Dionne Rose, Parliamentary ReporterGOVERNMENT yesterday re-tabled two pieces of legislation to amend laws relating to rape, incest, and other sexual offences.
The changes to the bills will make incest offenders liable to punishment for life and allow sexual intercourse without consent in a marriage to be classified as marital rape.
The bills, the Offences Against the Person (Amend-ment) Act and the Incest (Amendment) Act, were initially tabled in 1995. However, they fell off the Order Paper because a joint select committee of Parliament, considering the bills failed to reach consensus on all the proposed areas of changes reflected in the legislation.
But, speaking in the Senate yesterday, Justice Minister Senator A.J. Nicholson said there was an urgent need for new laws regarding sexual matters.
"The need for reform of the law relating to rape, incest and other forms of sexual abuse of women and children has assumed a special urgency and significance in the context of the alarming increase in reported cases of sexual molestation of women and children," Mr. Nicholson, who is also the Attorney-General, said.
"Cases of child prostitution, child pornography, the vulnerability of our women and children and the general outrage of right thinking members of our society at recent acts of sexual violation alleged to have been committed in the most objectionable circumstances."
Senator Nicholson said the bills would lead to several changes which will afford more protection to vulnerable persons including women and children.
Some of the areas of reform, which the amendment to the Offences Against the Person Act will provide, include a statutory definition of rape and a definition of sexual intercourse which will broaden the concepts of sexual intercourse and rape to include penetrative acts other than the penetration of the female sexual organ by the male sexual organ which now constitutes sexual intercourse for the purpose of the rape offence.
GENDER-SPECIFIC OFFENCE
"Rape, which is now a gender-specific offence, that is, an offence which can only be committed by a male against a female, will thereby become a gender-neutral offence. That is, an offence which can be
committed by either male or
female and against both male and female persons," he said.
The Attorney General said the amended legislation will also recognise marital rape.
He said that, in the past, there has been what was regarded as a marital exemption from the commission of rape (with limited exemptions), but that the legislation would now set out the circumstances under which a spouse may be raped by the other spouse.
Mr. Nicholson however noted that the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions would be required if prosecution is to be brought for marital rape.
The Justice Minister said the legislation would also abolish the presumption that a boy under 14 years old is incapable of committing rape or any other offence of vaginal or anal intercourse.
CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
The abolition he said would be subjected to the statutory provision, which fixes the minimum age of criminal responsibly at 12 years.
Meanwhile the legislation to amend the Incest (Punishment) Act will make certain important changes to the law relating to incest. The category of relationships with respect to which sexual intercourse is prohibited will now be extended to include that of uncle and aunt, nephew and niece and also step-relations.
"In recognition of the reprehensible nature of the sexual violation involved in incest offences, amendments made by the Incest Punishment (Amendment) Bill will make incest offenders liable to a maximum penalty of imprisonment for life," he said.
The bills are to be debated at the next sitting of the Senate.
