Leader of Government Business in the Senate and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Darrell Allahar has sought to clarify what the Home Invasion legislation actually allows and what it does not.
During the debate in the Senate on Tuesday on the Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Bill, the Minister stressed that while the Bill strengthens legal protection for citizens defending themselves at home, it does not give anyone a licence to kill.
As he contributed to the debate on Tuesday, Minister Allahar addressed concerns about what constitutes a person’s property under the law. He explained that the definition of ‘curtilage’ is broader than some senators suggested and includes culturally common areas around a home.
“Certain homes in this island have outside kitchens, which may or may not be connected to the house, but they’re in the open, so that they’re part of the curtilage of the house, but they have a little chulha, they have a fireplace, or they have a ring stove, and it’s not part of within the house, and this incorporates that cultural aspect of certain things that happen in other parts of the country, so we should be sensitive to that as well.”
The Minister also pushed back strongly on claims from Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi that the law discriminates against squatters, arguing that the definition of “occupant” explicitly covers persons with de facto control of a dwelling.
“Any other person having the control of a dwelling house includes a squatter because that is de facto control in accordance with the case of, remember the case of Powell and Macfarlane from the House of Lords? De facto control, de facto possession – so in our humble view, this covers the squatters, so there should be no alarm bells.”
Minister Allahar maintained that the Bill is proportionate, constitutionally sound, and reflects the local reality that a homeowner may need to defend their family with whatever is available – not only with a firearm.
“I don’t care if I have a firearm because there’s some discussion about, Oh, this law will only apply if you have a firearm. No, Mr. President, if somebody attacks my family and my children and my wife, I will take up anything that I have, including a three canal, a cutlass, to defend my family. So it’s a bit elitist, some of our friends on the other side to say that this Bill don’t make sense if you have a firearm. It is not about firearm. I don’t know what the fixation is about firearms that side of the lighthouse.”
He ended his contribution by insisting that the legislation is attuned to Trinidad and Tobago’s unique conditions and does not encourage reckless or excessive force.