by Linda Straker
Farmer Anderson Peters will make his next appearance at the Gouyave Magistrate Court on 26 September 2017. He appeared in court on Monday, 11 September after he was charged with a sexually related offence.
Police confirmed that the 50-year old who resides in Black Bay, is accused of indecently assaulting a female minor over the age of 13, but under the age of 16, who resides in the same community. The incident is reported to have occurred on 5 September. He was placed on EC$10,000 bail with 1 surety.
Also facing a sexually related offence within the past week was Eugene Simon of Byelands, St Andrew. The 63-year-old was arrested and charged with indecent assault on a minor. He appeared at the Grenville Magistrate Court on Thursday, 7 September 2017 and was remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison to reappear in court on Thursday, 28 September 2017.
Recently, government appointed a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Committee headed by Dr Ursula Antoine, whose duty is to come up with strategies and initiatives to combat, reduce and eventually eliminate this social scourge.
Member of the Committee, Lady Anande Trotman-Joseph, in a news conference last week said that the social scourge is a developmental issue which requires a national conversation. “We are in a crisis where this issue is concerned…this is a national crisis,” she said.
She said that boys are equally abused as girls because paedophiles have no sexual preference. “They just look at the vulnerability of the child,” she said while describing the situation like a pandemic that needs to be addressed.