his support behind a petition calling for a tougher stance against sex offenders.

The petition, sponsored by the Women's Resource Centre, demands the prosecution of alleged molesters and rapists, automatic prison sentences for those convicted and a treatment programme for offenders.

"I support the fact they're having this petition in all of its aspects, because this is a serious problem we have in our community,'' he said.

He said he felt especially strongly about rehabilitation, adding Government has been working towards establishing a scheme for some time.

"We're trying desperately to get our people trained here in Bermuda so we can have a sex offenders' treatment programme,'' he said.

Mr. Edness said Canadian and American experts in the field have been lecturing potential treatment counsellors locally, and overseas training will follow.

Funds have also been allocated for a second prison psychologist. The "final straw'' which prompted the petition was the three-year probation sentence handed down in the Supreme Court this month to a woman who admitted abusing a young boy over a six-year period. The Crown has announced it will appeal Andrea Tucker's sentence.

Last week, Women's Resource Centre official Mrs. Susan Boyd heavily criticised the Attorney General's Chambers for what she felt was inadequate interest in the case.

In response to Mrs. Boyd's comments, Crown counsel Mr. Stephen Harrison said: Mrs. Boyd's comment that the Crown was not "particularly delighted'' to go ahead with the Tucker case was "incorrect''.

"We prosecuted that case in the same manner and spirit in which we prosecute all cases of child sexual abuse.

"In the course of the sentence hearing, we spent a considerable length of time cross-examining the defence psychologist Dr. (Norma) Astwood, with a view to establishing, among other things, the serious nature of the damage caused to victims of child sexual abuse.

"Our position on sentence before the court was emphatically that the offence warranted a term of imprisonment.'' Mr. Harrison said in the "vast majority'' of cases brought to the Attorney General's chambers, charges are filed.

But he added that if the evidence in the case is not likely to result in a conviction, the Crown may not proceed with it.

"It's not a matter of like or dislike...we assess these matters professionally and conduct ourselves in that fashion.''