National Security Ministers say sentencing is too harsh for sexual cases involving teenage girls – Eye Witness News

Activists demand DPP and ministerial resignation

Nassau, Bahamas — QC Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday that he was a 40-year-old male lawyer sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for conceiving a 14-year-old girl. “She agreed,” so he sentenced him to such a high sentence.

Munro responded to the controversy over the judicial deal given to Jason Pratt and comments from Deputy Prosecutor General Franklin Williams, who appears to be blaming the victim’s “highly sexual” behavior. ..

Munro told reporters following the Bahamas police’s annual awards ceremony at the Paul Ferckhason Conference Center, admitting he was unfamiliar with the case.

However, he pointed out a similar sexual assault case decision, stating: Judgment for raping a nun rather than raping a prostitute.

“That’s what case law says, because you’re considering the effects of crime, the effects of crime, and the effects of victims. It’s part of the sentencing.”

Police reportedly found a teenager at Pratt’s house on January 14, 2020, after receiving information from an anonymous caller, and met a girl in uniform at a Shamrock Close apartment in the Carmichael Road area. Has been done. She is wearing her uniform.

She reportedly met Pratt on Facebook and told police that she had sex with him five times between June 2019 and January 2020.

Pratt was sentenced to four years in prison as part of his five plea denials of illegal sexual intercourse with a high school girl.

But Mr Munro said he would have advised his client to go to trial if he had been a lawyer on this matter.

“If I’m advising the accused and it takes seven years for someone to rape someone, I don’t advise the client to agree to four years with illegal sexual intercourse because we’re in court. If you go, you’ll tell the judge, he didn’t rape her, she agreed, “he said.

“The fact is, by law, her consent is neither here nor there. And if I were a lawyer, I wouldn’t have accepted the judicial transaction with that high level of penalties, and probably five years. You would have appeared in court in six or seven years. “

He added: “The four years of guilty plea is not a statement advising clients to take it. It’s not a low decision given the actual court-imposed judgment, so I wouldn’t propose it as a private counsel. It was. “

A veteran lawyer tried to explain the difficulty of prosecuting such a case in court, saying, “Who was this man’s lawyer?”

“These cases are difficult to prosecute because they may have victims. You can make a statement. And I will tell you the biggest problem with these issues, especially children. As for, the young woman will probably be a few years older when the case comes to court, [she may] I have a 1 or 2 year old child. Now you are a prosecutor. She needs her to submit her proof. She was always stubborn and she couldn’t remember anything. She puts her in her prison, where she is looking for her father, and asks for her help.

“Most defendant lawyers will roll dice on it, and most defendants bet that young women will not come to court and give evidence.

“If you ask the prosecutor, if you ask the crisis center, it often happens.”

He said most defense lawyers would have told the man to go to trial.

Munro argued that he did not understand the controversy on this issue because having sex with someone under the age of consent was “not rape.”

“The problem is that you are being punished for not reaching the age of consent.”

He continued, pointing out the charges of illegal sexual intercourse. “This means it’s not rape, which means you should be punished because you shouldn’t have sex with someone under the age of 16 as a big man.

“If that person is under 16 years old, they will charge you for sex with someone under 16 years old, even if you force them.

“But the court of judgment will say you forced this person. They didn’t start it, so you’ll get a higher sentence than someone who started it with you.”

Despite trying to contextualize the matter in connection with the 14-year-old case, she was unable to give consent in accordance with the law, but Munro doubled his position.

“Yes, she was able to give consent. You can get consent from the age of 7. That’s what the law requires. Sexual intercourse with people under the age of 16 with or without consent. Shows that the person can agree. It just says that it doesn’t matter by law. “

He argued that the levels of judgment should not be the same, given that there are two possible crimes, consent and disagreement with minors.

“If you force someone, you should always be sentenced to a higher sentence,” he said, trying to distinguish between the two minor sexual encounters.

Faced with the dynamics of power between minors and adults, Munro said: You can get married at the age of 14, but consent is not important unless you are married. “

According to the Sex Crimes Act, Section 11 Anyone between the ages of 14 and 16 who has had illegal sexual intercourse with or without consent will be guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

“People can be outraged at many things, but in the end, people, including victims, would have agreed to the ruling … and you can discuss it,” the Minister of National Security said. Definitely, I always sentence fellows who have sex with young children more severely, contrary to their willingness to have sex with those who appear to agree, regardless of age. “

Resignation

Munro’s comments following widespread public backlash over the acting DPP statement also landed him in boiling water, and activists also asked him to resign.

In a statement, Shannendon Cartwright, deputy leader of the Free National Movement (FNM), also denounced Munro’s remarks, calling him “there is no place in civilized nations” and “has disgust.” ..

“If he can’t defend to protect children and law-abiding citizens, he should rethink his current career choices,” he said.

“The Prime Minister must urgently govern his Minister of National Security.”