Lutchmedial: TT needs specialised courts for sexual offence matters

OPPOSITION senator Jayanti Lutchmedial says the creation of specialised courts to treat matters of sexual offences and crimes and/or gender-based violence would be a plus for this country. She said while legislation is good, it “can only go so far,” and victims need a court environment in which they feel comfortable.

She was speaking at the senate on Tuesday afternoon following independent senator Paul Richard’s private members’ motion calling on the government to assess the deficiencies in the system regarding violence against women and girls.

She said throughout her career in the criminal justice system, she has witnessed her fair share of such matters.

She said it begins with the culture of how children are raised and taught to view and treat women.

She discussed crime prevention, detection and prosecution and conviction, which she listed as the main points of her contribution.

She said many women remain hesitant to report such crimes despite the creation of a gender-based violence unit in the police service.

She said it is “unfortunate” women are still not comfortable enough to report these things, and even more so when women police are the ones who don’t take the victims’ reports seriously.

She said a rape victim recently reached out to her saying, “The woman police who took her statement went on leave for an extended period of time and had the file at home.

“No one was appearing in court, no proper photographs had been taken at the crime scene and no subjective complainant had been assigned…And the mag was close to dismissing the matter.”

She said if this country is serious, people will support the idea of creating a digital system to deal with reports and the monitoring of the same.

She said it is also common that, within families, victims are suppressed and prevented from making reports since the perpetrator is “the main breadwinner,” or the victim has no safe place to go to if they leave the home.

“And I dare say it’s the number one reason why violence and sexual assault continues in this country, especially in family situations…They don’t have options.”

She added that while the government often accuses the opposition of “being obsessed with CCTV footage and DNA,” she takes pride in being obsessed with those things.

“Whether we like it or not, these are tools that would assist law enforcement with not just arresting someone but arresting the right person.

“We don’t have specialised courts that just have the environment that makes it easy for women who are victims of sexual violence to come to court and give evidence…Not only can you have specialised prosecutors, police, judges…court staff and everybody else to make the environment more amenable to see these things through trial, but we also have to consider the speed at which these things will move through the court system.”