Keep your crappy advice on rape to yourself

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IWRITE in disgust for Glenn Tucker’s defence of the Rev Aaron Dumas and the advice the pastor gave to an alleged victim of abuse. Whatever their capabilities are in their chosen fields, they have certainly let this young woman down in the pastor’s advice and the educator’s condoning same.

Victims of rape already have a hard time coming forward, and many cases of rape and carnal abuse go under-reported in Jamaica, often because of shame by the victim, threats by the perpetrator, and fears that no one will believe them. It is unfortunate, then, that an educator and pastor could believe that the advice to not report the crime is appropriate.

A study done by Paul Bourne looking at homicide, rape and carnal abuse from 1970-2013 stated that the annual incidence of rape and carnal abuse is 34.1 per 100,000 in Jamaica. This places us within the top five highest countries in the world regarding the rate of rape and carnal abuse. These are based on under-reported figures, so we are much worse.

With rates of rape paralleling deaths by hypertension and murder, this certainly places rape as a public-health issue in Jamaica. Bourne went on to include in his article that rape is not only a violent crime towards the victim, but it tramples on the victim’s human rights, dignity and psychological well-being.

Had the soon-to-be-in-law allegedly physically assault this young lady, I would hate to think the advice would be to forget about speaking until a decade or so later. What makes it worse is the degree of insensitivity from persons who are asked to give advice to vulnerable women and children. In the future, he should consider keeping his advice to himself if that is all he has to say.

Jamaica does not need hushhush advice from the clergy. In recent time, we have seen more and more men of the cloth being brought before the courts for sexual assault.

The #MeToo movement in the United States highlights that rape victims can take years to come forward, especially when they feel intimidated. When that trend reaches Jamaica, I wonder how we will respond. Will victims be comfortable coming forward or will we continue to ignore their stories?