Breaking down the Sexual Offences Act
Today we examine section 40 of the Sexual Offences Act, Chapter 8:03, Laws of Guyana (“the SOA”), which is titled in the marginal note as “Divestment of authority of a child.”
The term “divestment”refers to taking away authority over a child from parents or guardians in certain circumstances.
Section 40 gives Guyana’s courts the power to legally take away authority from a parent or guardian over a child where the parent or guardian caused, encouraged, or favoured any sexual offence committed against the child. It does not matter that the parent or guardian did not participate in the sexual offence against the child.