PM says Law inhibits speedy hanging
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Prime Minister of St Kitts-Nevis Hon. Dr Denzil Douglas |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts- Amidst increasing public outcry to expedite hanging for criminals sentenced to death, Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Denzil Douglas has said that there is little his government can do expedite the process any further.
“As grave of a situation as we have in the country, we still have to follow the fundamental laws and rights of human beings,” Douglas said during his weekly radio program “Ask the Prime Minister”, which dealt exclusively with the dire crime situation facing St. Kitts-Nevis.
With nine persons shot in three separate incidents over two days and a murder toll of 22 for the year thus far, the general public has been demanding firm action from the government to crackdown on crime.
Douglas said that in the past judges were able to pass death sentences easily upon murder victims once a jury found them guilty, but “that has changed in recent times,” he said yesterday (Dec. 2).
“It is no longer automatic for the judge to sentence someone to hang once the jury brings that person in guilty for murder. There now has to be a sentencing hearing, and during that hearing psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, family and friends come in and state how the person can change. The judge then in his discretion may not sentence the guilty person to hang. They give him life [imprisonment].”
Additionally, the PM said the appeal process can often allow attorneys to defer their clients’ punishment if a hanging sentence is handed down. ~~Adz:Right~~
“We have been stopped on several occasions because the judicial system allows that persons can appeal to the High Court and finally to the Privy Council in England. So, we cannot do anything about that. We can only follow the Law.”
Were the Law to be circumvented in order to speedily hang persons sentenced to death, Douglas said that the state would then be guilty of “committing a serious offense as well”.
He did however reaffirm his government’s commitment to pursuing the death penalty and sending a firm message to criminal elements in St. Kitts-Nevis.
“I want us to understand that this government is still insisting that the final punishment for murder is hanging, and our system does everything on our part…to ensure that the sentence of death by hanging be carried out.”
