By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, Guardian Senior Reporter

kdl@nasguard.com

The definition of rape used by a recent UN report, which labeled The Bahamas as having the highest number of rapes in the region was questioned yesterday by a senior police officer.

While Chief Superintendent Hulan Hanna was careful not to discredit the March 2007 report, he said the Royal Bahamas Police Force was unsure of the definition used by the international bodies.

"In The Bahamas, (under) Bahamian law, rape is the slightest penetration. But we do not know if their reference to rape is unlawful sexual intercourse, if it is sex between two minor persons," Chief Supt Hanna told The Guardian.

"We just don't know this, and so hence that is why I am saying I don't want to discredit their report because I don't know their definition and I don't know their information, their statistics."

However, Hanna insisted that crime in The Bahamas is under control.

He said Bahamians should use the report " to create positive aggression that would cause the police to do more; encourage women to take all the necessary steps to safeguard themselves and surroundings, and encourage women who are in fractured or broken relationships to seek help."

According to the UN study, The Bahamas reported the highest number of violent deaths with 21.2 murders per every one hundred thousand (pht) persons in the population.

The Bahamas came in just under Colombia and five spots above Haiti, both countries which boast populations in the millions. However, the report indicated that the numbers could be misleading as the population of the country varies depending on tourist visits to the country.

"The Bahamas, with a resident population of about 321,000, received nearly 1.5 million stay-over tourist arrivals in 2003...any of these people could have become a crime victim or perpetrator during their stay," the report outlined.

Yet, in the Caribbean - which has three of the top ten countries with recorded rape rates - the Bahamas tops the list for the most reported incidents of rape with 133 rapes, above the 15 rapes pht average of 102 countries.

In The Bahamas murder incidents increased from 52 in 2005 to 60 in 2006 --an increase of 15 per cent. Seventy-eight per cent of the 60 murders recorded in 2006 have been solved.

As regards sexual offenses there was a decrease in the number of rapes of 12 percent, as there were 72 last year compared to 86 in 2004 and 82 in 2005. It is interesting to note that for rape matters reported in 2006, 56 per cent of rape victims knew or were acquainted with their assailants.

The report states that violence against women affects a significant percentage of women and girls in the Caribbean and high rape rates do reflect a serious problem.

Attempts to speak with Sandra Dean-Patterson of the Crisis Center proved futile up to press time.

Said Hanna: "There is no crime in this country - as bad as even murder is - there is no crime in this country that is totally out of control."

He pointed out that the murder detection rate is high and the rape and sexual offenses prosecution rate is also high - 75-plus percent.

"Whenever there is a report of rape we continue to go after leads, we continue to go after suspects even if they flee the jurisdiction," Hanna said.