Attorney General Garvin Nicholas is in agreement with magistrate Aden Stroude who ruled on Thursday that anyone whether legal or otherwise who is in possession of a gun and commits one of 14 offences is subjected to bail denial for four months.
On Thursday bail was denied to two police constables who were charged with perverting public justice. The police officers, Ryan Mahabir and Justin Charles, were denied bail because they had their service weapon on them while allegedly commiting the offence.
Mahabir’s attorney Fareed Ali contested that the spirit of the law in the recently assented ammendment to the Bail Act was not to be used against legitimate holders of firearms but for those who are in illegal possession.
His reasoning was not accepted by Stroude who said the law was clear in that anyone, no matter the circumstances who is in possession of a gun while commiting the offences, will forfeit his bail for 120 days before he is eligible to apply to a judge.
The act, which became law on April 28, has so far seen three police officers being denied bail on the count that they allegedly committed an offence with or while in possession of their service weapon.
In a text response to the T&T Guardian yesterday Nicholas said: “If any person is charged with commiting a scheduled offence while having in their possession a firearm, the act applies. The Bail Act has to be read in conjunction with section 6 of the Firearms Act Chapter 16:01.”
Some of the offences which will deny someone bail if they have a gun in their possession at the time of the offence include, buggery, rape, receiving stolen goods, sex with a female under 14, perverting the course of justice, and arson.
Secretary of the police service Social and Welfare Association, Insp Michael Seales in a telephone interview said that the association, following Thursday’s court appearance of the officers, had some concerns about the Act. Seales said that the association would be giving more thought to the act and in time give a more comprehensive response.
He added there were some officers who expressed fear of the legislation as they believe that while legitimately doing their jobs they could find themselves in jail for four months without bail if charged with an offence. He added that officers ought not to be fearful as long as they do not compromise their standards and break the law.