Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, says there’s need for an increase in the number of specialist social workers deployed in those parts of the island where there’s a spike in reports of sexual offences.
Trelawny is among the parishes showing sharp increases in reports of sexual offences since the start of the year.
The police in that parish say they’ve received 16 such reports since the start January 1, compared to 8 in the corresponding period last year.
In St. Thomas, sexual related offences account for the bulk of cases on the court list in that parish.
On Monday the official log for the start of the Michaelmas term in the Home Circuit Court revealed three times as many sexual offence cases as murder cases.
More in this report from Shaloy Smikle:
Paula Llewelyn has been DPP since March 2008.
She says in all that time, never before has she seen as many cases dealing with alleged sexual offences.
In reference to South Trelawny, the DPP says it appears that the victimisation of children may even be a cultural thing.
Miss Llewelyn is calling for the deployment of more specially trained social workers.
DPP Llewellyn says those social workers could collaborate with other stakeholders to enhance the level of interaction.
for Nationwide News.
