With the “horrendous” escalation of sexual assaults against women, the country is fast on its way to developing into a rape culture, Bahamas Crisis Centre director Dr Sandra Dean-Patterson warned.
Noting that rape is considered the second most serious crime after murder, Dr Patterson said authorities should seriously focus on combating the issue of sexual assault and heinous crimes against children.
The truth about the rate of rapes in the Bahamas was questioned last week when this newspaper revealed that while official Royal Bahamas Police Force statistics reported 104 cases, Princess Margaret Hospital records said in actuality there were 147.
“It is unacceptable,” she said, “the number of children and women who cannot live normal lives in our society because of the rate of sexual crimes against them. We have to be concerned about this and the steps we are taking to do something about it.
“We have to put a stop to this because it is an horrendous problem in this country that has us headed well on the way to developing a culture of rape.”
