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Toppa_Toppa · 09-07-2008, 04:11 PM

An order, but little protection

Rohandra John rohjohn@trinidadexpress.com

Sunday, September 7th 2008

For ten years, Jenny Louis (not her real name) endured her husband's beating, silently. The first time her husband hit her was just days before their wedding. Louis, in love with the man who was to be her husband, dismissed the incident and married him nonetheless.

After all, he was extremely apologetic and had promised not to hit her again.

After the couple got married, Louis's husband beat her again and again. The abuse got worse as the years went by.

There were times when the mother of two was forced to cover her face with make-up to hide the bruises because she did not want her colleagues at work to know that her husband was abusing her.

"I will never forget the time when he literally cuffed me from the Queen's Park Savannah all the way over to the Lady Young until we came home.

"I had to go to work the next day, I had no choice. I used make-up to hide the bruises and my swollen face. But some of my colleagues realised something was wrong and they asked me what happened. I made up a story that held them for a while, but everything eventually came out," she recalled in an interview.

As if the beatings were not enough, her husband also verbally abused Louis. Her self-esteem reached an all time low. She was broken and emotionally distraught.

She feared for her life and was even more concerned about the well-being of her children. She eventually summoned the courage to break off the relationship, but this did not sit well with her husband.

On the advice of a trusted friend, she applied for a three-year protection order against her husband, believing it would keep her safe and out of harm's way. Her husband breached the protection order several times. Louis discovered she could not count on the police for help. In fact, she said she found the police indifferent towards her plight.

"There was one time he came to the house. I was inside and did not open the door at all. A girlfriend was with me at the time but I was really scared so I called the police but they told me they had no vehicle.

"Another time he came to my work place, he was a person who liked to make a scene but my colleagues knew I had taken out a protection order against him so they were able to alert me.

"There was another time he came to my new home and started banging on the door. I tried to block him but I could not, he pushed his way through the door and came in and choked me," she said.

Fortunately none of those encounters ended in her death, but Louis thinks the system failed her.

"Imagine calling the police for help and all they can say is that they have no vehicle. I felt hurt. I felt deserted by the system. I felt alone and I had a lot of mixed emotions. I now trust God, not the system".

Louis, now an evangelist who specialises in counselling other abused women, said many of these women also feel a sense of "hopelessness" with the current system and did not feel safe with a protection order in hand.

"I know of quite a number of women who have taken out protection orders but they still do not feel safe. When you think taking out a protection order will help cool them (abusive spouse), sometimes it can make things even worse. My husband got more agitated when I took out the order against him," she said.

Louis has lived to share her story and get on with her life but other women have not been so lucky.

Theodora Lares, 39 , a mother of two, and Rena Ramcharan, a mother of four, were both killed by their estranged spouses.

In 1999, Lares was hacked to death by her spouse while sleeping behind locked doors with the protection order at her side. During her eight-year relationship, Lares was chopped , choked and battered and on one occasion, her abuser tried to pull out her tongue.

Three weeks after she took out the protection order, the man entered the house in the dead of the night while she was asleep and chopped her to death, using what was believed to be a cocoa knife.

Only three weeks after, another mother, Rena Ramcharan, was hunted down and killed by her husband after she had secured a protection order against him. She had been on the run for eight months and had lived at eight different locations during that time to evade her husband. It was while making her way back to her new hideout home that her husband caught up with her.

He blocked her car along the Exchange Lot Road, dragged her out and rained chops on her in full view of their 16-year-old daughter.

Rena died in the hospital the next day, having lost an arm, hand and most of her fingers. Her husband drank poison when the police moved to arrest him and died within minutes.

09-07-2008, 04:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
Toppa_Toppa ...... Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Platform 9 3/4 Posts: 21,833 Credits: 3,895	An order, but little protection Rohandra John rohjohn@trinidadexpress.com Sunday, September 7th 2008 For ten years, Jenny Louis (not her real name) endured her husband's beating, silently. The first time her husband hit her was just days before their wedding. Louis, in love with the man who was to be her husband, dismissed the incident and married him nonetheless. After all, he was extremely apologetic and had promised not to hit her again. After the couple got married, Louis's husband beat her again and again. The abuse got worse as the years went by. There were times when the mother of two was forced to cover her face with make-up to hide the bruises because she did not want her colleagues at work to know that her husband was abusing her. "I will never forget the time when he literally cuffed me from the Queen's Park Savannah all the way over to the Lady Young until we came home. "I had to go to work the next day, I had no choice. I used make-up to hide the bruises and my swollen face. But some of my colleagues realised something was wrong and they asked me what happened. I made up a story that held them for a while, but everything eventually came out," she recalled in an interview. As if the beatings were not enough, her husband also verbally abused Louis. Her self-esteem reached an all time low. She was broken and emotionally distraught. She feared for her life and was even more concerned about the well-being of her children. She eventually summoned the courage to break off the relationship, but this did not sit well with her husband. On the advice of a trusted friend, she applied for a three-year protection order against her husband, believing it would keep her safe and out of harm's way. Her husband breached the protection order several times. Louis discovered she could not count on the police for help. In fact, she said she found the police indifferent towards her plight. "There was one time he came to the house. I was inside and did not open the door at all. A girlfriend was with me at the time but I was really scared so I called the police but they told me they had no vehicle. "Another time he came to my work place, he was a person who liked to make a scene but my colleagues knew I had taken out a protection order against him so they were able to alert me. "There was another time he came to my new home and started banging on the door. I tried to block him but I could not, he pushed his way through the door and came in and choked me," she said. Fortunately none of those encounters ended in her death, but Louis thinks the system failed her. "Imagine calling the police for help and all they can say is that they have no vehicle. I felt hurt. I felt deserted by the system. I felt alone and I had a lot of mixed emotions. I now trust God, not the system". Louis, now an evangelist who specialises in counselling other abused women, said many of these women also feel a sense of "hopelessness" with the current system and did not feel safe with a protection order in hand. "I know of quite a number of women who have taken out protection orders but they still do not feel safe. When you think taking out a protection order will help cool them (abusive spouse), sometimes it can make things even worse. My husband got more agitated when I took out the order against him," she said. Louis has lived to share her story and get on with her life but other women have not been so lucky. Theodora Lares, 39 , a mother of two, and Rena Ramcharan, a mother of four, were both killed by their estranged spouses. In 1999, Lares was hacked to death by her spouse while sleeping behind locked doors with the protection order at her side. During her eight-year relationship, Lares was chopped , choked and battered and on one occasion, her abuser tried to pull out her tongue. Three weeks after she took out the protection order, the man entered the house in the dead of the night while she was asleep and chopped her to death, using what was believed to be a cocoa knife. Only three weeks after, another mother, Rena Ramcharan, was hunted down and killed by her husband after she had secured a protection order against him. She had been on the run for eight months and had lived at eight different locations during that time to evade her husband. It was while making her way back to her new hideout home that her husband caught up with her. He blocked her car along the Exchange Lot Road, dragged her out and rained chops on her in full view of their 16-year-old daughter. Rena died in the hospital the next day, having lost an arm, hand and most of her fingers. Her husband drank poison when the police moved to arrest him and died within minutes.