Sexual predators and sex offender registries

Is it that people are now more willing to report cases of rape, sexual assault and incest than previously, or is it that we are seeing an increase in the number of these offences in our tiny islands?

Either way, the frequency of these reports is quite alarming and a cause for grave concern. Yesterday, as we were preparing for publication, a police officer accused of incest was on trial at the High Court, while at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, the senior magistrate was hearing other cases of a similar nature in camera.

Just last week, we heard about a little girl from north Leeward being abducted and assaulted, while reports of women and girls being sexually assaulted in their homes or on the streets are not uncommon.

Because of the nature of these offences, in most cases, for the protection of the victim (particularly where incest is involved), the media is not allowed to photograph or report the names of the accused or convicted.

We understand this, but sometimes we wonder if those guilty of these horrendous offences do not find shelter under the protection afforded the victims? Is the anonymity that sexual predators enjoy allowing them to move around our communities ‘under the radar’, leaving vulnerable, the unsuspecting residents?

A judge of the East Caribbean Supreme Court recently proposed the introduction of sex offenders registries in our islands to deal with the increase in the number of sex related offences making their way before the court. According to media reports, the judge made the recommendation in Grenada while sentencing a 59-year-old who had pleaded guilty to six of eight sex related offences, committed against his daughters, all under the age of 15.

The judge said the introduction of a sex offender registry would act as a deterrent, since potential offenders would know that their actions would become part of the public record.However, the Grenada case is one instance in which the sex offender registry may not have worked. In the same media report in which the judge made the call for the registry, it is said that the media were asked not to photograph or name the perpetrator as a means of safeguarding the victims from further psychological and emotional trauma.

Bearing in mind the need to protect his victims, would this 59-year-old have been listed in the registry?So we see the problem!In any event, while the introduction of a sex offender registry is not a ‘cure all’ and should not be entered into recklessly, we feel it merits further consideration as part of the arsenal against this small, yet dangerous group of sick individuals who live among us.