In 1999, the last time this country hanged a convicted killer the murder toll for the year was 93. That was the lowest this country's murder toll has been for at least the last 23 years, according to statistics.
At the current rate of murders taking place in this country, we will reach that 1999 toll by February–just two months into the new year.
With only 28 days of this year gone so far, the murder toll in this country has already surpassed the 1999 halfway mark with more than 50 people being killed in just 29 days.
"After we carried out the death penalty things in Trinidad and Tobago were calm everywhere, very calm, because it makes a difference to the psychology of a criminal if the person knows that if he is caught he will be convicted and if he is convicted, he will face the death sentence. If the criminals and the potential criminals know that they will get away, they would not be caught or if they are a caught they will still get away, you are not solving crime, you can't solve it," Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj told the Sunday Guardian.
Maharaj was the attorney general when the last hangings in this country took place. Anthony Briggs was the last person to be hanged.
Briggs bludgeoned taxi driver Siewdath Ramkissoon to death during a robbery in August 1992. On June 21, 1996, Briggs was convicted of murder.
He was executed on July 28, 1999.
Briggs was hanged just over a month after the notorious Dole Chadee gang was hanged over a three-day period.
Dole Chadee, Joey Ramiah and Ramkelawan Singh were executed on June 4, 1999.
While Clive Thomas, Robin Gopaul and Russell Sankeralli were hanged on June 5, 1999.
On June 7, 1999 Joel Ramsingh, Steve Eversley and Bagwandeen Singh were hanged.
The Chadee gang were hanged for their involvement in the murder of the Baboolal family in 1994.
Hamilton Baboolal, his mother Rookmin, his sister, Monica, and his father, Deo, were all shot dead during the incident.
Maharaj said the then United National Congress government led by Basdeo Panday had to take decisive action to ensure that the hangings could be done.
"First thing first, Trinidad and Tobago does not need any law to bring back the death penalty, the law is already there, it is in the Offences Against the Person Act (Chapter 11:08 Section 4) which says that if you commit murder the penalty is death," Maharaj said.
However, the challenges that the then government faced were from international Human Rights organisations and also ensuring that all the executions were done within the time-frame stated in the Pratt and Morgan case.
In the Pratt and Morgan case the Privy Council ruled that prolonged delay in carrying out a sentence of death after that sentence had been passed could amount to inhuman punishment. That is five years after the conviction and sentencing.
'The State's apparatus for fighting crime has failed'
Maharaj said the UNC saw it as a "struggle to carry out the wishes of the people".
"It was a great challenge but it was done. If we did not do that the Dole Chadee gang could not have been executed. They would have been still there," Maharaj said.
Maharaj said during the 1995 general election the issue of crime was a very important part of the political agenda.
In 1989 a Commission of Enquiry was chaired by Senior Counsel Elton Prescott into the death penalty.
Maharaj said amending any law with regard to the death penalty would be unnecessary.
"It makes no sense we go through the process of Parliament to try to pass a law because it will make things worse because you could then have the convicted person challenging the law which will take a longer time," Maharaj said.
"So the question which a Government has to decide in Trinidad and Tobago is that if it is felt that the death penalty would make a dent in the crime problem they have to take steps to implement it within the period fixed by the law and it can be done. It has been done and it can be done," he said.
Maharaj said the reason for the high crime in this country is because "the State's apparatus for fighting crime has failed".
"I think one of the reasons for the high murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago and the high crime rate is that the State apparatus for fighting crime has failed and it leads one to wonder whether there is any serious mission to deal with the crime problem," he said.
'We need action, passion, determination'
"In order to carry out the death penalty you first have to catch the murderer, if you do not catch the murderer you cannot hang phantom people, so in order to catch the murderer you have to improve the detection machinery and you cannot improve the detection machinery to catch the criminals if you do not have a proper forensic laboratory. And we do not have a proper forensic laboratory in Trinidad and Tobago, we do not have the modern technology, and we do not use the modern technology," he said.
Maharaj said the country also does not have an effective Witness Protection Programme in the country. He said a DNA bank also needs to be established.
"Here is it in Trinidad and Tobago we are dealing with a crime problem in the 21st century but we really have 18th century methods to deal with it," Maharaj said.
If something is not done the crime problem will get worse, Maharaj warned.
"Trinidad and Tobago has to make a decision and it is a serious decision. This crime problem is going to get more uncontrollable unless serious and genuine steps are taken immediately to arrest the crime problem. We have to stop using the excuse of we need legislation and law to fight this problem, we do not need more laws, we need action, we need passion, we need determination," he said.
Maharaj said evidence of nothing being done in this country is that he brought a law in 2000 putting murder into three categories so that the death penalty would be restricted to certain crimes.
"In 2000 I went to the Parliament, the Senate passed a law, the House of Representatives passed a law, it was only to be proclaimed in which murder would be categorised into three categories so you restrict the death penalty. Up to today, it is not implemented," he said.
The law brought by Maharaj is–Act No 90 of 2000 and is called An Act to amend the Offences Against The Person (Amendment) Act, 2000.
Maharaj said the issue of categorisation of murder may be able to appease public opinion by ensuring that the death penalty will be restricted to the most serious crimes.