Raped by my father ... woman claims she endured three years of abuse

Following a social media post by a woman who claims that her father raped her for three years while she was a child, psychologist Dr Patrece Charles says that there should be a national campaign to tackle the monster that is incest, which is quietly rampant in the country.

Charles, who is the lead counsellor at the Phoenix Counselling Centre in Kingston, said that she regularly comes across patients who are victims of incest.

"It's so rampant in Jamaica that it has become the norm. There are many parishes; when you go to St Thomas, St Mary, incest within the communities is like the norm," she said.

OUT ON PAROLE

In the post, the woman, who has also written a book detailing her experience, showed a picture of her alleged abuser.

She said that the man was convicted of raping another of his daughters but is now out on parole.

THE STAR made unsuccessful efforts to contact the woman.

In another video, she claims that since the original post, several family members have told her that she is disgracing the family.

She defended the post, saying that several persons had reached out to her, saying that her father had also raped them.

"At least four persons have reached out to me, saying that my father raped them," the woman said in the Facebook video.

Charles believes that social media can be a tool through which awareness about incest in Jamaica can be raised.

"We need to turn the tide on incest in Jamaica and make it totally unacceptable, and so if we can create that awareness through social media, it would be something powerful," Charles said.

In comparing the situation in the US, where several prominent men have recently lost their jobs because of accusations of sexual misconduct, Charles said that Jamaicans are still too slight with sexual abuse.

"We need to let people know that this is not OK. And even though I don't agree that a person who has been accused of rape should lose his or her life, I still think that we are a little too lenient on persons who carry out these acts," Charles said.