Beckles-Robinson warns Hosein: 'Don't politicise crime'

PLANNING and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles-Robinson warned Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein against politicising a shooting outside the Barataria home of Deputy Prisons Commissioner Sherwin Bruce on Wednesday.

Bruce's driver and his teenage daughter were injured in the incident, which happened around 7.05 am.

Hours later, during the budget debate in the House of Representatives, Hosein spoke about it, saying: "Tragedy hit my constituency this morning.

"I want to condemn that action of the attempted assassination on the deputy commissioner of prisons in my constituency."

He blamed the Government for the incident.

Hosein said he had a letter dated October 9 from the Prison Officers Association to National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds about possible threats against the lives of prison officers, which he said had been circulated on social media.

Hosein said Hinds "did absolutely nothing."

He said should have been an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to address the matter.

After the attack, Hosein said, the police should have responded rapidly and closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage used to identify the perpetrators.

He claimed none of this had happened.

"What a shame"

Hosein said the Government wrongly accuses the UNC of constantly bad-talking everything happening in TT.

"That is absolutely untrue. We just speak the truth about the PNM."

After the attack on Bruce, Hosein wondered whether any citizen is safe from criminals in their home.

"Now we have to beg the question, who is next?"

Later in the sitting, Beckles-Robinson said as an attorney, Hosein should not seek to politicise any type of crime..

"The information that I have is that at the time that this incident occurred, the deputy commissioner was inside of his home. I am reliably informed that this matter is under active investigation."

Beckles-Robinson said these are matters which neither the government nor the opposition should get involved in.

"Nobody in this House wants to see anybody in a situation where somebody attacks them, in any circumstances that relates to any form of assassination."

Recalling the recent murders of four members of the Peterkin family in her Arima constituency and a person on Charlotte Street in Port of Spain, Beckles-Robinson said many people tended to blame the victims of crime.

She said the focus should instead be on the "reckless, heartless and savage persons who are making the life of honest people very, very difficult."

Referring to Hinds's contribution to the debate, Beckles-Robinson was confident efforts were being made to bolster CCTV coverage

She also thanked the police for holding town meetings in Arima to address her constituents' concerns about crime.

On the work of her ministry, Beckles-Robinson said progress is being made on matters such as the national climate change policy and ensuring there is a reliable national statistical information system. On the latter, she added that the ministry will roll out the 2023 housing and population census next May.