Dear Editor,
I am tired. I am fed up. When will it ever end? How many more?

Why can’t someone understand that if you can’t agree, you should go your separate ways. You don’t own her; you don’t own him. The worst is how some persons justify abuse, justify the killings, how can you know that abuse is happening and do absolutely nothing. Two women, in a matter of days, two women were murdered and a child hospitalised because of domestic violence. The sufferings of these women didn’t start the day of their demise. I can’t even begin to understand what Savitri’s life was like, how many days and nights she cried, her pain and suffering, her sadness. It breaks my heart just thinking about all she probably went through in those 33 years of marriage, how many times her human rights were violated.

Shenese Walks was just 19-year-old, she was young ambitious woman and mother and just like that because of a disagreement he killed her. Two young people, unbelievable. I am thinking here, where we as parents went wrong in raising our boys and girls in resolving conflict in a non-violent way.

How can we forget the five-year-old, who has witnessed the abuse, who has been abused and who is now fighting for her life? Just thinking about the trauma she has experienced at just five years old. Children are resilient but come on, she should not have to experience this.

Men and women who abuse others are cowards who could only use violence to gain power.

As parents, we really need to empower our children and get them to understand that moving on doesn’t mean you have lost. We need to empower young women and men to challenge and break through prevailing norms that underpin violence in this country. We can’t be tired, we can’t give up, we have to keep empowering, we have to keep supporting victims, we have to keep helping them to seek help. We have to keep pushing and we have to help if we hear something. There are so many ways we can help, call the 914 hotlines, call 911, call a police station and make a report, call a neighbour, there is always strength in numbers. We have to do more.

Rest in peace Savitri Raj and Shenese Walks.

I am sorry that as a society we failed you.

Yours sincerely,
Shaundell Shipley