse perpetrators will be monitored electronically via electronic ankle “bracelets” which can help warn female—and male—victims of possible abuse, Justice Minister Herbert Volney has said. Volney elaborated on the plan in the House of Representatives yesterday as he  piloted legislation for the use of electronic monitoring tagging. He said the tagging mechanism, which operates on a GPS system, will be used only on offenders who are not a serious threat to the public. It will not be used for crimes involving rape, murder, treason and the like.

“This will give the court another option...instead of putting a man in jail, put an electronic tag on him and tell him he can’t leave his house,” Volney said. “At least his wife and children will have the company of their husband and father, but he will be confined.” Volney said the electronic tag can particularly be used with regard to domestic violence cases to track perpetrators’ movements. “Government is taking a stand against domestic violence... women are living in fear and we want to protect them,” he added. He said although some women got protection orders, they still suffered repeated violence and sometimes death.

Volney said the Government had heard the pleas of victims and proposed to use the electronic monitoring plan to complement the protection order framework. He said it would better assist police to enforce protection orders and to ascertain who was violating such orders and when perpetrators were entering  excluded zones. Volney said the mechanism would provide an early alert to “fearful women” that a perpetrator was on his way. 

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2011/12/03/ankle-bracelets-wife-beaters-coming-volney

 

Pregnant woman beaten

 

Pregnant woman beaten

Friday, December 2 2011

A 25-year-old pregnant woman remains in serious condition at San Fernando General Hospital after being beaten by a close relative during a dispute at her Coora Road, Siparia, home on Wednesday.

Police said Felicia Hosein, who is three months pregnant, suffered severe abdominal injuries. She was also injured in the head, knees and other parts of her body.

A 30-year-old male relative has since been detained in connection with the incident.

Investigators stated that Hosein’s father-in-law had reported to officers at the Siparia Police Station that she (Hosein) was being attacked by the male relative.

Following the report, a party of officers led by Sgt Ramsundar visited the home where they were able to rescue the woman. She was taken to the Siparia Health Facility for medical attention and later transferred to the SFGH. The suspect was also taken into custody.

Charges are expected to be laid soon.

Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,151600.html

Lawyer at launch of advisory clinic: Abuse of Women at brutal level

Lawyer at launch of advisory clinic: Abuse of women at brutal level

Published: Wed, 2011-11-30 21:37  

Almost half of the women who were murdered last year in T&T were victims of domestic violence. This was disclosed by family attorney Lynette Seebaran-Suite yesterday as she launched the Domestic Violence Advisory Clinic at the office of the T&T Group of Professionals Association, Fitz Blackman Drive, Port-of-Spain. The clinic was launched as part of 16 days of activism in commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which was celebrated on November 25. Seebaran-Suite said police records showed 33 women were murdered and 16 of the killings were related to domestic violence.

Addressing representatives of various Government and non-governmental organisations, she said domestic violence against women had moved to a new brutal level. She said sometimes twice a month one heard on the news that a woman was killed through domestic violence. Seebaran-Suite believes this goes back to gender issues but also feels it is related to “gaps” in the responses to domestic violence. She recalled that the “first generation” response to the issue centered around bringing it out of the bedroom and into the public domain.

The “second generation” response was the creation of legislation, like the Domestic Violence Act and the Sexual Offences Act, and the formation of several groups and a hotline to deal with reports. The “third generation” response deals with having a proper follow-up programme with victims after they have reported the matter to the police and taken restraining action against the perpetrator. Seebaran-Suite said existing systems needed to be strengthened.

Head of the Police Service’s Domestic Violence Unit, Margaret Sampson-Brown, who also addressed the gathering, said she had requested 15 additional officers. Sampson-Brown said when the unit was first formed in 2008, they had 20 officers who responded to every report of domestic violence. She said nine of the officers eventually left but they were able to bring back their numbers to 20. The unit has interviewed an additional 15 officers who were just waiting on approval to be appointed, she said.

Sampson-Brown disclosed that they were working, at present, in the remote east Trinidad community of Matelot. She said of all the incest reports the police received, Matelot had the highest. She said there were 17-year-old mothers in the area. She said the unit recently walked house-to-house in the community trying to dialogue with residents and was able to establish a wonderful relationship with them. Poverty and some level of illiteracy were identified as problems and she said the unit was seeking to bring a library to the area to encourage reading.

Source:  http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2011/11/30/lawyer-launch-advisory-clinic-abuse-women-brutal-level