The Law Association of Trinidad   and Tobago (LATT) has advised the Honourable Attorney General that it does not agree with, nor support the Bail (Amendment) Bill 2015 which was yesterday tabled in Parliament.

It is the duty of the Executive to ensure that the criminal justice system is modernized and outfitted to a reasonable standard to deal effectively and efficiently with the scourge of crime. The answer does not lie in chipping away incrementally at our constitutional rights and freedoms.

The present system is overburdened and it may take as many as three years for the prosecution to be ready to proceed with trial. The 120 days has no relation to the time it takes the state to get expert reports and be ready.   In this regard, all that will be achieved is the pre-trial detention of civilians in violation of the presumption of innocence and the protective constitutional provisions.

This Legislation purports to restrict the granting of bail to an accused person by not permitting that person’s access to a Court of Law to hear an application for bail for as long a period as one hundred and twenty (120) days from the reading of the charge.

This amounts to a denial of a person’s Constitutional Rights.   Given the constitutional guarantees of reasonable bail, coupled with the presumption of innocence and the right to be brought promptly before an appropriate judicial authority, even in the face of firearms and firearms related offences, LATT considers the proposed amendments a disproportionate response.

The LATT calls for the repeal of the legislation.

Mr. Gerry Brooks

Vice-President

Dated: 151 April, 2015