OPPOSITION Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial said government has to stop blaming the United National Congress (UNC) for all crimes and start doing its job.
She said there is no law, with or without Opposition support, which could fix the problems in the criminal justice system unless Government gets up and governs and carries out the mandate the people gave it to make the country safe.
On the UNC Virtual Report platform on Monday night, Lutchmediaal said the Bail Act which Government is "persecuting" the Opposition to support is already law.
She said adequate resourcing and implementation of proper legislation to improve the justice system were the problem.
She referred to the Law Association’s statement which identified resources as the problem.
“LATT is saying exactly what we have said. Laws cannot be implemented if people do not have the tools and resources to do it.”
She noted the cut in the budgetary allocation for the police service and the expectation for it to do more with less.
“With crime out of control and everybody marching and the country crying out for justice, they (Government) go on a PR exercise and say they are passing laws and want to solve crime but the Opposition is the problem.
“The Evidence (Amendment) Bill, 2020 will fix nothing. We already have the ability to tender CCTV footage into evidence.
“If you want to solve crime, build the DNA lab. The whole world is moving towards forensic evidence that could hold up in a court.
“The People’s National Movement (PNM) government wants to take us backwards to a reliance on confession and eyewitness statement. They feel if the police turn on a camera and film a confession, that confession will go into evidence.”
Such confessions must be seen to be fair and judges and magistrates rely on what happened before the cameras were turned on to determine fairness.
“Many criminal matters have collapsed because confessions obtained in such circumstances were not deemed to be fair and the court did not allow the confession to go before a jury. You need to bring legislation about admission of statements and recording of statements.”
Horrified that after 15 years there is no DNA analysis in the trial for Sean Luke's murder, she said DNA legislation, which the PP administration brought in 2012 and through which a jury could hear scientific evidence, would modernise the criminal justice system.
“That is what you need to fix. The criminal justice system is not just about laws on the books. It is about detection, it is about prosecution, it is about conviction.
"And when the person goes to prison, it is about rehabilitation, because unless you implement the death penalty, sooner or later that prisoner will come out of prison.”
She asked, “Which law is going to is going to fix all the police vehicles parked up and rotting at VMCOTT, so police have resources to report to crime scenes and actually detect and solve crime?
“Which law is going to build a courtroom and ensure you have properly trained officers to prosecute matters?”
She said the failure of police officers to give evidence often leads to accused people being freed and then suing the State for malicious prosecution and being awarded millions of taxpayers' dollars.
She suggested trials starting and finishing within 120 days and a system with specialised courts to deal with sex crimes and firearm offences, which she said are two of the biggest problems facing the courts right now.
