The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions – National Prosecution Service (ODPP-NPS), The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment (MOHWE) and The Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) together present, S.A.S 2022: Sexual Assault Symposium 2022 on the theme “Exploring Sexual Assault through medico legal lens: from Report to Court”,
Sponsored in part by the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the initiative has received tangible support from the Lions Club St. Vincent South, National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Radio 705, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Island Sipz Water of Eastern Caribbean Group of Companies (ECGC), Mountain Top Spring Water and the National Lotteries Authority.
The interdisciplinary forum will field more a wide range of participants from several governmental and non-governmental entities including judges, magistrates, physicians, nurses, other health care practitioners, counsel of the public and private criminal bar, police officers, summary court prosecutors, educators, social workers and counselors.
Apart from hosting over two hundred (200) participants both virtually and in person over two days in a conference setting, on the 7th and 8th of September 2022, S.A.S 2022 falls within a week of activities spanning from Sunday 4th September 2022 through Friday 9th September 2022, which includes policy meetings and a virtual session on Sports Medicine and Sudden Cardiac Deaths on Tuesday 6th September 2022.
S.A.S 2022 promises to be excavating with topics that touch the bedrock of institutional frameworks. Specialist attention will be drawn to institutional responses to sexual assault cases from the instance of a report, through the medical examination phase and ultimately, the court process.
At the epicentre of this very dynamic symposium is our chief facilitator, Dr. Rhonda Hutson, BSC, MBBS, MSC, D.M, SAE (A/P). Dr. Hutson is a consultant emergency physician, Associate Lecturer, sexual assault examiner and trainer, as well as a sports medicine physician attached to the University Hospital of the West Indies in Jamaica. She is a witness of the region’s shared challenges and triumphs in its management of sexual assault cases. At the symposium, Dr. Hutson will share on several topics such as medical examination of sexual assault victims, expert witness testimony and dispelling hymen myths.
The coordinators (ODPP-NPS, MOHWE and RSVGPF) sincerely thank all of our collaborators and look forward to the enhanced service delivery that will springboard from SAS 2022.
