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Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Sentencing for Statutory Rape in Trinidad and Tobago

Q: My brother is 18 and the girl is 14, but said she was 17 .He was charged with 2 counts of sexual assault with her consent what could be the imprisonment


A: All the sections referred to in this post are found under the Sexual Offences Act 1986, as amended:
With a good Lawyer, he should first be looking at having the charges ‘reduced’ to serious indecency under section 16(1) and he may then receive a lesser sentence. However, for grievous sexual assault, the least sentence I have seen was 3 ½ years, but it’s for the judge to decide. The Act does not stipulate any specific range.

However, the following information may give an idea of what sentencing is like in this area.
6(1) Where a male person has sexual intercourse with a female person who is not his wife and who is under the age of fourteen years, he is guilty of an offence, whether or not the female person consented to the intercourse and whether or not at the time of the intercourse he believed her to be fourteen years of age or more, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.

7(1) Where a male person has sexual intercourse with a female person who is not his wife with her consent and who has attained the age of fourteen years but has not yet attained the age of sixteen years he is guilty of an offence, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for twelve years for a first offence and to imprisonment for fifteen years for a subsequent offence.

8(1) Where a female adult has sexual intercourse with a male person who is not her husband and who is under the age of sixteen years, she is guilty of an offence, whether or not the male person consented to the intercourse, and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years.

The defences to the offences in 7(1) and 8(1) are:
Ø  Honest belief that the person is 16 or more
Ø  The age difference is not greater than 3 years and the Court is of the opinion that the evidence discloses that the defendant is not wholly or chiefly to blame



4 comments:

  1. is it possible to keep reports of your case out of the newspaper. how do reporters decide on which cases to report in the daily newspaper

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Courts make that decision based on the matter.

      Delete
  2. If a girl is 16 n pregnant but is turning 17 before making baby could her bf 19 get arrested even if her parents know they were together

    ReplyDelete
  3. What about if a 12yr old female was already sexually active with her step father and a neighbor happen on them one day, and the step dad threaten the neighbor with a gun and because he doesn't want to be found out blame the neighbor and the girl also blamed the neighbor because she didn't want her mother to find out that she was sleeping with her husband.what would happen in a case like that? If the neighbor could prove his innocence what would happen? If the plaintiff stop showing up in court when the matter is called how long would it be before a magistrate throws out the case if at all?

    ReplyDelete

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