That Sexual Offences Bill

Jul 11, 2009 Editorial

Sex is the greatest driving force in the animal world and it is strongest among the Homo sapiens. It governs the lives of the lower animals that only mate for the purpose of procreation in most cases.
In the case of man, sex is for fun and social scientist contend that man is the only animal that indulges in sex for pleasure. This is why prostitution is such a lucrative trade; it is why both boys and girls pursue each other to the exclusion of every other thing. It is a physiological thing although people have been known to resist the urge all their lives.
But there is more to the physiological aspect of sex; there is the superstitious belief that sex with a very young virgin would cure all manner of ailments—from rheumatism to sexually transmitted diseases. And it is here that countries like Guyana, with a tradition of superstition, that young women are abused.
There have been countless young women who have been abused and infected as a result of this superstition and their parents either out of shame or poverty, would allow the perpetrator to go scot free.

It may be that increasing access to the media by the wider society is making cases of sexual abuse public. It could be that there was always rampant sexual abuse (cases of incest and the like) but these were never reported to the media, sometimes because entire communities saw the act as their shame.
Today, reports of sexual abuse, particularly of young girls, abound in Guyana. The courts are full of cases to the extent that each day the daily newspapers carry such reports. In some cases, the abuser is as old as 60 as was the case of the man who subsequently committed suicide just ahead of his trial in the High Court.
For reasons best known to the framers of the previous laws, the charge of rape was only confined to men and then, only if the victim and the man were not married. The law stipulated that a husband could not rape his wife so the worst that could have happened to him was a charge of sexual assault.
The laws are about to change and it is almost certain that the protest mounted by a number of organisations had an impact. These groups took to the streets outside Office of the President, calling for an amended legislation that would not only go a long way toward curbing the spate of sexual assaults, particularly against young girls.

What we would like to see is prosecution against parents who seek to accept compensation for assault against their daughters. As things stand, the state is hard pressed to prosecute when a parent decides to withdraw his or her co-operation.
All too often this has been the case and the man is allowed to go free to continue safe in the knowledge that he could always compensate his victim for her forced sexual activity. Women, who until now, cannot be charged for rape will; now not be so exempt. They can be charged for raping another woman or a male.
None, unless one is a victim, can understand the trauma and the laws are designed to curb any activity that would see women sexually abused. These laws have been long in coming and their presence will certainly bring this country up to modern times and in line with other countries.
Already there is talk of paper committals in certain cases, particularly those dealing with sexual abuse. This merely avoids the victim having to stand in open court at the preliminary inquiry and again in the High Court to repeat a most horrific experience.

Then there is the case of the older woman abusing a very young boy. People believe that since the male is supposed to be the instigator and initiator of the sex act then a male cannot be abused. They are wrong and the law is about to make the wrong stand out.
But perhaps the most important aspect of the legislation would be its ability to curb the practice of older men, having encouraged a young girl to abscond, take her into his abode.
The age of consent is sixteen but far too often, children as young as eleven and twelve, now beginning to feel the tug of their sexuality, respond to the simplest of request and are made to forget that they have the right to grow up. In short, the law will allow children to be children and to grow naturally.

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