The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle has said “rape is rape” and his officers will enforce the law “whatever that looks like”.

The police chief went on to list the provisions under the law as well as highlighting the definition of rape.

He was asked about a tweet he made last year about there being no more tolerance for date rape and marital rape.

“What I said is what I meant. I don’t get into this marital rape or you know unmarried rape (debate). Rape is rape. The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, well the Sexual Offences Act as well as the Penal Code give definition of rape. That hasn’t changed and so I would encourage the media in this discussion to look at the definition,” he told reporters yesterday.

“There are several categories now under the Sexual Offences Act where it talks about unlawful sex and you have categories where the female (is) under the age of 13; female between the age of 13 and 16. You have where unlawful sex where you have with a male under the age of 18 having sex with somebody under 13 or under 16 and then those between 14 and 16 sorry, and then you have where an individual who is 21 or older having sexual intercourse with a female between 14 to 16 or under 14 and then you have the definition of rape.

“And that definition of rape does not signify whether the person is your wife or your girlfriend or your boyfriend. It gives a strict definition of rape and I think we need to start there. The issues within the home and the marriages as to what goes on there are other provisions for those. That’s why we have one is the Sexual Offences Act and the second part of it is the Domestic Violence Act. The legislators will have to determine what that will be. We in law enforcement will enforce the law, whatever it looks like.”

Commissioner Rolle spoke a day after Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe said if the goal of criminalising marital rape is to get convictions, then the government “better call it something other than rape”. Mr Munroe made the remarks at a Progressive Liberal Party Men’s Branch meeting on Sunday.

Prime Minister Philip Davis also said previously that “rape is rape” and it was possible the issue of marital rape could be dealt with legislatively by his administration during this term in office.

Back in November 2021, Mr Rolle added his opinion to the public discourse as incidents of assaults and domestic abuse had sparked outrage in persons and brought more attention to the issues.

When asked if there was an increase in certain sexual offences, the commissioner responded by WhatsApp back then: “I don’t have those figures. I am simply voicing my opinion on the public debate.

“The knee jerk reaction is like this is something new. Whether an increase or decrease is really not the issue. It has to be condemned otherwise it will continue unabated.”

He tweeted from his Twitter account that rape, marital rape, date rape, unlawful sex and, of course incest, “all speaks to the volume of this problem”.

“No more tolerance for the abuse that existed for years unchecked. Truth is, many of us are products of rape. We need change now! Rape is not statute barred.”

Statistics released by Commissioner Rolle in February show there was a seven percent increase in rape with 48 matters reported in 2021 and 45 the year before. There was an increase in the category of attempted rapes, with six last year and five in 2020, representing an increase of 20.

Unlawful sexual intercourse declined by 23 percent with 125 in 2021 compared with the 163 that were reported in 2020.