Women advocates not happy with Magistrate’s words

Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes’ recent handling of a convicted abuser has not gone down well with at least one local charity and a woman’s advocate.

Both the president of the Advocates Against Domestic Abuse  Barbara Daniel-Goddard and outspoken activist Dr Marsha Hinds have taken issue with the manner in which Weekes chastised Tony MacDonald Speedwell last Friday when he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court.

Speedwell, who was seen on social media in a widely-circulated video repeatedly hitting his girlfriend, pleaded guilty to assaulting Erica Reid and causing her actual bodily harm.

But while Weekes remanded him to HMP Dodds pending sentencing, Hinds took issue with the comments the judge levelled at Speedwell.

She contended that rather than focus on the violence perpetrated against the victim, Weekes focused on the reason why the convicted man remained in a relationship with the woman.

“It really seems like an important part of the message that the Chief Magistrate was going for is that this man can be blamed for what happened because he did not leave this relationship when he realized that this woman was not deserving of his attention. To my mind it takes the spotlight away from his actions of being violent towards the woman and reframes it to her suitability to be in a relationship and whether she is deserving of a man’s affections and attention. That is highly problematic and it is a highly problematic thought pattern coming especially from one of the chief architects of the judicial system in Barbados,” Hinds-Layne said.

“I think that his response is full of a lot of traditional patriarchal assumptions about what triggers violence and that kind of thing when at the end of the day what triggers violence is men’s inability to construct love as something different from possessiveness and obsessiveness. It shouldn’t have anything to do with if a woman is a good woman, whether she slept home or this or that or whatever. The reality of the situation is that individuals need to understand there is a zero tolerance on violence as a way to fixing issues in intimate partner relationships.”

Hinds-Layne said there was a need to look at the way in which violence perpetrated against women in society was treated.

Meanwhile, Daniel-Goddard told Barbados TODAY she too was not satisfied with how the Chief Magistrate handled the situation.

She said she was especially disappointed by some “disparaging comments” made about local charities.

“His statement about charities not doing enough is not a fair statement. The judiciary is not doing enough. In a lot of instances females are going to court and don’t get justice and abusers are getting a slap on the wrist,” Daniel-Goddard said.

“The judiciary does not understand what domestic abuse is about. They need a sound education on what domestic abuse is. They treat abusers the same way as any other criminal who comes into the court and they don’t listen to the abusers. A lot more needs to be done and they need to look at how the judiciary interacts with victims and the perpetrators.”

Daniel-Goddard said it was not prudent for judicial officers to make “blanket statements” and to tell persons they can just leave without first understanding all of the dynamics.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb