Women cry for help

More needs to be done to protect women from domestic abuse.

That was the cry from a number of nail technicians and hairdressers in The City yesterday following last Saturday’s stabbing death of 36-year-old nail technician Onica King at her workplace in Mandela Mall, Swan Street, The City. Police are still searching for the culprit, said to be well known to her.

As outrage mounts over the brutal slaying, witnessed by King’s two children, the women said they were hurt and saddened by the situation. They called for justice for King, while offering condolences to her family.

One woman, who only gave her name as Lisa, told the DAILY NATION: “I don’t care if it’s BLP or DLP, whoever gets in, move some sort of law to protect we. Police and the justice system is too slack. They need to do more and act quicker, if not a lot more women will die during domestic abuse cases.

She added: “When women report things, people don’t take them seriously . . . . We need the justice system to do something when we come to complain for these people. What a restraining order can do? Men do not care about a piece of paper!”

“Bajan women need to come together and protest and let them know that we are not making sport. There needs to be a march against domestic violence. All the women need to come out,” she declared.

Meanwhile, National Organisation of Women public relations officer Marsha Hinds-Layne said the killing of King, a Guyanese national, was part of a growing trend of Barbadian men taking advantage of vulnerable non-national women. (DB)