Devon Dick | Why no love for the rape victim?

A female was raped five years ago by her sister's 'babyfather', and the rapist is about to get married to that sister - the mother of his child. Sociologist Glenn Tucker claims that Aaron Dumas, a Baptist pastor, "thinks the delay in reporting the matter was a missed opportunity and it was unwise to do so during wedding preparations". Tucker also chastised those who dared to challenge Dumas' counsel. He argued that "the condemnation of Rev Dumas' recommendation is really emotional, not clearly thought-out, and lacking the kind of assessment that comes from a trained mind, which I think Dumas has" (Gleaner, 'In defence of Rev Dumas', June 1). Holy cow! Why no love for the rape victim? We are more concerned with the dear pastor, sister, and wedding preparations. Advice to the rape victim that she should not inform her sister is part of the 'informa fi dead' culture!

According the Child Care and Protection Act, Section 6, it is mandatory for all persons to report known cases of carnal abuse. We must say what we know. It stands for reason that a counsellor or columnist cannot encourage an underaged child not to report carnal abuse. The counsellor or columnist would probably be liable to be charged for a criminal offence, and so they should. The only exception would be if the rape happened when the victim was underaged and five years later the victim is an adult. Then, the adult can choose whether to report. But remember, there is no statute of limitation on rape cases.

Rape of a child must be the worst crime against humanity. It is to tarnish the innocent and vulnerable with a pain for life. It is to burden a child with an awful experience when least able to process the ordeal. It can leave permanent scars of lack of trust of adults, hatred of men, obsessive desire for revenge, fear of getting intimate with anyone, fear of close relationships, and commitment to a life of loveless sex.

WORSE THAN MURDER

It could be argued that rape is worse than murder because the murder victim is unaware of anything after death. However, the rape victim never forgets the rape. The rape victim is often condemned to a life of unnecessary shame. This is too much for the rape victim to see the rapist, who has not even repented and apologised, at family gatherings. This is trauma for life.

The rape victim should tell her sister. It is wrong for her to withhold material evidence from her sister. Hopefully, the sister would not touch her babyfather with a long stick. In addition, the rape victim should report it to the police. The rapist, if he gets away with it, will more than likely try it again.

The man who committed this rape is wicked. He preyed on his own little sister-in-law-to-be. He should not be allowed near children until he gets rehabilitated in prison.

By the way, assuming that the rape victim had seen her sister's babyfather kill someone five years ago and now the sister and her babyfather are making wedding preparations, would the advice be that "the delay in reporting the matter was a missed opportunity and it was unwise to do so during wedding preparations?" I think not. So why treat rape differently?

Jesus said it this way: 'It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble" (Luke 17:2). Let us be careful about bad actions, bad examples, and bad advice.

- Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. He is author of 'The Cross and the Machete' and 'Rebellion to Riot'. Send feedback to columns@ gleanerjm.com.