Age of consent law applicable to girls only

Apr 03, 2009 News

…modified legislation languishing at AG chambers

The law as it relates to sex with a person under the age of 16 is only applicable to girls, according to one of the country’s leading legal minds who wished to remain anonymous.
This was pointed out in light of the recent public outcry of citizens as it relates to the 15- year-old boy who admitted to a consensual sexual relation with a homosexual adult.
The police had stated that on February 22, the 15-year-old youth’s mother sent him on an errand to Leopold Street in Georgetown.

After not seeing him return, she made a missing person report to the police the following day.
Ranks subsequently located him at a house at Victoria on Saturday.
The police confirmed that a homosexual and his niece who were in the house at the time were arrested.
From all appearances the teenager is known to have been associating with homosexual males and did their biddings for a fee.

Further investigations by the police revealed that the teenaged boy had traveled to Suriname and had returned to Guyana on March 11, when he met the homosexual at the Stabroek Market area.
He was subsequently invited to the homosexual’s house at Victoria, a location to which he went of his own free will and was reportedly not abducted.
He was free to come and go as he pleased, the police stated.
It was also revealed that the teenaged boy was not sexually molested but had engaged in anal sex with the homosexual as mutually agreed.

Villagers had observed the strange boy at the home but disregarded his presence since they thought that he was a relative or a willing occupant of the house.
However, rumours circulated that the child was being held against his will and may be sexually abused by the males in the house.

This was after the mother of the child contacted villagers after learning of her son’s whereabouts.
The neighbours kept a close watch on the house since the child appeared to have been hidden from public view and they could not be too certain if he was still there up to early last week.
But, having spotted the teen, they contacted the police who immediately swooped down on the property.
A point to note is that during the countrywide consultations that resulted in the drafting of the Sexual Offence Bill, there was a call for the age of consent to be applicable to boys as well in the legislation.

This was included in the Sexual Offences Bill, which was sent to the Attorney General Chambers for vetting more than five months ago but there is still no word from that office as yet so that the legislation could be tabled in the National Assembly for eventual passage and enactment.

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