By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A MAN convicted of 20 sexual assault offences over nearly 20 years will be released from prison today.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said Sidney Cooper, 47, poses a significant risk to the public’s safety, issuing an advisory related to the man’s release during a press conference yesterday.

The Registration of Sex Offenders Regulations allow authorities to notify the public about offenders leaving prison when doing so could heighten the public’s awareness of their presence in an area.

Mr Munroe said when he told Cooper he planned to notify the public of his release, the man tried to dissuade him, asking, “Why this was happening?”

In response, Mr Munroe reportedly said: “This was happening because of a deliberate choice of his to commit these offences, and it is the duty of the minister with responsibility under the Act to protect the public.”

Mr Cooper’s criminal history dates back to 1998. Since 2000, he has faced 20 counts of sexual assault offences, usually indecent assault.

He was most recently convicted of indecent assault and causing harm and was jailed for three years in 2019.

Mr Munroe claimed Cooper had displayed worrying behaviour numerous times since his confinement.

While on trial for indecent assault in 2019, he allegedly groped a woman prosecutor in front of a magistrate.

After his conviction, he allegedly assaulted women prison officers and a woman reporter who visited the prison for work.

Mr Munroe said he was not charged with these alleged actions because no one filed complaints.

“All in all, Cooper displays as a man who is unable or unwilling to control his urges to commit sexual offences,” Mr Munroe said.

 He further claimed that during his exit interview, Cooper acknowledged his wrongdoing and told police he is tempted whenever a woman wears short clothes, bends over, smiles, blinks or licks her lips.

 Mr Munroe said Cooper denied saying this during his meeting with authorities yesterday.

 “In answer to my question as to why he committed those offences, particularly the one on the prosecutor of a policewoman in court in front of a magistrate, his response was that he has had the spirits since he was a child and he does not believe that the spirit should bow,” he said.

 “He expressed that he on this occasion felt that his manhood was challenged.”

 “He has displayed to me that any woman who he regards as attractive who is near him is liable to be groped and indecently assaulted.”

 “As a result, I judge that he is a danger to the public at large.”

 Mr Munroe warned the public not to retaliate against the man, saying his notice was not an invitation for people to harm him.

 “We again remind the public that he has served the time allotted to him and this notice is there for the public to be able to take care and not become victims of Mr Cooper, but is not made in order to invite any retribution or harm on Mr Cooper,” he said.

 This is the second time Mr Munroe has notified the public about a sex offender’s release.

 Last year, he announced the release of Alden Scott, 55.

 Days after his release, Scott was found on a track road in Yellow Elder Gardens suffering from injuries to his body.

 He died on May 25.

 Police did not classify his death as murder, claiming he died from natural causes.