Interviewed by Alina Doodnath for Looptt for campaign to legalize non lethal weapons

I was interviewed by Looptt regarding my campaign to legalize non lethal weapons in Trinidad and Tobago.

Please see the interview here

http://www.looptt.com/content/lawyer-launches-petition-legalisation-non-lethal-weapons

 A good start- but women need even more protection.        

On behalf of the Organization for Abused and Battered Individuals I would like to commend Justice Seepersad and his recent ruling in the Therese Ho vs Lendl Simmons case.   This ruling is in keeping with the Judiciary’s responsibility to develop the common law to keep pace with the rapidly changing landscape of modern society.
            Moreover the learned Justice Seepersad used this case to as a platform to speak on some of the pressing moral issues of our time.  Justice Seepersad asked the poignant question
“how are we to build a developed nation when we encourage and celebrate disrespect?”
            Considering that statistics show that almost half of all women killed our country in 2012 were killed by intimate partner violence, any moves towards greater respect for women are welcomed.
            This case also highlights the archaic state of our legislation and its inability to provide comprehensive protection to Trinbago’s most vulnerable citizens.
            I am calling on the government to push for law reform in order to curb gender based violence especially violence against women and children. Greater support must be given to victims of gender based violence to protect them from victimization when they attempt to report crimes perpetrated against them.
            At present insufficient support is given to victims of abuse in criminal matters. I have heard of instances where survivors of rape did not receive much needed counseling despite their case being in the courts for many years.
            I would also like to advocate for legislation to allow persons to carry non lethal weapons such as pepper spray to help deter criminal attacks.

Published in the Express and Guardian October 28th 2015

Baby’s death a call to action- End violence against children in Trinbago

 The recent death of 11 month old Mikyle Ramnath must not be forgotten in 9 days like so many others have.  Many children have perished at the hands of abusers including Sean Luke and Akiel Chambers to name a few.
                Recently on social media a video was released showing the most heinous acts of violence being perpetrated against a 2 year old child. The outrage at these acts in our country is almost universal.
  

However we must move beyond outrage to action.
 That action must not be unplanned and chaotic but based on sound research and strategy with the hopes of achieving real change.
                More support is needed for policies and programs to reduce violence against our society’s most vulnerable members.
                NGOs and Government initiatives like the Children’s Authority have done good work in this area but these groups are overworked and sorely underfunded.
                I am calling on the government particularly the Prime Minister, the Minister of Gender and Youth Affairs to adopt a zero tolerance policy on child abuse. If evidence is found of child endangerment the Police should  use their authority and remove the child from the abusive environment and into protective custody.  I call on the private sector to support the troops fighting in the trenches against child abuse. As a director in the Organization for Abused and Battered Individuals our team literally has to beg for money to fund our programs. This should not be so.
                We often see the same corporations that reject our funding proposals throw millions behind carnival fetes and other endeavors that do nothing to benefit society.  This is simply because our culture is hypocritical and values bacchanal over substance.
                I am calling on the population at large to get educated to be our Nation's and children's keeper on the issue and volunteer with groups who have been fighting against it for years and report incidents to the relevant hotlines. Stop the "ole" talk and start being the change you want to see in the world.
                We must do better and be better as a culture and as a nation.If we fail to change more children will die needlessly and their blood will be on our collective hands. Have we truly become a desensitized population or will we stand up and be our neighbors or children's keeper?

By Jonathan Bhagan and Daychelle Morris

Letter of the Day in the Sunday express 25th October 2015 , also published in the Guardian .

Rape in Church :- Wolves among the Flock

 Rape in Church :- Wolves among the Flock

This is an open letter to all Religious Institutions on behalf of the Victim’s Advocates Community. 

All religious institutions have the duty to protect their congregation and advocate against the evils of sex crimes.
I would like to call on all religious institutions to ensure that their staff are equipped with the training and knowledge necessary to assist victims of sex crimes. 
            Furthermore, I would like to encourage religious leaders and their support staff to be especially mindful of sensitive cases where instances of rape or sexual violence are occur among their congregations.  
            Every major religious institution should codify a policy to deal with victims of sex crimes. The aim of such a policy should be to encourage an atmosphere of openness and honesty where victims can come forward and receive the support necessary to make reports to the police.
            It is an unfortunate fact that religious institutions worldwide have in the past attempted to protect sex offenders among their leadership and not the victims. In order to prevent this we must continue having conversations about sex crimes and increase our awareness of the issues. 
            Globally the World Health Organization has found that 1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence mostly from intimate partners.             
            In the local rape case of Gregory Donner v The State Cr. A. No. 25 of 2005 we see a tragedy unfold within a church community.  The victim of the rape in this case knew her rapist by meeting him at church. The rapist attended church services 3 times a week. The rape itself occurred just before the young persons were to attend a church camp.
            At paragraph 36 deals with the evidence given by the pastor of the church detailing  what the victim said to her after the rape occurred. Overall, this case highlights the fact that sex crimes do occur among religious congregations in Trinidad and Tobago despite a lack of hard statistics to provide further information. 
            In my personal experience, I have actually seen a male pedophile who was previously charged but not convicted for sexual offences attempting to groom young girls in a church.  The pedophile in question was a member of the lay-staff in charge of the collection basket, ironically in a similar position to Judas Iscariot.
              Sex crimes are therefore a threat that religious institutions need to address comprehensively.  It is imperative that research be conducted on this area and with regards to all issues relating to sex crimes to inform stakeholders how best to address the issue.
            In closing, I would like to call on all religious leaders to work more closely with the NGO community and other stakeholders on this issue to ensure that  the necessary emotional and spiritual support is given to victims in a nonjudgmental environment.


This letter was published in the Sunday Guardian 11th of October 2015 

What about the victims? Sex education policy failing the vulnerable

What about the victims? Sex education policy failing the vulnerable           

Those in power must be reminded of the enormous responsibility placed on their shoulders. The policy documents that are discussed in pristine conference rooms have the potential to save or destroy thousands of lives in our country’s classrooms.
            The overall objective of any sex education policy in schools should be to the best interests of the student population. The sex education policy in this country must be one that is geared towards improving the quality of life of the nation as a whole.
            For too long the lives of our young people have been sacrificed at the altar of political correctness and moral ideals that have no grounding in reality. Those who cling to these ideals at the cost of human life are guilty of intellectual idolatry.
            Sex education goes far beyond ‘teaching children how to have sex’. It entails informing them of their human rights and empowering them to take charge of their reproductive health. It empowers young persons to protect themselves from disease and unwanted pregnancy.   It will also teach the benefits of abstinence and the right of the child to say ‘no’ to unwanted sexual advances.
            Most critically, a proper sex education policy will go hand in hand with programs to help children that are being sexually exploited.
            The Organization for Abused and Battered Individuals has dealt with cases where teenaged girls were being prostituted by their own parents.  Sexual abuse by parents and guardians is common in our society .As such any policy that leaves sex education up to the parents will be incapable of saving the children trapped in brutal situations like these.     
            One quarter of persons living with HIV in Trinidad and Tobago are under the age of 24. One out of every eight babies born in this country are born to teenaged mothers.  This data is indicative of a crisis that will have long term effects for our nation as a whole.          
            Children who are not exposed to proper sex education grow up to be vulnerable adults. I myself have met many women who were sexually assaulted or raped and were not aware that by law a crime was committed against their human dignity. Many children who are abused may only learn that what is being done to them is wrong years afterward.
            Proper sex education is therefore critical in fighting against sex crimes in our country, how can the crime be reported if the victim does not understand that a crime was committed against them? How can the victim access proper counseling and healthcare services without proper education?
            A proper sex education policy must address the needs of the victims of sex crimes. Furthermore the needs of these victims must be prioritized above the views of the religious oligarchy who may disagree with such a policy. Any religious dogma that comes in the way of saving human life must be denounced as false religion.
            Defining Rape can become highly technical , hence the need for impartial education on the issue.   To illustrate the point of ‘sex crimes’ being fairly technical please read the  Sexual Offences Act Ch 11: 28.  Section 4 (1) which is quoted below.
“
 4. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a person (“the accused”) commits the offence of rape when he has sexual intercourse with another person (“the complainant”)—
 (a) without the consent of the complainant where he knows that the complainant does not consent to the intercourse or he is reckless as to whether the complainant consents; or
(b) with the consent of the complainant where the consent—
(i) is extorted by threat or fear of bodily harm to the complainant or to another;
(ii) is obtained by personating someone else;
(iii) is obtained by false or fraudulent representations as to the nature of the intercourse; or
(iv) is obtained by unlawfully detaining the complainant”Unless parents are going to be teaching their children about sex straight from the sexual offences act it is likely they will fall short in equipping their children with the required knowledge .
            I am therefore calling on the Minister of Education Anthony Garcia to enter into a referendum process with all stakeholders on the issue of sex education. The focus should not be enforcing the views of those who are not at risk, but on saving the lives of victims. 



This made letter of the day for Sunday September 27th 2015 :
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20150926/letters/sex-education-policy-failing-the-vulnerable

Rapists go to church

Rapists and criminals go to church too and church attendance is no indication of moral character.

In my early 20s i have actually seen a pedophile trying to groom young girls in a church with my own eyes. The pedophile was a member of the church staff who handled the collection basket.

to the clergy especially : If someone in your congregation reports a crime being committed against them against a longtime church member , please do not take the side of the alleged perpetrator based on the relationship perpetrator has with the church.

Your focus should be on counselling the victim and helping them go through with the trail process.

This same principle should be applied to any other religious affiliation : Just because someone is in religious authority does not mean they have character

.
Here is an interesting case i'd like to use to highlight the issue :

"The virtual complainant (rape victim) had known the appellant (rapist) for approximately
four months, and would see him at church at least three times a week"

Natalie and Kelvin had something to discuss so they asked the virtual complainant and the appellant to take a walk on the road. The appellant asked the virtual complainant to go across the road with him instead to a place where there was a brick foundation.  There was some bush in front of the foundation. They were about 40 feet from the appellant’s house. They spoke initially about church and a camp they had both attended."

http://webopac.ttlawcourts.org/…/c…/CrA_05_25DD11may2006.pdf

What i find most interesting is that the rape took place minutes away from a church camp. This shows you how well these people compartmentalize their immoral activity .

‪#‎church‬ ‪#‎rape‬ ‪#‎sexcrimes‬ ‪#‎crime‬

Why Judges should be allowed to have snacks and regular breaks - Extraneous Factors affecting Judicial decisions

After being shouted at by numerous judges during my first year of practice i would like to propose changes in practice and paradigm that may improve the quality of Justice and fairness.

Simply put, allowing Judges to snack on the bench during long court days will likely improve their mood and result in a more fair and equitable judicial system.

Having more breaks during long court sessions whenever final decisions are being made may also help.

Because a hungry judge is an angry judge.

Other extraneous factors also influence a judge's decision making ability and every effort should be made to mitigate these factors.

Please see this paper as proof of this assertion:-

http://www.pnas.org/content/108/17/6889.full

"

We test the common caricature of realism that justice is “what the judge ate for breakfast” in sequential parole decisions made by experienced judges.

We record the judges’ two daily food breaks, which result in segmenting the deliberations of the day into three distinct “decision sessions.” We find that the percentage of favorable rulings drops gradually from ≈65% to nearly zero within each decision session and returns abruptly to ≈65% after a break. Our findings suggest that judicial rulings can be swayed by extraneous variables that should have no bearing on legal decisions.

"

From an Economist article commenting on this

"

http://www.economist.com/node/18557594

The researchers offer two hypotheses for this rise in grumpiness. One is that blood-sugar level is the crucial variable. This, though, predicts that the precise amount of time since the judge last ate will be what matters. In fact, it is the number of cases he has heard since his last break, not the number of hours he has been sitting, which best matches the data. That is consistent with a second theory, familiar from other studies, that decision making is mentally taxing and that, if forced to keep deciding things, people get tired and start looking for easy answers. In this case, the easy answer is to maintain the status quo by denying the prisoner's request."

These extraneous factors that affect judicial decisions clearly prejudice persons unfairly. The fact that my client's case has a lower chance of success if it is heard later on in the day when the judge is tired is highly unfair.

In fact the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law ( section 4 (b) of the constitution ) can be said to be infringed to some extent. ADDENDUM  in reply to Mr. Mukta Balroops submissions on Facebook:

I believe this study shows Judge's are good at disabusing themselves of conscious bias

"
"The severity of the prisoner's crime and prison time served tended not to exert an effect on rulings, nor did sex and ethnicity. The lack of a significant effect of prisoner ethnicity indicates that the Jewish-Israeli judges in our sample treated prisoners equally regardless of ethnicity."

The problem is unconscious bias due to low blood sugar and stress,ie. How can a human mind escape an inherent problem that affects brain function itself?

All i'm advocating for is fruit and snacks to be served to judges upon request during trials, and a different paradigm to go with that.

Prison break , How much longer till our society breaks?

How does culture escape itself? - Lloyd Best

As we are looking over the edge of what may or may not be the signs of the fabric of our society falling apart we must consider the mistakes that lead us down this path.

Ours is a culture of mediocrity , nepotism, slackness and corruption , wasn't this crisis inevitable? And aren't further crises to be expected?

We can barely put criminals behind bars and now they are escaping from prison , but not before having liberal access to social media to influence the criminal underworld as they see fit.

We need strong leaders that will challenge our nation to do better.

We need an awakening of moral consciousness and  a change of our culture.

Less of corruption and mismanagement , more of excellence and right action.

The evils within our culture must be excised and burned in a cleansing fire.

The good that our culture has with in it must be reforged into a blade that can defend our democracy from those who seek to destroy it.

Port of Spain our capital has endured a coup , a spate of bombings and now a prison break .

How much longer till our society breaks?

#prisonbreak #trinidadandtobago #politics #culture #lloydbest #commentary

Jack Warner Reflections : Why is this man capable of obtaining such incriminating evidence?

Serious questions i want answers to:

1. What is Jack Warner's annual budget on spying and snooping?

2. Did Jack Warner get special training in spy strategy and technical know how? Or else who is his spymaster and information technology adviser ?

3. Exactly how many spy cameras does Jack have across the country? At which locations?

4. Is any other individual or organization in Trinidad and Tobago as sophisticated as Jack with regards to snooping/spying ?

5. Why is it that Jack Warner seems to be more sophisticated and reliable at obtaining incriminating evidence on high profile individuals than our own police service and national security body?

All we need to put the 'big fish' drug lords in jail are a few phone conversations and videos like the ones Jack has been producing every week.

Why are these individuals still untouchable?

And in closing my reflections upon Jack Warner's chronicles of comess : I see great potential in spying techniques and hacking being used by the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to bring down corruption.

A local hacker group could in theory obtain enough damning evidence on the major criminal rings to bring them down, and anonymously release them online and in the media.

Even better, that hacker group could be made of expatriates living abroad for their own safety if security becomes a risk.

‪#‎Jackwarner‬ ‪#‎reflections‬ ‪#‎chroniclesofjack‬ ‪#‎jackannal‬ ‪#‎spying‬ ‪#‎hacking‬‪#‎hacktivism‬ ‪#‎hashtag‬

Letter to the Editor RE: Bail Amendment Bill 2015

Bail (Amendment) Bill  2015 highlights fundamental failure to stop crime by other means.

                Those in support of the bail amendment bill essentially consider the potential abuse of human rights and civil liberties a necessary price to pay in order to fight crime. 
                 This highlights the failure of efforts to stop crime by means other than draconian legislation. 
  Essentially inefficiency and corruption have brought us to a point where we have to sacrifice liberty for security rather than reduce crime by conventional means such as improving our police force or securing our borders to prevent drugs and guns from entering.

  The American Statesman and Scientist Benjamin Franklin once said
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
                We as a nation can do better if we would strive towards building a crime free society by changing our fundamental attitudes. Our culture of corruption, nepotism and skylarking is what brought us to this point. We do not need better laws so much as we need better men and women to abide by fundamental moral principles.
Published April 4th 2015 in the express

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Bill-highlights-failure-to-stop-crime-by-other-means-298636451.html