ANGUILLA
A BILL FOR
CRIMINAL (AMENDMENT) CODE, 2026
Published by Authority Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
CRIMINAL (AMENDMENT) CODE, 2026
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION
1. Interpretation
2. Amendment to section 142
3. Amendment to section 147
4. Amendment to section 150
5. Amendment to section 151
6. Amendments to section 154
7. Amendments to section 158
8. Amendment to section 159
9. Amendments to section 160
10. Amendment to section 161
11. Amendments to section 162
12. Amendments to section 164
13. Amendments to section 165
14. Repeal of section 166
15. Amendments to section 169
16. Amendment to section 170
17. Amendments to section 171
18. Amendments to section 172
19. Amendments to section 173
20. Amendments to section 175
21. Amendments to section 178
22. Amendments to section 181
23. Amendments to section 183
24. Citation Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
I Assent
______________________
Julia Crouch, OBE
Governor
______________________
Date
ANGUILLA
No. /2026
A BILL FOR
CRIMINAL (AMENDMENT) CODE, 2026
[Gazette Dated: , 2026] [Commencement: Assent under section 57 of the Constitution]
An Act to amend Part 14 of the Criminal Code to clarify the law relating to rape, repeal the offence
of sexual assault by a husband, remove gender-specific references and adopt gender-neutral
language to ensure that the statutory language applies equally to all persons regardless of gender,
and for related purposes.
ENACTED by the Legislature of Anguilla
Interpretation
1. In this Act, “the principal Code” means the Criminal Code.
Amendment to section 142
2. Section 142(2) of the principal Code is amended by deleting the word “he” and substituting
“they”.
Amendment to section 147
3. Section 147(3) of the principal Code is deleted and substituted with the following—
“(3) Where a marriage is invalid under the Marriage Act, because the person is
under the age of 16 years, the invalidity of the marriage does not make the other person
guilty of an offence under this section by reason of the minor’s incapacity to consent
while under that age, if they believe the minor to be their spouse, and have reasonable
cause for the belief.”.
Amendment to section 150
4. Section 150(1) of the principal Code is deleted and substituted with the following—
“(1) Any person who knows that they are infected with the HIV virus and who
has sexual intercourse with a minor between the ages of 16 and 18 years of age, with the Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
consent of that minor but without disclosing the fact of the infection to that minor, is
guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for 5 years.”.
Amendment to section 151
5. Section 151(2) of the principal Code is amended by deleting the words “he knowingly
allows” and substituting “they knowingly allow”.
Amendments to section 154
6. Section 154 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) in subsection (1) by deleting the word “his” and substituting “their”;
(b) in subsection (2) by—
(i) deleting the word “him” wherever it occurs and substituting “them”, and
(b) deleting the words “he takes” and substituting “they take”; and
(c) in subsection (3) by deleting the word “him” and substituting “the minor”.
Amendments to section 158
7. Section 158 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) in paragraph (c) by deleting the word “he” and substituting “the minor”;
(b) in paragraph (d) by deleting the words “he is” and substituting “they are”; and
(c) in paragraph (e)—
(i) by deleting the words “he does” and substituting “they do”,
(ii) by deleting the words “he is” and substituting “they are”,
(iii) by deleting the words “he takes” and substituting “they take”,
(iv) by deleting the words “detains him” and substituting “detain that minor”,
(v) by deleting the words “he did” and substituting “they did”, and
(vi) by deleting the word “he” and substituting “they”.
Amendment to section 159
8. Section 159(1)(a)(i) of the principal Code is amended by deleting the words “he offers” and
substituting “they offer”. Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
Amendments to section 160
9. Section 160 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) in subsection (1) by—
(i) deleting the word “his” wherever it occurs and substituting “their”, and
(ii) deleting the words “him” and “he” wherever they occur and substituting “the
minor”; and
(b) in subsection (2) by deleting the words “he is” and substituting “they are”.
Amendment to section 161
10. Section 161(1) of the principal Code is amended by deleting the word “his” wherever it
occurs and substituting “their”.
Amendments to section 162
11. Section 162 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) in subsection (1)—
(i) by deleting the word “man” and substituting “person”, and
(ii) by deleting the words “a woman” and substituting “another person”;
(b) by deleting subsection (2) and substituting the following—
“(2) A person commits rape if—
(a) they have unlawful sexual intercourse with another person who, at the
time of intercourse, did not consent to it; and
(b) at that time, they know that the other person does not consent to the
intercourse or they are reckless as to whether the other person
consents to it.”;
(c) in subsection (3)—
(i) by deleting the word “man” and substituting “person”, and
(ii) by deleting the words “a woman” and substituting “another person”;
(d) by deleting subsection (5) and substituting the following—
“(5) For the purposes of this section, a person is deemed not to have
consented to sexual intercourse if their acquiescence is obtained by threat of
force or use of force, or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by
fear of bodily harm, or by means of false representations as to the nature of
the act, or in the case of a married person, by personating their spouse.”; Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
(e) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (6)—
“(6a) For the avoidance of doubt, any rule of the common law that,
except in certain circumstances, a husband cannot be convicted of raping his
wife, is abolished.”.
Amendments to section 164
12. Section 164 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) by deleting the words “he is” wherever they occur and substituting “they are”;
(b) in subsections (3)(a) and (b) by deleting the word “he” and substituting “they”; and
(c) in subsection (3)(c) by deleting the words “he was” and substituting “they were”.
Amendments to section 165
13. The principal Code is amended by deleting section 165 and substituting the following—
“Unlawful sexual intercourse with a person suffering from a mental disorder
165. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person who has
unlawful sexual intercourse with another person who is suffering from a mental
disorder commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for
10 years.
(2) A person shall not be convicted of an offence under this section if
they did not know and had no reason to suspect that the other person was suffering
from a mental disorder.
(3) For the purposes of this section, it is immaterial that the unlawful
sexual intercourse was had with consent.”.
Repeal of section 166
14. Section 166 of the principal Code is hereby repealed.
Amendment to section 169
15. The principal Code is amended by deleting section 169 and substituting the following—
“Abduction or kidnapping of a person with intent to marry, etc.
169. Any person who abducts or kidnaps another person with the intent to
marry or have sexual intercourse with them, or to cause them to be married or to
have sexual intercourse with any other person, commits an offence and is liable on
conviction to imprisonment for 14 years.”. Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
Amendment to section 170
16. The principal Code is amended by deleting section 170 and substituting the following—
“Causing prostitution of a person
170. Any person who, within Anguilla, procures or attempts to procure a
person—
(a) to become a prostitute, whether within Anguilla or elsewhere;
(b) to leave Anguilla, intending that person to become an inmate of or to
frequent a brothel elsewhere; or
(c) to leave their usual place of abode in Anguilla, intending the person
to become an inmate of or to frequent a brothel in any part of the world
for the purposes of prostitution;
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for 3 years.”.
Amendment to section 171
17. Section 171 of the principal Code is amended by deleting the word “woman” wherever it
occurs and substituting “person”.
Amendment to section 172
18. The principal Code is amended by deleting section 172 and substituting the following—
“Administering drugs to facilitate sexual intercourse
172. A person (‘A’) who administers, or causes another person (‘B’) to take,
any drug, matter, or thing with intent to stupefy or overpower that person so as to
enable any other person (‘C’) to have unlawful sexual intercourse with that person
(‘B’) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for 3 years.”.
Amendments to section 173
19. The principal Code is amended by deleting section 173 and substituting the following—
“Detention of a person in a brothel, etc.
173. (1) Any person who detains another person against their will on any
premises with the intention that they shall have unlawful sexual intercourse with
individuals or with a particular individual, or who detains a person against their
will in a brothel, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment
for 4 years.
(2) Where a person is on any premises or in a brothel for the purpose
of unlawful sexual intercourse, a person shall be deemed to detain them there, with
intent to compel or induce them to remain, if that person—
(a) withholds their clothes or other property; or
(b) threatens legal proceedings if they remove clothes provided by or at
the direction of that person. Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
(3) A person shall not be liable to any civil or criminal proceedings
for taking away or being found in possession of any clothes that were needed to
enable them to leave the premises or brothel where they were detained for the
purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse.”.
Amendment to section 175
20. Section 175 of the principal Code is amended by deleting the word “he” and substituting
“the person”.
Amendments to section 178
21. Section 178 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) in subsection (1) by deleting the word “his” and substituting “their”; and
(b) in subsection (2) by deleting the words “he is” and substituting “they are”.
Amendments to section 181
22. Section 181 of the principal Code is amended—
(a) in subsection (1) by deleting the word “him” and substituting “them”;
(b) by deleting the word “woman” wherever it occurs and substituting “person”;
(c) in subsection (3)(b)(ii) by—
(i) deleting the word “his” wherever it occurs and substituting “their”, and
(ii) deleting the word “him” and substituting “them”; and
(d) in subsection (3)(b)(iii) by—
(i) deleting the word “woman” and substituting person, and
(ii) deleting the word “her” and substituting “their”.
Amendment to section 183
23. Section 183(1)(b) of the principal Code is amended by deleting the words “he has” and
substituting “they have”. Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
Citation
24. This Act shall be cited as the Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026.
Tara Carter
Speaker
Passed by the House of Assembly this day of , 2026.
Lenox J. Proctor
Clerk of the House of Assembly
__________ Anguilla Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026 BILL
OBJECTS AND REASONS
(The objects and reasons do not form part of the Bill)
The Bill for consideration is the Criminal (Amendment) Code, 2026.
Clause 1 sets out the interpretation of the Bill.
Clauses 2 and 3 amend sections 142 and 147 to replace gender-specific wording with gender-
neutral language.
Clause 4 amends section 150 by narrowing the age range for the offence of non-disclosure of HIV
status from 16 years and over to 16 to 18 years (in line with the marginal note of the Code) and by
adopting gender-neutral language.
Clause 5 amends section 151 to replace gender-specific wording with gender-neutral language.
Clauses 6 to 10 amend sections 154,158,159,160 and 161 by substituting gender-specific
references with neutral terminology and clarifying references to the minor and the person.
Clause 11 amends section 162 to redefine the offence of rape in gender-neutral terms, ensuring that
the offence applies equally to all persons.
Clause 12 amends section 164 to replace gender-specific wording with gender-neutral language.
Clause 13 amends section 165 to substitute the provision with a gender-neutral offence relating to
unlawful sexual intercourse with a person suffering from a mental disorder.
Clause 14 repeals section 166, which stated that a husband could commit sexual assault on his
wife.
Clause 15 amends section 169 to replace gender-specific wording with gender-neutral language.
Clauses 16 to 22 amend sections 170, 171, 172, 173, 175, 178 and 181 to restate the offence relating
to procuring a person for prostitution using gender-neutral language.
Clause 23 amends section 183 to replace gender-specific wording with gender-neutral language.
Clause 24 of the Bill deals with the citation provision.