The Dominica Parliament is set to debate and pass the much talked about Bail Act on December 16, 2020.
According to Minister of Justice, Immigration and National Security, Rayburn Blackmoore, that proposed bill seeks to curtail the behavior of people being on bail and committing other serious crimes.
“It does not mean that bail will be denied, but it also establishes conditions under which, unless it is absolutely necessary, that bail should not be granted in certain serious crimes…we must ensure some measure of consistency in the granting of bail as far as possible,” Blackmoore said.
The bill he explained will be targeting crimes such as murder, treason, terrorism, serious drug offenses, serious offenses involving the use of illegal firearms, sexual offenses against a minor, especially kidnapping, among others.
He said that the Attorney General’s Chambers has been steadily working on a Bail Act for an extended period. “Presently, the court uses established guidelines and common law principles to assist in the deliberation for granting bail for the majority of applications that are heard,” he stated.
Government he says recognizes and respects the rights of persons accused of crimes to seek and to receive bail, and this intended legislation is in no way intended to restrict this fundamental right.
However, it cannot continue to be done in an ad-hoc manner, and that the exercise of a judge or a magistrate’s court discretion in granting an accused person bail, calls for a “balancing of the scales between the rights of the accused and the rights and freedoms of others and the public interest on the other hand”.
“There is no issue of the [right] of the individual to remain at liberty until he is convicted of a crime, sufficiently serious to justify depriving him of his liberty…but the community has a countervailing interest in seeking to ensure that the cost of justice is in no way undermined by the flight of the suspect or perverted by his interference with witnesses or evidence and that he or she does not take advantage while on bail, to further commit offenses,” the Justice Minister said.
The new Bail Act is expected to outline the conditions and procedure for bail and give the court the necessary tools to curtail the movement of offenders especially if they are considered a flight risk. It also proposes that absconding from bail or breaching bail conditions will be treated very seriously, which according to the Blackmoore, will carry very heavy sanctions.
