to talk about their suffering. Experts tell reporter Karen Smith how convicted or self-confessed batterers should be made to undergo correctional counselling.

Men and women convicted of battering their partners or family members could be made to undergo a six-month correctional programme or face prison.

The Physical Abuse Centre already has the funding to set up the 26-week intervention course, but is hoping Government will agree to make it mandatory so people are made to attend, rather than asked to volunteer.

Counsellor Nina Jones said both men and women suffer physical abuse at the hands of their partners, but in the main only battered wives and girlfriends report it.

However, she said of those that complain and attend the centre, very few actually want to leave their husbands.

"A lot of women who come here claim their husbands and boyfriends are lovely in every other way, they just want the battering to stop,'' she said.

"They have no desire to leave their partners -- they describe them as having split personalities and only wish to get rid of the violent side.

"We know that people can be counselled and people can stop battering, but the difficulty is getting them to go for counselling. Most batterers come here just once and then they never return. We hope to start a Batterers Intervention Programme that will teach them how to respect the opposite sex and realise that domestic abuse is a criminal offence and wrong.''.

She said similar schemes in the US are very successful at getting abusers to change.

The men and women made to attend are given homework, which they must complete.

If they fail to attend three of the sessions, they must begin the 26-week course all over again.

Failure to comply with the scheme, means they are in breach of their probation or sentence which could result in a prison term or harsher sentence. "In order for it to work, the programme would have to be mandatory, so that if a person was arrested they would have to come to this,'' Ms Jones added.

"People would not willingly volunteer.

"We were hoping to start it at the end of the year, but it may take time to go through the judicial process. We would ideally like the programme to be part of the sentence.

"It's very rare that batterers are sent to prison. They are usually fined or put on probation. As a result, they do not consider domestic violence as being a crime and they do not worry about the consequences.

"They should be made to face up to the problem and change their ways. This programme would go a way towards that.'' Chairwoman of the centre June Augustus said she was about to begin the process of liaising with various different agencies and the judiciary in a bid to get the programme made mandatory.

She said: "It's in the early stages. We have the funding, but we could not make it work on our own.'' Last night Attonrey General Dame Lois Browne-Evans said she knew nothing of the initiative, but viewed domestic violence as serious and a real problem in Bermuda.

She said: "I'm always open to new ideas and anything progressive. I shall give this matter an open airing and take it to Cabinet.'' June Augustus HEALTH HTH