The Tribune

THE announcement that a man who is deemed a significant risk to public safety will be released from prison today is concerning in a number of ways.

First, let us be quite clear, Sidney Cooper is indeed a danger. His track record shows a litany of sexual assaults dating back to 1998. Since 2000, he has face 20 such charges, mostly indecent assaults.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe was clear that Mr Cooper seems to have no remorse, and that he is “unable or unwilling to control his urges to commit sexual offences”.

Mr Cooper was last convicted in court in 2019, when he was jailed for three years for indecent assault and causing harm. His collective jail time over the years is now up, and he is being released from custody.

There is a difficult balance then to be struck between ensuring public safety by warning people and, we must say, being cautious of the risk of vigilante action.

The last time it was announced that a sex offender was being released, it was Alden Scott, who was released last year only to be found dead within a week. He was found on a track road with injuries to his body, and his death was not classed as murder – but as natural causes.

Mr Cooper has committed many offences, his criminal history is vile and reprehensible, but he has not been given a death sentence and he must not find such a sentence on the streets instead.

Mr Munroe also listed off a number of other offences said to have been committed by Mr Cooper – but which have not been tested in court.

He groped a policewoman in court, apparently, as well as women prison officers – as well as a reporter visiting the prison.

When asked why he had not been charged for those offences, Mr Munroe said that no one had filed complaints – although if Mr Munroe knows about these instances, there must be a record if not a complaint.

When asked why he committed such offences, Mr Cooper evidently replied that he “has had the spirits” since he was a child and he “does not believe that the spirit should bow”.

Mr Cooper told police that he is tempted whenever a woman wears short clothes, bends over, smiles, blinks or licks her lips – in other words, any excuse will do for Mr Cooper.

No woman is responsible for his actions. Only Mr Cooper is responsible for those. What we would say is that Mr Cooper’s explanation sounds as if what he needs is psychiatric treatment. As we strive towards rehabilitation of offenders, we must accept that for some that will be served in prison, for others it requires treatment for mental health issues. Whether Mr Cooper had such treatment as an option, we do not know.

But as he emerges from prison, it is worth asking whether there were ways to avoid this apparent risk to public safety, whether through treatment or through prosecution for the offences he continued to commit even at his trial and during his incarceration.

Mr Munroe was at pains to point out that there should not be action against Mr Cooper from the public – saying that “this notice is there for the public to be able to take care and not become victims of Mr Cooper, but is not made in order to invite any retribution or harm on Mr Cooper”.

However, this also comes at a time when there has been frequent commentary about murder suspects being allowed out on bail only to end up becoming murder victims themselves amid a landscape of retribution killings and gang rivalry.

People have the right to live in safety. But we must not fall into a position where vigilante justice takes place.

It is not a simple discussion – once a sentence is served, the debt to society has been paid. Should the sentence have been longer? Could it have been dependent on the success of treatment? Could further charges have been levied for continued offences?

All of these are good questions to consider – but perhaps the one we need to ask most is, how do we protect Mr Cooper’s next victim? His track record shows no indication that he will stop.

Dealing with such serial offenders is not an easy thing to do – but the effort to find a way is worth it, if only for the sake of the victims yet to come.