PORN PREDATORS

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewelyn has blamed careless parenting and an increasing consumption of pornography as triggers for many of the graphic cases of child-on-child sexual abuse coming before her office.

Llewellyn, who has been a prosecutor for more than 30 years, has observed that there is a new dimension to the cases coming before prosecutors.

“What we are finding now as prosecutors is a heavy sexual component in terms of you see a child of 16 or a person of 17 raping or having sex with a child under 16, which is an offence, and invariably, you will find oral sex being a part of the scenario, or we have even seen buggery,” she said during a virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston on Wednesday.

The DPP cited as an example of child predators a case in Westmoreland where a nine-year-old, on her way from school, was sexually assaulted and strangled by a 13-year-old boy.

The accused’s mother is in denial. The case has not yet been heard.

Llewellyn cited easy access to smartphones as a factor behind the sexualisation of children - a situation that is likely to increase exponentially with the reliance of students on online learning because of coronavirus school closures.

The DPP blasted reckless parents who continue to pimp out 12- or 13-year-old girls to stepfathers or community folk and expressed concern that children were being abused in plain sight.

In outlining other graphic cases on Wednesday, Llewelyn disclosed that she was forced to get up from her desk, take a deep breath, and drink some water as she read the statement surrounding a six-year-old who had been sexually assaulted by her stepfather.

“It was the mother who used to hold the child down and put her fingers in the child’s vagina in order to allow her boyfriend to gain entry to the child’s vagina,” said Llewelyn, who disclosed that the six-year-old was able to give evidence that led to the conviction of her mother and stepfather.

Llewellyn, who referenced a 53-year-old man who had 15 children with nine women, urged mothers not to get entrapped in the cycle of exploitation and dependency.

“You don’t work, you don’t have a skill, and if you are going to have four, five children, then you are automatically putting your children at a great disadvantage,” said Llewellyn.

In referencing recent cases of children being burnt to death after being left at home alone, the DPP indicated that she would go after mothers who neglect their children.

“I will say to the police, okay, she has a day or two to cry, or even longer, but do not let that distract you from making sure that prosecution is initiated and she is arrested and charged or summoned to court to answer for that breach of the Child Care and Protection Act,” she said.

nadine.wilson@gleanerjm.com