I HAVE decided to lay down my pen on articles dealing with the political scene for a while and concentrate on something that has been bothering me for some time now.
It is a topic that has been in the public domain for a long time with no end in sight.

I make mention of ‘violence against women’. It is an endemic situation that has the Guyanese society reeling because ever-so-often you pick up the dailies only to be greeted by another case of men abusing women, in most cases, murder being the end result.
It makes our country one of, if not the most, violent place in the Caribbean for a female to live in. I say this without fear of contradiction. The situation is so tragic when we read of that lady who was murdered on the very day set aside for the observance of violence against women.
I couldn’t believe I was reading this. My eyes immediately became blurry when I read that story; it was as if someone kicked me in my stomach.
It is then ironic that on a day set aside to put an end to this scourge that a man can brazenly walk over to a woman’s residence and brutally stab her to death. I’d rather use the term stab “his woman” to death because that’s the term some men fancy using when they refer to females in a relationship.
Some men find pleasure in using that ‘my woman’ term because it somehow elevates their sadistic egos that they are in control of the woman when this is not the case.
To view a woman in such possessive tones is tantamount to you viewing her as chattel, pieces of furniture to which one can do as he pleases. Property or furniture can be bought as well as disposed of at will and if that is what a woman is reduced to then something is radically wrong. Neither party “owns and controls”; it is a relationship situation, one of mutual trust and respect for each other, period! Whenever that is thrown aside then you are bound to see the sad results we read of time and time again. The women in these strangleholds are not to be excused either because, they too bear some responsibility for the actions of the man. When a woman can foolishly say “he jealous me real bad so he beat me” then it sets off a series of emotions that triggers the men in their lives to abuse them.
As a consequence, he must cuff, kick or stab her to show “how much he loves.” When a woman accepts beatings from a man as strong loving, then, you the researcher has  a better understanding as to the real causes for domestic violence and why it is so difficult to eradicate.
Because that cuffing, kicking and stabbing often lead to murder when there is a big hue and cry. Men with that type of mentality do not love, they control, and when they see that control slipping they will eventually kill and that has been going on for far too long in Guyana. It is high time for that madness to stop.

The women so affected aren’t doing anything to help themselves either because in all of these cases the abusive partners were barred from prosecution by the said women themselves. They would report the matter only to quickly recant when charges are to be laid. Therefore, I have carefully analysed the situation and came up with the following solutions. Seeing the women would continue to make reports then at the last minute shrink away from pressing charges, much to the annoyance of the police. One police officer reported to me that in a single week a certain woman made no less than 14 reports of abuse.
That woman, I think, is now dead and the man somewhere hiding in neighbouring Suriname.
These are the cold, hard facts. This is what I am talking about. Then, something should be done to safeguard that report. Each report should be carefully logged by the attendant officer with the name of the abuser placed in a computer data base so that in the event the ultimate takes place, the court can look into it as “a matter of interest” when checking into the kind of relationship the two were engaged in. You cannot tell me 14 times a woman reported a matter and backing down or “forgiving” the man because no charges were laid against him that those reports are considered null and void when sentencing comes up?
That is the situation as it exists at the present, because that man was never charged.Then technically he has a clean sheet and those reports she has made are treated as allegations. If our women are to be saved then, the legal system has to do away with those archaic laws and adopt those which I am suggesting. I am no legal luminary, but if these laws are not changed we would continue to mourn the loss of our women.
Finally, for God’s own name give these men sentences that they cannot see the light of day again. Give them consecutive life sentences like that given to Stanford by a U.S. court; for certainty he will die in prison. When men realise that they will not get out of prison I guarantee you domestic violence will come to a screeching halt. I speak not of a sentence to be hanged. That is a joke. It’s the easiest way for him to get out of prison.
I am speaking of cold, hard life-time. The present sees sentencing that would have the accused getting back into society in no time.
Take, for example, the deportee who killed his aunt. A loving aunt to him who was killed because he knows fully-well the way the legal system works and the way they treat these cases. What is even more outrageous is to hear the trial judge say he is sending a strong message when he sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment when in essence he would serve 6 and get back into society a strong, healthy man. What message is that judge sending? There is only one message I know and that is men, continue doing what you are doing. We are here to give you these innocuous sentences.

Violence against women is too serious a matter for it to be dealt with so trivially.