“We must cease being just moved by outrage and in fact go past inertia to action”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Amidst nationwide outrage over the brutal death of four-year-old D’Onya Bella Walker, parliamentarians yesterday insisted on action to address sexual assault and the safety of children in the country.
The morning sitting of Parliament began with a moment of silence in honor of the young girl who died as a result of blunt force trauma to her body, according to police.
There was no evidence of sexual assault in the death of the child, according to officials.
House Speaker Patricia Deveaux began the call to action by expressing her shock over the incident.
“Beautiful Bella was tragically stripped of her innocence and robbed of a future to be a pioneer in our society,” she said.
“As a mother, I am appalled and mortified; and as speaker of the house, I urge my fellow parliamentary colleagues to join me in protesting such heinous acts so as to protect our precious ones.”
Centreville MP Jomo Campbell, who noted that the young girl was a resident in his constituency, said he wanted to reaffirm his commitment as a state minister to pass and strengthen the necessary laws to enhance protection of the most vulnerable in society.
“It is our desire to see the enhancement of the administration of justice in this regard, through the creation of a sexual offenses court,” said the minister of state for legal affairs.
For his part, Marco City MP Michael Pintard said parliamentarians must move with haste to seek justice for Bella.
“We have a tendency to be moved by a tragedy at the moment and then we slip back into the inertia that has prevented us as a country from making meaningful changes in a timely fashion,” he said.
Meanwhile, East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson called for the formation of a select committee to investigate the issue and make recommendations to the government on action to be taken.
National Security Minister Wayne Munroe insisted that public outrage surrounding the matter is not enough.
He noted that although there was outrage in the aftermath of the brutal murder of 11-year-old Marco Archer in 2011, neither the Marco’s Alert nor the Sex Offender Registry has been enacted.
“I’ve come to the conclusion in line with Marco City that as a country, we get excited to outrage, we become outraged, we meet, we decide to do something and then all of that outrage and activity collides with inertia,” Munroe said.
The national security minister insisted that the public can expect both initiatives to become a reality in a very short period of time.
He also pointed to the most recent incident where a woman stabbed her boyfriend after he allegedly had sexual intercourse with her daughter in their southwest New Providence home on Tuesday around 1pm.
The girl was transported to the hospital for examination and the man has been arrested.
“We need to be focused and we need to have something a little more than outrage as that mother physically defended her child,” Munroe said.
“We must cease being just moved by outrage and in fact go past inertia to action.
“I’ve been appointed by the prime minister and I will not sit and talk or become outraged; I will act.”
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