BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING the daring kidnapping of a banker’s wife who, in less than 24 hours, was rescued by members of the security forces in a joint early morning operation, SKNVibes seeks to sensitise the public on the offence and the maximum penalty for its perpetrator(s).
In an exclusive interview with Corporal Carl Greaux at the Basseterre Police Station, this media house sought to find out how the laws of St. Kitts and Nevis define kidnapping.
“According to the laws of St. Kitts-Nevis, kidnapping is where any person, who without lawful authority, forcibly seizes and confines or imprisons any other person within the state or kidnaps any other person with intent to do one or more of these three things:
(1) Cause such other person to be secretly confined or imprisoned in the state against his or her will;
(2) Cause such other person to be unlawfully sent or transported out of the state against his or her will; or
(3) Cause such other person to be in any way held to serve against his or will.”
He noted that the perpetrator of such an act commits a felony and, if convicted, is liable to life imprisonment at Her Majesty’s Prison with or without hard labour.
Greaux said that the components of this offence could be found in the Offences Against the Person Act, Chapter 4.21, Section 62 and it involves four main ingredients.
“The first ingredient, or what we in the force call requirement, is the taking or carrying away of the person by another,” he said.
Greaux explained that it is irrelevant whether the taking or carrying away of the person is to some other place within the Federation or outside of the Federation.
“The second ingredient is that the taking or carrying away must be by force or by fraud, and thirdly, the taking or carrying away must be without the consent of the person taken or carried away.
“The latter requirement or ingredient must be satisfied whatever the age of the person. In the case of a very young child, she or he does not have the understanding or intelligence to give consent, so the absence of consent will be necessary inference,” Greaux explained.
He further explained that in the case of an older child, it is a question of fact for the jury whether absence of consent was proven.
“As police officers,” he added, “our job is to prove that the person charged with this offence knew or was reckless and that he or she did not have the victim’s consent.”
He noted that the fourth ingredient is that the taking or carrying away of the person must be without lawful excuse.
“For example,” he continued, “a parent or the person with custody of a child will often have a lawful excuse for taking or carrying away the child. However, an exception would be where this contravenes a court order in respect to the child.”
SKNVibes asked the Corporal if he had any comments on the recent kidnapping in St. Kitts to which he smilingly responded, “Good job Delta Squad.”
