Jack Warner kept a promise the made Sunday and has written to his cabinet colleague, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, urging the AG to bring back the death penalty.i
The Chaguanas West MP made the pledge on Sunday after visiting the scene of the brutal murder of Neeshad Ali, who was hacked to death in his home. Ali was a relative of Tertiary Education Minister Fazal Karim.
In a strongly worded letter to the AG Monday Warner said criminals have shown that they have no regard for law abiding citizens and noted that "two recent brutal murders have convinced me more than ever that we, as a Government, need to implement the death penalty with a great deal of urgency".
The other murder to which he referred was the killing of a mother and son whose dismembered bodies were thrown in a garbage dump in Claxton Bay, South Trinidad.
Warner said it pained him to visit Ali's home on Sunday. "This latest murder shocked the country (because of) the callousness of the criminals," he said.
"Murderers have no regard for human life because they feel comfortable knowing that they can commit murder at will "knowing full well that no one is being executed in this country," the works minister said.
He told Ramlogan, "We must as a Government, wake up and deal with the criminals, according to the laws of the land. I am sure I have the support of the majority of citizens, calling for the implementation of the death penalty."
Warner added, "You must remember, dear AG, that we campaigned on crime and safety. We must keep that promise and not fall prey to the criminal elements in our society. Our society needs us now more than ever. The next generation must be around to enjoy a safe Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr dear AG and friend, let us enforce the death penalty. If we fail to do so, society will never forgive us."
The last executions took place in June 1999 under the Panday UNC Government when the state executed Dole Chadee and eight members of his notorious gang for the murders of four members of one family. That was followed one month later with the execution of Anthony Briggs.
Warner pointed out in that year the murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago was below 100 and since then, with a moratorium on hangings, murders have increased every year.
"Murders of all types are the order of the day. The final tally for murder in 2009 was 550. Today, as I write this letter, it stands at 325 and counting. One wonders what the final figure would be at the end of 2010," Warner told Ramlogan.
Noting the 1993 Pratt and Morgan judgment of the Privy Council that it would be cruel and harsh to execute anyone who has been on death row for five and more years he said appeals and petitions must be completed within five years.
He said delays beyond five years on death row means killers have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment "and at taxpayers’ expense too". He noted that the Pratt and Morgan ruling has spared at least 47 killers.
The MP said his investigations have revealed that there are 32 convicted killers on Death Row within the five year period. He added that two persons who have lost all their appeals and "are sitting awaiting the hangman".
He pleaded with Ramlogan and his colleagues with responsibility for law and order and the justice system. "It is time to get our act together and enforce the death penalty," he said.
"Let us ensure that the wheels of justice turn faster, so that a traumatised and frightened society could feel that the People’s Partnership Government cares about them."
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