ANOTHER murder as a result of domestic violence, and executed in a most completely brutal manner, by a paramour who has stuck to the now traditional, predictable route of the complete end-game of the cruel realities of inter-personal violence.

And as usual, it has sent the usual “shock waves”, this time through the Kilcoy Village community of East Corentyne-Berbice, which is part of a region that has a high body count from a very grave social ill which has become a national scourge. But there is a very troubling concern about media reports of the woman, although accompanied by a police officer on the instructions of a magistrate, to return to her home for the removal of personal effects being left on her own to accomplish this dangerous endeavour, because the officer had in effect, left her unprotected.

If this is true — and from all reports it is — then it constitutes a most serious dereliction of duty on the part of the law woman, on a particular assignment that at all times should demand timely and swift action; since rescuing and saving a life often depends on the former’s initiative.

It is incomprehensible that such a failure on the part of the rank to give protection to the woman could happen. And it is even more so, given the fact that it had been ordered by the court. That the latter action had been taken because the woman’s personal well-being had been under threat, a fact which the court must have known and therefore acted in accordance, which it is empowered to do.

Such serious irresponsibility on the part of the errant officer will certainly cause torrents of severe criticism from the public. One can appreciate such reactions, given the numerous complaints from the general public, victims, and relatives of murdered women, who have been known to publicly criticise the cavalier and callous approach of police personnel whenever receiving reports on inter-personal and gender-based violence.

Such an irresponsible attitude that had been inherently derived from the traditional view that domestic violence was of a purely private issue between two parties, was the reason for the raft of measures over the years, designed to sensitise police officers–both male and female–to the cruel realities of a social behaviour that has accounted for the lives of so many wives/companions/girlfriends, in many instances leaving orphans in its cruel wake, since the perpetrator, husbands, etcetera often commit suicide, as in this instance. The social fallout that often befalls the children survivors are all too well known.

There have been so many seminars, lectures, and other related encounters, delivered by seasoned professionals, on the scourge that is domestic violence, its impact on the family and on society, and especially the role that lawmen are expected to play in the engagement of this social brutality, that there can hardly be any policeman/woman who can claim ignorance of its threat to society, and how to treat with specific cases.

It is for this reason, which we hasten to add, that there have been steady improvements over time, as to the response mechanism of police stations and their officers, to persons who are affected by this beastly act. There have been more convictions of perpetrators, as well as counselling being recommended for parties who have very serious differences. The latter, also underlined above.

Be that as it may, police officers must be reminded of the monster that is domestic violence: it has assumed very deadly proportions, with the perpetrators opting for the extreme of death, as their solution to a situation that threatens the end of a relationship. It means that police officers have to be alerted at all times to every report of the incidence of this cruelty, and of this almost predictable possibility, and act in accordance with modern standard operating procedures regarding approach and response.

It means, too, that no report which centres on the person of a woman at threat of deadly violence, or even a man, should be taken lightly, or be dismissed as just another case. Too many of our women have already lost their lives because of such an unprofessional approach. It must be re-emphasised that the principal function of each police officer, is to serve and protect; and this must include answering calls for help in a prompt manner, which means saving the lives of women often threatened by a creeping death.

We hope, that what is clearly a blatant failure on the part of the police sergeant in offering protection to the woman before she was butchered by her spouse, be investigated, and condign action taken .