CONCERNS raised by Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein as he alleged critical shortfalls in the criminal justice system which, he said, are contributing to the failure to solve murder matters or crime, have been dismissed by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds.
Hosein made the claims at a UNC media conference at the Opposition Leader's Office, Charles Street, Port of Spain, on Sunday morning.
Speaking to Newsday by phone later Sunday, Hinds said Hosein was just wasting his time with folly as he had a lot of work to do."
At the media conference, Hosein said the inability of the Forensic Sciences Centre to do ballistic testing on gun samples and the non-functioning of the lab for DNA testing for three years, has contributed significantly to the inability of the courts to successfully determine murder cases or gun-related cases.
He said, in TT, where there were over 421 murders for the year, the majority committed by guns, only nine murders had been determined by the courts for the period 2020 to 2021.
[caption id="attachment_975763" align="alignnone" width="841"] MP Saddam Hosein at a UNC media conference at the Opposition Leader's Office, Charles Street, Port of Spain on Sunday. - SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]
Referring to questions he filed in the Parliament for answers from the Ministry of National Security, Hosein said responses revealed the slow processing of evidence had to do with a clogging up of the system at the Forensic Sciences Centre (FSC). He said the centre was critical to solving crime as it related to ballistic testing of weapons and DNA samples to identify victims.
Hosein said some 42,000 samples were awaiting ballistic testing at the FSC along with 32,784 DNA samples.
He said the DNA samples were for the period September 2015 to February 2022.
For three years, during this period from 2018 to 2021, he said, the DNA lab was not functioning, the ministry had told him.
Hosein was critical of both the Prime Minister who sits as head of the National Security Council, and Hinds under whose purview the Forensic Sciences Centre falls.
Noting comments by Justice Frank Seepersad earlier this week about the need to speed up the processing of evidence, Hosein called for the proper resourcing of the various arms of law enforcement as a solution.
Agreeing with a statement he attributed to Dr Rowley that laws alone could not deal with "runaway" crime in the country, Hosein said, “For seven years we have been telling the Prime Minister we have enough laws on the books.
“What we need are the resources. What we need are the skills. What we need are the strategies. What we need is a plan in order to tackle this runaway situation of crime.
“You need to resource the police, you need to help the DPP’s office. You need to resource the Judiciary. You need to re source and properly function all the arms of the National Security Council.
He spoke to the importance of the evidence for the safe prosecution of a murder.
He said it was unbelievable and unacceptable that, according to the mini
