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Moving down south to the Stann Creek District, the past year for one woman has left her traumatized and fearful for her life. The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, explained that she began dating Andre Kuylen February 2023, and by May, he had started physically abusing her. After the first incident, she gave him the benefit of the doubt, up until November, when he lit a fire inside the house she was staying in.
Now, she says she can barely sleep at night since he's still out on bail, despite repeatedly breaking the conditions. She spoke to us at our studio today.
Voice of Survivor of Domestic Abuse
"Starting in November, him and I, we were out one night and we got into, I wouldn't even call it an argument, a disagreement, and he left me at the party and then he went to my house, broke into my house and burnt almost everything that I owned. After that, I decided to get a restraining order against him and he was arrested. After that he did receive bail."
"We still had some sort of communication because obviously when you're in those kinds of relationships you still have a lot of love for the person so we were communicating and we met a couple times, this is even after the restraining order, but it started to get to a point where I wasn't comfortable doing it anymore so I decided, okay I'm not going to do this. Then one day I went to buy some items in Belmopan and he assaulted me again in Belmopan, he bruised my face, my lip was busted, I had to go to the hospital to get a checkup and then I filed another police report, he was arrested, he got bail again. After that, I decided you know what, no contact, I decided to stop talking to him, then a month later, he was in Placencia, I was driving home from hanging out with some of my friends one night and he chased me home in his vehicle and crashed into the back of my car and then I crashed into the gate of my dad's house so my car was mashed at the front and the back. At that point, my face his the steering wheel and I got a huge black eye, I think you can see it still but it's healed pretty much almost back to normal and he was arrested and he got bail again so i'm at a point now where it's like, what's it going to take for him to get some real…"
Reporter:
"For the bail to be revoked."
Voice of Survivor of Domestic Abuse
"Yeah, for the bail to be revoked."
The abuse and the constant worrying about when he will strike again has taken a toll on her mental health, and she's hoping the justice system will be able to help her regain her sense of safety.
Voice of Survivor of Domestic Abuse
"I do feel unsafe because he took his assault, he took his behavior to the house that I stay at now, after he burnt the house that I was in Silk Grass, I had to go back to my home in Seine Bight and now he found himself assaulting me there, it's very unsettling knowing that he's out, knowing that he's done all these things to me and nothing major has happened to him so I am afraid."
"It's very nerve wracking, I find it hard to sleep at night. After everything that I've been through with him, my mental health was not great, so I started seek therapy which I believe is helping me cope with everything a lot. I wish things would go back to normal but obviously that's going to be a process in itself, just recovering from being abused and trying to get back to a state of mind where I could feel safe again is definitely going to be something that I have to work hard on. So I'm hoping things get better."
We stress that while he has been charged for the assaults, he has not been convicted.
