ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Sept 30, CMC – Parliament has given the nod to amending Antigua and Barbuda’s sexual offences legislation, including a provision making sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 punishable by up to life imprisonment.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Sir Steadroy Benjamin, who piloted the legislation, said the changes are intended to strengthen protections for children and impose tougher consequences on offender.
“Sexual offences and the abuse being taken of our young people, young girls in particular, in Antigua and Barbuda, and the kind of sentences which are passed in this grave matter, Mr. Speaker,” Benjamin said, adding “these grown men take advantage of young children, young girls.”
He said the government has a duty to send a strong message to sexual predators.
“Any sexual predator who has been convicted of a sexual offence, serve a sentence, and intends to go back into a community to live, that everyone in that community ought to know that Joe Bloggs is coming back to Otters, to Grace Farm, or to Barbuda.
“Look out for your children. Watch them carefully. We are of the very firm opinion that once you’ve committed a crime, you have served your time, you come back into the community, they must know that joining the community is that gentleman, he’s banned, he’s dangerous.
“Watch your children. We are prepared, if necessary, to fight this matter to the very end. Those persons who may think that their rights or the Constitution are being deferred with, so be it,” Benjamin said, outlining also provisions dealing with sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 16.
“Where a person has sexual intercourse with a minor who’s under the age of 16 years, he or she shall be guilty of an offence whether or not the minor consented to having sexual intercourse or whether or not, at the time of having sexual intercourse, he or she believed the minor to be 16 years of age or more.
“And I must admit it, these days young girls and young boys mature very quickly and you see some girls on the street sometimes you think that they’re big women but they’re little children still. So that is one situation,” Benjamin said, adding that the legislation will now provide for “a person who commits the offence …is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life”.
Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle, while expressing support for the bill, sought clarification on sections of the legislation dealing with sexual intercourse with minor employees.
“So, Mr. Speaker, while I support the bill, Mr. Speaker, I think I need more clarity on section 8 of the bill, amendment of section 10, sexual intercourse with minor employees. Mr. Speaker, I don’t know about minor employees. I know you’re either a person who is of age to work, which is 16 legally, which I’m still supporting for us to look seriously at moving that age to 18.”
The amendments were subsequently passed by the House of Representatives.
Social and Urban Transformation Minister, Rawdon Turner, warned that Antigua and Barbuda is failing its children and calling on the public to believe children and report suspected abuse.
Turner said that since assuming responsibility for social services, he has been exposed to the reality of physical and sexual abuse experienced by children in the country, receiving reports received by the Family and Social Services Division about child abuse are deeply traumatising and have also affected the division’s director and social workers.
“Somewhere along the line, the village decided that it was time to sexually assault and violate our children. I don’t say those words lightly,” Turner said, outlining cases in which people convicted of sexually abusing very young children, some as young as three and five, received sentences ranging from three to five years.
He cited comparable cases from elsewhere in the Caribbean, stressing that the problem extends beyond Antigua and Barbuda.
“Something is wrong with the administration of justice,” Turner said, adding that as the father of a five-year-old, he is urging members of the public to break their silence.
“You have to start believing the children…you could have protected that child. You could have protected their innocence,” Turner said also calling on parents and teachers to overcome their reluctance to speak to children from an early age about their bodies and personal safety.
He said children should understand “what is a good touch, what is a bad touch, and not be afraid to speak up.”
