Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne Praises Government's Decision to Review Bail Act for Murder Charges
July 7, 2024
Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne supports Government's move to toughen bail conditions for murder suspects, proposing a nuanced approach to categorizing murder charges for more rational bail decisions. Changes to the Bail Act and community policing initiatives are planned.
Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne is commending Government on its decision to revisit the Bail Act, particularly focusing on measures to make bail more challenging for those charged with murder.
“The Prime Minister [Mia Amor Mottley] and I would share similar thoughts as to the idea to make bail difficult for persons charged with murder. It is regrettable, however, that the Government had not pursued this partial solution earlier,” he told the Sunday Sun yesterday.
The King’s Counsel said he had previously advocated for a more nuanced approach to handling murder charges.
“In a parliamentary debate, I had also earlier recommended a system of degrees of murder which would accommodate a more rational system of bail for lesser degrees of homicide,” he stated.
“If we create a system of degrees of murder, the police would, at the stage of charging, be able to assess the severity of the offence and decide into which degree the accused would fall. The statute would restrict the grant of bail only to the lesser degrees of murder.”
Community policing
Mottley announced on Friday that her administration planned to go back to amend the Bail Act so people charged with murder and serious firearm
offences would not receive bail within a certain time. In addition, an Organised Crime Unit would be set up in the Barbados Police Service and there would be an expansion of community policing.
The State has appealed the 2021 ruling by Justice Shona Griffith, in the case of Lamar Antonio Jones vs The Attorney General, which declared as unconstitutional
Section 5(a) of the Bail (Amendment) Act 2019 which had forced the courts to remand people charged with murder or serious firearm offences for 24 months before they could qualify for bail.
Mottley said that in light of the recent spate of killings, Government was not prepared to wait on the Court of Appeal’s decision, but would instead pre-emptively make adjustments to the legislation or, if necessary, draft a new one.
Thorne said the current system where bail was available to all charged with murder, was fundamentally flawed.
