(CMR) The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that a man can rape another man in Barbados after a magistrate dismissed a rape matter, claiming that a man cannot rape another. The judge said the man should have instead been charged with buggery based on Barbados’ laws.
The matter was taken before the CCJ by Barbados’ Commissioner of Police after having the case also thrown out in the court of appeal.
The court ruled that the rape case against Stephen Alleyne, which was initially dismissed, is to be remitted to the magistrate’s court for a preliminary hearing.
Alleyne was charged with the offense, allegedly committed in August 2015, but was freed before his trial started hearing evidence after the magistrate ruled that the charge of rape did not extend to anal intercourse between men.
“The Act used gender-neutral language and extends the definition of rape to include anal penetration. The Court found that, considering the literal meaning of the words used in the Act, their context and comparable legislation, any person, male or female, can be the offender or victim of rape,” Justice Dyns Barrow told the court sitting in Port-of-Spain.
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