Joyce Lawrence who was convicted on September 5, 2016 of two Trafficking in Persons (TIP) offences should have faced mandatory jail time in addition to the order of restitution and fine that were imposed on her.
This point was made yesterday by the government’s Ministerial Task Force on TIP in response to the order of restitution and fine handed down on Lawrence by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
Expressing its concern in a statement, the Task Force noted that Lawrence of Plantation Grove, was convicted of trafficking a sixteen-year-old female for labour exploitation and unlawful withholding of an identification document. The sentence in relation to the trafficking in persons charge was an order by the Court to pay $884,000 as restitution to the survivor or face twelve months imprisonment. The statement noted that Lawrence was also fined $50,000 on the charge of unlawful withholding of an identification document in default of which she would face eight weeks in prison.
The Task Force said it was pleased that the prosecution was successful in establishing a case beyond a reasonable doubt against the perpetrator of the crime, and that a conviction was secured. However, it noted that both sentences were non-custodial whereas the penalties in the law specify mandatory terms of imprisonment on summary conviction for these offences.
The Task Force said it acknowledges that the Chief Magistrate would have considered the details of the case in a manner deemed as just and suitable and that there are fundamental differences between labour exploitation and sexual exploitation.
“However, the concern of the Task Force is concentrated on the precedent that the decision to not have the perpetrator serve mandatory jail time would set, especially given that the survivor was a minor. It is of utmost importance that offenders are dealt with in such a manner that it will serve as a strong deterrent to other potential perpetrators, thus reducing incidence of these crimes in the future”, the Task Force asserted.
It was noted by the Legal Issues Sub-Committee of the Task Force that Section 3. (1) of the Combating Trafficking in Persons Act, No. 2 of 2005 mandates that “Whoever engages in or conspires to engage in, or attempts to engage in, or assist another person to engage in or organizes or directs other persons to engage in “trafficking in persons” shall – (i) on summary conviction (a) be sentenced to not less than three years nor more than five years imprisonment; (b) be subject to forfeiture of property under section 7; and (c) be ordered to pay full restitution to the trafficked person or persons under section 6.
Further, it says that Section 4 of the Combating Trafficking in Persons Act, No. 2 of 2005 states that “Any person who for the purpose of trafficking in persons, and acting or purporting to act as another person’s employer…knowingly procures, destroys, conceals, removes, confiscates, or possesses any passport, immigration document, whether actual or purported, belonging to another person commits an offence and shall on summary conviction be fined one million dollars together with imprisonment for not more than five years.”
It said it was clear from both of these sections of the law that imprisonment was mandated in addition to restitution and the fine.
The Task Force said that it does not seek to criticise officials regarding the carrying out of their functions, and recognises their commitment to the cause of eradicating trafficking in persons. It said that it is committed to working with the judicial and prosecutorial authorities to improve efforts in ensuring that penalties for human trafficking are commensurate with the offence committed and that they act as effective deterrents.
For a number of years, Guyana has come under pressure, particularly from the US, to act decisively against human trafficking.
