Attorney General, Levi Peter, has sought to explain the reasons why the name of those accused of sexual offenses cannot be published in the media even after they are charged.
He said the restrictions are in Sexual Offenses Act of 1998.
Recently three men were charged under the Act in relations to inappropriate behavior involving a minor and members of the public have been questioning why their names and pictures are not being published in the media.
Peter said at a press briefing on Monday that the Sexual Offences Act of 1998, Act 1 of Section 38 (1) states that, “After a person is charged with an offence under this Act, any matter that is likely to lead members of the public to identify a person as the complainant or as the accused in relation to that charge shall not be published in a written publication or be broadcast in Dominica except –
(A) Where, on the application of the complainant or the accused, the Court directs that the effect of the restriction is to impose a substantial and unreasonable restriction on the reporting of proceedings and that it is in the public interest to remove the restriction in respect to the applicant; or
(B) In the case of the accused, after the person has been tried and convicted of the offence,” he explained. “And subsection 2 of the Act sets out the penalty for the breach of that.”
According to Peter, it is clear from the Act that any matter that is likely to lead to the public to identify the complainant or the accused cannot be published.
“I do not believe that that is an unreasonable fettering of the ability for bonafide reporters and journalists to report, I think they can do so,”
He also said the matter should not be politicized.
“I have heard it being said that the current government has made amendments to the legislation so as to accommodate members of the government and its supporters, particularly for example in light of reporting restrictions,” he noted. “I think it is important to emphasize that the reporting restrictions that you and myself and everybody else operate under at the moment are contained in the 1998 Act. Section 38 of that Act sets out what the limitations are in respect to that and I don’t think we should politicize that, we should recognize it.”
Peter also said the Act came into existence during a previous regime.
A fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for three years are also included in The Sexual Offences Act of 1998, for any person who breaches the Act by publishing or broadcasting the names of the victim or accused.
See section of the Act below.
Is mr. Peter a qualified lawyer? We all know what the law says but in a small country like ours it is unrealistic for the public not to get to know who the alleged offenders are even if the local news media obey the law. Secondly, it does not stop media outside Dominica publishing names. Does that make the law an ass?
there it is chronicle, sun, dno, davibes can be sued for majority of sexual offence cases that have been reported before this one. or does it only pertain to gov ministers and parliamentary reps eg the recent case involving the grand bay man getting 32 months
What a AG.For the times we are living in now,the people are saying that certain provisions in the sexual offences act need changing. Instead of doing it he is pointing fingers that the current act was passed in 1998.Of course all current provisions in all laws were passed by previous administrations. Just amend the act and shut up
Mr AG your explanation of the Act is timely but still leaves the ordinary citizen puzzled since most of us only have a layman\’s point of view or rather understanding of the Law. Rather interesting is your call not to politicize the incident or the amendment to the Act; why mention that the Act was passed by another Administration? What are you insinuating? Times evolve and attitudes change; therefore man must do the same and that change must be for the betterment of society. The need to protect the innocence of our children must be maintained; but not the brutality of the perpetrators; therefore the amendment to the Sexual Offences Act should include the publishing of the identity/s of those accused of these abominable crimes against our children and young persons; they deserve no protection whatsoever under the Laws of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
‘Time evolve and attitude change’. Gabriel St Jean was it time and attitude that caused the previous administration to lower the age of consent from 18 years to 16 year. Was lowering the age of consent convenient for all attitude at the time 1998 – 2000?
If you are one of the persons who think the the mere changing of the age of consent to 18 years will change anything in this country then go ahead and do so. The answer to your question is ask the persons responsible for lowering the age. All i can offer is making people poor and dependable on this present Administration will not help either.
These matters are very very disturbing!!! How on earth can these so called responsible men abuse our children like this?? Frankly I feel very strongly that they should be identified once they’ve been found guilty and their photographs displayed on billboards all over Dominica so that the shame will follow them everywhere they go. They should also get the maximum sentence with something added on because they should be made an example of!!! They have robbed these innocent children of their innocence for LIFE!!!! Shame on them!!! I hope they’re not on bail!!!
The names are not mentioned but by the comments, many know who they are, especially the politicians. Ian Pinard went public with his resignation.
I comprehend why the names are not published. The same occur in Canada. However, when they are convicted and sentenced the names are broadcasted/published.
If the perpetrator is close to the family, to protect their identity and that of the minor, the name will not be published. The entire country/province/city will not know them but those close to them will know them.
How can their names be kept a secret in a small country as Dominica? News spread quickly.
The law needs to protect what needs protecting, The video is all over the place so what are you protecting?
My blood boils over each time this speaks. It’s time for affected parents to take matters into their own hands. We have …………. and not an office of Public Prosecution. Let’s see how many of these cases will lead to charges and convictions. I am willing to bet a grand total of zero.
Shame, shame and more shame on Levi. A
Then amend this section of the Act Levi. You continue to show just how clueless you are. I wish more of your time and efforts would be spent advocating for a forensic laboratory and enhanced investigation techniques by law enforcement, so that these cases do not fall apart in court as they usually do. You and these bunch of cronies continue to embarrass the public and especially innocent children who count on your department for justice, after they have been violated in the most vile and repulsive way imaginable by deranged men amongst us.
You continue to write and publish pure foolishness in the press. This is a clear sign of your incompetence and willful negligence to our children. Whatever happened to “Hard Labor?” These men are raping our children with zero consequences and your department in particular is the main culprit. The incompetence shown by your office is equivalent to the scarlet letter that these innocent souls are forced to carry through no fault of their own.
Read the fine print and try to understand. Dominicans too like beff. If it was all you daughter or husband I’m sure all you would not want their name in public. Let the police and lawyers do their jobs.
So why was the senhouse guy name published among others. We understand it is the law but it must be applied without prejudice or bias. Sir you say it should not be political but you find it important to mention that it was enacted by the last administration who only spent 4.5 years in office. This administration there for almost 20 years and did nothing to amend or improve the laws. Smdh. You guys continue keeping these molesters paedophiles, and rapists protected. The public need to know who they can trust around thier kids so other kids don’t have to be statistics. All we do is make excuses. I sure ain’t gonna wait on court system if is my kid.
How can the we the public identify the child rapist so we can keep our young daughters away from those so call buisness man.politician.or what ever you want to class them. Away with that bull crap….
A murder is a murder. Same as rapist .stop polishing the sin or rather walking demon stups.
Let us hear the name and put them away with thier balls cut off.
Let justice rein. Do you watch life time movies . And unsolve crimes.names is called me som. I nerva
Away with the secret stips
The sad thing about that matter is, the minors that were victims and deserved to be protected are exposed while those who allegedly abused them are protected. Isn’t this something else? Their is not one person in Dominica that does not know them. But the abusers are protected. The public sees them in the police cars and sometimes family members. In a small place like Dominica where everyone know everybody it is clear that this law ONLY protects the abuser and not the abused. I now call on Skerrit to use his 15/6 majority to amend this law so allegedly abusers could be exposed
Skerrit and his cabal must be having a feast as the watch the UWP and their supporters destroy the UWP. I mean Mr. Linton I know is a trained journalist and he loves to be heard, but he needs to relax from the media at this time. He is saying too much to the media and that is hurting the party. They need to learn to curse one another behind the scenes just as treat our home issues.
A talk show host on Q98, did tremendous damage to the party he claims to support last night and they need to be careful with him. The calypsonian was right when he said he doesn’t want no vacabond on his show. I know he was upset by Linton’s statement but couldn’t he call Linton? Did he support Linton’s call for the PM to resign during the Lap Seng allegations?
As for that reporter that reported his nonsense on Matt show! As far as I am concerned he should be banned from reporting to Q95 for one month! If what the talk show host did last night cracked many windows, the reporter sure shattered…
Your explanation is quite reasonable. If the last regime was responsible for this law then it needs to be revised in other to deter people from engaging in such behavior. Also what is the code of conduct or accountability for ministers of government for, parliamentary reps or attorneys charged in such a case? Some light on that would be valuable so people understand the law and not take it upon themselves to politicize or be verbal on a matter where they lack knowledge.
It’s time we take an educational approach when these matters occur.
“in order”
This Act was not taken seriously. Some may have forgotten about it or ignored it which is why sexual abuse of minors continued. Now, those who may consider doing something like that will think twice and desist otherwise they will be arrested and charged. A good lesson to be learned.
What we all should be doing is calling on the Administration and Opposition to get into the House and may these changes to our Sexual Act we need to protect our women and children, stop dragging it’s time stop protecting your colleagues and be dam with the children, we want action now this is the right time. Those in high positions just go to the Court and get special deals that prevent us from hearing the charges against them that too is wrong and must stop, we are sending a bad message to the children in Dominica when something is wrong it is wrong.
These men took advantage of our children and that’s wrong and inspite of all that is said their actions are wrong regardless who they are, If you didn’t go there your name would never be called so stop trying to shift blame and face the piper as the man or men you should be… My thoughts are for the children especially the young girl and that’s what we should all be focusing on she needs our help.
We understant. All we are asking is to change/ ammend the Law, thats what forward thinking do, the question is what has taken so long?? lets not sit on our #####andcry over spill milk. Lets Do it!!!!!
“spilt” milk
This makes no sense. If names can’t be mentioned then identify them by their profession. If one is a law officer then say so. If he is a farmer, pilot, doctor, politician, lawyer, carpenter say so. We need not give them any cushion.look . Is laws like this Skerrit needs to amend so those …….could be identified.
But that law serves no useful purpose because it is near impossible for it to be practical.
OK, so the name of the accused and complainant are not published in the papers or on the radio, but before the first arrest was made everybody in Dominica and abroad knew the identity of the persons involved. So again I say for the law to be respected, it has to be effective.
In this particular case I know of several people who said they saw the video, so if the intent is to protect innocent people, it is just not happening.
Dominica is a small place especially Roseau and surroundings. A secret could hardly be kept in Dominica.
News travel fast and far and wide. One tells the other and soon the other tells another, etc. We have computer. internet, email and whatever else. You know, some people cannot wait to tell others.
Bull OUTDATED law that NEEDS to be amended pronto. Y’all are doing more to protect these MONSTERS than anything. Smdh.
I am not a Lawyer, however sometimes think I am capable of interpreting the law correctly as lawyers. The Act says “AFTER A PERSON HAS BEEN CHARGED with an offence under the Act”. -Not before a person has been charged- A report of sexual assault can be made against anyone and that person can be brought in for investigation and even arrested on suspicion by the police but not CHARGED. Is the law saying that there is a restriction on publication BEFORE A PERSON is charged? I respectfully submit , not so. I further submit that the media is at liberty to publish matters pertaing to the report before that person is CHARGED. Can a Legal luminary comment, because that is just a simple layman’s interpretation. Alternatively can the attorney General tell us as well what is the position Before a charge is brought..
We need lawyer B . .Douglas ( Portsmouth) to educate us on the law that covers the Sexual Act in Dominica instead of the mouth pieces of the Government we don’t trust them.
you sir be fair and give the police officer you suspended back his duties.
you are no match for him, you and carbon
you sir should go, to much corruption in the police force and you are pressing one police officer who is no match for you. His hearing is coming up this month. Hope that you have a bulls and let him go back to work.