Saint Kitts and Nevis

PART VII RAPE, ABDUCTION, AND DEFILEMENT OF WOMEN

48. Abduction of a woman against her will from motives of lucre.

Where any woman of any age has any interest, whether legal or equitable, present or future, absolute, conditional, or contingent, in any real or personal estate, or is a presumptive heiress or co-heiress, or presumptive next-of-kin, to any one having such interest, any person who, from motives of lucre, takes away or detains any such woman against her will, with intent to marry or carnally know her, or to cause her to be married or carnally known by any other person, and any person who fraudulently allures, takes away, or detains such woman, being under twenty-one years, out of the possession and against the will of her father or mother, or of any other person having the lawful care or charge of her, with intent to marry or carnally know her, or to cause her to be married or carnally known by any other person, commits a felony, and, on conviction, shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour; and any person who is convicted of any offence against this section shall be incapable of taking any estate or interest, legal or equitable, in any real or personal property of such woman, or in which she has any such interest, or which shall come to her as such heiress, co-heiress, or next-of-kin as aforesaid; and if any such marriage as aforesaid shall have taken place, such property shall, upon such conviction, be settled in such manner as a Judge shall appoint, upon any information at the suit of the Attorney-General.

49. Forcible abduction of any woman with intent to marry her

Any person who, by force, takes away or detains against her will any woman of any age with intent to marry or carnally know her, or to cause her to be married, or carnally known by any other person, commits a felony, and, on conviction, shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years.

2. Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

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“exploitation” includes—

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(b) subjecting a person to practices similar to slavery;

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“practices similar to slavery” includes, debt bondage, serfdom, forced or servile marriages and delivery of children for exploitation;

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3. Trafficking in persons.

(1) A person who engages in, conspires to engage in, attempts to engage in, assists another person to engage in, or organises or directs another person to engage in trafficking in persons commits an offence and is liable on indictment to imprisonment for a period of twenty years or to a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) The recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of a child, or giving of payment or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control of a child, for the purpose of exploitation, constitutes trafficking in persons irrespective of whether any of the means described in the definition of “trafficking in persons” has been established.

5. Transporting a person.

(1) Whoever knowingly transports or conspires to transport or attempts to transport or assists another person engaged in transporting any person into Saint Christopher and Nevis, within Saint Christopher and Nevis itself, or across a regional or international border for the purposes of exploiting a person for the purpose of prostitution commits an offence and shall be liable on indictment to imprisonment for a term of ten years or to a fine of one hundred thousand dollars or to both.

(2) In determining an appropriate sentence upon conviction of a person pursuant to subsection (1), the court shall have regard to the presence of any of the aggravating factors resulting from acts of the defendant as are set out in the Schedule.

9. Prosecution.

In the prosecution for trafficking of any person under section 3—

(a) the alleged consent of the victim to the intended or realised exploitation is irrelevant once any of the means or circumstances set forth in the definition of “trafficking in persons” is established;

(b) any evidence of a victim’s past sexual behaviour is irrelevant and inadmissible for the purpose of proving that the victim was engaged in other sexual behaviour or to prove the victim’s sexual predisposition;

(c) the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be regarded as trafficking in persons even if this does not involve any of the means specified in the definition of “trafficking in persons”;

(d) the legal age of consent to sex or to marriage shall not be a defence to trafficking in persons.

St Kitts and Nevis Trafficking in Persons Law 2008 – English (PDF)

28. Restriction in case of minority.

(1) Where either of the parties, not being a widower or widow is under the age of eighteen years, no marriage shall take place between them until the consent of the persons or person required by this Act has been first obtained.

(Amended by Act 7 of 1987)

(2) The consent required to the marriage of an infant under this section shall, in the case of a marriage intended to be solemnised on the granting of a licence by the Attorney-General or in the case of a marriage intended to be solemnised after the publication of banns, be that of the persons or person mentioned in the Second Schedule:

Provided that—

(a) if the marriage officer is satisfied that the consent of any person whose consent is so required cannot be obtained by reason of absence or inaccessibility or by reason of his or her being under any disability, the necessity for the consent of that person shall be dispensed with, if there is any other person whose consent is also required; and if the consent of no other person is required, the High Court may, on application being made, consent to the marriage, and the consent of the Court so given shall have the same effect as if it had been given by the person whose consent cannot be obtained;

(b) if any person whose consent is required refuses his or her consent, the High Court may, on application being made, consent to the marriage, and the consent of the Court so given shall have the same effect as if it had been given by the person whose consent is so refused.

(3) A marriage solemnised between persons either of whom is under the age of sixteen shall be void:

Provided however that the Attorney-General or his or her representative may, in his discretion, if, for serious reasons, he or she considers it to be in the interest of the intending spouses so to do, grant a licence to marry to any person under the age of sixteen but over the age of fifteen; and the exercise of such discretion by the Attorney-General or his or her representative shall not be inquired into by any Court provided all the necessary consents to such marriage have been previously obtained by the parties thereto.

32. Publication when void.

(1) In all cases where any person, whose consent to a marriage is by this Act required, forbids such marriage and gives notice thereof before it is solemnised to the minister publishing the banns for such marriage the publication of such banns shall, subject nevertheless to the provisions of this Act, be void unless the persons so objecting afterwards withdraws his or her objection, in which case the publication shall hold good.

(2) In all cases where three calendar months from the last publication of banns have elapsed without the marriage to which such banns relate having been solemnised, the publication of such banns shall be void.

(3) In either of the said cases before the parties can be married by banns, it shall be necessary to re-publish banns anew, in manner and form aforesaid, as if no banns had ever been published between them.

36. Restriction in case of minority.

Where either of the parties, not being a widower or widow, is under the age of eighteen years, no licence or special licence shall be granted until the consent of the persons or person required by subsection (2) of section 28 has been first obtained.

51. Case of marriage between minors after publication of banns.

No marriage officer who solemnises any marriage after due publication of banns as aforesaid between persons, both or one of whom not being a widow or widower are or is at the time of such marriage under legal age, shall be answerable or responsible or liable to any pain, penalty or proceeding, for having solemnised such marriage without the consent of the parents or guardians or other persons, if any, whose consent is required by law, unless such parents or guardians, or other persons, or one of them, shall forbid the marriage, and give notice thereof in writing to such marriage officer before he or she has solemnised the same.

58. Unduly solemnising marriage.

Any person who knowingly and wilfully—

(a) solemnises or celebrates marriage at any other time than between the hours fixed by section 48(1), save in the cases mentioned in section 5(2) and Part VII;

(b) solemnises or celebrates any marriage save in the cases mentioned in section 5(2) and Part VII without due publication of banns, or licence of marriage from the Attorney-General or his or her representative, or certificate from the Registrar-General or Magistrate first had and obtained;

(c) solemnises or celebrates any marriage save as aforesaid more than three months after the last publication of banns, or the issue of a licence by the Attorney-General or his or her representative, or the entry of a notice of such marriage by the Registrar-General or Magistrate; or

(d) falsely pretending to be a marriage officer solemnises or celebrates marriage, commits a misdemeanour, and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years:

Provided that all prosecutions for any such misdemeanour shall be commenced within three years after the offence was committed.

59. Making false declaration, etc.

Any person who knowingly and wilfully makes any false declaration (statutory or other) or signs any petition, notice, statement or certificate required by this Act, which is in any material respect false, for the purposes of procuring any marriage, shall be deemed guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury and shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished accordingly.

60. Celebration by Registrar of a void marriage.

Any marriage officer, being a Registrar-General or Magistrate, who knowingly and wilfully celebrates or permits to be celebrated in his or her office any marriage in this Act declared to be null and void commits a misdemeanour and on conviction shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

62. Injury, etc., of marriage register.

Any person who knowingly and unlawfully falsifies, destroys, injures, removes or corrects any public register of marriages with intent to defeat, or obstruct, or prevent the course of justice, or to defraud or injure any person, shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding three years.

63. Injury, etc., of a certificate.

Any marriage officer who knowingly and unlawfully falsifies, destroys, injures or conceals any notice or certificate which is in his or her possession, custody or control, or to which he or she has access by virtue of his or her office, shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

64. Penalty for non-compliance with provisions of Act.

Any marriage officer who knowingly and wilfully makes default in strictly complying with the provisions of this Act as regards the safe and proper custody of any book or form supplied to him or her by the Registrar-General under the provisions of this Act, or who fails to transmit to the Registrar-General within the time specified the several registers or documents herein required to be transmitted, or who obstructs the Registrar-General in the execution of his or her duty under this Act, commits an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding four hundred and fifty dollars.

66. Prohibiting of proceedings to compel marriage.

In no case whatsoever shall any suit or proceeding be had in any Court or before any jurisdiction whatsoever, to compel the celebration of any marriage, by reason of any promise or marriage contract entered into, or by reason of seduction or of any cause whatsoever which shall arise after the coming into operation of this Act, any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding:

Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent any person aggrieved from suing for or recovering damages in any Court, or by any proceeding wherein and whereby damages may be lawfully recovered for breach of promise of marriage, or for seduction or other cause as aforesaid.

8. Voidable Marriages.

(1) In addition to any other grounds on which a marriage is by law void or voidable, a marriage shall be voidable on the ground that—

(a) the marriage has not been consummated as a result of either—

(i) the wilful refusal of the respondent spouse to consummate the marriage;

(ii) the existing impotence of the respondent spouse at the time of the marriage, where such impotence is apparent and manifest;

(b) either spouse to the marriage was at the time of the marriage suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form;

(c) that the respondent spouse was at the time of the marriage pregnant by some other person other than the applicant spouse; or

(d) in the case of marriages celebrated on or after the 1st day of December, 2005, that the consent of either of the spouses to the marriage was not a valid consent because—

(i) it was obtained by duress or fraud;

(ii) one spouse was mistaken as to the identity of the other spouse or as to the nature of the ceremony performed; or

(iii) the spouses to the marriage were, at the time of the marriage, of the same sex.

(2) The Court shall not grant a decree of nullity in a case falling within subsection (1) paragraphs (a)(ii), (b) and (c), unless it is satisfied that—

(a) the applicant spouse was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts alleged;

(b) proceedings were instituted within a year from the date of the marriage; and

(c) that sexual intercourse with the consent of the applicant spouse has not taken place since the discovery by the applicant spouse of the existence of the grounds for a decree.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as validating any marriage which is by law void, but with respect to which a decree of nullity has not been granted.

(4) Any child born of a marriage avoided pursuant to paragraphs (b) or (c) of section (1) shall be a legitimate child of the parties thereto notwithstanding that the marriage is so avoided.