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Domestic violence homicide at crisis proportion – Activist
Domestic violence homicide cases are at an alarming proportion in Guyana. This state of affairs requires a focused, proactive and unwavering response. This is the position that has been submitted by activist against domestic violence, Ms. Dianne Madray.
Ms Dianne Madray
Madray, a Guyanese who resides in the United States, shared how she has been able to track at least one to two cases per year within the Diaspora community of domestic violence homicide. She however revealed that in Guyana the situation is dire, evident by the between 20 and 30 presenting, depending on the year under scrutiny.
“Some years are more than others. These numbers are not like other countries and you might say why we are worrying? Wrong response!” Madray cautioned.
According to the activist, “We need to see as a small country these numbers are at a crisis proportion and it must end here. It is not just the government’s responsibility, but it is all of us taking action, including families. You say nothing and do nothing you will get nothing. Therefore don’t complain it is the government’s responsibility.”
She moreover sees collaboration and proactiveness as key elements needed to help realise results that can impact not only individuals but entire communities. It has been just such an approach that the ‘Let the Women Speak’ movement has adopted to help the police force solve murders which were the result of domestic violence.
The movement formerly known as formerly ‘Caribbean America Domestic Violence Awareness’ [CADVA], has had a significant hand in helping the Guyana Police Force solve some major cases, among the most significant the Babita Sarjou case and more recently the Shanett Savory case.
According to Madray, who sits at the helm of the group, the ‘Let the Women Speak’ movement is a network of women investing in other women and groups. In fact, she disclosed that it became a movement long before the ‘Me too’ movement in the United States at the end of 2017 and the ‘Time’s Up’ movement at the beginning of 2018.
“As international women across the globe, we take the voices of all women seriously and to a higher level. The message here for 2018 has been telling the story that the voices of our women will be silenced no more,” said a passionate Madray. She was at the time sharing a press conference on Monday with Crime Chief, Mr. Paul Williams, and three of his detectives who have been working on the recently “solved” Shanett Savory case, whose alleged killer, Davendra Ramdiah, has since been placed before the court.
But according to Madray, “There are too many untold stories and we want to encourage and empower escalation of these voices: louder, clearer and stronger, especially from our Indian women. We need to begin to build their lives back, along with the silent victims, the children who then become orphans with a mother who has been murdered, and a father who is incarcerated or died by suicide.”
Even as she stressed the importance of collaboration, Madray disclosed that support and partnership with agencies such as the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] of the Guyana Police Force and the Director of Public Prosecutions is important with networking groups such as ‘Let the Women Speak’.
“The members of our group have skills that we can lend to CID and I appreciate the respect I was provided by Mr. [Paul] Williams and his team during the Savory investigation. This partnership and collaboration has shown me that these are men who will not succumb to the inflated egos as some others I have encountered…” said Madray.
Such an approach could prove to be detrimental to solving cases said Madray, as she shared, “In view of my experience working on the Babita Sarjou case which took six years, disappearing files and countless follow-ups to eventually find her skeletal remains in May 2016, Shanett Savory’s case in 2016 was again prevented by said persons who may have intentionally caused this case to lag for almost two years due to their corruptive behaviour and lackadaisical attitude.”
But Madray is convinced that more cases are poised to be solved with the current open door policy that has been adopted by the police force crime-solving arm.
Pic name Madray
Caption: Ms Dianne Madray
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