Adult men are relying on their mothers to stand up for them in court over serious charges because they feel voiceless and emotionally dependent on them, according to social commentators. It’s feared the underlying issues could have a negative impact on the future of the Island, and the lives of such men, if they are not addressed. Elizabeth Roberts spoke to community workers after several cases recently where young men accused of violent crimes called their mothers as defence witnesses:When 25-year-old Antonio Myers found himself on trial at Supreme Court last month, accused of the brutal murder of Kumi Harford, he exercised his legal right not to give evidence in his own defence.But Mr Myers, described by police as a high-ranking member of the Middletown gang, asked his mother, Deborah Maynard, to testify on his behalf.Earlier this year, another accused gunman, Marico Bassett, 20, did likewise when his mother, Sharon Bassett, told Supreme Court she had never seen her son with a gun.The ten women and two men of the jury failed to reach verdicts on whether Bassett pulled the trigger on Mr Lightbourne, and a retrial has been ordered in the case.Last year, three other men accused of a brutal mob attack in Hamilton Parish also had their mothers give evidence relating to alibis. Two of them were cleared although a third, Bennett Phipps, 26, was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and jailed for five years.His mother, Edna Phipps, had told the all-female jury her son was at home in bed with the ‘flu at the time.All three mothers faced accusations from prosecutors that they were lying to protect their sons, which they denied.According to social commentators Bermuda’s matriarchal society, coupled with a large number of single mothers and young men who feel voiceless, may be the reason why mothers have been taking the stand.Sheelagh Cooper from the Coalition for the Protection of Children said: “Bermuda in the black community is a matriarchal society and always has been, so women hold the power, as it were, in a lot of relationships. So that would obviously have an impact.“I’m not an expert on black Bermudian culture but people always tell me that Bermudian mothers have a tendency to be very protective of their sons and are likely to expect a great deal more of their daughters.”She added: “Having looked at a number of these cases where there’s been a conviction, it’s clear that the mother has been perjuring herself in support of the son. You have to ask the question whether these women have been prosecuted after the fact. Because unless they are, this will continue to go on.“One never knows for sure whether the mothers have been pressured into doing this or what their motivation has been.”Government race relations consultant Rolfe Commissiong is working to implement the Mincy Report recommendations to help young black males who are falling behind in society.Stressing that he was speaking in general terms he said Bermuda’s black community is “certainly evolving strongly” towards being a matriarchy, particularly within the working class.“In many instances these young men are growing into adulthood and not seeing black men playing much of a role in many aspects of the society that they interact with. In the schools most of the teachers are women. At home, their fathers are missing and the mother is the dominant adult in the lives. And I could go on.He said Professor Ronald Mincy’s report on young black males indicates their earnings lag behind any other group in Bermuda.“As such, one can extrapolate from that that for too many of our black males, there is a growing economic and emotional dependence upon the women in their lives [mothers, wives, girlfriends, grandmothers, daughters]. And this is probably being exacerbated by the current economic downturn,” he said.“We also have to acknowledge that over the last 15 years or so we have seen a growing number of divorces within this community, and ruptured relationships which have resulted in the growth of single parent households headed by women. These households are also ones where fathers are largely absent in the lives of their sons and for that matter their daughters.”Mr Commissiong said that does not mean the fathers are necessarily unprepared to provide nurturing, guidance and financial support for their sons. In some cases, he said, they have been blocked from having meaningful relationships with their sons by the mothers, perhaps because the father ended the relationship with them.“This issue is complex. How we untie this knot, which is beginning to literally choke this community, will determine in my view the type of Bermuda we will have ten to 15 years from now,” he said.“Besides the issues of education, work-force development and discrimination, which the Mincy report highlighted and which the government is mobilising to address, we must also begin aggressively addressing the issue in the home and begin to heal the broken relationships that are starting to tear this country apart.”He said a good place to start would be finding a way to help the fathers reconnect with their sons. “Clearly, we can all point to examples of men raised by mothers in single parent households who have done well. In fact, there are one or two in the House of Assembly, but we must not lose sight of the fact that they are the exception to the rule and not the rule,” he said.“All evidence and studies indicate that the risk factors for our children increase in terms of crime, drug use etc when both parents are not involved in the nurturing and raising of their children.“‘My question, for everyone who cares about what is going on, is whether we can continue to play Russian Roulette with our children’s lives? I contend that the answer is self evident.”Community activist Carlton Simmons of Youth on the Move also spoke in general terms.He said that judges and magistrates in court cases seem more prepared to listen to women than men, whether the case is about a traffic ticket or child custody. “Those kinds of things have created a situation where young men are not prepared to speak on their own behalfs because they are not allowed to speak,” said Mr Simmons.He added that Bermuda’s prevalence of single mothers also means those woman have strong ties with the sons they’ve reared alone.“These types of things have long-term effects. One of them is there are many men in our society who have not had a close relationship with anyone other than their mother when it comes to getting into crises. Even a situation as serious as a court case, they go to the person they can rely on. That’s not the fault of the man or his mother.”