The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

MARCO’S Law will include provisions “restricting” where convicted sex offenders can live and limiting their contact with children, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage said yesterday.

In an interview with The Tribune, Dr Nottage said he now has the first draft of Marco’s Law as well as the Sexual Offences Act and the bills will be in effect “very soon”.

“We are working on the regulation. I have in my possession now regulations that will go along with the Sexual Offenders Act and Marco’s Law and it is very likely that there will be within it regulations that will enable us to put restrictions on sexual offenders, their movements and their activities and where they live, particularly in respect to their relationship with children.”

Questions of whether or not the Bill was active and the provisions it will include came to light several weeks ago when it was confirmed that convicted sexual offender Bishop Randy Fraser had established a new church – Palms of Victory.

When asked whether the government will start regulating who should lead churches, Dr Nottage said: “The government cannot regulate the church. The government does not have any intention in seeking to regulate the church.”

Despite the passing of Marco’s Law last year, legislators have yet to formulate regulations for the Bill which is expected to see the implementation of the Marco alert system and a sexual offenders registry.

The law, which was hotly debated in the House of Assembly and is the direct result of the gruesome killing of 11-year-old Marco Archer by convicted paedophile Kofhe Goodman in 2011, was seen as a move to strengthen child protection laws. The system is expected to be similar to the Amber Alert in the US and registers persons convicted of sexual acts on children.