Bermuda’s Director of Public Prosecutions told the Caribbean Court of Justice how the island took the progressive step of removing a doctrine rooted in outdated assumptions about victims of sexual violence.

Cindy Clarke, the first Bermudian to address the CCJ, also told the regional tribunal that although Bermuda is a small jurisdiction, the island has a mature legal system and valuable experience to contribute to the development of Commonwealth and Caribbean jurisprudence.

She appeared together with Adley Duncan, the acting Deputy DPP, and Denzelle Swan, a Crown counsel, during a hearing of a matter before the regional court’s headquarters in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago.

A government spokeswoman said that the team’s appearance arose in the Guyanese criminal appeal of Wazir Ali v Director of Public Prosecutions.

She said the CCJ invited friends of the court to provide specialist assistance on the common law doctrine of “recent complaint”, including the extent to which reforms abolishing or modifying the doctrine have been effective across Commonwealth jurisdictions.

The spokeswoman added: “The invitation allowed Bermuda to contribute its particular experience because Bermuda abolished the doctrine of recent complaint by statute in 1994, three decades ago.

“The Bermuda submissions examined both the historical origins of the doctrine and the practical effect of its abolition, while providing the court with a comparative perspective from jurisdictions where the doctrine has been retained.”

Ms Clarke told the court that Bermuda had removed from law “a doctrine rooted in outdated assumptions about victims of sexual violence”.

“More than 30 years later, we were privileged to place that experience before the CCJ as it considers an issue of importance to the administration of justice throughout the region,” she added.

Speaking on the historic appearance, Ms Clarke said: “It was an extraordinary honour to stand before the Caribbean Court of Justice and to do so as the first Bermudian to address the court.

“I regard that distinction not simply as a personal achievement but as an achievement for Bermuda, for our legal profession and for the Department of Public Prosecutions.”

She added that she was “particularly proud” to appear with Mr Duncan and Ms Swan.

Ms Clarke said: “This was an opportunity not only to represent Bermuda but to demonstrate the quality, depth and capability of the lawyers within Bermuda’s Department of Public Prosecutions.”

The Caribbean Court of Justice is one of the region’s most significant judicial institutions.

In its appellate jurisdiction, it serves as the final court of appeal for some Caricom states that have adopted that jurisdiction, performing the role otherwise exercised by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The Bermuda team submitted to the court that the “recent complaint” doctrine developed from historic assumptions about how victims of sexual offences, predominantly women, were expected to behave following an assault.

Its origins included the ancient expectation that a woman alleging rape should promptly raise a “hue and cry”, and the doctrine ultimately became connected with assumptions that sexual complainants required special scrutiny not imposed upon victims of other forms of personal violence.

Bermuda’s submissions emphasised that there is no single or universally expected way in which a victim of sexual violence will respond or disclose what has happened.

Fear, shame, trauma, embarrassment, confusion, power imbalances and other circumstances may all affect when, how, or whether a victim makes a disclosure, the spokeswoman said.

She added: “Delay alone should therefore not be treated as evidence that an allegation is untruthful.

“The Bermuda team submitted that the practical experience following reform has been positive — reducing unnecessary legal argument, simplifying directions to juries, avoiding the need to call witnesses solely to satisfy the technical requirements of the former doctrine and allowing the criminal justice process to treat complainants with greater dignity while preserving fairness to an accused person.

“The submissions ultimately invited consideration of recent complaint not simply as a technical rule of evidence but as an issue engaging equality, dignity, trauma-informed adjudication and constitutional fairness, and argued that Bermuda’s experience demonstrates how reform can contribute to a fairer trial process.”

Although Bermuda is not within the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction, the spokeswoman said that the island’s invitation to assist reflected the jurisdiction's growing contribution to regional and international legal dialogue.

It also allowed the island’s experience of reform to inform a significant question of Commonwealth criminal law, she added.