Senior Political Reporter
The Government’s Bail Amendment (2024) Bill, which provides for the restriction of bail to people charged with serious offences, was passed in the House of Representatives yesterday with unanimous support, including from the entire Opposition team present.
“I want to state now, the Opposition will support this bill in the public interest of the people of T&T,” said Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, delivering her contribution to the bill in Parliament. Her announcement was greeted with long, loud desk-thumping by both Government and Opposition MPs.
While Persad-Bissessar confirmed support, she made it clear the bill was not a “plaster” on the crime issue.
Persad-Bissessar spoke after Attorney General Reginald Armour piloted the bill, urging the Opposition not to reject it simply because it carried a special majority vote for passage. The bill required a special three-fifths majority vote—26 votes. It therefore needed four opposition votes in addition to the Government’s 22.
Speakers in the debate comprised only Armour, Persad-Bissessar, and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Co-operation extended to the committee-stage examination of the bill where each side accepted amendments the other proposed. At the conclusion, all 38 MPs present voted for the bill.
The Government’s Tobago East MP Ayana Webster-Roy who was in Tobago, received permission to vote virtually. Sixteen UNC MPs present voted for the bill, including Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Dr Rai Ragbir who broke ranks two weeks ago and voted with the Government on the Whistleblower bill.
Absent yesterday were MPs Dave Tancoo, Vandana Mohit, and Dr Rishi Seecheran.
AG urges Opposition
not to reject bill
Yesterday’s passage of the Bail Bill took it a step forward after the Government failed to get support in the Senate in 2022 to extend that bill by a year. The Bail Bill 2024, which Armour piloted yesterday, is aimed at amending the Bail Act, Chapter 4:60.
He said it seeks to give effect to the Privy Council’s ruling in the Akili Charles case that people charged with murder can seek bail. The bill provides that a judge or master may grant bail to a person charged with the offence of murder and seeks to impose conditions on the exercise of the court’s discretion in granting bail to persons charged with murder, serious offences, and firearm-related offences. The burden is on the accused to show cause why bail should be granted.
Armour detailed the bill’s clauses, which include, for the first time, allowing a master to grant bail.
Repeatedly calling for opposition support of the bill, Armour added, “It is for us, here, on both sides, to accept our mandate conferred by our Constitution, as legislators in these challenging times, to pass constitutionally compliant legislation, whether by simple or super majority, tailored to protect and serve the public interest. It’s not enough simply to say, ‘this bill requires three-fifths majority and I’m voting against it.’”
Armour added, “This is the point of opportunity for us to have confidence in ourselves to do our job, to pass this bill in the public interest.
“The Government recognises that the proposed restrictions on the exercise of the Court’s discretion to grant or refuse bail to persons charged with serious offences will not somehow miraculously put an end to the wave of criminality we’ve been faced with in recent years.”
He said, “However, we recognise that the majority of citizens are law-abiding citizens who are constantly terrorised by, and who live in fear of, a minority of miscreants who blatantly continue to choose a path of lawlessness. The Government believes the proposed measures are crucial to reducing the likelihood of repeat offenders, particularly seasoned criminals, from obtaining bail ...”
AG: Bill targets
high recidivism
Attorney General Reginald Armour (SC) said the Bail Amendment (2024) bill was also critical to addressing the situation of repeat offenders of serious offences seeking bail.
He said the Law Reform Commission, which advised on the bill, considered T&T’s crime situation particularly serious, including murder and gang- and firearm-related offences within the last five years.
Armour said consideration was also given to the fact that the provisions of the 2019 Bail (Amendment) Act, which expired in 2022, are no longer in force. These restricted bail to people charged with serious offences and who had either a pending charge or a previous conviction for a serious offence.
“This is significant since, as a result, the likelihood of repeat offenders of serious offences obtaining bail has significantly increased. There’s a real concern that under the current bail regime, there’s a real likelihood that repeat offenders of serious offences will obtain bail.” Armour added.
Armour said for the period 2019 to 2024, the T&T Police Service has identified 772 people as repeat offenders.
“Further, data provided by the Commissioner of Prisons shows that out of a total of 2,261 convicted male offenders in 2019, there were 1,110 repeat offenders, which represented 49 per cent of the total of male convictions,” he added.
“During the following two years, there was an average decrease of male convicted repeat offenders by ten per cent. This was during the heart of the pandemic. However, towards the end of the pandemic, in 2022, there was an increase of approximately five per cent, that is, 451 out of 1,366.”
Armour added, “In 2023, the percentage of offenders had surged to 52 per cent, that is, 1,076 out of 2,070 convictions. Thus, during the period 2022–2023, there was a 139 per cent increase in convicted male reoffenders. Data also reflects a steady increase in the number of male convictions for firearm and dangerous drug offences following the pandemic.”
He said the Government believes it was necessary for Parliament to introduce conditions to guide the exercise of the court’s discretion to grant bail to people charged with serious offences by requiring these people to show sufficient cause or exceptional circumstances to justify this.
“These measures are particularly critical to addressing recidivism.” (GA)
DETAILS OF THE BAIL BILL 2024
*A Magistrate will continue to have jurisdiction to grant bail for summary offences.
*A Judge and Master will now have jurisdiction to grant bail to a person charged for murder.
*The accused must satisfy the Judge or master of the existence of exceptional circumstances to justify the granting of bail.
* Offences such as treason and piracy continue to be non-bailable offences,
* A Judge/Master will have jurisdiction to grant bail for indictable offences (except the offences listed in Part 1 of the First Schedule) and offences triable either way.
*A Judge/Master may not grant bail to a person who, is charged with an offence carrying imprisonment for 10 years or more and he has a previous conviction for any offence punishable with imprisonment for ten years or more; or has a pending charge for an offence listed in Part II of the First Schedule (comprising serious offences ), unless he can show sufficient cause why his remand in custody is not justified
* The Judge’s discretion to deny bail may be based on a previous conviction for any offence once that offence was punishable with 10 years or more.
A Judge/Master may not grant bail to a person charged with an offence under section 6 of the Firearms Act, Chap.16:01, and has a pending charge for possession of a firearm, ammunition or prohibited weapon, unless he can show exceptional circumstances to justify the granting of bail.
* A Judge/ Master may not grant bail to an accused charged with an offence listed in Part II of the First Schedule, where the prosecution informs the Court that the accused used or had in his possession a firearm, imitation firearm or a prohibited weapon during the commission of the offence, unless he can satisfy the Judge /Master of the existence of exceptional circumstances to justify granting of bail.
*The right of appeal would be an additional significant safeguard.
* Review of the Bail Act to be conducted every five years with a report to be done.