The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SENATOR Michela Barnett Ellis wants the Davis administration to place greater focus on how the country can offer better protection for underage children instead of making “insensitive” comments about victims of sex crimes.

Over the past week, there has been much public discourse about a particular sex case involving a 40-year-old man who was sentenced to four years in prison for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl who he impregnated.

The sentence prompted outcry from some people who said it was too lenient.

It also elicited comments from several government ministers, including National Security Minister Wayne Munroe and State Minister of Social Services Lisa Rahming, who have both since come under fire for their controversial remarks about the case.

On Thursday, Mr Munroe suggested the sentence was too severe, telling reporters that had he defended the man, he would have argued it was not rape and that the girl consented.

However, in a statement issued the next day, Mr Munroe said he regrets that his comments have caused public concern.

Ms Rahming also received backlash after she told reporters over the weekend that she didn’t entirely blame the child, adding she believed the minor was just “misguided.”

“I would say that she was misguided,” Ms Rahming said on Saturday. “She was misled, she was a minor and that doesn’t mean that minors cannot make good decisions. What I look at it is, if a child is placed in a vulnerable position anything is likely to happen. Think of when adults are placed in vulnerable positions. They sometimes make irrational decisions and so I looked at it as she was misguided.”

Yesterday, Senator Barnett-Ellis called Ms Rahming’s comments “disappointing” and “insensitive.” She also called for an end to continued discussion about the case.

“First, I think the comments by the minister of state for social services were extremely disappointing. They showed a lack of empathy. I think that continuing to talk about this particular case is insensitive,” she said in an interview with The Tribune.

“I think that the focus needs to be on how do we fix it? What can we do to stop this from being so prevalent, but the continued comments are not painting this administration in a good light.

“I hope that they don’t represent what the ‘new day’ administration believes in on a whole. We cannot ignore collective responsibility and every time they speak, they are speaking on behalf of the government of The Bahamas and on behalf of the Cabinet.

“The tweet by the prime minister and his wife and the post by Chester Cooper, gives me hope that that does not reflect the views of the entire administration thankfully but we need to focus on how we can stop this from happening and how we can deal with this problem rather than focusing on this particular case,” Mrs Barnett Ellis also said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis tweeted that “grown men should stay away from children” adding the law is designed to protect children who cannot consent and should be fully enforced. His wife, Ann Marie Davis, has also said sex offenders should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Asked about her recommendations to tackle the social issue, the senator said she plans to offer some ideas during her communication in the Senate today and urged Bahamians to tune in.

“My communication is going to be on discrimination, and I am going to give some of my ideas of realistic things that we can do to help or to improve how we deal with women issues in The Bahamas,” she said.

In a statement released Sunday, Equality Bahamas said there is a critical need for legal reform in the country “to end rape culture and recognise insensitive public commentary.”

“Rape culture is pervasive in The Bahamas,” the activist group said. “It has become such a norm to blame victims, including children, for the predation of adults that the director of public prosecutions and the minister of national security publicly participate in and encourage it. Under no circumstance is a child responsible for sexual violence against them, and under no circumstance is an adult inculpable of sexual violence perpetrated against a child.”