Santo Domingo.- In the midst of the social and economic crisis the country is going through, gender violence continues to be one of the most denounced forms of abuse in the Dominican Republic, by women who are victims of physical or psychological abuse by their partners or ex-partners. , as recently stated by the Unit for Attention to Victims of Gender Violence, of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).
Almost two years after that event for which she was about to lose her life, the 30-year-old says that her case was forgotten by the authorities, who never found the whereabouts of her attacker.
“That was forgotten. The authorities followed me up at first but the case fell off at once, as if to say okay, she’s alive now. They did not continue to follow me up,” Peña said.
On a day like today, when the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is commemorated, Elizabeth sadly remembers that episode that she says has marked her physically and emotionally, as she says she has not been able to regain confidence when she went out, nor feel safe anywhere for fear of being attacked again.
During her physical recovery process, she and her son, now 10 years old, received psychological assistance for gender violence on one occasion, which she considered insufficient to overcome the traumas caused to her and her firstborn.
“After they tried to kill me, my son was nervous and he still says that when he grows up he is going to kill him,” he declared.
The child refers to Miguel Ángel Jiménez, his mother’s attacker, who under the influence of alcohol stabbed him 9 times that pierced his abdomen, breasts, and other parts of his chest, at his home in the Los Guaricamos sector, Santo Domingo Norte.
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Due to the assassination attempt and the fugitive status of her partner, Peña had to move out of the area, but three months later her economic precariousness forced her to return to her grandmother’s house, the same house where she was stabbed.
Speculations
As if the physical and emotional wounds she was going through were not enough, Elizabeth said she felt ashamed of the marks on her body that remind her of what happened and she still suffers from the speculation of some neighbors, who justified Jiménez’s violence with an alleged infidelity of part of her, which she denied.
“Being very ashamed with my marks and the speculations of people who say that it was for cheating, but it was abuse on their part; I only asked him for a message, ”he said.
Peña asks the authorities not to forget her case or that of so many women who have been victims of gender violence, she says that her end could have been another but God worked so that she did not die.
Figures in DR
About 51 women have died in the hands of their partners or ex-partners so far in 2022 in the country. Of these cases, 23 of the murderers have committed suicide.
Meanwhile, the director of the Attention Unit for Victims of Gender Violence, of the Attorney General’s Office, Ana Andrea Villa Camacho, recently declared that violence against women was the most reported crime during the past year 2021, with approximately 87 thousand complaints throughout the country. Santo Domingo being the province with the highest incidence, followed by Santiago and the National District.
The data
According to UN Women56% (more than half) of the women murdered in the world in 2021, died at the hands of their partners, ex-partners or other relatives.
The figures indicate that, on average, every hour more than five women or girls are murdered in the world by a member of their closest environment, with the warning that this figure may be higher since, in many cases, there are no details about the circumstances of the deaths.
