THE Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship has appealed to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament deliberating amendments to the Incest (Punishment) Act to consider including ‘indecent assault’ as a new offence under the Act, which if heeded, will see guilty individuals being slapped with a seven-year prison sentence.

Making a submission during yesterday’s sitting of the committee at Gordon House in downtown Kingston, president of the fellowship, Shirley Richards said the proposed amendment would address cases of “fondling and inappropriate touching in the home”.

Richards said the amended section would then provide that any individual convicted of indecently assaulting any person known to be the grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, grandson, granddaughter or any person standing as parent or guardian would be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.

“This section would then cover cases where there is no mens rea for attempted incest the only aim is to enjoy the body of the victim whether by fondling, kissing or other inappropriate forms of touching…we are just trying to bring the concept of indecent assault into the present situation to deal with an offence which is not now in the Act,” Richards said.

Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry, while not disagreeing with the proposal, pointed out that it could proved difficult to successfully prosecute where this was concerned.

The DPP said that while persons were for the most part not averse to reporting the incidents, often times they were reluctant to testify in court.

He said in one typical instance a young female who was sexually involved with a bus conductor refused to testify when the matter was brought to the fore as she said he was her boyfriend.

In addition, the DPP said parents have been known to hide the children until after the court date had passed.

“Putting it in the legislation alone won’t help,” Pantry noted.

The DPP’s concerns were echoed by several committee members who pointed out that a part of the problem was the fact that persons are not taught parenting skills and that the socio-economic condition of many victims made it even more difficult to persuade them to testify against their abusers as they were the sole source of economic support.

Furthermore, Opposition Member Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange pointed out that the situation was further aggravated by the fact that the victim support network was weak.

In noting the concern, Committee Chair, Attorney General Senator AJ Nicholson said the proposed victims charter, which is to accompany the legislation, recommends that the Government consider making funds available to deal with the entire victim regime. Nicholson said while it would be an expensive venture parliamentarians ‘would have to decide’.

Furthermore the Attorney General appealed to Members of Parliament and Government ministers to avoid sidestepping matters relating to sexual abuse.

“Members of parliament and ministers are sometimes reluctant to go on talk shows to talk about these things. We need to go public. Don’t leave it to the women’s groups alone,” Nicholson urged.

In the meantime, the Fellowship also appealed to the committee to leave the definition of sexual intercourse “untouched” in its consideration of the Offences Against the Persons Act which is being considered jointly with the Incest (Punishment) Act. The group said the definition should remain as “vaginal sex between a man and a woman” and that the terminology “sexual act” be used instead to effectively widen the definition of rape.

In commenting on the reports of sexual acts involving school children on public passenger vehicles and the transmission of sexual images via cell phones, the group said it was calling on the Government to increase the fines under the Obscene Publications Act and make any other amendments.

The Attorney General, in noting the concern, pointed out that this matter would be addressed under the proposed amendments to the Public Passenger Transport Act.

“We want to push this thing, and I don’t want to hear any foolishness from the Opposition when it come,” Nicholson stated.

Opposition Member Ernest Smith in responding said no difficulty should be expected from that end as they were also anxious to have the legislation passed quickly.

Meanwhile, the proposed reforms to the Offences Against the Persons Act include providing a statutory definition of rape and sexual intercourse, extending ‘rape’ beyond vaginal penetration by a penis. In addition, the offence of rape will become gender neutral, meaning it can now be committed by a male or female against both male and female. It will also address the thorny issue of marital rape and abolish the presumption that a boy under the age of 14 years cannot be found guilty of rape on the grounds that boys do not attain puberty until age 14.

The main areas of change for the Incest Punishment Act will be to create a single, gender-neutral incest offence by persons of 16 years and older, and broaden the scope of persons who can be found guilty of the offence to include, among others, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces and persons in loco parentis relationships (persons, not parents, in parental-type relationships with children). It also provides for the reclassification of the offence of incest as a felony, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment (as is the case for rape).