‘History of violence against victim’

University lecturer and social commentator Nadeen Spence has issued a call to action against domestic violence in the wake of Friday’s killing of a 34-year-old woman in Berkshire Hall, St Catherine.

The stabbing death of Nickesha DaCosta-Walters, allegedly at the hands of her husband over claims of infidelity, was the second in four days in the parish.

Alicia Patience was allegedly stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Lluidas Vale on August 22.

Spence lamented the recurring cycle of violence, adding that many people have apparently resigned themselves to the wave of cruelty that has overtaken the island.

She is also concerned about what she described as the distasteful narrative of victim-blaming.

“It is almost a certainty that when these things happen, there has been a history of violence against the victim. There needs to be greater intervention as some Jamaican men have become cold and callous ... ,” Spence said in a Gleaner interview Sunday.

“It won’t stop until the society, and even the courts, do more due diligence when handling these matters.”

Over in Berkshire Hall Saturday, an aunt, Christine Graham, said she is still in tears over the DaCosta-Walters killing.

Graham, who has been caring for the couple’s only child, is pleading for psycho-social support.

“I think the authorities need to counsel the brave little bwoy who ran and said that his father kill his mother. The child has been staying with me since the wicked act, and all now he doesn’t shed a tear,” Graham said.

“I am a big woman, and right now it is still ripping my heart apart. All now mi can’t stop crying.”

The couple were reportedly married for 11 years.

Claudine Fearon, a niece of DaCosta-Walters’, described the slain woman as a good friend and counsellor and a loving mother to her husband and child.

“The news of her death weakened me to the point of rushing to the bathroom,” Claudine said. “I keep saying, ‘God, don’t make her die. Just spare her life.”

Changes in behaviour

Residents and relatives of DaCosta-Walters say there were noticeable changes in the behaviour of the suspect, a seasonal farmworker who had returned to Jamaica in August, months before his contractual term was said to end.

“Him just drop a few words and wasn’t communicating with us as before. We hear that he returned home before time as people call him to say mi auntie give him bun,” Fearon told The Gleaner, using Jamaican vernacular for unfaithfulness.

“He said that him believe ... . Despite that, we didn’t expect him would kill har.”

Fearon said that she spoke with the couple days before DaCosta-Walters’ death and urged the husband to seek counselling.

She said he sought to defuse her concerns, saying, ‘Mi nah lick my wife.’”

The incident reportedly occurred after the suspect came home at 2 a.m. on August 26. The accused reportedly went into the kitchen for a knife and stabbed his wife repeatedly following a dispute. He subsequently surrendered to the Linstead police.

A relative said that there had been disputes in the past but that he never believed the worst would have happened.

“It’s more than once we hear fuss at the house, and by morning, everything good, so the murder really surprising still,” said Everton Graham.