Trinidad lawmakers consider life imprisonment for sex offences against children
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| Published on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 |
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By Oscar Ramjeet
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
Email: oscar@caribbeannetnews.com
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: Lawmakers in Trinidad and Tobago are taking a serious view against sex offenders.
Life imprisonment will be the penalty for various offences against children including sexual intercourse with a child, seduction of a child and touching a child in any sexual manner.
Social Development Minister Amery Browne made the disclosure in the Lower House in a bill he piloted to protect children.
The Trinidad Guardian reported that penalties are particularly harsh on people placed in positions of trust who care for children and who have been found guilty of abusing children in the same form. This includes people who are related to the child in question as well as people who are not.
The life term in prison is stipulated for various offences under the Bill, including for persons over 18 years of age, or those who are under 18, but over 14, who have sexual intercourse with a child.
Browne said that for 2007 alone, the Rape Crisis Centre had noted 62 cases of child abuse -- 19 of them specifically rape cases.
"It's just the merest tip of the iceberg," Browne added.
According to the Guardian, the situation also required attention more urgently due to child trafficking, child pornography, Internet exchanges and similar developments in recent years, which had led to increases in child abuse.
The penalty for using a child as a prostitute in any part of the world carries a 25-year sentence under the Bill. | | | | Reads : 730 | | | |
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