OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said certain judicial officers were under threat after the assassination of 43-year-old attorney Randall Hector.
In a fiery speech at the United National Congress’s (UNC) January 6 cottage meeting, the first for 2025, Persad-Bissessar waded into a number of issues including crime, the Miscellaneous Provisions (Senior Citizens’ Pension and Public Assistance) Bill, 2024 and Stuart Young being named the Prime Minister’s successor by the People's National Movement (PNM) parliamentary caucus.
She then recommitted herself to bringing stand-your-ground laws, as well as legislation on the right to bear arms to give citizens a fighting chance against criminals.
Stand-your-ground laws allow people to use deadly force in certain situations to defend themselves against violent crimes. There was widespread public debate on this when the party first proposed the measure.
In her almost-hour-long speech, Persad-Bissessar said, “I was told only yesterday morning, in addition to the prosecutors not wanting to go to work because of the fear, they are now being told that certain judicial officers are under threat from criminal elements."
>
On December 31, prosecutor Hector was fatally shot outside the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Stanmore Avenue, Port of Spain shortly after delivering a sermon at Old Year's Day mass. Investigators have said his murder was gang-related.
Hours after this murder, Hector's traumatised co-workers refused to work, prompting certain tasks in the judiciary, including jury selection, being rescheduled. This led to the Law Association's demanding special security arrangements for judicial officers asking for them.
“We have to give them legal guns to protect themselves.”
She said the Prime Minister and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, every day, kept telling the nation guns and ammunition were the problem and under the PNM-led government, businessmen, prison officers, police and judicial officers could not get legal guns to protect themselves or families.
Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher put firearms licences on hold for almost a year.
“Rowley and the commissioner have been auditing every one (Firearm Users’ License (FUL) requests) since 2021. To get a FUL, you have to sue the Commissioner of Police.”
Average law-abiding citizens were being denied the right to bear legal firearms.
This was why the party recommitted itself to bringing stand-your-ground laws and law on the right to bear arms so people could protect themselves and their families.
Persad-Bissessar said she was attacked when she told citizens to “empty the clip” on criminals. However she said she firmly recommits to that and does not care “who vex.”
>
“We must give our people the right to protect their families.”
She claimed Dr Rowley had applied for a special permit from Harewood-Christopher to import a Blitz-Kerner Captive Bolt Stunner for killing pigs and goats.
MS Schippers, a site for professional farming, said the Bitz-Kerner Captive Bolt Stunner allowed farmers "anaesthetise animals definitively. A captive bolt gun is the fastest and most humane method for anaesthetising animals before slaughter.”
Persad-Bissessar said, however, while it did not look like a conventional gun, it was one, as it uses 9mm cartridges.
She added that Rowley also applied for 500 rounds of ammunition, "While he and Erla were refusing to give citizens the licence."
She said in 2023, Christopher-Harewood granted Rowley permission to buy the firearm. Persad-Bissessar then showed an image of the police permit granted to Rowley.
On Hector's murder, she said criminals were in charge, despite this government's claim to the contrary.
“A UNC government will tackle this decay and stand firm against the criminals,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said as a mother she saw the country's children as her own and wanted them to live in a safe space that gave them opportunities to grow and prosper.
>
Many of the night’s speakers spoke on crime, including Toco/Sangre Grande candidate Wayne Sturge, Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein and UNC San Fernando West candidate Dr Michael Dowlath.
