NO BAIL FOR THEM

No bail for domestic violence perpetrators who breach protection orders, removing abusers from the home not the victim, amending the definition of cohabitant to include same-sex relationships and the police actually charging abusers for assault and other crimes committed in domestic situations are among recommendations made by Lynette Seebaran-Suite, chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission.

Their aim is to improve the way the country deals with domestic violence.
She made these suggestions yesterday at a symposium at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine on Deepening the Dialogue: Strengthening Domestic Violence Policy and Charting a Way Forward.

"People think bail is a right, even though the legislation says the magistrate should not grant bail if the magistrate feels the person is in danger. But our legal system says there is a right to bail unless the person commits murder," she said.

Seebaran-Suite presented Judiciary statistics for 15 years, from September 2003-September 2018. They showed the total number of applications for protection orders was 154,288. The average number of cases filed per year was 10,286, with 2009 being the peak year, with 12,106.
However, there has been a 33 per cent decline in applications since 2009, with 2017/2018 figures at 8,232.

"We have to wonder now what is going on with these remedies. Is it discredited, or is domestic violence going down in TT? What is the point?"

The abuse of Leisha Ramnath, 39, became a norm in her Penal household. For three years she was in an abusive relationship with a man who repeatedly beat her and threatened to kill her and her family. A week ago, her body was found lying on a mattress. She had been beaten and strangled to death.

Penal police visited the home because of a domestic disturbance, but nothing further was done. Her alleged killer is on bail for chopping a man.

According to the Domestic Violence Act, police must respond to every complaint, the Commissioner of Police must keep a domestic violence register, police can enter a home without warrant if they suspect there is physical violence, a person should be charged with assault and the police may charge for breach of protection orders.

However, Seebaran-Suite said often the police do not act on their ability to charge or intervene in a case of domestic violence cases.

"The legislation says they must charge you for the criminal offence, but they don't do that. If you go to the police station they will tell you go to the magistrate's court on Monday morning and make a protection order. They do not do anything on the day about the violence," she said.
Ramnath's abuse was well known in her community, but was never officially reported to the police.

Seebaran-Suite said one necessary legislative change is to make onlookers responsible for reporting domestic violence, especially if there is a known breach of a protection order. She is proposing a hotline should be created to report cases.

Seebaran-Suite also said one of the biggest deficiencies encountered in domestic violence cases is providing a safe place for the survivor to live.

"We in TT have still not come up with a practical, safe method of permitting intimate partners exiting the relationship where we have safe housing, finances to take care of yourself and children, job training and access to services. We are doing all of those things and we still have not come up with a practical solution to permit women to exit."

She also called for more gender-sensitivity training for magistrates, as many times magistrates would grant visitation rights for abusive partners to see their children, in spite of children being the most vulnerable people in domestic violence cases.

"They don't seem to understand that it is inappropriate to give access to the child to a person who beats their parent...the children are the most vulnerable, and they get scarred by witnessing it," she said.

Often when dealing with domestic abuse, the focus is on care for the victim and not the perpetrator. However, she recalled an incident early in her career when a woman was moving out of her abusive home and was accompanied by the movers, police and court officials – but was still murdered by her husband, who trapped her in the house.

Commenting on Seebaran-Suite's statements during a break in the Senate, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi disclosed, "We have a draft of the Bail Act, an amendment to the Bail Act, which we intend to bring to Parliament very quickly. In that, we're going to be proposing certain no-bail arrangements for certain matters."

Al-Rawi said that should satisfy Seebaran-Suite's concerns.

This story was originally published with the title "No bail for breaking restraining orders" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

No bail for domestic violence perpetrators who break restraining (protection) orders.

This was the call made by the chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission Lynette Seebaran-Suite as she spoke during the University of the West Indies (UWI) one-day symposium on domestic violence called Deepening the dialogue: Strengthening domestic violence policy and charting a way forward today.

The symposium was held at the Learning Resource Centre at the university's St Augustine campus.

Seebaran-Suite also called for amending the definition of cohabitant to include same-sex relationships, for police to focus on removing abusers from the home instead of the victim, and actually charging abusers for assault and other crimes committed in domestic situations.

Seebaran-Suite said in comparison to the rest of the world, TT has more progressive legislation for domestic violence protection. However, the structures in place to help victims of domestic abuse need to be improved.

She said her suggestions already have legislative support with the exception of protection orders for same-sex partners who are still discriminated against in the Equal Opportunities Act.

She also called for more gender sensitivity training for magistrates, as many times the magistrates would grant visitation rights for abusive partners to see their children. However, she noted that children are the most vulnerable in domestic violence cases and also need protection from the abuser.

Seebran-Suite said many of the agencies working with domestic violence often work in silos and do not collaborate. She lauded the attempt UWI made to create the discussions and research necessary to encourage state agencies to work towards improving the way domestic violence cases are handled in the country.