– Ministerial Task Force says jail sentence mandatory

THE Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons (TIPs) is not satisfied with the recent decision of Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan to not imprison a woman found guilty of trafficking her 16-year-old niece. Joyce Lawrence of Plantation Grove, was convicted on September 5, 2016 of two offences: trafficking a 16-year-old female for labour exploitation and unlawful withholding of an identification document.

The sentence as it relates to the trafficking-in-persons charge was an order by the court to pay $884,000 as restitution to the survivor, or face 12 months imprisonment as an alternative.

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 in a statement issued on Wednesday noted that while it is pleased that the prosecution was successful in establishing a case beyond a reasonable doubt against Lawrence, both sentences were non-custodial, whereas the penalties in the legislation specify mandatory imprisonment.

Magistrate McLennan had found 43-year-old Lawrence guilty of trafficking her underage niece between December 12 and 14, 2014 at Samatta Point, Grove, East Bank Demerara by means of threat.
The businesswoman was also found guilty of unlawfully withholding the teen’s identification card between December 1 and December 28, 2014, at Samatta Point, while being the employer of the young lady. The underage teen had worked with her aunt at Makawau night club in Aishalton in 2014, but was transported to Georgetown to work to repay a debt after the teen had reportedly stolen the woman’s money.
The Task Force acknowledged that the chief magistrate had considered the details of the case in a manner deemed as just and suitable for the crime committed, “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.”

According to the statement, 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.

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 states that “Whoever engages in or conspires to engage in, or attempts to engage in, or assists 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. Therefore, the sentence in this case ought to have included a term of imprisonment in addition to the restitution ordered by the court. Additionally, 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.” Therefore, by interpretation, a conviction for ‘unlawfully withholding of identification paper’ must include both a fine and imprisonment.
“The Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons wishes to state that it does not seek to criticise esteemed officials regarding the carrying out of their functions, and recognises their commitment to the cause of eradicating trafficking in persons from our shores. By the same token, the Task Force is committed to working with the judicial and prosecutorial authorities in Guyana to improve efforts in ensuring that penalties meted out to perpetrators of human trafficking are commensurate with the offence committed and act as effective deterrents to potential offenders,” the statement concluded.