So, apparently it's alright to imprison a 9 month pregnant woman who has not been charged with a crime, simply because she was victimized. It's just another example of the tendency to punish victims of crimes. Somehow, I doubt this is going to encourage abuse victims to stand up to their abusers.Noellee Mowatt has vowed never to call police again – in any situation, even if she's suffering.
Through choking sobs yesterday morning, Mowatt, 19, made the pact from a pay phone at a Milton jail, where she's spending the last few days of her pregnancy.
Due to deliver next Tuesday, the teenager has been detained at Vanier Centre for Women since Thursday, when a justice of the peace denied her bail.
Mowatt, who faces no criminal charges in this case, won't be let out until she testifies at her boyfriend's domestic assault trial on Friday.
Let's put it this way: abusers often work to annihilate their victim's self-esteem. They make them think that they're the one at fault, and that they deserve the abuse. Or at least, that society will hold them accountable for it, rather than the abuser.
Unfortunately, cases like this only go to support such notions, rather than dispel them, and give the victim more of a reason to trust their abusive partner's words.
1 comment:
So, apparently it's alright to imprison a 9 month pregnant woman who has not been charged with a crime, simply because she was victimized.
Your hyperbole is enchanting but not dispositive of causation in this matter.
She is in custody because she was evading her duty to testify, as directed by the court and as the rule of law requires. Following court directives is not optional - ever - unless the court provides the option.
No-one - ever - goes to jail simply because they file a criminal complaint with the police.
FYI, apparently she is not due until May. Why were the media reporting that she was due in a few days? I don't know.
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