ALL CHILDREN: PM’s wife says impregnated 14-year-old should have been protected

FNM women MPs call on PLP counterparts to condemn Munroe’s comments

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Amid public debate over the age of sexual consent in The Bahamas, Anne Marie Davis, the wife of Prime Minister Philip Davis, charged yesterday that all children should be protected at all costs.

It follows comments by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Franklyn Williams and Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe regarding a controversial unlawful sexual assault case involving a 40-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Ministry of Social Services Children Protection Month press conference, Davis said that she didn’t know “what to make” of the comments and that her focus is protecting “all children at all costs”. 

“The 14-year-old girl should have been protected more,” Davis charged.

“I don’t know why…She should have been protected. My heart goes out to her.

“She was 14 when this happened and my heart goes out to her. She should have been protected by whoever her guardians were, whoever her neighbors, teachers, everybody else, she should have been protected.” 

Police reportedly found the teenager at the man’s home on January 14, 2020, after receiving a tip from an anonymous caller and reportedly met the young girl putting on her school uniform at an apartment on Shamrock Close in the Carmichael Road area and reportedly met the young girl putting on her school uniform.

She reportedly told police that she met Pratt on Facebook and had sex with him five times between June 2019 and January 2020.

The details of the case and the four-year plea deal given by the court have also been highly debated, with some calling for stricter penalties and better enforcement. 

“It enrages me so much. Personally, I would like to see everyone get the maximum sentence who violates a child,” Davis continued.

“It’s traumatic. It affects them for the rest of their lives. It destroys a child, someone who has the potential of doing so much more. 

“Once you destroy a child’s life I think everybody should get the maximum sentence.” 

Though Prime Minister Philip Davis has not addressed the matter publicly, a post on his social media pages yesterday read: “Let’s be clear: grown men should stay away from children. The law is designed to protect children, who cannot meaningfully offer consent, and it should be enforced to the fullest extent.”

According to the Sexual Offences Act, section 11,  any person who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a person between 14 and 16 years old, with or without their consent, is guilty of an offense and is liable to life in prison.

Munroe suggested in his controversial comments that had he been the attorney for the 40-year-old man he would not have advised him to take such a high sentence because “she consented”.

A joint statement from the women’s representation of the Free National Movement condemned the comments and called for their “counterparts in the PLP” to join in rebuke of the statements from the minister.  

“He should be defending the most vulnerable,” it read.

“The sentences for sexual offenders are too lenient; he and his Cabinet colleagues should be providing solutions. He should protect us, not the predators.”

The statement was signed by Senator Michela Barnett-Ellis, Senator Maxine Seymour, Vanessa Scott, President of The Woman’s Association, and the Torchbearers Youth Association.

Meanwhile, former member of Parliament Pakesia Parker Edgecombe charged on her social media page that “A minor is a minor and any adult who condones the ill behavior of another adult against a child is a problem. 

Munroe has since released a statement condemning adults who have sex with underage children, and outlining the current laws on sentencing as it relates to the matter.

 He said the government is “unified” in wanting to send a clear message to predators.