DOMESTIC violence, particularly in women and children, has been a prevalent issue in Guyana and has been placed under the microscope in more recent times. Recently, it was made known that persons affected can approach the Magistrate’s Court directly to garner help.

In an article written by the Guyana Chronicle on June 23, Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus shared with members of the media that persons affected by domestic violence or abuse can approach the court directly and a charge can be filed there against the perpetrator. This avenue can be pursued by persons who are not receiving professional services from members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

The woman stated: “Persons can apply for protection orders by going to any of the Magistrates’ Court. The applicant provides the clerk of court with the information as it relates to the conduct or words of the abuser. Affected persons can also approach a Legal Aid office or an attorney-at-law who can file for a protection order with the court registry, with an affidavit in support,” she said.

This protection order, or domestic violence protection order, as it is called, is a court order limiting the behaviour of the person who is being violent (the respondent).

I had a recent experience with a woman who was abused by her husband. She was seeking help from the police after she and her young children were abused by her husband. As she sought this assistance, she decided to stay by her sister who resides nearby.

However, a few times before she had made complaints to police officers at a police station on the East Bank of Demerara, close to where she lives, but to no avail. This time, when she went to the station, she was met with the same lacklustre behaviour from before, and resultantly, she decided to seek assistance from the Police Headquarters in Georgetown, which then directed that the same station closest to her investigate the matter.

In the meantime, a colleague of mine also advised the woman to go to Help and Shelter, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that provides assistance to persons affected by domestic violence.

A few days later, however, I received a call from the woman’s sister. She told me that the woman was in the yard washing the wares when her husband stopped by the house and took the woman away with him.

Later, the woman returned, collected her children and her belongings from her sister’s house and went back home.

Subsequent to that, the woman told her sister and I that she had managed to work things out amicably with her husband and she believed that all would be well. Her sister shared that she would reach out to me if anything happened.

About two months have passed, and I haven’t heard from them since, but I can only hope that the police officers from that area would be more prompt should anything happen in the future to this woman, or to any person affected by domestic violence. I’d like to imagine that the option of heading straight to the courts is one which many would embrace, especially with the hesitancy to trust in some members of the police force.

Whether verbal, emotional, physical, sexual or a combination of these- the scourge of domestic violence in Guyana has been worrisome in Guyana. During the past months, there have been grim reports capturing the attention of all of us. Spousal battering and brutal murders have been frequent and the ramifications of these incidents are unimaginable. The case of Zaila Sugrim who was brutally murdered by her ex-husband Ryan Sugrim was one that hit close to home, particularly because I knew the family.

Zalia endured years of abuse before finally breaking free. It is just unfortunate that she met her demise under those circumstances. But this just shows that we cannot afford to only think about combatting domestic violence if we are only aware of its occurrence when it becomes deadly. I’m hoping that this new arrangement with the courts would open up avenues for greater assistance.