PRESS RELEASE – “Know Your Laws” is a production of the Press Office of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force.
DUTY TO SUPPLY NECESSARIES OF HEALTH AND LIFE
(Section 107: CRIMINAL CODE OF SAINT LUCIA 2008)
(1) A person is under a legal duty—
(a) as a parent, foster parent, guardian or head of a family, to provide necessaries of life for a child under the age of 16 years;
(b) as a married person, to provide necessaries of life to his or her spouse; and
(c) to provide necessaries of life to a person under his or her charge, if that person—
(i) is unable, by reason of detention, age, illness, mental disorder or other cause, to withdraw himself or herself from that charge, and
(ii) is unable to provide himself or herself with necessaries of life.
A person who commits an offence under this section commits an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years.
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(5) A woman, who gives birth to a child, is under a duty to do all that is necessary and reasonable to protect and preserve the newly born child from harm by exposure, exhaustion, or otherwise.
(6) Without prejudice to subsection (5) the woman is under a duty to support and take reasonable care of the child until it can safely be weaned.
(7) A person who unlawfully imprisons another person is under a duty to supply him or her with the necessaries of health and life.
(8) A person who agrees or undertakes to supply any of the necessaries of health and life to another person, either as his or her apprentice, or otherwise, is under a duty to supply them accordingly.
(9) If a person who is under a duty to supply the necessaries of health and life in accordance with this section does not have the means to do so and there is any other person or public authority bound to provide him or her with such means, he or she is under a duty to take all reasonable steps to obtain such means from that person or public authority.
(10) If a person, being under a duty to supply any of the necessaries of health and life to another person, lawfully charges his wife or her husband, or any other person with the supply of such necessaries, and furnishes the means for that purpose, the wife or husband, or other person so charged is under a duty to supply such necessaries accordingly.
(11) “Necessaries of health and life” include proper food, clothing, shelter, warmth, medical or surgical treatment and any other matters which are reasonably necessary for the preservation of the health and life of a person.
“We, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force would like to encourage the citizenry to read and study the laws which governs our society. Never forget that knowledge is power”.
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