Family in witness protection ‘abandoned’

He made the revelation yesterday while contributing to debate on the Plea Bargaining Bill. He said TT does not have a proper system to protect people when they come forward to give evidence and called on Governemnt to look carefully at the Justice Protection Act in order fix it.

He said he wrote to the Attorney General over the loss of life of three people and added, “it is an extremely distubring fact that we have to deal with as a country that we can have eight police officers charged before the court on murder of three civilians.

That is something that should send shivers up everybody’s spine.” He said there was another case which he planned to bring to the Attorney General’s attention where a family willingly entered under the provisions of the Justice Protection Act and gave evidence in a matter but, the accused were not convicted.

He said after the family risked their lives, they “were taken from Trinidad and sent to another Caribbean island, (and) were just abandoned by the State.” He continued: “And they have returned to Trinidad, their lives are at risk, their children are at risk and they don’t know what to do.

And if that is the experience...that other persons see as the experience of persons who assist in the prosecution of crime, one understands why the Director of Public Prosecutions would say we have a serious problem in getting persons to come forward and give evidence.” He said there was a shortage of judges in the country and reported that fellow Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge, through a Freedom of Information application, had found out that a High Court judge was on three years no pay leave and had been granted two more. “How could that ever be right? On what basis could this decision be made.” On crime in general, he said there was a small group of people that control the criminal industry in this country. “And we have to wipe them out.

Whether it be by legislation or prosecution.

We have to join together and wipe out this so our country can get back to the state it was before.” Ramdeen also called for: cautionary statements taken by police to be monitored by an independent body; the categorisation of murders; a forensic data officer for each police division; scholarships in the field of forensic science and forensic pathology; and to clean up the corrupt police service and prison service.