TRAGEDY OF SHEILA AND CHILDREN

It is not unreasonable to argue, for example, that the high crime rate was a key factor in this tragedy. When the fire engulfed the home, Ms Bridgelal and her daughters were prevented from escape by the burglar-proofing that is now a standard feature of the majority of houses in the country. Everyone knows the one kind of death that results from crime — murder.

But other deaths occur as the indirect result of the social disorder of which murder is only an extreme consequence. The wide gap between the haves and have-nots, inefficient health services, poor education, the stresses of living in an insecure polity, and other factors all cause the deaths of persons who would otherwise live decades longer. In Sheila Bridgelal’s case, this house became a death trap because of a combination of poor maintenance and fear of crime.

But there were even subtler factors which led to this outcome. Ms Bridgelal was living in her parents’ house because she had separated from her husband. The reason for the separation was reportedly domestic abuse. This has been a perennial social problem
in Trinidad and Tobago. To be sure, significant progress has been made over the past 20 years or so. Husbands can now be prosecuted for raping their wives; women can now take out restraining orders against men; and beating women is not now a matter for men — or traditionally-minded women — to boast about.

Yet all this is only a simple foundation, on which an effective structure of prevention and treatment is still to be built. There is still a significant category of men who believe that hitting their spouses is the best way to settle a dispute. Nor have many policemen,
who are abused women’s first official resort, changed their attitudes enough to take reports of domestic violence as a serious crime. And Ms Bridgelal was merely one more woman in a long line of victims of such social mores.

But it is the poverty factor which encloses all the others. Poor people are generally less healthy and live shorter lives than people who are better off. But poverty is not only a matter of income.

African-Americans, for example, have far higher average incomes than Chinese or Cubans — yet Chinese and Cubans, statistically, have much higher absolute life expectancies than African-Americans. Amore precise definition of poverty is “capability deprivation” — a term which encompasses not merely income, but also factors such as health, education, even political rights. Ms Bridgelal was dependent on a relative for a home, dependent on the State for a disability grant from the State because she was unable to use her left arm, and had two small daughters to raise. The odds were therefore stacked against her, and her children.

A well-ordered society is one which tries to balance such odds in favour of disadvantaged persons — whether the disadvantage lies in poverty, health, education, age, or sex. This our society failed to do. The public is aware of Sheila Bridgelal’s death because of the tragic circumstances surrounding it. But there are many more people who are quietly dying before their time from a combination of factors that have less to do with material causes, and more with our country’s social defects.