The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 200 children sought help from the Bahamas Crisis Centre in 2025 after experiencing sexual abuse, underscoring what its director said is a continuing failure to adequately protect victims or prevent abuse in The Bahamas.

Sandra Dean-Patterson said the children, aged between three and 17, included boys and girls who had been sexually violated, exploited or assaulted, often by people known to them.

She spoke at a Child Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence Awareness exhibit hosted by the Bahamas Crisis Centre at the Mall at Marathon on Friday, which aimed to highlight the scale of abuse and commemorate victims of gender-based violence.

Dr Dean-Patterson said while domestic violence-related deaths have declined since 2000, when 45 percent of deaths were linked to such violence, abuse remains widespread and preventable.

She said perpetrators make deliberate choices and called for stronger public education, collective action and increased media support to reduce incidents.

“There's so much more we can do," she said.

"I do hope this election, we did invite candidates who participate in the election, to come and get this information so you can be aware of what the country is confronting and the damage that is being done to our children, to our citizens as a result of this violence, and there's so much we can do.

She also pointed to gaps in the justice system, particularly in investigating and prosecuting sexual offences, saying the focus should be on identifying perpetrators and building cases rather than simply increasing penalties.

“Increase punishment for perpetrators is what we call an easy fix," she said.

"You have to catch the perpetrator, number one, and we're not doing as good a job with that as we should. A simple thing like DNA analysis, when you have a rape case, you take a rape kit, but you have to analyse it. We don't have the capacity to do that.

"We are still in 2026 sending rape kits, and obviously, we don't send that many to Florida for analysis, because we can't do it. Who would think that? Here we are in 2026 we've been talking about this since the 80s, and we still don't have it, so, there's so much more we can do as a country and as a nation.”

Families of All Murder Victims founder Khandi Gibson also stressed the need for education and early intervention, particularly among children.

“I feel like every child in our school should have been here, because knowledge is very powerful, and it's very important for a person to know the friendly touches, the unfriendly touches, if someone was treating them or abusing them, it's very important for an initiative like this,” she said, adding that support systems for victims are under-resourced and called for a dedicated budget to ensure consistent assistance.