Pintard says Davis keeps changing view on legislation

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net 

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard labelled Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis a “serial flip-flopper” for suggesting that criminalising marital rape is not a priority because it was not mentioned in his party’s pre-election manifesto, “Blueprint for Change”.

He also criticised Mr Davis’ suggestion that divorce is the solution for women who believe their spouse has raped them.

“He changes his position regularly,” Mr Pintard claimed yesterday, adding that Mr Davis should make a principled decision.

“You would recall the prime minister promised to address this issue as he has promised with NIB and a number of other areas, and he continues to change his position,” Mr Pintard claimed.

“So, he has to make a principled decision as the leader of the country versus trying to wet his finger and determine which direction the crowd is headed in and formulate his opinion. 

“What that opinion does not address is whether or not it is correct for a woman against her will to be forced to have sex where she may believe her life is at risk or other reasons she determined this is not the correct time. So the prime minister knows that this is a very complex issue, and he should not dismiss it with such an oversimplified response.”

The Bahamas is one of the few countries in the region to explicitly exclude marital rape from its definition of rape, except where spouses are legally separated or subject to separation proceedings. 

A University of The Bahamas study last year found that 30 per cent of Bahamian women were victims of rape in a long-term relationship, and over 50 per cent of adults favoured changing the law to remove the marital exception in cases of rape.

Successive administrations have pledged to criminalise marital rape, but failed to do so.

Mr Pintard said last year that those administrations squandered opportunities to address the matter, but the time has come to fix it.

The Davis administration drafted a bill in 2022 to criminalise marital rape.

However, its commitment to passing the law has become increasingly less certain.

Asked about the matter this week, Mr Davis said: “My thing is that the time when, any time, a couple was married in a blissful marriage reaches the stage where they’re going to report their husband for rape, it seemed to me that marriage was irretrievably broken down, meaning that they’re no longer married even though it may not have been so pronounced by a court.”