Given the spate of women killings that wrapped up 2022, calls have been made across Dominica for domestic violence against women and girls to end forthwith. Health Minister Cassani Laville, head of the Catholic Church in Dominica, Monsignor Williams Jno Lewis, UWP’s political leader Thomson Fontaine, and police authorities have condemned the December 30 and 31 deaths of a medical student and market trader at the hands of their boyfriends.
On December 30, 2022, a heated argument broke out between Dr. Velma Valmond, 35, and boyfriend Alexan Alexander, 32, and Valmond was found dead in her bathroom with a deep cut across her throat. Her 18-year-old daughter was also severely injured while Alexander was discovered unresponsive with foams in his mouth in the bathroom. The police took Alexander and Valmond’s daughter to hospital where they are both recovering.
Then on December 31, 2022, another fight broke out between live-in lovers Avonelle Charles, 47, and boyfriend Marshall Jean Jacques, 48, and Charles ended up dead in the early hours of that fateful while getting ready to depart for the market. Jacques went into hiding but his lifeless body was on New Year Day hanging from a tree in apparent suicide. Valmond was the 17th homicide and Charles the 18th homicide in 2022.
Neighbours revealed that the deceased women had been embroiled in domestic violence for a long time – and the same is the case among several lovers and married couples across the country. Health Minister Cassani Laville has condemned the women’s deaths and every form of domestic abuse against women and girls, saying the spate of violence must end and that couples must learn to dialogue and avoid all forms of aggressive confrontations.
Monsignor Williams Lewis also expressed outrage at the preventable deaths, saying the incidents had soured the New Year celebrations across the country. He called on men to respect their wives and partners, saying women go through a lot to birth a child and that they endure difficult challenges to raise children that grow up to become responsible men. He called for prayers and marital understanding among couples in 2023.
Thomson Fontaine of the UWP was also outspoken over the deaths of Valmond and Charles, saying these were condemnable violence that the government ought to put structures to prevent. While condoling the families of the deceased, Fontaine urged men to avoid violence in their relationships and to respect women as vulnerable partners.
To the men of Dominica, I appeal to you to respect our women and girls. Violence of any kind against anyone in any relationship should never be an option. Find ways to speak through your differences and undertake to seek non-violent options to resolve them but show respect for those seemingly more vulnerable. Let us together work to end this cycle of domestic violence in Dominica.
Dr. Thomson Fontaine. Leader of the United Workers Party
Deputy Chief of Police, Davidson Valerie, also lent his voice to condemn the irrational killings on New Year eve. He appealed to Dominicans to shun violence and to settle family disputes amicably and with respect for one another. He said the police is still working to get to the root of the circumstances surrounding Charles and Valmond and Jacques deaths.
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