Court: Intimate partner violence will not be tolerated

A HIGH Court judge said intimate partner violence will not be tolerated by the courts in a strong message on June 25.

The judge’s notice came during her sentencing of a man from Penal who admitted to raping his common-law wife in 2018. She said gender-based violence and intimate partner violence were prevalent and aggravating.

“I am of the view there is a need to send a message for these types of offences. My attention is not all husbands, men or even just men. The signal to all who fail to appreciate they cannot force anyone to have sex even with a history of previous consent.”

Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds said consent did not make intimate partner violence any less traumatic.

As she quoted from a statement from the UN Women Caribbean in 2023 on criminalising marital rape in the region, she said Trinidad and Tobago had done so without exception, also including cohabitation relationships.

“Spousal rape is a form of violence and is punishable by law.”

The law, she added, no longer immunised husbands from rape and women are no longer treated as property or chattel.

However, the judge acknowledged that even with progressive laws, the culture of violence remained in different forms.

And while no country, city or community was immune, Ramsumair-Hinds said no one was powerless.

“Patterns of violence are more pervasive but we can't let that continue. Violent cultures can be turned around.

“Twenty-first-century judges in TT have the added responsibility in sentencing in these types of offences.”

In the man’s case, the judge noted he used forced intercourse as a means of punishing his victim for calling the police.

For the prisoner, who pleaded guilty in April, she began with a 15-year sentence, deducting two years for several mitigating factors and the time he has spent in custody.

She also departed from the usual one-third discount for his guilty plea, instead applying a two-fifths (or 40 per cent) discount, leaving him with three years, seven months and 22 days left to serve his sentence.

She said there was a need for his continued detention.

He was also ordered to report to the Penal police station seven days after his release from prison for his name to be put in the national sex offender register.

The man also has to report as a sex offender for four years, twice a year. Ramsumair-Hinds also granted a protection order for ten years, warning the prisoner of the ramifications if he breached the order.

If either the man or his common-law wife chose to reconcile, either would have to apply to the court to have the protection order varied or revoked.

The man was also advised to apply to the court for access to his children on his release if he chose to be a part of their lives.

In a statement before he was sentenced, the victim said since the incident in 2018, her life had changed for the better. She said she was no longer stressed, was much happier as she no longer had to endure the physical, mental and emotional abuse and felt safer.

She also said her children who witnessed the abuse were also happier. Her main focus, she said, was church, work and her children and was able to rekindle her relationship with her mother, who stopped visiting because her ex-common law husband was also abusive to her.

She also said she was happy for reaching out to the police, who she thanked, saying she did so for her children.

Since the incident, the woman admitted she has not been in a relationship because of the trauma she endured, which she wanted to avoid.

At the sentencing hearing, the man was allowed to address his victim. He told her he was deeply sorry for his actions and the hurt he caused.

The man, whose identity is withheld to protect the victim, attacked the mother of his children after she

sought to intervene when he came home drunk and had an argument with their landlord over rental arrears.

The couple argued about his actions, during which he threatened to kill her. She contacted the police, who came to their apartment and warned him.

Shortly after the police officers left, the man demanded that she have sex with him. The woman refused as she reminded him that she was still recovering from surgery on her abdomen.

He then pushed her onto a mattress and raped her.

He was represented by Ayanna Norville of the Public Defenders’ Department while Charmaine Samuel and Guiliana Guy appeared for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.