The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

DAYS after Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis suggested current laws provide solutions for victims of marital rape, Bahamas Crisis Centre Director Sandra Dean-Patterson said the laws are inadequate.

She said advocates still want the government to amend the definition of rape in the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, which limits rape to a non-consensual act against someone who is not a spouse.

Last week, Mr Davis suggested the Protection Against Violence Act addressed all forms of violence against a person, raising questions about whether his administration still intends to amend the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act.

Dr Dean-Patterson applauded Mr Davis’ acknowledgement that all “rape is rape” and last year’s passage of the Protection Against Violence Act, which she said fulfils one of the country’s obligations under international treaties.

“We have two big steps, but we need more,” she said.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force reported an 11 per cent increase in reports of rape in 2023.

An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study released last week found that one in four women in The Bahamas has suffered physical and or sexual violence.

A University of The Bahamas study last year found that 30 per cent of Bahamian women were victims of rape in a long-term relationship and over 50 per cent of adults favoured changing the law to remove the marital exception in cases of rape.

“To speak to the issue how the refusal to recognise that rape and marriage occurs and how that affects the victim is to understand that the victim feels like I’m having a major problem and as a country, we don’t care,” said Camille Smith, a Bahamas Crisis Centre volunteer and board member.

“We don’t care to make sure that it is named. We don’t care to make sure that it is included, so then am I invisible? Am I not here? Is my problem not really happening? Does not anybody care enough about what I’m going through?

“So, the impact of refusing to name this particular issue is to leave victims of rape in marriage voiceless, to leave them feeling that their self-esteem has been hit, to leave them feeling as if they don’t really matter, as if the problem that they are going through doesn’t really matter. And it makes it very difficult for them to come forward and get help.”

Dr Dean-Patterson also expressed concern about rising child abuse reports. The Tribune reported yesterday that child abuse reports soared 87 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022, the categories being physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, incest, neglect and abandonment.

Dr Dean-Patterson said yesterday: “If you have this enormous number of children who are living with this violence and you’re not properly resourcing the services to help them process the abuse so that they do not repeat it in later life, we have a problem as a country.

“So we have to address it, we have to respond to it and we have to properly resource social services. You can’t just resource the police, resource the prison, you’ve got to resource social services so that we can protect our children and make them good citizens, and not citizens who are going to repeat violence.”