Victims of domestic violence should not get to decide if they want to have charges brought against the aggressor, says president of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Paige Bryan.
“In Barbados there are a lot of crimes, including rape, that are not prosecuted because someone can come and pay you some money to have the charges dropped. We are saying that we need to have legislation that has more bite in it.
“One of the things that may be effective is that once it is reported to the police it becomes a crime of the state and the state would carry forward that case,” Bryan said.
The YWCA president was speaking Thursday from the organization’s Deacons Road office on the occasion of the announcement of the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event, a commemorative walk as part of the 16 Days Of Activism Against Gender Violence. (LK)
