By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

LATEST statistics released by police continue to show an increase in reported rapes, with 51 matters reported so far for the year when compared to 48 incidents that were recorded in 2021 - with police calling the figures for sexual violence “startling”.

The recent police statistics also show there were 69 cases of indecent assault reported to local authorities and ten reported incidents of incest between January 1 and August 23.

As it relates to unlawful sexual intercourse, data shows there were seven cases reported to police; while there were 39 incidents of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14 and another 37 reported unlawful sex cases with individuals between 14 and 16 years of age.

The figures were presented yesterday by Assistant Commissioner of Police Dellareece Ferguson, who is also the head of the RBPF’s Domestic Violence Unit.

She was speaking to those attending yesterday’s consultation meeting on the draft CARICOM Regional Gender Equality Strategy (CRGES) at Superclubs Breezes.

 She also revealed there was one reported case of sexual violence with a mentally ill person and seven reported incidents involving dependents.

 Police also received six unnatural male sexual intercourse reports.

 She added: “That’s our numbers for the year to date from the first of January to the 23rd of August. Those numbers, ladies and gentlemen in the room, (are) startling.”

 She also gave recent statistics on domestic violence related incidents, saying there have been six domestic violence murder cases recorded so far for the year.

 She also warned that if the trend continues, this year’s figures could surpass that of 2021 and 2020 which represented eight and six respectively.

 “Ladies and gentlemen, these are the numbers that we deal with on a daily basis and some of the incidents that come to our attention,” she said.

 “But (what) I’d like to encourage you to do for us at the Domestic Violence Unit is to re-encourage those persons that you may know to give us a call and come and visit with us so that we can sit down and help them to go through the various situations that are going on,” she added.

 “I can tell you that we are working diligently, day in and day out to make sure that if a report is made against our very own, that we leave no stone unturned.”

 She also committed the unit to ensuring that domestic violence and gender-based violence is eliminated or “minimised to the greatest extent.”

 According to ACP Ferguson, the Domestic Violence Unit was formed in July of this year as mandated by new police commissioner Clayton Fernander.

 She said key priorities of the unit include training officers on how to effectively respond to gender based or domestic violence situations, and collaboration with various government agencies to raise awareness on social issues among other things.

 “Some of the key indicators for us,” she added, “will be greater awareness of gender based violence and domestic violence among our officers, greater awareness of human smuggling and trafficking in persons, increase in the numbers of persons charged with gender based violence and domestic violence, but reduction in exploitative incidents, and number five effective, efficient and effective investigations geared towards gender based violence and domestic violence.”

 Domestic abuse and violence have been a serious problem in the country over the years, prompting numerous calls for more to be done to protect victims of gender-based violence.

 The Davis administration has already said it is working on proposed legislation that addresses gender-based matters, with drafts to Parliament said to be forthcoming.