Un­der the Sex­u­al Of­fences Act a mi­nor is a per­son un­der the age of 18 years. The Act sets out spe­cif­ic of­fences which deal with any form of sex­u­al abuse which may have been com­mit­ted against a mi­nor by an adult.A man who has sex­u­al in­ter­course with a girl un­der the age of 14 years com­mits an of­fence and, if found guilty, is li­able to a sen­tence of life im­pris­on­ment. It is not rel­e­vant whether the young girl con­sent­ed to the in­ter­course or if the man was un­aware that the girl was un­der 14 years of age.

A man who has sex­u­al in­ter­course with a young girl be­tween the age of 14 and 16 may be li­able to im­pris­on­ment for twelve years. Un­der this cat­e­go­ry, the man may not be found guilty if:

(i) he hon­est­ly be­lieved the girl to be 16 years of age or;

(ii) he is not more than three years old­er than the girl and the court forms the view that he was not whol­ly to blame.

It is an of­fence for a woman to have sex­u­al in­ter­course with a young male un­der the age of 16 whether or not he has con­sent­ed. If the woman is found guilty, the penal­ty is five years im­pris­on­ment. She may not be found guilty if:

(i) she hon­esty be­lieved the young male to be 16 years or more or;

(ii) she is not more than three years old­er than the young male and the court forms the view that she was not whol­ly to blame.

Al­so, an adult who has sex­u­al in­ter­course with a mi­nor who is the adult's adopt­ed child, stepchild, fos­ter child, ward or de­pen­dant in the adult's cus­tody is guilty of an of­fence, and if con­vict­ed, is li­able to be­tween twen­ty five years and life im­pris­on­ment.It is al­so an of­fence for an adult to have sex­u­al in­ter­course with a child who is em­ployed by the adult. If some­one is found guilty of this of­fence, he or she may be li­able to twen­ty five years im­pris­on­ment.

Any per­son who pro­cures an­oth­er for pros­ti­tu­tion or pro­cures a mi­nor un­der 16 years to have sex­u­al in­ter­course with an­oth­er per­son is guilty of an of­fence and is li­able on con­vic­tion to im­pris­on­ment for 15 years.Noth­ing in the Act pre­vents a charge of rape be­ing brought against a man who has sex­u­al in­ter­course with a fe­male with­out her con­sent. These of­fences, stat­ed above, are age-spe­cif­ic of­fences cre­at­ed by statute.

Du­ty to re­port

Un­der the Act any per­son who has ac­tu­al or tem­po­rary cus­tody, care, charge or con­trol of a mi­nor, and who rea­son­ably sus­pects that a sex­u­al of­fence has been com­mit­ted against that mi­nor, must re­port his be­lief to the po­lice as soon as pos­si­ble. Per­sons un­der this du­ty in­clude a par­ent or guardian; em­ploy­er; teacher; and a med­ical prac­ti­tion­er, reg­is­tered nurse or mid­wife who has med­ical­ly ex­am­ined a mi­nor.

Fail­ure to re­port with­out rea­son­able ex­cuse is an of­fence car­ry­ing a pos­si­ble fine of $15,000 or im­pris­on­ment for 7 years or both fine and im­pris­on­ment.

This col­umn is not le­gal ad­vice. If you have a le­gal prob­lem, you should con­sult a le­gal ad­vis­er. Co-or­di­na­tor: Roshan Ram­char­i­tar