We Can’t Build Strong Families in a Violent Nation: Duncan Sutherland Demands Safer Future for Women and Children
Kingston, Jamaica. May 16, 2025: On World Family Day, as we celebrate the essential foundation of society, the family, Patricia Duncan Sutherland, Opposition Spokesperson on Social Transformation and President of the PNP’s Women’s Movement, is calling for urgent national action to end the epidemic of violence against women and children.
Yesterday the country was plunged into a state of disbelief and outrage as we watched a man beat a woman because of a fender bender. A brutal pattern of violence against women has seized national attention and demands an uncompromising response.
The trial of Constable Noel Maitland for the alleged murder of Donna-Lee Donaldson continues to expose deep fractures in how we value women’s lives. Only a week ago the nation struggled to process the brutal raped and murder of nine year old, Kelsey Ferrigon by a recently released sex offender, a horrifying consequence of our broken systems for monitoring and rehabilitation. The country is now searching for a missing University of Technology student. “These are not isolated events. They are symptoms of a deep societal crisis, where violence is normalized,” Duncan Sutherland said.
While commending the police for their swift arrest in the road rage incident and their response in the wake of Ferrigon’s murder, she stressed that enforcement alone is not enough. “We must go beyond outrage and hashtags. We must transform mindsets. Too many men still equate masculinity with domination and violence. That mindset must die for our daughters to live.” She further urged citizens to raise their voices, not just in mourning, but in unrelenting advocacy.
“We need a Jamaica where speaking up for women and children is not a risk but a responsibility. Where silence is not the price of survival. And where every girl grows up knowing that her body is hers alone and where men and women choose to live together in Jamaica with respect, love and value each other”. She added, “If we say we believe in family, then we must believe in justice, safety, and dignity for every woman and every child. We must strive for respect and love between our men and women”
This call comes in the wake of harrowing statistics released by Superintendent CISOCA, revealing that more than 3,000 sexual offences were reported against over 2,100 children between January 2023 and May 2025. Of the 333 cases already reported this year, rape, grievous sexual assault or sexual intercourse with a child under 16 accounted for 76% of the cases.
“This is not just a national crisis. This is a national disgrace,” Duncan Sutherland stated. “Behind every number is a name, a child robbed of their safety, a woman robbed of her dignity, a family left shattered.”
Time come to end violence against women and girls.
