BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 6th December 2019)– Over the past three months and the start of December, a third female has fallen victim to a knife-point sexual assault in the Basseterre area resulting in members of the public expressing shock and concern.
To this end, this media house conducted an exclusive interview with a well-known security expert and owner of H & H Hodge Security Services Ltd. Juni ‘Scrape’ Hodge who has outlined some safety tips for females to keep in mind while walking to and from home or any other locations at nights and even in the day time.
“Call somebody ahead of the time when you’re going or where you’re going to so as to let them know that you’re on your way so at least the person would be expecting you at a particular time if you are going to walk by yourself,” he advised.
He continued: “The second thing is get somebody to go with you-preferably an adult- to accompany you. Thirdly, walk in areas that are populated with people, as in where a lot of people are around so that people can see you. Try to avoid the lonely roads and bushy roads and don’t take your time while your walk but instead walk briskly and even if you keep your head straight, keep looking left and right so that you can observe your surroundings and be alert of any suspicious person you see.”
According to Hodge, “One more thing you can do to is that if you have a bag, put your hand in your bag.” Although the reasoning for such was explained by him, those details have been withheld in this article to avoid giving potential perpetrators knowledge regarding this safety aspect.
Commenting on the recent reports of sexual assault incidents, Hodge expressed disgust and made a passionate appeal for men in society to stop violating females whom he referred to as princesses and queens.
“I’m really appalled concerning these incidents where our young princes and kings would want to violate our princesses and queens. We should be protecting them, honouring them instead of violating them. We have to realise that all of us came from a woman and none of us would want to know that anyone violated our mothers, sisters, aunts and other female relatives and others close to us so we shouldn’t do that to other people.”
“We have to respect our young princesses and queens the way they ought to be respected so that in turn we as young princes and kings would be adored and respected by our young princesses and queens also because if we treat you nice then the admiration that you would have for us would be overwhelming and it helps to build a safe society,” he concluded.
Notably, Hodge, who is on a controversial civil servant work leave situation having been told that his services would have no longer been required after completing his vacation in December 2017, still holds the paid position as Superintendent of Prisons for Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP).
As it relates to the most recent reported sexual crime at hand for the local authorities, police are currently investigating an incident in which a female was sexually assaulted in the Basseterre area on Sunday 1st December 2019.
Investigations so far have revealed that sometime after 5:00 a.m., a male assailant held her at knife point, pulled her into nearby bushes and assaulted her.
Four weeks earlier on Saturday 9th November 2019, another report was made at about 12:30 a.m after a male assailant reportedly held the female at knife point, pulled her into nearby bushes and assaulted her.
The first reported knife-point sexual assault for the year- to the knowledge of this media house according to police information- took place on Friday 6th September 2019 after a man sexually assaulted a young female at having pulled her into an unoccupied building in the Basseterre area, which was reported at about 10:45 p.m.
Police are making a special appeal to persons who might have any information regarding the latest sexual assault matter to contact the Special Victims Unit (SVU) by dialing 465-2241 ext. 4252 or via cell phone at 665-3091. Individuals may also contact their nearest police station or call the crime hotline at 707 if they have information that can lead to the apprehension of the perpetrator.