Dear Editor,

Violence against our womenfolk in Guyana is on the rise with each act of abuse becoming more and more gruesome, the latest victim being Ms Sharmin McKay of Bare Root. It is alleged that the perpetrator of this crime is her former common law husband. She is the latest addition to the growing list of women who suffered at the hands of their male counterparts.

Though barbaric and reprehensible these acts of domestic violence or crimes of passion are, the stark reality is that too many of the  suspects  go unpunished and I am afraid this last incident would go the way of countless others before it. You see the victims are more often than not the reason for these criminals walking free; they simply do not litigate. Even if they do many of the victims stay away from court proceedings or they might deliberately give conflicting accounts of the matter thus causing such cases to be thrown out. A classic example was the woman who was saved by an observant on-duty police officer at a road block; the policeman rescued her from an irate boyfriend who threatened to kill her with a sword he had in his possession. Ironically, this woman failed to prosecute her boyfriend, and this is the gut feeling I get when I read of such cases of abuse. Women need to stop protecting the men who abuse them, and stop pretending that these men ‘love’ them; they do not. Abusive men never change; the situation only gets worse.

Women need to empower themselves by seeking legal redress when they are caught up in abusive relationships. They are the only ones who can free themselves from this scourge, and there will be no reverse in the trend if women fail to stand up for their rights. There is no other way.

Yours faithfully, 
Neil  Adams