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Dr Patricia Duncan Sutherland, President of the People's National Party (PNP) Women's Movement, says greater support must be given to victims of domestic abuse, while also emphasising that abusers must take accountability as part of the healing process.

Addressing a rally by the organisation Sunday night at Manning's School in Westmoreland, Duncan Sutherland emphasised the importance of dialogue and accountability in both political and personal relationships.

The rally was held in the constituency of Westmoreland Central, whose Member of Parliament is the Jamaica Labour Party's George Wright.

Duncan Sutherland highlighted the need for respect, responsibility, and honest communication went it comes to abuse.

She used the occasion to speak about the controversy supporting Wright.

Wright resigned from the JLP in 2021 amid domestic abuse allegations.

He faced public pressure to step down as a lawmaker after a video emerged in April that year showing a man beating a woman with a stool.

Though Wright never confirmed or denied that he was the person in the video, he and his then-partner, Tanisha Singh, filed separate police reports about a physical altercation that took place on April 6, 2021.

The case was closed after the two did not pursue the complaints.

Wright married the woman after a year of counselling.

Wright had been sitting as an independent member of the House of Representatives, although he said he supports the policies of the JLP administration.

Last September, Wright said he had "grown past" the allegation.

"The people see me as their hard-working elected official and they treat me as such," he said then.

Wright was reinstated by the JLP in February.

Speaking at the rally, Duncan Sutherland said many women find it hard to leave situations of domestic violence and that is why more support is needed.

"Comrades ..while many of us have the blessing of wholesome partnerships, 30 percent of Jamaican women do not have that experience, they are beaten by their partners," she said.

"They told us that a woman leaves a man five times when she's being beaten and abused before she finally leaves him, so we are saying to [women] we are standing with you," the PNP Women's Movement president said.

While calling for accountability, she lamented the need for healing, arguing that such a process requires an acceptance of committing a wrong.

"We are not saying that [men] can't be reformed, but to reform, you have to acknowledge what you have done wrong," Duncan-Sutherland noted.

- Albert Ferguson

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