Munroe Defends Acting DPP

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Following widespread outrage over the Acting Director of Public Prosecution’s comments about a plea deal in an unlawful sexual intercourse case involving a teenage girl and a 40-year-old-man, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe says he doesn’t get the controversy.

Berthony Mcdermott reports.

Amid the outrage after a 40-year-old man was jailed for four years after impregnating a 14-year-old schoolgirl, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the perpetrator should’ve gotten a lighter sentence because the victim willingly had sex with him, despite being under the age of consent.

Munroe said four years is too long, adding the standard for rape when a person doesn’t consent is seven years.

When asked to explain the four year sentence, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Franklyn Williams said the girl was, “highly sexualized” and engaged in “risky behavior” and that the facts of the case informed the punishment.

That sentiment sparked fierce public backlash.

Munroe however sides with Williams saying his comments weren’t victim-blaming.

Fellow Progressive Liberal Party parliamentarians Pia Glover-Rolle and Leslia Miller-Brice have condemned the DPP’s comments.

However, Munroe argues that having sex with a person under the age of consent is not rape, adding he doesn’t get the controversy.

When pressed that the victim could not have consented because she was under the age of consent, Munroe claimed that she was able to consent from the age of seven, but noted her consent doesn’t matter until she’s 16.