Policymakers should put greater focus on sex offences – Senior deputy DPP

Faced with an alarmingly high number of recurring sex cases on the court list each term, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jeremy Taylor, KC, believes policymakers are not paying sufficient attention to sexual offences.

“We have all manner of operations and legislations to deal with firearms, even murders, but we have a high rate of sexual offences and hardly anything is being done about it. It has become cultured and it has become part of the landscape,” Taylor opined during his address at the opening ceremony for the Michaelmas Term at the Home Circuit Court earlier this week.

Taylor, who has been pressing for more to be done to curb the rise in sexual offences, said in 2019. “A lot of money has been put into stemming the flow of blood in murders, which cannot be complained against, but in terms of sexual offences. We are dealing with persons, walking wounded, with scars which cannot be seen, exploitation, especially of our children, in large numbers, from Morant Bay in the east to Bloody Bay in the west. And perhaps [there] also needs to be some amount of policy initiative, national security-wise, as to how we deal with sexual offences.”

437 SEXUAL OFFENCE CASES THIS TERM

The worrying issue has always been a concern not only for Taylor but other senior members of his office, including the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn, who last year called for stronger measures to prevent a further increase in sex crimes against minors.

Data prepared by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions showed that there were 437 sexual offence cases listed for this term, including 24 new cases. The others were matters transferred from the previous Easter Term.

Rape remains the dominant sexual offence, at 188, followed closely by 143 cases of sexual intercourse with a person under 16, with 38 cases of grievous sexual assault rounding out the top three cases.

Murder is usually the leading offence before the courts, followed by sexual offence. For this term there are 325 traversed cases, 17 conspiracy to murder and 20 new cases.

The third highest cases listed for this term is lottery scamming – 37 from the previous term and 18 new matters.

In total, 884 cases were brought over from the last term, which according to Taylor, represent 90 per cent of the 982 cases that are on the list for this term.

REDUCE TRIAL TIMES

In the meantime, Taylor is appealing to members of the private bar to embrace the mechanisms that are available to reduce trial times, such as agreeing of statement, trial by judge alone and encouraging their clients to plead guilty when the evidence is overwhelming.

He also complained that although those mechanisms are in law, the prosecution in almost every cases is still being required to call non-material witnesses who are not cross-examined by the defence when their statements could have been agreed.

Taylor also noted that the prosecution is aware that not every case has to be tried and will continue to discontinue matters when it is determined that the prosecution cannot mount a viable case.

In support of the senior deputy DPP, King's Counsel Peter Champagnie called on members of the private bar to be more proactive and embrace case management.

“The private bar needs to take a very strong look at it self in terms of cooperation and representation, not just in terms of client but in terms of seeking to address some of the things that my learned friend has said,” he said.

Nonetheless, he registered the private bar's frustration at the case management level where members are served with multiple notices to adduced evidence after the trial has started, noting that sanctions may have to be looked at to put an end to the matter. However, Justice Leighton Pusey quickly reminded him that defence lawyers are equally guilty of not cooperating fully in the process and cause delay in many cases.

Champagnie, while pledging the private bar's cooperation, added, “I do believe that a lot can be gained by seeking to re-energise the bar. Every time, year in, term in, the same things are said and it stops there. The time has come where we need to be more proactive.”

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com