Registry reveal

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has declared that he will be pushing for urgent reforms to the Sexual Offences Act, following the tragic murder and alleged rape of nine-year-old Kelsey Cassidy Ferrigon, whose body was found stuffed in a barrel at her home on Friday night.

Speaking amid the national outrage that erupted on the weekend after news of the murder, the prime minister yesterday stressed the importance of arming the public with critical information to protect themselves.

“It is time the society draws a clear line that we must eliminate the criminals from the society,” Holness declared.

He disclosed that during a private meeting with Ferrigon’s grieving mother, Georgette Anderson, on Sunday, she revealed that she was unaware that the person of interest in the case, Giovannie Ellis, was a repeat sexual offender.

“Where we are in the society, I said it before and I will say it again, that our laws need to favour the protection of life and the protection of the victim rather than protecting the criminals,” Holness stated, in suggesting his administration would revisit the idea of making the Sexual Offender Registry accessible to the general public.

Currently, the Sexual Offender Registry is not available to the public. It is managed by the Department of Correctional Services and is considered confidential.

Access to the registry is restricted to individuals and organisations deemed to have a legitimate interest, including law enforcement, counsellors, employers, and individuals with a specific relationship to the offender. Access is granted only on written application to the commissioner of corrections or the registrar.

Yesterday, Holness praised the community for not resorting to vigilante justice.

“This is the new Jamaica that you see emerging. Even out of conflict and these kinds of gruesome situations, the citizens have confidence that the police will be able to find the perpetrator... and ensure that this does not happen again. This is how we build a strong and just society,” he said.

Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, state minister in the Ministry of National Security, echoed the prime minister’s call for legislative change.

“I have been a strident voice out there as far as the sex registry is concerned. I think the Jamaican people would want to see some sort of legislative change,” she said. “I do believe that us as citizens should have the right to know who is living beside us and around our children.”

Cuthbert Flynn’s comments come more than five years after then Attorney General Marlene Malahoo-Forte threw her support behind a call by the then head of the country’s chief child-protection and welfare organisation for a more transparent sex offenders’ registry.

At the time, Malahoo-Forte, who is now minister of legal and constitutional affairs, argued that the restriction on who can access the registry might defeat its purpose.

Rosalee Gage-Gray, who was chief executive officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), had stated earlier in a Gleaner report that she would not be averse to having the registry open to public scrutiny.

Yesterday, before meeting the family, Holness met with law-enforcement officials and commended their work. He noted that public trust in the police had prevented mob justice.

It was a heart-wrenching scene as Holness; Cuthbert Flynn; Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, and member of parliament for St Catherine Central; and Councillor Theresa Turner-Flynn of the Hampton Green Division in St Catherine Central, sought to console the grieving mother, who had to be supported by a relative throughout the meeting. She later requested privacy from the media.

One tearful relative described Ferrigon as “a respectful little girl”, adding, “I haven’t eaten since Friday. Every time I close my eyes, she come before me.”

Said another relative: “I was shocked to hear what happened. Right now I am sick, can’t process what has happened to Kelsey. She don’t deserve this at all.”

Laurette Adams Thomas, CEO of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, said the agency would provide the necessary intervention.

“Our role is to assess the situation and determine the level and kind of support that is provided for them. What we want Jamaicans to do is to have an appreciation of the importance of protecting our children,” she said.

However, tensions flared after a false alarm led angry residents, armed with sticks, machetes and pipe iron, to descend on Ellis’ mother’s home in search of him, after law- enforcement personnel had dispersed.

READ: Mother turns back on suspect in Ferrigon murder

Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Phillips, who responded to the incident, appealed for calm.

“It is unfortunate that someone would put out an alarm like that to rile up the community,” he said, assuring residents that the suspect’s mother would be protected.

Up to late yesterday, Ellis had not yet been apprehended.

editorial@gleanerjm.com