T&T government tables stand your ground legislation

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government on Wednesday defended its decision to pilot legislation allowing for homeowners to defend their properties, even by the use of deadly force, as the opposition warned that the legislation would damage the fabric of society.

Prior to the debate, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, writing on X, said that during the campaign for the last general election, she had given her word to the population that her administration “would act decisively to protect families, safeguard homes and restore peace of mind.

“Today I am proud that debate begins in the House of Representatives on legislation that will legally empower citizens to defend themselves and their loved ones against the frightening scourge of home invasions, an issue that was left unattended for too long,” she wrote.

She said that the legislation is “more than a law and “it is a solemn commitment to your safety, your dignity and your right to to feel secure in the one place that must always be safe, your home.”

Attorney General, John Jeremie in tabling the Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Bill 2025, commonly known as the “stand your ground legislation”, said that the state of crime and criminality in the twin-island republic was for the new government "untenable".

“It was left to fester for a decade…this government promised to deal head on with crime, from the root causes to the manifestation of it and we are not afraid to deal with gang related crime, gang leaders and the perpetrators and bullies who have terrorised this country…

“We have taken decisive action in the interest of all of our people to destruct the relationship between gang leaders and their troops”.

Jeremie acknowledged that solving the problem of crime “is not a quick fix” and requires a “consistent strategic approach that empowers and equips the protective services to interdict and arrest criminals.

“It requires simultaneously that the justice system is fully functional and brings criminals to justice in the shortest possible time”.

He said that the new legislation is based on a long established maxim that a man’s home is his castle and that the “doctrine is that a lawful occupant of a dwelling house has the right to use necessary force, including deadly force against an attack and invader …without retreating from that individual if the occupier reasonably believes that the invader would commit an offence against him or others in the dwelling house.”

He told legislators that in considering the legislation, questions arose as to the sufficiency of the doctrine at common law in present circumstances.

“Trinidad and Tobago, the question is whether the doctrine should be reformed and how should home invasion be addressed,” he said, adding that he had sought the assistance of the Law Reform Commission “to develop a policy position for our country.

“I am pleased to say that the Commission conceived of recommendations and a bill that was accepted by this government, well suited to our criminal justice system is now before us,” Jeremie added.

He said that the bill also provides for a person assisting an occupier “in good faith…may use the same degree of force” and that to prevent an abuse of the measure the legislation provides that a “defence would not be valid if the individual against whom the force is used has a right to be in the dwelling and the force used against the invader is grossly disproportionate, the occupier has been engaged in criminal activity or an individual is a law enforcement officer lawfully executing his duties and the occupier knew or should have known at the time…”

But former junior national security minister, Keith Scotland, said that any innocent life “taken on a mistaken belief that a person is a criminal or has criminal intent that is a travesty of justice.

“In this life, it is not a dress rehearsal ..and for that deceased there is no return, there is no jury, there is no opportunity to present his or her defence and what about the person who actually does the act.

"What about that trauma. This is not a situation where a person has an opportunity to apply for bail if he falls afoul of this law, to present his defence, to say it was a mistake,” said Scotland, a criminal defence attorney noting that this situation occurred to a woman of four “who innocently found herself going to a wrong home saying she was about to clean it.

“She was killed. There is no return. She is dead. That is the mischief of this bill,” Scotland said, adding that there is a crime problem “but this bill is not the solution.

“This bill is a disproportionate, lazy, populist policy from an indolent, lazy and incompetent government who does not want to do the hard work. It is the bill and the piece of legislation of an administration, who I say is hell bent on destroying the very fabric of this society called Trinidad and Tobago, where we say that every creed and race must find an equal place.”

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