FREEPORT, Grand Bahama ﾖ A sexual assault investigator on Grand Bahama has called attention to a longstanding legislative constraint she claimed is hampering police in their efforts to build rape cases against alleged assailants.
Sergeant Terecita Pinder, officer in charge of the islandﾴs sexual offences unit, recently told The Bahama Journal that it is imperative for legislators to enable the courts to subpoena alleged assailants for DNA samples.
“In a lot of matters we have, we have gathered the evidence, but when it comes to the suspects they are not willing to give us a suspect sample because the law does not require that they have to,” she pointed out.
“The samples have to be given by consent and [the accused are] not going to give us a sample to jail them. I think this is a real hamper in a lot of our investigations because [the case] is difficult to prove without the suspect kit,” Sergeant Pinder added.
Her call came as the islandﾴs rape count for the first eight months of the year exceeded by one last yearﾴs count of 9.
According to Inspector Edric Poitier, detective with the islandﾴs Central Detective Unit, 10 rape matters have been reported to police on the island so far this year ﾖ six of those were detected, four were still under investigation.
He told the Journal that in at least one of the cases under investigation, Central Detective Unit officers expect the case to be problematic because the accused is not likely to consent to giving a suspectﾴs sample.
According to Inspector Poitier, all of the alleged victims in this yearﾴs reported rape cases are females.
Police statistics indicate that in 2004, there were a total of 86 rape cases recorded to police in all of The Bahamas, down from 114 the previous year.
Of the 86 cases reported, police said they recorded a detection rate of 58 percent, which is equivalent to 50 arrests in those cases.
On Grand Bahama a concern raised this year by a Crisis Centre Counselor dealt with what she said was an alarming number of rape reports coming from tourists.
Laura Jones, senior trained clinical nurse with the Grand Bahama Health Services told the Journal, “What troubles me right now is that more than 50 percent of the rape cases that I have dealt with this year have been visitors.”
But Inspector Poitier said investigators are finding that there is more to the reports than meets the eye.
“Most of the complainants donﾴt want police action,” he said. “We later determined that many of the reports were not legitimate and that the sex involved was perhaps consensual.”
The Journal contacted Attorney General Alfred Sears for comment on whether the countryﾴs sexual offenses act might need to be amended in the area addressed and was referred to prosecutor Cheryl Grant-Bethel for comment.
Up to press time, that call was not returned.
Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
