By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE State has a right to appeal the granting of bail of an accused person, if it believes this person will pose a threat to society.
This is according to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who said once evidence was provided by the State, dangerous criminals could be kept behind bars instead of being allowed to walk freely with the potential of committing more heinous acts.
On Friday evening, Persad-Bissessar held a press conference at the Opposition Office in Port-of-Spain saying that legislation alone will not stop reduce the high crime rate.
Flanked by Opposition Senator Wade and Member of Parliament for Barataria/San Juan Saddam Hosein, Persad-Bissessar said the Opposition has supported six crime fighting legislations yet to be implemented but if the State exercised its right to appeal bails granted, that measure would aid greatly in crime reduction.
She said, “All of this legislation hasn’t helped. You already pass the law, we gave you the support to have no bail for 120 days. If I give you a year, is it going to make a difference? If we give you two years, is it going to make a difference? My answer is no. The answer will lie in the State using its right of appeal to a magistrate or to the judge…
“The state has a duty when an application is made for bail, that they must go to the court. They must attend court when the application is made and show the evidence that this person is a risk, a danger to society.”
If evidence cannot be provided, the magistrate will use discretion in granting the bail she said.
On the flipside, Persad-Bissessar also said that persons had a right to apply for bail.
“The right to apply for bail is a fundamental right.”
Using an example of a father killing someone who was raping his daughter, Persad-Bissessar asked if such a person was really a threat to society and should be allowed to spend years in jail for defending his child.
Her statements follow that of Acting Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob calling for changes to the Bail Act.
On Friday, speaking about the suspects who were involved in the murder of businesswoman Nicole Moses in Westmoorings, Jacob said they were out of bail for several violent crimes, with 21 charges between them.
“I’m still on that stand that the Bail Act should, in fact, be reviewed in relation to how persons can in fact be given bail because you’re dealing with one individual with 13 charges and another individual with eight pending charges for violent offences and they were in fact on bail. Take another look at that Bail Act and especially as it relates to violent offences,” Jacob said.
Don’t blame us
Persad-Bissessar also said the Opposition will not take any blame for upward spiral of criminal activity.
She also questioned if the selection of a new Commissioner of Prisons would go down the same route as the Commissioner of Police with alleged political interference.
To date, the country remains without two top official persons in national security and criminals were becoming emboldened to commit their acts, the Opposition Leader said.
She said even the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had issues such as staffing and all those created a dent in effectively managing the judicial system that already is swarmed by a backlog of cases.
Speaking about the social aspect of crime, Persad-Bissessar said many persons who lost their jobs were now in vulnerable positions and many may resort to criminal activities just to be able to feed their families.
There must be crime prevention first, followed by detection which should not be difficult to do given that Trinidad and Tobago were too small islands, the Opposition Leader said.
Hinds must go
She continued to repeat her call for the resignation of National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to resign.
If he did not resign, he should be fired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
“Hinds must go. I don’t think the country can take any more of his mismanagement,” she stated.
And if Dr Rowley failed to remove Hinds from his ministerial position, the entire Government must go and a general election should be called immediately, Persad-Bissessar said.
