Child abuse: 856 cases in just one year

As of Wednesday, August 9, 2017

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THERE were 856 recorded cases of child abuse in the country last year, with neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse accounting for 92 per cent of the total incidents reported to the Department of Social Services.

According to these latest statistics which were requested by The Tribune, between January and December 2016, officials saw 478 cases of neglect, 180 incidents of physical abuse and 130 cases of sexual abuse.

Incest followed as the fourth highest kind of child abuse reported to officials, with 33 incidents.

Emotional abuse, abandonment and verbal abuse, although smaller in scale to the other more serious incidents, were also recorded with 17, 13, and five cases respectively.

A further break down by island revealed that 76 per cent of all incidents happened in New Providence.

In the capital, 655 cases of child abuse were recorded. Neglect accounted for 389 incidents, physical abuse with 140 cases and there were 69 cases of sexual abuse. Official also said there were 31 cases of incest in New Providence.

In Grand Bahama, there were 91 reported cases of abuse. Of this number, 42 incidents of incest were recorded along with 30 cases of sexual abuse and 16 cases of physical abuse.

Officials recorded 33 overall cases of child abuse in Central Abaco, 24 in North Abaco, 12 in North Eleuthera, seven in Crooked Island, six in Central Andros, five in Harbour Island, Cat Island and South Abaco and three cases in South Eleuthera.

While child abuse numbers for 2015 were not readily available, there were less reported cases in 2014 and 2013.

Back in 2015, then Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin reported 597 cases of child abuse in 2014 and 487 cases in 2013.

According to the then minister, there were 243 cases of neglect, 173 physical abuse cases, 121 reports of sexual abuse, 37 cases of incest, nine cases of verbal abuse, eight abandonment cases and six emotional abuse cases in 2014.

In 2013, there were 257 cases of neglect, 113 cases of physical abuse, 95 cases of sexual abuse, five cases of verbal abuse, nine cases of emotional abuse, two cases of abandonment and six cases of incest.

tell_it_like_it_is 7 years, 4 months ago

What a shameful indictment, especially since we know these cases are under reported.

sealice 7 years, 4 months ago

wow almost (3) cases a day for a year - Mr. Bell / Mr. Nottage WTF have you been doing for the past 10 years?

baldbeardedbahamian 7 years, 4 months ago

This is very disturbing. Abuse is passed down through generations. It will take many generations before the actions of these evil parents are mitigated. Abortion is both illegal and socially unacceptable in our country. Fornication however is neither illegal or unusual. To paraphrase Shakespeare "is it better to bear a child and abuse that child or to abort so that child will never live and neither be abused?" I have no answer to this question but I do know that the Bahamas is amongst the top ten most murderous countries in the world, and likewise for rape.

John 7 years, 4 months ago

It's the economy stupid! Who said that? But in fact when times are hard parents/guardians ten to see children as a liability rather an asset or even a blessing. And so the attitude is 'I can hardly take care of myself and I also have to take care of you u'. Then there's the neglect because parents are busy chasing the money. Then there are trusted friends and family members who take advantage of the situation. It is especially common for children to be abused by live in boyfriends or visiting uncles.

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