In wake of the heinous rape and murder of Berbice teenager Leonard Archibald, a noted child rights activist is reiterating her call for Guyana to introduce a Sex Offenders Registry in the hopes of keeping other at-risk children safe.
According to social worker Nicole Cole, who is a member of the Women and Gender Equality Commission (W&GEC), there is a pressing need for the implementation of this Registry. She stressed the need for the court to process cases more swiftly, citing two recent convictions.
Child rights activist Nicole Cole
“There were two rape convictions earlier this year; we can start with those two….one is a Pastor who raped a six-year-old girl in 2007 and the other raped another child in 2010…both were convicted in 2017.”
“More so, child rape cases should be given special attention by the courts. Why must a child wait seven to 10 years for justice? (So) yes, there is need for a Sex Offenders Registry to keep a record of sex offenders. Children are being violated (partly) because of systematic weaknesses.”
Rights activists have long pointed to the absence of a Sex Offenders’ Registry in Guyana.
According to the United States Department of Justice, sex offenders’ registration and notification programmes are a system for monitoring and tracking sex offenders following their release into the community.
The registration provides important information about convicted sex offenders to authorities and the public, such as the offender’s name, current location and past offences. It describes this system as important for public safety purposes. There are even sex offender websites, which help to notify communities of the presence of a sexual deviant in their midst.
