Life is certainly cheap in Guyana if you are a woman

Apr 11, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I will be a tireless campaigner for the imposition of maximum penalties for capital offences and I make no bones about it because it is the only way to stem the tide of these brutal murders as it relates to domestic violence.
Life is certainly cheap when you consider the inadequate sentencing of men for violent offences against women and I substantiate my argument by cross referencing two cases; there may be more.
Reference is made to an incident which took place in the United States where a man stabbed his wife to death then turned the murder weapon on her son who survived, the judge in that case sentenced that man to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
On the local scene, Ithaca wife killer Gladstone Williamson age 32 was sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison for the murder of his common law wife and attempted murder of her niece and daughter, similar cases but different jurisdictions. The reason for Williamson getting such a light sentence is the fact that this is a murder case and all mitigating factors must be taken into consideration before sentencing could be imposed. A background check on Williamson saw the prosecutorial team coming up empty handed it showed him being a “good boy.” Now that so-called clean record should not have been the basis for Williamson getting 22 years.
There is no caution here Williamson went there with the expressed intention to wipe out everyone leaving no eyewitnesses; anyone with half a brain can read through his plan and this is sufficient evidence to go by for a life sentence without parole just like the American got.
And herein lies the crux of the Guyana problem. Most women in Guyana fail to report or document violent domestic matters to the police, far less litigate such cases in court so there will not be any documented criminal record of the accused. These women always take the route that their abusive men folk will somehow change which is a tragic mistake. Our news reports are all too often replete with the tragic results of that silly though.
The fact of the matter is with that mindset of some men in society having “ownership of women” or that “control mentality” wherein a woman becomes the sole property of a man for him to act however he chooses; the sad reality of this is that we will witness more and more of these horror stories. Men with such attitudes are lost, they are doomed, but our women should not be doomed with them and this I would vehemently argue that the courts are not doing enough to stem the scourge. Our justice system is not judicious.
I believe the Human Services coupled with the Legal fraternity should mount television programmes to educate women as it relates to all matters of domestic abuse/violence and the various options at their disposal, so that they can help themselves. Almost everyone in Guyana has a television and women who are the target group here can sit in the comfort of their homes to learn and better equip themselves on domestic abuse matters.
The various campaigns and rallies which are held by the ministry so concerned take on the atmosphere of a big party rather than anything educational. These women need serious television programmes with a purpose; this I think will go a far way in solving this malady that pervades the land.
Neil Adams

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