Senior Reporter
dareece.polo@guardian.co.tt
Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan has recommended that the Government make a renewed appeal to the public for its support to make bail amendment legislation a reality. The call came as he condemned the Government for welcoming foreigners who have since become involved in serious crimes across the country.
Sinanan made the comment during a telephone interview with Guardian Media on Wednesday, in response to National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds’ complaint that bail was too easily accessible for certain offenders, namely foreign nationals involved in the trafficking of synthetic drugs.
Hinds was referring to the discovery of a methamphetamine lab at The Residences, San Fernando, in early August and implied that the Chinese suspect may have fled the country after acquiring bail. He also claimed this has demoralised the police.
However, Sinanan said bail was one of the cornerstones of democracy and the constitutional right of citizens. Nevertheless, he said he sympathised with the minister’s concerns, as crime was out of control.
“I think having regard to the level of crime that we have in the country, that, yes, the bail laws ought to be strengthened. Certain offences—narcotics, murder and so on—need to be looked at and robbery and rape and all that sort of thing need to be looked at and you have to go back to the drawing board as it were,” Sinanan said.
He added that the current administration ought to engage the public on the matter to chart the way forward.
“You have to engage in a certain measure of social engineering and you have to say well, listen, look ... yes bail is a constitutional right, as it stands, of a citizen or an individual, but given the level of crime ... our slide in societal norms and respect for the rule of law ... if necessary, take the bull by the horns, let Parliament intervene, amend the Constitution and put other legislation in place,” he said.
Sinanan did, however, take issue with the Government allowing foreign nationals into the country without, what he said, were stringent background checks. He said many of these individuals who have found themselves charged in connection with drug and gun crimes have created new criminal networks locally. He suggested that the State should, therefore, take some responsibility for police becoming disenfranchised.
“The Minister can’t throw his hands up in the air and say ‘well, you know, the police service is becoming demoralised’ and so on. Because in the first place, you have opened the flood gates and allowed Venezuelan nationals or foreigners to come in, particularly Venezuelan nationals and Chinese, and you don’t vet them! You do not know the character of these people,” he said.
However, responding to Sinanan’s comments following the sod-turning ceremony for the Assessment Centre and Temporary Housing Facility for Socially Displaced Persons in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Hinds insinuated the attorney was a UNC agent.
The Opposition has been blamed by Hinds and other Government ministers for holding up the bail bill.
“Tell him that we had it, and when we went to refurbish it in the Parliament, the party that I suspect he supports, refused to support it,” Hinds said.
However, an attempt to ask him about unvetted foreigners was cut short.
“Tell him we have looked inwardly a thousand times but the minute we look across the parliament floor, we see people who have a record, who have a history of supporting ‘wrongtousness’ over righteousness and seem to be more willing to support those who offend the society than to be concerned about the society that they should be protecting,” Hinds said.
But Sinanan denied having a party card and expressed disappointment in Hinds’ response.
Efforts to contact Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher and Police Social Welfare Association president Gideon Dickson on the matter were unsuccessful, as they did not answer their cellphones.