State prosecutors in Trinidad are not only demanding stepped-up security for them and other staff but are also staying away from courts in Trinidad this week following the brutal New Year’s Eve assassination of a special prosecutor hours after authorities had imposed a state of emergency measures to help curb an upsurge in violent crime.
Attorney Randal Hector was gunned down just after leaving a late-night mass at a church in the capital. The attorney/pastor had just finished preaching the main sermon and was on his way to his vehicle with his family when he was shot several times by two men in an SUV. The motive for the killing remains unclear, but his assassination has sent such a high level of shock and trauma in the prosecutorial community that they are boycotting courts this week while pressing authorities to provide them with improved security. It is uncertain how long the boycott will last. Hector was the last of 625 people murdered in the federation with Tobago the previous year, compared to 577 in 2023.
Local media house Newsday reported that Chief Prosecutor Roger Gaspard has formally written to Chief Justice Ivor Archie telling him that staff are so emotional and traumatized by Hector’s murder that they will not work for the remainder of the week and are finding it hard to focus on their work.
As an indication of how frightening the situation is, Law Association President Israel Khan says the time has come for the government to hire foreign prosecutors to take on high-profile cases involving gangsters and other violent criminals because he is confident that no local attorney wants the job. Khan said he wants to be counted among those who would not accept a brief to prosecute sensitive cases.
“I am telling you as head of the criminal bar that no private practitioner outside of the director of public prosecutions is going to accept a brief or fiat to prosecute any high-powered criminal in this country, including myself. I have done enough for this country in relation to that and have received no rewards or protection, and they allow the state of the country to fall like this. In Colombia, they are killing prosecutors and judges. What will happen to Trinidad and Tobago?’ he asked of the Express newspaper.
In a media statement, the association drew the link between the success of the emergency measures and their role, noting that these “cannot be realized without the fearless efforts of the legal and judicial officers engaged in the criminal prosecution of violent offenders.”
Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s administration imposed the special measures earlier this week but refrained from including a curfew and restrictions of freedoms, saying it would hurt the economy if businesses were prevented from operating fully.
Meanwhile, the local merchants association is upset that Hector was not given special protection.
“The unspeakable horror of a highly respected and noble state attorney being assassinated in full view of his two young children and hundreds of parishioners is the news that it was this event itself that may have prompted the state of emergency, with no information as to why attorney Hector was not being protected. We do not want to add to an already serious situation of despair and disbelief and have given consideration to not stating that our country is now in the midst of another major crisis. We are not, however, given to disrespecting the intelligence of the citizens of our country with such statements. Trinidad and Tobago is today, in our view, particularly following the events of the past five days, in a major tailspin,” it said.
