“While we know for a fact that there are many families experiencing abuse, we also are aware that there are people who will…come to the ministry directly and say that you are experiencing abuse,” Thomas said.
“Sometimes, our officers are so overzealous to assist because we know of the issue, we go ahead even without police intervention or no form of intervention and decide we want to assist and then realising that some of these people were not being honest in their reporting, that they just wanted another place,” she told journalists during the post-cabinet news conference on Tuesday.
Thomas said the officers in her Ministry are now following a specific strict protocol when dealing with those cases.
Thomas said that sometimes the women making the claim just want to move on because the relationships are no longer productive and there is no form of abuse as being alleged.
“But they use that because there are programmes and we in the Ministry are sensitive to the needs of the abused person,” she said, while confirming that some of these women allow the men to move into the house that the Ministry will provide for them as part of adjusting to life after an abusive relationship.
She recalled an incident in which a woman came into her office claiming abuse and both of them shared tears, Thomas said that it was later discovered that the woman was not only dishonest in her claim but that her partner was not even in Grenada at the time.
“So now we are saying that people must go through all the phases by having them go to the police first. If you are abuse let the police be your first point of contact…then the police report to us. After all the investigations and we are sure then we will help.
“If there is abuse in your home, we urge you to report it to the police,” she said, pointing out that the government will continue to provided assistance to persons who victims of abuse and in abusive relationships.
CMC
