Increase age of consent to curb sexual abuse, says MP

Observer Reporter
Friday, December 12, 2003


CUMMINGS... wants age of consent raised
A suggestion has come, from out of Parliament, for the age of consent to sexual intercourse be raised from 16 to 18 in order to curb sexual abuse against children.
The recommendation came from Central Kingston member of parliament, Victor Cummings, who also suggested that sexual abuse laws be gender-neutral to cover little boys.


ROBINSON... said immediate intervention is needed
Cummings' comments came during a debate on a resolution brought by South Central St Catherine MP Sharon Hay-Webster. The resolution:

* calls for a review of the Offences Against the Person Act to include the notification of victims and the wider community once a sexual predator is released after serving time in prison, and


HENRY-WILSON... spoke of 'Matey Wars'
* proposes that a comprehensive study on the social implications of the increasing reports of rape, carnal abuse, incest and murder of young girls be undertaken by the House's Social Development Committee.

Hay-Webster's call comes in the wake of recent statistics, supplied by Minister of National Security Minister Peter Phillips, which showed a 28 per cent increase in carnal abuse cases.


MULLINGS... called on family members to speak out
Recent media reports have highlighted the trend, with cases such as that of an apparent serial rapist suspected of raping about 15 little girls in St James earlier this year.

There was no immediate response to Cummings' suggestion but during the debate, parliamentarians presented a harrowing picture of the various abuses meted out to the island's children, especially little girls.

Maxine Henry-Wilson, the minister of education, youth and culture, spoke of the gang rape on young girls in inner-city communities, often as retribution. The so-called "Matey Wars", she said, involved the kidnapping of the young victims by men from opposing communities who raped them to show their "authority".

"It is dehumanising, because your most precious property, yourself, has been violated," said Henry-Wilson.

She also told the House about young girls from a prominent high school who had engaged in "lap dances" on certain buses, while being egged on by appreciative adults. The girls, she said, had apparently received some type of financial reward.

Henry-Wilson said such behaviour was symptomatic of the degrading of young minds by adults and pervasive social influences including a preoccupation with sex by the media, especially via advertising and, increasingly, through the internet. The world wide web, she said, was being used by pedophiles to lure children of both sexes.

The education and youth minister called for the modernising of the country's media laws regarding the internet, to stop facilitating pedophiles. And she also called for the evidence of doctors, lawyers and other professionals who were in possession of information on those who abuse children, to be used to convict offenders.

In his contribution, Health Minister John Junor cited the imminent Child Care and Protection Act which, he said, would include provisions for a Child Advocate who would have sweeping powers to investigate and protect children from abuse. The Act, he added, would also speak to a Registry of Offences, which would require the reporting of any offences against children by "any person who knows or who ought to have known about the abuse".

Junor said the legislation also provided for an order for any suspected offender to be subject to a medical examination to determine if he had passed on any communicable disease to the child victim.

Other impassioned pleas came from North East St Ann MP, Shahine Robinson, who identified the issues as serious ones requiring immediate intervention by the authorities.

Also contributing was West Central St James MP, Clive Mullings, who called on family members, especially mothers, who were aware of abuse in their families, "to abandon the red tape of thinking that I will jeopardise my family income and cause embarrassment to the family by exposing the abuser".