ALTHOUGH it existed for almost three years, the Bail (Amendment) Bill 2019 did nothing to reduce crime.
This is according to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who said Bail Amendment (Extension of Duration) Bill was defeated in Parliament due to a lack of evidence to show it aided with the decrease in crime on Wednesday.
In a statement on Wednesday, Persad-Bissessar said, “The fact that the Government was resoundingly defeated in their attempts to pass this bill speaks to the glaring inadequacies of the arguments made by the Attorney General and is concrete proof that the Keith Rowley government has now collapsed.”
She said, “Since the Government’s announcement that it wanted to extend the life of the bail bill, we consistently called upon them to produce any empirical evidence that the bill was in fact working. No such evidence was ever produced. Therefore, there was never any sufficient basis to interfere with the fundamental rights of citizens.”
The bail was defeated in the Senate with 18 for, 11 against with one abstention. It fell by one vote since it needed a two-thirds majority to be passed.
Three Independent Senators Hazel Thompson-Ahye, Maria Dillon Remy and Josh Drayton voted for the bill while against were their colleagues Varma Deyalsingh, Charisse Seepersad, Deoroop Teemal, Amrita Deonarine and Paul Richards. Independent Senator Evans Welch abstained.
Persad-Bissessar said even Attorney General Reginald Armour when he was previously president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago was against the same bill in 2016.
“Without any irony, the Attorney General today even admitted he had no real data to support his arguments in favour of the bill,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said the real reason why crime was escalating was that government had failed in its responsibilities.
“Crime continues to rise to unprecedented levels with triple and quadruple killings now occurring overnight. The bail bill presented by the Government did nothing to curb crime and instead, breached multiple sections of the constitution that guarantees and safeguards the fundamental rights of all citizens,” she said.
