Former minister of state for social services and FNM deputy leader Loretta Butler-Turner blasted the PLP government’s silence on the “alarming increase” in the number of rapes in New Providence.
Police have refused, thus far, to release the exact number of incidents but press reports suggest there may have been over a dozen rapes in New Providence in the past few months.
“Thus far, the Christie administration has failed to speak out clearly and vigorously on the issue of rape, inclusive of advisories to Bahamian women on what appears to be an upsurge in rapes,” said Mrs Butler-Turner according to the Tribune.
“Little to nothing has been said by the Minister of National Security or the Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security. Likewise, the female members of the Cabinet have been silent.
“As rape affects women and their families, including husbands and partners, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and other family members, this silence from the government is deeply disturbing,” the FNM deputy leader said.
Acknowledging that rape is one of the worst crimes in society, Mrs Butler-Turner said: “It is a heinous violation of the human person and human dignity. The deep scars such a violation leaves are physical, emotional and psychological. It also scars the family unit and the wider society.”
The FNM passed various laws last year that dealt with rape, including the Penal Code and the Sexual Offences Act, which was amended to introduce a sentence range of 15 years to life for a defendant convicted of rape.
Rape was also included in the amendment to the Bail Act requiring that judges take certain critical factors into consideration, prior to the grant of bail to a defendant.
Bernard Nottage, Minister of National Security for the PLP government said he believed the new anti-crime legislation introduced by the Ingraham administration to be too harsh.
Mrs Butler-Turner called on Mr Nottage to confirm that the laws affecting rape and those convicted of rape will not be softened, and asked whether “Bahamians can expect that rapists will not find terms for bail being reduced by the new PLP government?”
In response, a senior police official yesterday defended the decision of police not to issue a warning on rape until the matter was disclosed by a Nassau Guardian reporter on Monday.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson’s said the incidents were included in the police’s daily crime reports as armed robberies or home invasions but admitted that the specifics of the sexual assaults were not spelled out. He said this was to protect the victims but it also failed to protect other potential victims.
“I think the police have been doing a good job in updating the public to crime that is happening but then they may not have understood it the way the police were making the report.
“[The police] are not going to come out and speak directly to those issues that have private implications,” Ferguson added.
But if the public did not understand the implications of the police updates, then perhaps the updates were not conclusive enough to prevent additional crimes.
Nobody is suggesting that the privacy of individuals takes a back seat in police disclosures but information from police could have been more forthcoming without divulging the names or details of the victims.
When asked by the Nassau Guardian if he thought an earlier warning on the alleged rapes would have protected more victims Mr Ferguson said, “The police on a daily basis issue public awareness advising people how to move about, how to be careful, how to take note of things that are around their premises and all these security tips.”
Yet, the release of such generic information is an ongoing process, and not one that speaks directly to a specific warning about current crimes that are being committed.
On Monday, Ferguson admitted that police had received numerous reports of rapes that occurred in New Providence over the last few weeks.
The most recent incident involved a woman who was sexually assaulted in a suburb of western New Providence around 5:00am Monday.
Ferguson said four of the alleged victims lived in eastern New Providence, and another four alleged rapes occurred in western New Providence.
