kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
With multiple murders occurring daily and citizens limiting their daily activities, dreading becoming victims of gun violence, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj says the death penalty is an established deterrent.
In an interview with Guardian Media yesterday following a Privy Council ruling which indicated the Parliament has the power to maintain the death penalty on the law books, Maharaj said the Government only needs to overhaul its crime-fighting system and implement policies at the Ministry of National Security, Office of the Attorney General and the Judiciary.
“In my view, having regard to what the position in Trinidad and Tobago is at this time, where every day you pick up the newspapers, almost every day there is a murder, sometimes two and sometimes three murders, I think a strong signal has to be sent to the criminal elements in the country that if they commit the crime, they would have to face the punishment,” Maharaj said.
During Maharaj’s tenure, the State hung the notorious Dole Chadee and his gang for murdering four members of the Baboolal family in 1994. Maharaj said the State stopped carrying out executions after his United National Congress (UNC) government lost the 2001 general elections.
However, he said there was nothing to stop the current Government from resuming executions.
Maharaj said when the UNC took office in 1995, foreign media regarded T&T as the wild west. He said the then government implemented policies to let criminals know that the State would punish them if they committed crimes and the record shows that the death penalty reduced crime.
“If criminals or potential criminals know that they can commit the crime and they would not be punished, they would be repeat offenders. It was proven by me as attorney general when the death penalty was carried out in Trinidad & Tobago,” Maharaj said.
While the legislation allows for the death penalty, the State must carry out the sentence within a stipulated three to five-year timeframe to allow convicts to challenge decisions at the Appeal Court and Privy Council. Therefore, the State must expedite these matters.
To execute this, Maharaj said he worked with the Judiciary to implement an effective case management system that allowed for the speedy determination of death penalty cases by the requisite deadlines.
He advised the Government to emulate his methods by establishing a Case Management Unit in the Attorney General’s Office to monitor all death penalty cases and ensure the State meets all deadlines.
While Maharaj supports the death penalty, he said criminals will feel comfortable continuing killing if the police do not charge people for murders. Maharaj said the country must also use expert forensic analysis systems and not depend solely on eye-witnesses to convict criminals.
“I think we need an overhaul of the crime-fighting machinery in Trinidad and Tobago. That overhaul would include ensuring that people who commit the crime are charged for the offences. Those who are charged are convicted, and if convicted, they meet the punishment of the law.”
Maharaj said capital punishment is not a violation of human rights, as determined by the Privy Council.
He added that several democratic countries still carry out the death penalty, including the United States.