Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard has confirmed that the police service has been having increasing problems in finding and getting people to agree to go on identification parades, particularly in the present climate of the country.
Gaspard did so yesterday when he appeared before a special parliamentary committee examining the proposed Evidence (Amendment) bill.
The bill contemplates facilitating witness anonymity to aid crime-solving.
Gaspard corrected and clarified a number of points in the proposed legislation which was drafted by Attorney General Faris Al Rawi. Gaspard submitted to the JSC a thick package regarding his opinion on the bill including over 10 recommendations. He said there were several areas that can be shored up.
A major omission, he noted was that the bill strangely left out the issue of verification which he said should have been at the top.
Gaspard said the first item in priority should be an ID parade. He said certain things - gestures etc- which could aid identification of a person might be lost in video presentations.
But in the climate where police are having problems getting people to go on ID parades, the next option - video- would arise.
Gaspard said he had been an advocate for special measures in the “unwholesome atmosphere of fear that pervades and clouds the ambiences that sometimes exists in the courtroom.” He felt the bill would go a long way to handle some issues and should be among ingredients in the cocktail of measures TT needs to adopt to problems affecting the criminal justice system though he didn’t see it as a “magic bullet” solution.
Gaspard said there was a time when witness anonymity would have attracted a lot of concern on his part, but given the present climate, he said, these concerns have been “defanged” by the practical realities in TT today, “Against that backdrop I find that the clauses as they pertain to witness anonymity in this bill, I find them to be unexceptionable.”
On whether the bill would hold benefits for handling terrorism and anti-gang offences, Gaspard said such matters should attract “a high degree of moral blameworthiness” and consonantly, prosecutions under these areas “make for particularly dangerous situations for witnesses, not just civilian witnesses.”
He also felt the AG’s idea of having a team of vetted attorneys to deal with supposed “vulnerable witnesses” was novel but in the resources problem faced by TT at this time - when there are several matters awaiting trials in courts- one of the big bugbears is the unavailability of counsel in Legal Aid clinics.
When Al-Rawi attempted to illustrate a situation by borrowing (he said) statements from police commissioner Gary Griffith regarding criminal attorneys/attorneys, Gaspard immediately replied he was loathed to borrow Griffith’s expressions.
Gaspard’s recommendations included that photos of a suspect ought not to be used by law enforcement authorities while a suspect is in custody since it will contaminate procedures.
Forensic Science Centre head Derrick Sankar said there is a backlog of ballistic cases but it was recognised some cases require prioritisation. There is also a backlog in the FSC’s section concerning biology cases. JSC member Anthony Viera expressed concern about the Centre’s ability to handle heavier workload ahead. Sankar said officers were being trained in ballistics expertise and also in biology aspects.