Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Defence Minister Wayne Sturge is advising constituents and citizens that during a home invasion, they can shoot first and “explain yourself after.” He says that provision, among others, will be available under the proposed stand-your-ground legislation the United National Congress Government is seeking to enact. He says another measure would allow a victim to defend themselves against an intruder before they are even physically attacked.
Sturge made the stunning comments during a stand-your-ground consultation at the Sangre Grande Civic Centre on Tuesday.
“You don’t have to wait to see what the attacker is going to do. You don’t have to wait to see if he pulls a gun or a cutlass or anything like this. You can, once you honestly believe that you are under attack, or that an attack is about to take place, or is imminent—as they say here—once you believe an attack is imminent, you can strike first. You can strike first and kill first,” Sturge said.
Sturge, who was a criminal defence attorney before his successful run in the April 28 General Election said the proposed legislation differs vastly from existing self-defence laws.
The Government has already said the stand-your-ground laws will follow the Florida model. Florida enacted its stand-your-ground laws in 2005.
Sturge said the proposed law gives a homeowner or victim leeway to defend themselves before the attacker even gets to strike the first blow.
“If, however, the invader has a cutlass and is swinging, or about to swing, or you feel you don’t have the expertise to defend against a cutlass, you can shoot and kill. If it’s in his waist, you don’t have to wait for him to reach for it, you can go up on him and wet him with your own cutlass or your axe or whatever. And in that situation, the court—and it’s set out here in the bill—the court would look at all of the circumstances to determine whether your action was reasonable.”
Sturge added that the intruder could also be shot in the back under particular circumstances.
Sturge said: “You know they always say if he running away you can’t shoot? No. Circumstances—he’s running away armed with a gun—you could shoot him in the back and explain yourself after, that’s the reality. If he’s running away without a gun, that’s a different thing.”
When it comes to criminals dressed as police officers attempting to invade a person’s home, Sturge said whether a citizen is sure or unsure of the person’s authenticity, it is better to defend and live than to hesitate and die.
“If, by the manner in which they are behaving, you are not sure if they are police or not, what do you think is the common-sense thing to do? I’ll leave you with a little quote I learned years ago from my good friend Herbert Volney, who said, ‘it’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by six’. If you are not sure that the persons outside are law enforcement and you feel that they might be posing as law enforcement, and you feel that if you don’t act you could die, you are entitled to shoot.”
He said while law enforcement officers are authorised to enter someone’s property, he does not agree with prison officers, estate police officers, and Police Complaints Authority (PCA) members being on that list.
He said the lines between the operations of official law enforcement business and personal intrusion are often blurred, particularly when it comes to relationships.
“A question I am usually asked: what if my ex-boyfriend is a police and I horn him because he does finish the job faster than Usain Bolt, or what he has is a sikiye fig, and the new Rastafarian have a gros michel and is a marathon man and I don’t want the police no more, and that man comes to your house? The fact that he is police and the fact that he is in a uniform does not prevent you and your new Rastafarian lover from defending your home,” the minister stressed.
He also said the use of illegal weapons can be allowed to defend someone’s home and valuables. However, while you may not be charged with murder should the intruder die, Sturge warned that a citizen could still be charged with possession of the illegal weapon.
“If you have an illegal firearm—and let me press pause here, because you know the media loves to misquote—I am not recommending that you go out and get an illegal firearm, let me make that clear. I’m recommending that you do not do that.
“But if you already have one, for whatever reason, and you use it when they come to invade your house, at that point, the judge is not going to say, well, ‘the firearm he had was illegal, so he should not kill, he should have let the man chop his head off or rape his daughter and all that’. Listen, if it’s illegal and it is necessary for you to use it to defend yourself or your family, then the law says you can use it.”
This, however, stood in contrast to what his Cabinet colleague Saddam Hosein said during the first consultation last Wednesday in Barataria. Back then, Hosein advised against using an illegal gun. Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander later said weapons of opportunity could be used but also advised against illegal weapons.
Gonzales: It’s more
rubbish from minister
However, Minister Sturge’s comments have already caused alarm. Former police commissioner Gary Griffith said yesterday that the intent of the law is not to “gun down children stealing fruits and running away,” but said in a gunfight, the attackers may not always be facing the homeowner. He stressed that training gun owners should be a priority.
Former national security minister Marvin Gonzales said the bill “exposed the belly of the beast” and called on citizens to ask themselves whether this is what they want for the country.
“I don’t think it’s a slip of the tongue. It is the true intention of the Government, under the guise of a so-called policy that is meant to protect innocent citizens. The same Wayne Sturge who lied to the country by saying a 65-inch TV was found in a prisoner’s cell, only to be embarrassed and refuted by the Commissioner of Prisons and the Prison Officers’ Association. He now finds his voice again and utters more rubbish that should send chills down the bodies of right-thinking citizens,” Gonzales said.
Also contacted, Police Complaints Authority director David West said he will comment on the minister’s statement at a later date, while Prison Officers’ Association president Gerard Gordon said he had nothing to say.
Meanwhile, Estate Police Association president Deryck Richardson made it clear his officers do not arbitrarily enter people’s homes. He said estate police officers only do so when lending support to police officers.
