Former Attorney General Dale Marshall has added his voice to the outcry over gun violence in Barbados.
Marshall’s comments were made while speaking at a Barbados Labour Party northern St Michael zone meeting at Lawrence T. Gay Memorial School on Thursday night. He did so as he extended condolences to the family of 21-year-old Tavon Alleyne, who was killed on Boxing Day, a death which brought the number of murders by guns this year to 23.
Marshall contended that Government’s proposal, without public consultation,
to seek to increase the powers of the police by legislating such things as their right to impose curfews on Barbadians, was not the answer to the reported upsurge in violence.
He said that as Attorney General, he and the Barbados Labour Party administration were faced with similar flare-ups in criminal activity. However, he believed the difference between now and then was that back then there were people in positions who ensured those flare-ups were wrestled to the ground.
“But the Democratic Labour Party now waiting until we get four murders through guns over a two week period and feel that the only response that they can come up with is this response when we have not even exhausted what remedies are already available,” Marshall said.
“Boxing Day is now shooting day because a 23rd life [was] lost through gun violence. Twenty-three lives lost to gun violence and we have said that it is a serious matter. It is not a matter on which we want to score political points. It is going to affect our economy. If people are getting shot down like flies, tourists will not come . . . ,” he added.
The Member of Parliament for St Joseph also criticised the delays in the judicial system, which he said were linked to the same increased criminality facing the country.
Quoting from the Judicial Council for 2015, Marshall said that of the total 8 221 civil cases brought before the High Court between 2012 and 2015, a total 180 decisions were made in that time. (SDB Media)