Laws should be 'reinforced to protect victims' of abuse- Mrs BVI 2024
Speaking on Talking Points on ZBVI 780 AM on Monday, December 1, 2025, Mrs BVI 2024 and WIN BVI Ambassador Rhonda R. Victor-Pinnock said, as a domestic violence survivor, she wished restraining order laws were enforced.
“I got a restraining order before we actually ended, and he still was coming to the home, still had access to me. I called and reported it, but he wasn’t placed in jail.”
She said the restraining order legislation needs to be reinforced “so persons can be protected and feel safe”.
Addressing gender-based violence in the VI
Victor-Pinnock also said education is the first step in beginning to eradicate this type of violence from the Virgin Islands.
“Number one is education, because gender-based violence is not just physical.”
She explained that gender-based violence also includes verbal abuse, emotional abuse and even financial abuse.
“We’re taking it because we think it’s ok…we think it’s the norm. Again, that comes from cultural norms and what we think about men's and women's roles.”
Victor-Pinnock added that women and men should strive for self-independence.
Educate yourself so you’re not fully dependent on the man or the woman for their funds, get your own bank account, even get an escape plan if you’re in the situation yourself, know how you’re going to get out of it.”
Community involvement is also important, as community members should rally behind victims, Pinnock added.
“The community needs to support instead of talking about it, demeaning the person and making fun of that person [victim] and being judgmental even.”
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7 Responses to “Laws should be 'reinforced to protect victims' of abuse- Mrs BVI 2024”
By Tafari Zharr
Intimate Partner Violence is of CULTURAL RELEVANCE In the terror Of Love, Life, and Liberty in the Virgin Islands!
Regardless of your gender, identity, orientation or what side or whose side you are on a vessel has two sides just like Virgin Islands two (British and United States) we have to learn how to sail through our oceans and differences and create agencies to bridge the gaps between past and future generations - two things can be right at the same time regardless of whom feels wronged ( not dismissing victims - )
Abuse- Port or Starboard - it’s in the spotlight at a time when the Virgin Islands are being associated with horrific violence against minors, young adults, and in particular those women from the Epstein Islands case don’t make the heat of violence cool down.
Even though the tide is on the turn for women
It’s been a lifetime of persons being mistreated in worlds that never deepen honest progress to protect victims over objectification and subjectification.
Violence, like any habit, requires practice and then it becomes art. Like a brush stroke the painter inflicts his/her strokes of any physical abuse, but the victim paints the traumas that re-encounters via emotional scars drawn - palate of feelings; of solace with splatters of pain - stained glass in a broken rainbow chasing the overcasted VI Skies - hues that follows a child, grays that depress progress, angers that caresses disruptive behaviors and makes the patterns become existential anxieties and dilemmas for life.
A glance at the victim’s story reveals sufferings something she should have never experienced. The courage is there for us to embrace.
But at a time when VI is rebranding itself to discourage and disassociate from unwanted violence it seems unfair to exclude not what happens outside the home but inside. One could agree that we are what we learn and what we live but I think we might add the first step to healing is the religion of love; as relates to how we love - why we love, and who we love; rarely we ask the question about whether is desired a particular love or respect- that begins with protections.
Domestic violence - lives comparatively daily as it relates with The late Tina Turners iconic anthem “What’s love Got To Do With It”. Reminds how Intimate relationships are complicated, complex and courageous for the victims but it can be for the abuser who gets help - do we need programs that makes sense.
Spousal Violence, Domestic Violence, partner Violence: everyone not at once , and everything together or alone suffers; and this also resonates loudly with the drumming and noise of the Jeffrey Epstein - Little St James US Virgin Islands case; and allegedly where he allegedly trafficked underage girls for sex. Although Epstein is another stain on VI our home grown blind humanity is on us! Our women should never suffer any abuses.
Moving the goalposts our truth has to be rooted in our takeaway of who we will become over what we are becoming; but let’s start with the statutes that will protect the children and young adults over grown-ass men and their aspirations and reputations.
Intimate Partner Violence is of CULTURAL RELEVANCE In the terror Of Love and the battle for independence or autonomy- if this is a territorial right the same should apply to the abused!
The Practice of Violence is something that must be condemned by churches, courts, and communities not just for the safety of children but for the sanctity of a VI lifestyle that promotes commitment: freedom and wellness!
Copyright 2025 by Tafari Zharr. All rights reserved