Feetham prepares to consider ‘most difficult options’ for sex offenders

The Minister for Justice Nigel Feetham said he is considering the “most difficult options” to protect against child sexual offenders during his speech opening the Gibraltar Association of Compliance Officers biennial conference.

Mr Feetham was present under his responsibilities for financial services and linked the conference’s theme, Beyond the Obvious, to discuss how this thinking permeates his ministry’s work in relation to sexual offending.

He told the conference at the Sunborn and that the Government has had to “confront an uncomfortable reality” that either sexual offending is increasing or detection and reporting has improved.

He added that he is working on legislative measures to toughen sentencing for serious sexual offences and, if there is a need to “go further”, the Government will.

“We are prepared to consider the most difficult options if the measures we have announced do not deliver the protection that our children deserve, even those that some may regard as extreme,” Mr Feetham said.

“Nothing should be off the table when the safety of children is concerned.”

“I say this in my address in this conference about Beyond the Obvious because our response here must also go beyond the obvious. So that the message is clear – this must stop.”

“If it doesn’t, those who commit these horrendous crimes against our children will certainly not be expecting what option we might consider next. And it will not just be chemical castration.”

Mr Feetham said the “obvious response in other countries” has been to “focus only” on the rehabilitation of the offender.

But, he said, the responsibility of all governments also extends to the protection of victims and the wider public.

“I have said repeatedly that compassion is for the victims, not for the perpetrators of serious crime,” he said.

“We therefore had to ask: How do we protect the public and make sure that the system properly considers the risk of reoffending? And how do we make sure that the voices of victims and their families are heard?”

He said the Government has had to look carefully at whether Gibraltar’s systems and laws remained fit for purpose.

“Once we accepted that reality, the question could not simply be: Can the current justice system deal with this?” Mr Feetham said.

“The question had to be: Are our laws and our systems appropriate today to reduce the risk of further harm tomorrow? That thinking has informed the work we have undertaken to strengthen the framework around serious sexual offences, including tightening parole provisions, strengthening public protection safeguards, addressing the use of cautions, and ensuring that the views of victims and their families are properly taken into account.”

He added that particularly when the safety of children is concerned, the Gibraltar has a responsibility to do “everything within our power to protect them”.

“This is why we are not stopping here and I am now working on further legislative measures to strengthen the deterrent against serious sexual offending. And if we have to go further we will.”