Holness: 'We cannot continue to tolerate domestic violence'

Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, has urged Jamaicans not to tolerate violence against women.   

His appeal came against the background of several reports of intimate partner violence that have resulted in the death of women and even the death of a child.

On Friday in Westmoreland, 29-year-old Salema Reid became the latest victim, after she was allegedly murdered by her husband, 54-year-old Phillip Reid, who then took his own life by consuming a toxic substance. 

Addressing supporters at a JLP Area Two Council Meeting at the Portmore HEART Academy this afternoon, Holness said the government is preparing to table a Domestic Violence Bill to help tackle the problem. 

"We have had for too long a permissive society that allows a man to trespass upon the person of a woman without any form of rebuke; without the society saying it is wrong, and sometimes even with acceptance," he told supporters. 

He said masculinity in the Jamaican society has become defined as an exercise of strength and power over women.

"So in any form of conflict the man will have to prove his strength over the woman by trying to physically dominate her," Holness said.

"This is not something we can tolerate. This is something we must change in this society," he declared. 

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