37 cases a month

A NEW POLICE UNIT on domestic violence dealt with more than one case a day in its first six months of operation, it was revealed yesterday.
From June to December 2013, the Family Conflict Unit intervened in 220 cases, an average of about 37 per month.
Twelve involved serious beatings, of which five resulted in deaths.
Erwin Boyce, an Assistant Commissioner of Police responsible for crime, released the startling statistics to the SUNDAY SUN on International Women’s Day.
He said that a very high percentage of calls to the police were domestic in nature.
Of the cases involving violence, 127 people were arrested and charged, Boyce said.
Apart from the five homicides, 74 of the cases were for major assaults, 26 for serious bodily harm or wounding, 38 minor assaults, 22 threats, 18 criminal damage, six disputes, five warnings or cautions, four for trespass, three each for theft, arson and fear of violence, two for trespass and one each for burglary, aggravated burglary, cybercrime, having an offensive weapon and disorderly behaviour (peeping).
Men also continued to be the main aggressors and the major perpetrators of domestic violence.
Some of the referrals came from NGOs, including the National Organisation of Women, the SAVE Foundation and the Barbados Professional Women’s Club.
Boyce reported that during the period under review the Family Conflict Unit assisted 23 people, out of 135 for the entire force, in securing protection orders from the court.