Calls to legislate ‘private hire’ vehicles and stop victim-blaming as another woman is murdered in Trinidad & Tobago · Global Voices
Stop Violence Against Women. Image by <PERSON> on Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Violence against women is once again the issue of the day in Trinidad and Tobago after 18-year-old <PERSON> went missing on November 29. The teen, who was last seen getting into what is known as a Private Hire (PH) car, called her boyfriend to alert him that she was on her way, but she never arrived at her destination. Her body was found on December 4.
Two men, including the driver of the car, have been detained in connection with her murder and police are searching for a third suspect.
The outrage on social media was instant, and the manner in which she was preyed upon hit far too close to home for many, including the mother of <PERSON>, a young bank teller who was found dead on December 8, 2016.
Social media users erupted after <PERSON>'s murder as well, saying, “Enough is enough!” but four years later, despite petitions and protests, gender-based violence and femicide remain a real threat.
<PERSON>'s death comes in the midst of UN Women's 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which aims to draw worldwide attention to what it calls “the already existing pandemic of violence against women.”
Facebook user <PERSON> recounted her own experience at the age of 18:
One morning I took a taxi […] and the taxi driver passed my stop and apologized said, “It’s ok I’ll turn around and drop you.” He then proceeded to a back street and said he’s just making the rounds and started taking the windows up. Immediately I started shouting and asking what he was doing. He started caressing my leg and saying, “It’s ok I’m just putting on the AC.” I started opening the lock and tried opening the door and fumbled with it while trying to fight him off and had to throw myself out of the moving car.
I keep asking myself had I not done that what would have happened! I can imagine the fear she felt because I was so panicked that it took me quite sometime before I could even breathe.
It’s so depressing that as women a routine trip to work or visiting a relative can result in sexual assault whether verbally or physically or in many instances death. 957
I pray for her mother…now being a mother myself it’s heart wrenching and I do pray that we stop telling women to be vigilant but instead ensure that men do better.
In a statement about the recent murder, the country's prime minister, Dr. <PERSON>, noted that there was a discrepancy between requirements for registered taxi drivers (who need a certificate of good character to operate) and the “PH” system, which he said contributes to the “danger of every <PERSON>, <PERSON> and <PERSON> being allowed to manage a vehicle and then you end up with this as an outcome.”
He admitted that the question now is, “What do we do about it?” The existing Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act stipulates that “no person shall use a motor vehicle for a purpose other than that for which it is registered.” There is currently no allotted designation for PH vehicles, but the practice is very common and not policed.
The PH arrangement is an informal one whereby a private car is used for hire, often by multiple riders at the same time. It differs from ride share apps like Uber, in that the car is neither summoned by nor tracked through technology. There is also no way of knowing whether or not the driver is plying a legitimate trade, making it a risky choice.
When asked what options women have when traveling at times or to places in which only PH drivers operate, <PERSON> responded, “Given the practicalities of the situation, we have to be always cognisant of our personal safety […] Just be careful.”
In 2017, after <PERSON> was murdered by someone she knew in the car park of a popular multiplex, Prime Minister <PERSON> controversially advised women to choose their partners wisely. The statement was widely interpreted as victim-blaming, a stance that netizens have continuously called out in the wake of femicide, even as they attempt to refocus the blame where it belongs.
On Facebook, <PERSON> posted:
Men whom I admire and respect have told me that this wanton violence against women won’t stop until men talk seriously to other men about their behaviour. So please, men, talk to each other – NOW. 892