PM Browne Says Survivors’ Stories Strengthen Push for Tougher Sexual Abuse Penalties

Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the experiences shared with him by survivors of childhood sexual abuse have strengthened his resolve to pursue tougher penalties for offenders and greater protection for children.

Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show, Browne said women had approached him or contacted him following his public statements on sexual offences, recounting abuse they suffered as children and its continuing impact on their lives.

He said those experiences underscored the damage abuse can cause to survivors’ self-esteem and their sense of justice, particularly when perpetrators serve short prison terms and return to the community.

His comments followed the passage of amendments to Antigua and Barbuda’s sexual offences legislation in the House of Representatives. The amendments include a provision making sexual intercourse with a person under 16 punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Sir Steadroy Benjamin, who presented the legislation, raised concerns about the sexual abuse of young people, particularly girls, and the sentences imposed on offenders.

Browne reiterated his support for considering chemical castration and, in cases involving persistent repeat offending, surgical castration. He presented those measures as possible penalties for consideration and did not announce their implementation.

The Prime Minister also called for closer attention to abuse within homes and families, stressing that protecting children requires adults to recognise and respond to threats in those settings.

He emphasised that boys, as well as girls, can experience sexual abuse and said both must be safeguarded.

Browne urged communities to play a more active role in protecting vulnerable people, alongside stronger punishment for those who commit serious offences.