Hinds: Legislators should take some blame for crime

Fitzgerald Hinds, Minister of Youth Development and National Service, said parliamentarians are being blamed by the public for crime, in light of the murder of 22-year-old Andrea Bharatt.

He was speaking in the Red House at the second reading of the Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2020 on Friday.

“We are the nation’s leaders in some respects in this Parliament, and we are being partly blamed for some of what is happening, and not incorrectly so. Because we are the legislators, and the law is an important component in the struggle against criminal encroachment.”

Hinds, and other MPs expressed condolences to Bharatt’s family. Her body was found in the Heights of Aripo on Thursday after a six-day search.

The bill was read by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, who said it will help to prevent crimes such as Bharatt’s murder.

“TT wrestles on a daily basis with monsters,” he said. “Monsters who savage our children, our elderly, our loved ones.”

He said the bill seeks to treat with how evidence is collected. Al-Rawi also referred to the public’s reaction to Bharatt’s murder.

“Today, as our country is engaged in a reactionary, though periodic, cycle of coming out of our traditional caves and making a cry and plea for better a society by each person holding their part, today we have an opportunity in this Parliament, all of us, to stop monsters.

“No need to turn up on a pavement crying for a citizen of this country, a child – murdered, when you can turn up in Parliament and be consistent with policy to reform the laws of TT.”

Al-Rawi said the bill has been the subject of a special select committee and has the support of several government institutions including the Judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the police service, and the prisons service.

“TT continues to be burnt to the ground…because no one has the courage to pass the bill. The only thing holding us back from success is the passage of this law.”

He said the bill includes the use of technological advances, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in identifying criminals.

“The Ministry of National Security is working assiduously to ensure that eyes everywhere become a reality in TT.”

He said CCTV evidence is tied to the Ministry of Works’ plan to introduce radio frequency (RF) identification plates for vehicles.

“It is intended that with your RF tag IDs, and with eyes everywhere, your CCTV evidence can be admissible under the law without going through loopholes to get there, and therefore monsters driving cars as pretended taxi drivers, or as PH (private-hire) drivers, become known by the law.”

MP for Chaguanas West Dinesh Rambally lambasted Al-Rawi, accusing him of using the momentum of Bharatt’s death to politicise the bill.

“Now is hardly the time to seek political points and to talk about (policies),” he said. “There will be ample time to ventilate those issues.”

He said it was sad to see Al-Rawi seek to exploit the grief of a nation to push legislation.

Rambally said the bill does nothing to protect women.

“We need to stop politicising violence against women. This bill is sterile. It is lip service, and it will not protect our womenfolk.”