The Tribune

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said that he “deeply” regrets that his comments about an unlawful sexual intercourse case involving a 14-year-old victim “have caused concern”.

However, he did not take back his earlier comments and instead sought to explain his rationale.

“I have spoken several times on the matter of a plea agreement and I deeply regret that my answers have caused concern,” he said in a statement released on Friday. “I gave several interviews and I hope that pulling the salient points together in one place can be helpful to understanding my position: One) Anyone who has sexual intercourse with a child under 16 is disordered.”

 “Two - Anyone who does so will go to prison. The only question is the length of their sentence. Three - Sentence lengths for the offence in question are established by the Bahamas Court of Appeal. For a first-time offender, the sentence is seven years if the young woman does not consent, and four years if the young woman does consent. The word ‘consent’ is in the text of the relevant statute – ‘with or without consent.’

 “Four - Plea agreements avoid court cases and thus help clear the backlog of cases in our justice system. Additionally, plea bargaining spares the victim from having to give evidence thereby being forced to relive the trauma of the crime.”

 He said the Davis administration “is unified in wanting to send the clearest possible message to adults who would have sexual relationships with children under 16: your behaviour will land you in jail, no matter the child’s behaviour.”

 He also said: “When I provide my analysis of a legal matter, as I have done in recent interviews, I do draw upon my decades of experience practising law. But I want Bahamians to be clear, it is this experience that allows me a clear view of the path to successful law enforcement and prosecution. The goal in cases like these is to punish predatory behaviour and to deter others from engaging in such behaviour.”

 There have been calls for Mr Munroe’s resignation after he told reporters on Thursday that the 40-year-old man in the referenced case received a sentence that was too severe.

 Mr Munroe said had he defended the man, he would not have accepted a plea deal because it was not rape and that the girl consented.