People who trespass and try to take over the homes of citizens can face imprisonment after the passage of new laws.
That was the message from Minister Fitzgerald Hinds yesterday as he piloted the Trespass Bill in Parliament. The bill updates trespass legislation which was last amended in 1932 and carried fines as low as $200. Provisions now being added will outlaw forcible entry by culprits who use threats, force or intimidation to enter a property, expel the occupant and take over the property. It also applies to the situation where the legitimate occupant has been forced out.
Fines of $100,000 plus 15 years’ jail are proposed for such violations. A fine of $50,000 is also proposed for trespassing on a vessel.
Hinds said people, including at Housing Development Corporation developments, were being terrorised and pressured by rogue elements who were going unpunished. He said people have been forced out, some killed and burnt, and there has been under-reporting of the situation due to fear and lack of laws to deal with it.
Hinds said over 2017-2018, some 15 people were detained regarding such incidents at HDC developments but he was certain they were all released since adequate laws were not in place. He detailed incidents in his own constituency where a woman went to clean her father’s house after his death and had to flee when she found it overrun by criminals who had rented it out. Three homes on another street were also taken over by criminals whose presence now worry residents, he said. Criminals also firebombed one tenant who fled, leaving them to occupy the house.
In another case, Hinds said a woman who went to the US for three months returned to find her place occupied by criminals who refused to leave—and after two sons were murdered, another family had to flee from their home which criminals took over.
Hinds said police are probing 11 such incidents, all in East Port-of-Spain. But he said it’s been happening all over T&T in recent years and police were unable to deal with it due to lack of proper law. He noted statements on such incidents by People’s Partnership ministers—including Roodal Moonilal and former PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar during the last administration’s tenure and plans to have legislation to prevent it. Hinds said the legislation is part of Government’s own anti-crime efforts.