Ironically, there is legislation in place that would make it mandatory for the public to be informed about the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders and which might have helped to save Dipnarine and other women who have been victims of sex crimes.

This, anyway, is the view of the Rape Crisis Centre.

The legislation titled "Notification Requirements for Sex Offenders" Act 31 of 2000, an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act 1986, has been enacted but not "invoked", senior law lecturer and Independent Senator Dana Seetahal has said.

In the years since the law was enacted no monitoring systems have been put in place to ensure the legislation is followed, Seetahal said.

Dipnarine, 21, is not the only women within recent times to have been murdered by known rapists.

In 2005, Radha Pixie Lakhan was raped and murdered.

The man charged with her killing is a convicted sex offender.

In 2004, Matiguan Canache, 24, and Johan Alfonso, 21, both Venezuelan, were found murdered in St Clair.

Canache was raped and the suspect in the case was again a convicted sex offender.

Mala Lakhan at the time of her daughter's murder called for the establishment of a national sex offenders registry.

Part III of the amendment Section 34 B states that a person convicted of a sex crime must notify the police in the "local police area" in writing or in person of name, address and date of birth.

Section 34 D states that if a convicted sexual offender fails to notify the police he is liable to a fine of $5,000 and or one year in jail.

There is nothing in the Act to prevent the public from getting the information on convicted sex offenders.

Sadly the majority of police officers are unaware of the existence of a Sexual Offenders Registry.

The amendment became law on September 25, 2000 but calls to over half of the country's odd 60 police stations revealed that they did not have a registry of sexual offenders with some never even having heard ot it

Several policemen the Sunday Express spoke with also appeared to be unaware of the provisions of the amended Sexual Offences Act.

Seetahal conceded, though, that the wording of parts of the amendment was "odd" and "vague".

She cited the stipulation that sex offenders must notify the police in the "local police area".

Seetahal said the wording was not specific in that it could mean police district and pointed out that offenders do not necessarily commit crimes where they live.

She explained that if a man committed a crime in Tobago he may not live there and said the description of "local police area" was lacking in that respect.

Last year the Rape Crisis Centre hosted a conference Revisiting Abuse-the Effects on the Individual, Family and National Community.

The Centre formed a committee to address the issue of the registry as they also felt that the legislation was "vague" and recognised that there were no mechanisms to invoke the law.

As a matter of urgency, the committee met with Junior National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to put their concerns to him.

An official of the Centre said that Hinds promised to look into matter but there has been no movement since.

"Nothing has changed since then," the Rape Crisis official said.

Outside of the ambiguous wording of the amendment, Seetahal said another difficulty with the Act was that there were no systems in place to monitor when a sexual offender leaves the prison and to ensure that he complies with the Act.

Monitoring is solely up to the police, according to the Act.

Seetahal suggested that the Prisons Service should make it a practice to notify the police in the district of the last known address of the sexual offender, informing the cops that the offender's prison term is up and he was about to be released.

Seetahal said that no legislation is needed for this and the Ministry of National Security under Section 43 C (2) can use its initiatives to ensure this practice is put in place.

The Ministry, Seetahal said, should also have the information of convicted sex offenders and make it available to the public and she added hat putting up a website as is done in the United States and United Kingdom was a good idea.

The Rape Crisis Centre said that it was time that "more be done to put the necessary support systems in place to help survivors of sex crime and protect people from sex predators."

The Centre agreed that the actual establishment of registry would be a "great help".