There are times when talk is not enough, and strong, maybe even controversial actions, have to be taken. No one knows this better than Reverend Annett Brown, who admitted that she punched a male member of her church in the face several times because he was repeatedly abusing his wife.

Brown, who was representing the Jamaica Council of Churches at a public forum on Violence Against Women at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew yesterday, said that while she was not glorifying her actions, she would never condone women she came in contact with staying in abusive relationships.The pastor started her address to the gathering: “I begin with a controversial story. One Sunday morning, I punched a man in his face four times because he was abusing his spouse and even after much counselling and talking to, he decided to escalate it. He thought that by coming into worship and abusing her, he was going to get away with it, and I was just fed up.”(Jamaica Gleaner)…[+]