Grenada: Senate president wants ‘return of flogging’ for sex crimes

Last updated: September 23, 2017 at 08:56 pm

The president of the Grenada’s upper parliamentary house says he wants people convicted of sex crimes to be flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails.

Chester Humphrey believes this will allow justice to be “swiftly delivered” as sentences are currently too lenient.

“Today, sexual crimes are on the rise. At every assizes, as a percentage of the overall list of people answering charges, we see increasing incidents of sexual offence,” he told senators during his closing remarks.

“I think the time has come for the legislature to treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves and to protect the dignity and integrity of our women and girls in particular.”

Among his suggestions are removing the provision to discount sentences for time served behind bars while awaiting trial, the introduction of minimum prison sentences, and the establishment of a sex offenders register.

He also wants to see “the immediate suspension of any omnibus driver or conductor who has been charged with a sexual offence, particularly against children.”

“I will like to see the return of flogging – particularly with the cat-o'-nine-tails, as used to happen under the colonial times,”

Anyone convicted of sex offences should receive psychological evaluation.

WIC News has approached the government and the de facto opposition (the National Democratic Congress) for comment.