Violent crime has risen with the start of 2016, including violence perpetrated by women, the Centre Against Abuse has noted.

Remarks from the centre’s executive director Laurie Shiell came after police observed there had been a “small uptick in violent crime” with five incidents in five days.

“There have been two cases of girls attacking each other, which we do have from time to time,” Ms Shiell told The Royal Gazette.

“However, this has included an extremely violent incident where we have someone in hospital after being struck in the head with a baseball bat. We have had someone else in hospital after being stabbed.

“All of them raise concern with us, in terms of reaching these individuals so that they can see there are other routes rather than violence. Unfortunately, all of these incidents are something that they all could have walked away from. You don’t need to take out your anger and hurt on somebody else.”

Ms Shiell was referring to two recent incidents: on Friday, an 18-year-old Pembroke woman required hospital treatment after two women are alleged to have set upon her with a baseball bat.

The attack occurred at a residence on Curving Avenue at roughly 2.45am. Both suspects were arrested later.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, police reported that a 24-year-old Devonshire woman sustained stab wounds to the face in the Cedar Park neighbourhood after being struck by 21-year-old woman. The suspect was still being sought by police yesterday.

In other incidents, a 37-year-old man was treated in the Intensive Care Unit for multiple gunshot wounds after a Saturday night shooting on Happy Valley Road, Devonshire shocked the neighbourhood.

Additionally, RoseAnn Edwards, a councillor for the City of Hamilton, was stabbed on the night of January 5, with a man charged in court three days later.

Police said that in most cases, the victims had a relationship with the suspects and appeared to be specially targeted by a person they knew.

A spokesman for police said that the service planned to work closely with its community partners over the coming days “to see what can be done to address this trend of domestic violence”.

“Emotions often run high in domestic relationships — situations emerge where anger management and conflict resolutions skill are tested,” the spokesman said.

“No amount of violence is acceptable in resolving domestic disputes.”

He said community outreach programmes such as Family Centre, the Centre Against Abuse and the Bermuda Police domestic violence officer were available for counselling and support.

Ms Shiell said that Christmas tended to be a quieter time while “come the new year it picks up a bit”.

“It goes in peaks and valleys but this year has been greater than in previous years,” she said. “I’m not sure of any trend, or if it’s just a sign of the times that people feel they can take matters into their own hands.

“When it comes to the perpetrators of violence, those are the ones who need to be reached. In particular with young girls, that’s who we are trying to get to when we speak in schools and educate young people on what a healthy relationship looks like. We discuss that with boys as well in terms of how they wish to see their mothers and sisters to be treated.

“We already have a close relationship with police but we’re definitely looking forward to talking with them further and seeing how we can work more closely with them.”

The Centre Against Abuse is the only organisation in Bermuda that provides services to victims (male and female) of domestic violence and sexual assault in Bermuda.

It is available during the day on 292-4366, and around the clock on a 24-hour hotline, 297-8278.

Meanwhile, police intend to deploy officers from the Community Action Team to areas that have been affected by violence, in a bid to help out.

Anyone who may have information is invited to call police at 295-0011, or the independent and confidential crime stoppers hotline on 800-8477.