Sen. Tiffany Strann-Peters said survivors of sexual abuse should be able to report what happened whenever they find the courage to speak, even decades later, as she backed a provision removing a time limit for complaints under the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill.

Her support came during an emotional contribution in which she described sexual abuse within families as a crime that can be hidden by the people closest to a child. She urged senators to confront what she called a culture of silence and said the law should give survivors time to come forward.

Strann-Peters referred to Independent Sen. Jamilla Kirwan’s account of being sexually preyed upon as a child, saying she was glad the bill would allow someone to report abuse when she was finally ready to speak.

“It’s now that she got the courage to really speak up about such a situation,” Strann-Peters said. She said the bill would ensure there was no statute of limitations on when a person could report that sexual abuse had occurred.

The senator also turned to “Sad Story,” a calypso recorded in 2003 by junior calypsonian Suki. The song tells of a teenager who confides in her mother that her stepfather sexually abused her. The mother, in the story, seeks to silence the disclosure, and the teenager becomes pregnant.

Strann-Peters said the song reflected a wider problem: children can be abused by relatives or caregivers while others in the family know or suspect what is happening but remain silent. She said parents should be a bridge to safety for their children, not part of a cover-up.

“Too often in society we see these things and we ignore the signs and turn a blind eye,” she said. “It’s time to take the blinders off and time to take action.”

Strann-Peters cited an Aug. 25 post by the Family and Social Services Division, which she said reported 287 cases of child sexual abuse so far in 2026. She described the figure as evidence of the scale of the problem and called on adults to protect children, whom she described as both the future and the present.

The bill also addresses incest. Strann-Peters said she supported the proposed punishment and argued that sexual abuse by a family member should be treated with the utmost seriousness. She said survivors often disclose abuse years after it happened, sometimes only after overcoming fear, shame or pressure from relatives.

Strann-Peters called for the death penalty for people who rape children, saying that if the decision were hers, she would bring back the hangman. She ended her contribution by quoting U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s statement that the penalty for raping a child should be death.

The senator said she fully supported the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Strann-Peters backs no time limit for reporting abuse, calls for death penalty for child rapists.