FIGHTING WOMEN have been ordered to stop or face the full weight of the court.

This comes from Magistrate Christopher Birch, who is concerned about the number of catfights coming before him over the last few months.

His comments came against the backdrop of nine cases where women were either fined or remanded on assault and serious bodily harm charges, when they appeared before him in the Traffic Court over the last month.

Addressing the issue on Wednesday, the magistrate said he was extremely concerned about female-on-female violence.

He told the SATURDAY SUN there had been a sharp increase in young women assaulting each other and that young women seemed "hell-bent" on attacking each other in Bridgetown every Saturday.

"This matter first caught my attention last November when I started acting on the Bench. One of the cases I dealt with was a young woman who was armed with a pair of scissors and told the court she carried it for protection from another group .... It is only a matter of time before women are brought before this court on more serious charges."

What was even more bothering, he said, was that sometimes the violent acts were committed in front of children. (JW)