Excessive Courtroom decide, Justice Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence Monday dominated that sections of the Sexual Offenses Act contravene the Dominica Structure as she dominated in favour of a “homosexual man” who challenged legislations that criminalises buggery and different sexual exercise between consenting companions, together with and particularly, companions of the identical intercourse.
In a 40-page ruling, the decide mentioned that sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offenses Act contravene Sections 1 and 10 of the Dominica Structure and their rights to liberty as enshrined within the Structure.
The unnamed “homosexual man” had introduced the lawsuit, claiming that the regulation violates “quite a few rights assured within the Structure of Dominica” together with his attorneys making explicit reference to sections 14 and part 16 of the Sexual Offenses Act.
Part 14 is a sweeping regulation criminalising gross indecency which is outlined as any act (apart from penile-vaginal intercourse) by anybody “involving using the genital organs, breast or anus to arouse or gratifying sexual want”.
The utmost penalty is 12 years in jail, if the act is dedicated with an individual aged 16 or older, whereas part 16 of the Act criminalises buggery, which the Act defines as anal intercourse between two males or between a person and a girl.
The utmost penalty is 10 years imprisonment plus the potential for pressured psychiatric confinement.
