Reports of men being physically and emotionally battered by their wives have been engaging the attention of the Victims and Witness Support Unit as more men have been finding the courage to seek help, head of the unit Margaret Sampson-Browne says.She says in some cases there are men who cannot touch their salaries because that would spark ire from their wives."There are men who cannot talk to their friends when their wives are around and are being physically abused but they are not coming out enough as they should. Some have done it and have come to us and we have dealt with it," Sampson-Browne said.She made the claim at the launch of a programme, titled Integrating Gender-based Violence Services with Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Young People, at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, on Wednesday.
Sampson-Browne said there was one case in San Fernando where a wife badly burned her husband on the chest with a hot iron."His wife plugged in the heater and stamped him on the chest. He came in the station with a hole on the chest and my team walked him through the process of what to do."He also got a protection order but when we served her she thought it was a joke and she was laughing...she was like, 'how dare you'," Sampson-Browne added.She said last year ten men came to the unit seeking help after reporting they were being abused by their wives.
On the issue of buggery she said a mother from "central/south" made a report that both her father and brothers were sexually abusing her son."She reported that the son, his father and grandfather were the same. The child is going to college and he is behaving in a particular way," Sampson-Browne added.Whether there were sufficient safe houses she said that remained a challenge as the numbers were insufficient.Chairman of Advocates for Safe Parenthood: Improving Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE), Lynette Seebaran-Suite, who attended the function said it was important that women were given the tools to feel empowered.
