“I think we will take it to the public first, listen to them (and) be guided by them”

How is this going to play out? A referendum? Online poll? Will there be a PSA on the legalese involved? Let’s go, I know a lot of people are chomping at the bit to get this moving along.

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2018…

Criminalizing marital rape should help cut down on adultery committed by Bahamian men who would face the risk of a scornfully vindictive wife seeking vengeance by spitefully crying marital rape in instances where no such rape has in fact occurred. I suspect many wayward men would learn the hard way that hell has no fury like a woman's scorn. Criminal lawyers of course would be happy with all the new business that would come their way, whether or not for legitimate reasons. That said, marital rape should be criminalized.

There is TOO MUCH marital dysfunction in The Bahamas right now to open up this "marital rape" can of worms ..... preventing spousal abuse is different from criminalizing marital sexual abuse .... Let us see what these brilliant QCs come up with that will actually be enforceable in The Bahamas.

So where are the police statistics to confirm that marital rape is a major problem in this country? Where are the scores of married Bahamian women (without hyphenated last names) who are lining up for this law to be passed so they can bring charges against their husbands? Why would this government go a whoring and listening-to and being guided by some foreign woman who will disappear as soon as the law is set and won’t be around to see the devastation it will cause. And since the church is responsible for the administration of Holy Matrimony what and where is their input? Will the wedding wows have to be changed to say a married couple no longer becomes one flesh? Will the man no longer have to wow to love and cherish his wife? And will the married woman no longer have to promise to submit to her husband because she can call the police and have him charge with sexual assault or attempted rape if he tries to get her in the mood? Do married couples now have to put cameras and/or listening devices in their bedrooms (males especially) to protect their innocence? Does this country now need to remove the preamble from the country as it now seeks to tamper with the laws of God?

@John - I, too, would love to see the statistics on all crime in this country. However, as long as spousal rape and abuse is considered a private matter to be dealt with at home, we aren’t going to see those statistics as they’re not being recorded.

This a real red herring thrown out there by the feminists and OECD liberals ...... The official Govt. stats (on marital rape/spousal abuse victims) need to be shared with the country and the NGO stakeholders who are so concerned must come forward and present a united public voice.

@bahamama...then the purpose and intention for making the law is false and based on fraud. If you have no data, how can you dare say it is a major problem in the country? There are hospital records and other means to verify the incidence of rape in a marriage. Then there are marriage counselors and clergyman and even divorce lawyers hardly any of whom have come forward to say, yes marital rape is a serious problem in this country. In fact the contrary is true. When couples file for divorce the claim is that one party or both have been withholding sex. Once you start to fritter away the rights of marriage, you make it, less sacred and less of a necessity.

Good point

The illegal act of rape is committed and a vagina is examined by a Doctor who sees abrasions, bloodied, torn damaged tissue, and other evidence consistent with rape and the complaint.

So who in the Religeous or Govt legal secton can now sit alongside the doctor and look at that assaulted vagina, mental pain,anguish, devastation etc and determine if is a married or unmarried vagina so that the married or unmarried penis which caused the damage can be punished???

Are pastors or govt officials that good to be able to tell by looking at the evidence of the vagina or penis and tell whether its married or single?....yep or no das one married vagina dat got raped by an unmarried penis...penis..???

Simple solution staring in the face instead of doing the time is castration like if it offends then pluck it out.

@John - I personally have never said it is a major problem. However, I do know women personally that have been in severely abusive relationships and nothing was done because the mentality is that it is a private matter in the home. My concern is that by excluding marriage from rape laws, abusive husbands can claim that they can do whatever they wish sexually, as that woman is their property.

And maybe you’re right, changing or addinng laws may not be the answer. There are some seriously twisted minds in this country that think a woman is a man’s property once she says “I do”. It may not be a large majority, but those women who are suffering at the hands of abusive husbands (and vice versa) should also be protected.

@John - What is your solution/ideas to abusive marriages? Or do you think those don’t exist? I’m not trying to sound patronizing, it’s a genuine question.