GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC -The Guyana government has received a draft amendment to the Sexual Offences Act 2010 in accordance with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)- funded Support for the Criminal Justice System (SCJS) project.
A statement from the Ministry of Legal Affairs said a consultant had been retained to review and conduct a legal gap analysis of the sexual offenses legislative regime in Guyana, including but not limited to the Sexual Offences Act 2010, and to prepare a revised Sexual Offences Act for implementation.
It said that in executing this task, the consultant was required to engage key stakeholders and individuals, including judges of the Supreme Court, magistrates, the Director of Public Prosecutions, members of the Guyana Police Force, the legal profession, child-care officers, and individuals with pending court matters, both as victims and offenders.
“The consultant was also required to review similar legislation across the Caribbean and the Commonwealth and to borrow from that legislation, provisions which may either be absent or deficient in Guyana’s statutory framework,” the statement added.
The government, having completed the consultant’s task, is now inviting the general public to submit their recommendations, proposals, and comments on the draft legislation. Feedback can be submitted through the Ministry of Legal Affairs website or by email to the designated address.
“A registered sex offender who fails to inform a designated officer of the change in any of the information provided by the registered sex offender …comm(GUY$500,000 One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) and to imprisonment for one year.
“A registered sex offender who, without reasonable excuse, fails to report to the police station nearest to his main or secondary address within forty-eight hours of his release, discharge or re-entry by subsection (2), commits an offense and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars and to imprisonment for one year,” according to the draft legislation.
Where a registered sex offender who resides in Guyana intends to travel overseas, he shall, at least seven calendar days before his departure, report to the police station nearest to his primary or secondary address.
In addition, the person will have to provide several pieces of information, including the date of his intended departure, the countries of his intended stay, any country through which he may transit, and the addresses of the places of his intended stay, as well as the duration of his stay in each country.
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