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Unlawful sex with underage girls 'a worrying trend'- CoP Matthews
The Commissioner was at the time speaking on the Tuesday, October 22, 2019, edition of 'A Moment of Truth' with Host Kenneth G. Gladstone on PSI Online Radio in the Virgin Islands (VI) where he mentioned that the territory; however, is not seeing significant reports of rape, incest or paedophilia cases.
Worrying Trend
"What we have seen, and this is a worrying trend for me... we have had to deal with regrettably, with what is officially titled Unlawful Sexual Intercourse, where we've had underage—normally the female is underage—and sometimes the offender is also under the legal age as well," he said.
The top cop continued, "We're basically dealing with school children... these young children don't appreciate the seriousness of the problem they are getting themselves into."
Unlawful sexual intercourse, commonly referred to as statutory rape or sex with a minor, is sexual intercourse with a person who is under the age of eighteen.
Mr Matthews said that to get a conviction at age 16 for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old for example, that conviction can remain on a person's records for years in the future and affect their prospects in several areas.
"We all understand, anyone listening to this... we all experimented as kids, none of us can say we are innocent," he said, while noting that laws are there to protect the 'young innocent future' of the territory.
More education needed - CoP Matthews
"My appeal really on this is for parents, in particular... need to educate their own children more about the dangers that are involved and of course the spread of disease and unwanted pregnancies and all of the other circumstances and the impact upon our health system that these things can have," he said.
The commissioner noted that with the cases comes psychological trauma on immature minds, which can have severe effects.
"This has occurred on more than one occasion in recent months and being brought to the attention of the police. I'm hoping it's not going to become a trend... that people just sort of shut their eyes to and say, oh well, that's always happened."
He said to directly address the issue, the territory needs to works on ways to educate its youths better regarding social issues as the force is not in support of putting youths through the court system unless it is absolutely necessary.
In two recent cases, one involved a 15-year-old who was arrested and charged on July 18, 2019, and was granted bail in the amount of $15,000 for having Unlawful Sexual Intercourse with a Girl under 13 years of age.
On July 2, 2019, police arrested and charged another 21-year-old youth of Albion Estate, Tortola for the same offence with a girl under the age of 16 years.
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23 Responses to “Unlawful sex with underage girls 'a worrying trend'- CoP Matthews”
On another note:
When I was in high school, grown men would hang out around the area and wait for lunch and after school to talk to young girls. A few of my classmates had boyfriends who were years older than him. From that experience I think three things should happen:
1) Strict anti-loitering policies in school zones, especially for adults.
2) Possibly a transparent registry of business owners with businesses in near proximity to schools. As well as possibly a strict code of conduct as to how businesses should interact children during school hours. (Make sure that businesses aren’t encouraging truancy or facilitating inappropriate meet ups).
3) A mandatory investigation protocol whenever a minor is treated at any hospital or clinic in the Virgin Islands and is suspected to be pregnant, sexually active or sexually abused. The age of consent is 16. Yes, some children are fast and rush into things they should wait for but we as a society need to stop turning a blind eye to reality. If a 14 year old turns up pregnant, she doesn’t have the right to give consent so why is she pregnant? Who is the father? Where were her parents?
Just my two cents.