…refuses to press charges against abuser
A 33-year-old woman is nursing injuries at a Berbice hospital after she was severely beaten by her 24-year-old husband.
Injured is Swaswattie Etwaru, also called “Ramona”, of Hampshire, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). She is a patient Port Mourant Hospital.
Speaking with Inews from her hospital bed on Saturday, Etwaru said that after leaving church on Tuesday evening, she went to her sister’s house and on her way home at approximately 22:00h, she was greeted by her husband. She said that the furious man broke a branch from a nearby plant and began beating her.
“He started beating me from about 11 o’clock till 1 o’clock,” the woman said as tears settled in her eyes. She recalled that she was also hit to the head with a piece of wood.
“I wait till he drop to sleep and then I come out the house,” she said, adding that she rushed to a neighbour’s house and was assisted to the hospital. The bruised woman said that she and her husband have been together for the past three years and they have a one-year-old child together. She is also five months pregnant.
Speaking about her abusive relationship, Etwaru said that this is not the first time she has received injuries at the hands of her husband. She said that he was previously charged and taken before the court. She admitted that she turned up to court on the day of his appearance and informed the Magistrate that she had forgiven him and did not to wish to provide any evidence against him.
According to neighbours, despite his narrow escape from facing the law, the beatings continued and became more constant. One neighbour referenced an incident two weeks ago which left Etwaru with a fractured rib.
Etwaru’s teen daughter, from a previous relationship, told this publication that she was forced to move from the home because of the physical and verbal abuse meted out to her mother. The teen said that since her mother was hospitalised, she is now taking care of her one-year-old sister.
She said that the infant still breastfeeds and it is difficult for her. She said that she cannot afford to take her sister to the hospital every day to breast feed. Meanwhile, Police arrested the suspect on Friday evening.
However, Etwaru stated that she does not want to press charges against her husband. She said that the she cannot see him being prosecuted since he is father of her daughter and also the father of her unborn child.
“I just want to make a life with him,” she said from her hospital bed on Saturday. (Andrew Carmichael)
