ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica— Acting Superintendent Coleridge Minto, head of the St Elizabeth Police Division, is urging citizens to seek professional help in resolving domestic disputes in a peaceful manner through available resources.

Minto made the appeal after two men were criminally charged in relation to separate domestic disputes in the parish.

On Sunday, January 21 about 3:00 pm, 33-year-old Davian Williams otherwise called ‘Lucky’, of Burnt Savannah district in the parish, reportedly used a glass bottle to inflict a wound to a female family member during a dispute at their home. He was subsequently arrested and charged with unlawful wounding.

In the second incident, Andre Francis, a 43-year-old Security Guard of Burton district, Lacovia in St Elizabeth, was charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm stemming from an incident involving a family member at their home on Friday, January 26.

Reports are that about 4:45 pm, Francis and the female family member were at home when an argument developed between them. The dispute became physical, during which, Francis held the woman by her neck and struck her several times all over her body. A report was made to the police and Francis was promptly arrested and charged.

As their court dates are being arranged, Minto is appealing to residents to seek professional help before disputes escalate.

“We are seeing a surge in assault cases resulting from disputes within families. As a result, I am using this opportunity to urge residents to seek help through the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Domestic Violence Intervention Centres— we have one located here in Santa Cruz— or from Restorative Justice within the Ministry of Justice (MOJ),” he said.