Scrubb charged under existing provisions of criminal code

A person cannot be charged for a crime under an Act which does not exist.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Colin Williams reinforced this point on Wednesday during an interview on WE FM.{{more}}

He made the point in response to a statement that Paul “IMadd” Scrubb, who has been charged with uttering seditious words and maliciously sending or uttering threats to kill, had been charged to satisfy some of the intended provisions in the Cybercrime Bill, which is now before Parliament.

“Nobody is prosecuted under a non-existent act. The…Cybercrime Bill is a draft…that is why it is called a bill and not an Act,” Williams said.

“If it was a law it would be the Cybercrime Act, so all you have now is a bill that is being discussed.”

Scrubb, a Vincentian who has resided in the United States for over 20 years, is facing two charges that he, between December 9 and 31, 2015, uttered seditious words and that he maliciously sent or uttered threats to kill, to wit: “Ralph Gonsalves should be assassinated, also his whole damn family period. Blessed Love.”

Williams pointed out that although Scrubb allegedly made the comment on the Internet, he can be charged under existing provisions of the criminal code. He also drew attention to the fact that sedition, if it were to be prosecuted under the proposed Cybercrime Act, would have a greater reach than under the criminal code.

The DPP noted that the Cybercrime Bill seeks to update and incorporate the laws to accommodate the new technology.

“…The law has to keep apace. They may be a step or two behind, but at least you make that effort to reform and update your law.”

Williams also pointed out that what is being done here in relation to the Cybercrime Bill is not a unique situation or anything different than what has happened in the past. He explained that in St Vincent and the Grenadines, we have what is called a HIPCAR model legislation, which had been under discussion for some time now according.

The HIPCAR project was launched in 2008 in the Caribbean by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the European Commission (EC) to harmonize their information and communication technology (ICT) policies, legislation and regulatory procedures.

He explained that there are already a number of electronic Acts that are not yet proclaimed, because they still await the corresponding e-crime Bill to support bits of legislation that are already in place.(CM)