BVI’s high prevalence of domestic violence court cases bittersweet
Over the last eight weeks, there were at least nine known cases of domestic violence heard before the Magistrate’s Court. And armed with this information, the government’s Gender Affairs Coordinator, Tara-Sue Morgan said it is a bittersweet feeling seeing the cases appearing in court.
“It is good in the sense that the cases are being heard and they are being heard in a timely manner in the court system. It also shows that more persons are reporting these cases and they are not being afraid. Sometimes stigma and judgemental feelings prevent some people from reporting cases of domestic violence. Also, the type of relationship they are in, they don’t want to get the information out there,” Morgan said in an interview with BVI News this week.
The gender affairs coordinator said while she is happy more women and men are empowered to report cases of domestic violence, the only drawback is seeing some of the heart-wrenching nature of the cases.
In referencing a court case reported on by BVI News about a 38-weeks pregnant woman who was allegedly assaulted by her partner, Morgan said this showed her the Virgin Islands needs proper psychosocial programmes to foster healthy relationships.
“We want to start it from the grassroots level — primary and preschool level — where we start socialising people on how to have healthy relationships. Abuse is normally learned behaviour over time. We need these programmes at the grassroots level so we can start reshaping our society as to how wholesome and healthy relationships should be,” Morgan added.
Our domestic violence laws need to have teeth
The Gender Affairs Coordinator also referenced another court case reported on by our news team that a man allegedly violated a restraining order taken out on him by his ex-girlfriend after he stomped on her and caused her to lose her unborn child.
Morgan said irrespective of whether cases like these are first time matters, it is disappointing to see people take conflict resolution to that place. She said it shows disrespect for the person being assaulted and also disrespect for the laws put in place to protect residents.
“We have to make sure persons understand the law is there for a reason and persons who do not respect the law should pay for it. That is why when the laws are there, they need to have teeth. The police force is there to ensure persons who violate them are arrested, charged and brought before the court. And that is what I see with this man. Persons cannot disrespect the law, they are there for the protection of our women and girls and men and boys,” Morgan said.
Partnership for Peace Programme working?
Meanwhile, most men who appear before the court for domestic violence cases are referred to a Partnership for Peace Programme offered by the Office of Gender Affairs.
Morgan said the programme was started back in 2010 and has had more than a hundred participants since then. She said based on her assessments, the programme has largely been successful.
“The success rate is high because I think out of all the participants that have been in the programme, we’ve only had maybe three re-offenders which is excellent,” Morgan said.
“The programme is a psychosocial one which offers male perpetrators of violence an opportunity to go through a 16-module programme. There are 16 courses outlined in the programme where they learn coping skills. They learn alternative methods to violence and how to deal with their feelings in a safe way. Most men who go through the programme are normally happy that they do. They are glad because you see the change and it is based on the change then we would go back to court to inform them on how they performed,” the Gender Affairs Coordinator added.
Of the nine known cases heard in the Magistrate’s Court in recent weeks, eight of them were of men assaulting their female partners and the other involved a woman assaulting the man she shared a living space with using a hammer.
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The prevalence of this is too high for for such a small place – too much ignorance and arrogance.
To all those who have worked in and with the Gender Affairs office and it’s programmes over the decades for chipping away at the stigma of domestic abuse and making it acceptable for the abused person to say “nobody deserves this treatment”.
Don’t be ridiculous: it takes many decades to change centuries old ‘normalized’ behaviours that we now consider aberrant. This office has chipped away-and will continue to chip away- at this issue. The high number of court cases likely signals that the ancient conviction “you brought this upon yourself” is no longer normal.
It is not at all ridiculous to suggest there’s still too much gender-based violence in BVI. Let’s not be so smug and arrorogant. This is not to suggest that OGA has not made an impact in its almost 30 years. The reality is, OGA’s wings have been clipped over the past ten years. It is also a reality that when the gender based cases of violence before the courts are increasing in numbers and gravity we need to admit that and aim for radical change, not a defensive stance about chip-chipping away at deeply embedded social problems. This is more than a health and social problem. It is only a symptom of the structural gender imbalances, inequities and abuses we take for granted when we minimize the critical role of gender in our national development, planning and transformation. The OGA needs to be returned with a Director to the Premier’s office with the staffing and budget to effectively execute its national mission which is not at all limited to chip-chip-chipping away at gender-based violence.
Is there a program for abused men? Can female perpetrators/abusers participate in this?