(Trinidad Express) As debate continues to rage about human trafficking and prostitution in Trinidad and Tobago, an official list of convicted sex offenders has been made public for the first time via an online sex offenders registry.
Called the Trinidad and Tobago Public Sex Offenders Website, the registry comes from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and currently contains the names, photographs, locations and details of the offences of 16 men convicted of sex crimes.
The offences include rape, grievous sexual assault, buggery, indecent assault, sexual touching, and sex with a female under 14 years of age.
It is available at https://sexoffenders.gov.tt/.
The registry includes a warning to the public against reproducing and sharing the information contained on the website.
“Any person who intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification reproduces, shares or uses any information contained on this website, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars and to imprisonment for three years,” the warning said.
The registry became public pursuant to the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill (2021).
The bill allowed for the establishment of two registers—one for access by the Police Service and one for access by the public.
In May 2022, Attorney General Reginald Armour said the Commissioner of Police would have the authority under the legislation to ensure that information appearing on the website is accurate and placed there in a timely manner.
Former attorney general Faris Al-Rawi had previously said that convicted people would be added to the public register unless they appealed to the court and had a valid reason to not be listed on the site.
He said then that granting such appeals would be at the discretion of the court.
