Mcgregor
The recent media report regarding the alleged barter of a 12-year-old girl for a piece of land has prompted me to add my voice to the many who are crying for the urgent amendment of the Incest (Punishment of) Act.
This act was passed in 1948 and provides that a man who has carnal knowledge of a female who, to his knowledge, is his granddaughter, daughter, sister or mother may be imprisoned for up to five years. If his daughter or sister is under 12 years of age, he may be imprisoned for up to 16 years. If a woman, who is 16 years old or over, permits her grandfather, father, brother or son to have carnal knowledge of her, she may be imprisoned for up to five years.
Permanent scars
These sentences do not appear to match crimes, which rob children of their innocence, and are so heinous in nature that permanent emotional and psychological scars often results. These offences are often compared with rape rape often involves the use of force. How then do we reconcile the fact that rape attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while the maximum sentence for incest is 16 years?
The following aspect of the present law should be noted:
■The law presumes that the
girl is never the instigator;
■A girl below the age of 16 cannot be charged with incest;
■The maximum penalty for the male (16) is significantly higher than the maximum penalty for the female (five);
■There is no prescribed age limited in the section below which a male cannot be charged for incest.
The bill to amend the Incest (Punishment of) Act attempts to address some of these issues by doing the following:
■Creating a gender-neutral offence ? either male or female over 16 years of age may commit the offence by having sexual intercourse with known relatives, including aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, guardians and ?step? relations;
■Removing the distinction between cases in which the offence is committed against persons over the age of 16 years and those under the age of 12 years;
■Making incest a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment;
■An attempt to commit incest is a misdemeanour punishable by a maximum sentence of seven years? imprisonment.
■Only the director of public prosecutions can institute proceedings for the offence. Whether these changes will offer children any greater protection than they now receive under the existing law is left to be seen. However, they represent greater equality and a recognition of our society?s changing reality.
■ Sherry-Ann McGregor is a partner and mediator with the firm Nunes, Scholefield, DeLeon & Co. Send feedback and questions to lawsofeve@yahoo.com.
