Man, 52, charged for sleeping with 15-y-o

An incident involving a 52-year-old man, who has recently been charged with having sexual relations with a minor, has left child advocate Betty-Ann Blaine questioning the effectiveness of the laws that were put in place to protect children against such occurrences.

Blaine, speaking in regard to the incident, which took place in February 2019, says pervert continues to prey on children because the laws are not sharp enough.

"The law needs to have more teeth because if there was more harsh punishment for their behaviour, I'm sure they would be scared to carry out such acts," she said. "For 2021, these things have to stop. These men can't continue to do our children wrong and get away with it."

As was reported, the girl, who was 15 at the time, was involved in an intimate relationship with the man, and they had sexual intercourse on several occasions. The St Catherine police revealed that they were forced to investigate after an incident between the two was brought to their attention.

Very prevalent within Jamaica

According to Blaine, cases of such nature are very prevalent within Jamaica because both citizens and those in authority tend to turn a blind eye.

"As an advocate, we see these things very often, but the problem is that we in Jamaica haven't been successful in prosecuting these kind of cases," Blaine told THE STAR. "Incest was one of the fastest growing crimes in Jamaica at one point because we have gotten accustomed to hearing about an adult raping a child and nothing comes of it."

Blaine believes that in an attempt to solve some of these cases, the revelant authorities should check some of the teenagers who are at women centres.

"Most of the women we see leaving the women centres are teenagers, but nobody is trying to figure out how they ended up there. These cases should be investigated for sexual abuse and give these young women justice," she said.

Blaine believes that the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic will also contribute to a rise in cases as authorities don't have as much access to communities due to curfews and other measures.

"Children just have to now be responsible and speak up for themselves if they are in a household with persons who don't care much about them," she said.