PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Thursday expressed his displeasure at the length of time the courts in Trinidad and Tobago have taken to afford the state an urgent hearing into appealing a matter in which a “basket of hand grenades and automatic rifles” had been returned to an unidentified person here.
Speaking at a news conference, Rowley told reporters that some people appeared fortunate enough to have their matters heard expeditiously, while the state has found it difficult to do so.
“The people opposed to the government seem to have no difficulty accessing the corridors of the court; nothing is wrong with that, but constipation attends to government efforts.
“But when they come in the courts to raise all kinds of matters that are of their political interest as part of their ongoing political campaign to undermine the government effort, there is no problem with that,” Rowley told reporters at the end of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
“Certain people seem to have the run of the court non-stop, and I think I must tell the country …the government goes to court because a citizen has a basket of hand grenades in a court matter that the police went after.
“It involved a CARICOM nation, the court ruled, all kinds of things were said to the court, the court chooses what it believes and what it does not believe and chastises the government …and even the prime minister was brought into the matter as part of this conspiracy to abuse people’s rights”.
Rowley, who did not mention the particular case, told reporters that the end result was the court order.
“The court order was to return the items to the complainant. The items were automatic weapons and hand grenades. The court ruled that the state lost the case and returned the items to the owner.
“The government had to comply, but we asked for an early hearing because this is a matter of life and death in Trinidad and Tobago as far as we are concerned.”
Rowley said that as far as he is aware, “and I could be wrong, go and ask the Attorney General (Reginald Armour) for an urgent hearing for an appeal of that matter. We have a date in October to decide whether an urgent appeal could be had.
“I am not here wanting to engage the other arms of the state, but I think the population should know this …because there are other matters that seem to have no difficulty going through the court…
“You will ask me where the hand grenades are …I don’t know, but what I could tell you is that I have not forgotten a Corporal called Sankar who, on his birthday on Mucarapo Road, lost his life to a hand grenade inside a police car”.
Rowley told the reporters, “Many of you are too young to know that I will never forget that day.”
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