CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IS most often perpetrated by men who are in relationships with minors. This category is closely followed by family friends and neighbours, UNICEF child protection specialist Heather Stewart said this morning.
These statements were part of preliminary findings on alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse, according to Child Care Board statistics, from 2008 to 2013.
Her presentation, titled Break the Silence: End Sexual Abuse, was made during the Let’s Talk Student Sexual Abuse event at the Hilton Barbados.
In addition, Stewart noted that there was a small category of mothers who also perpetrated child sexual abuse.
“The wide definition of child sexual abuse does not only involve penetration. It is about exposing them to sexual acts, and this is where according to reports from the Child Care Board, the mothers are falling in. There are reports of mothers having sex with the partners with the bed right beside them or forcing the child into transactional sex,” she said. (LW)
