Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs said the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill passed in the House on January 3, 2013 has been sent to the Office of the President for presidential assent, as it has been issued with an assent certificate by the Attorney General.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Friday, Isaacs said the bill was sent on February 5 for assent. Attorney General Anil Nandlall said he had cleared the legislation for presidential assent by issuing an assent certificate.
On Friday, a number of representatives of civil society organisations used the occasion of International Women’s Day to bring to the fore the un-assented bill by protesting in front of the Office of the President. In a letter to the editor of this newspaper, some women representing Help and Shelter said, “The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act was passed unanimously by the National Assembly on January 3, 2013. In view of its vital importance to the effective prosecution of sex crimes, we sincerely hope that this uncontroversial piece of legislation will be given presidential assent and so brought into effect as a matter of urgency.” The letter was signed by Danuta Radzik, Gaitrie Shivsankar, Denise Dias, Margaret Kertzious and Josephine Whitehead.
The amended legislation which had the support of the entire House aims to correct what is being called an oversight on the part of the persons who were involved in the passage of the landmark principal 2010 Act.
The government, in August last year, tabled the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2012 aimed at according to the accused the same rights as the prosecution with regard to submission of statements for paper committals. The bill when passed into law would also allow for statements written on behalf of a child to carry a mark made by that child if he or she is unable to sign his or her name.
Clause 4 of the bill seeks to amend the Schedule of the Principal Act to give the accused the right to lead evidence or submit written statements and it would be prejudicial to the accused if the accused does not have this right in the paper committal process. The bill said that there would be a level playing field as regards submission of evidence by the prosecutor and the accused.
The need for the new piece of legislation became apparent when acting Chief Justice Ian Chang made a ruling citing the unconstitutionality of the Sexual Offences Act in its extant form.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall in speaking on what the bill remedies said cases are being held up since the Director of Public Prosecutions was not proceeding with cases involving rape until the amendment was passed.
The Chief Justice had said in his ruling that several sections of the Sexual Offences Act are unconstitutional in as much as they did not accord to the accused person certain facilities which are guaranteed to an accused person in a criminal trial by the fundamental rights provision of the Constitution.
Nandlall said that while the state considered appealing the Chief Justice’s ruling, it decided to amend the legislation since the former option would have taken a long time.
