HAMEL SMITH: WHO ELSE MAY BE A TARGET?

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Who else may be a target? It's the unsettling question being posed by former Senate President, Timothy Hamel-Smith, who is calling on the powers-that-be, namely the Commissioner of Police, to take action to secure those who may be at risk. Rynessa Cutting has more.

Transcript

00:00It's been three days since Special Prosecutor Randall Hector was assassinated by what some

00:05have described as tactical executioners.

00:09Reports are that the Director of Public Prosecutions has since written to Chief Justice Ivor Arce

00:14on behalf of his office, indicating that prosecutors are highly traumatized and as such would be

00:20absent from court across TNT for the remainder of this week.

00:24But what is or what will be put in place to protect them and others in vulnerable positions?

00:30It's the question being posed by former Senate President Timothy Hamill-Smith.

00:34Was he being protected at all?

00:38This is, we're in the middle of a state of emergency and these matters occur, so it makes

00:43it worse than perhaps one might order, bad as it is.

00:50It's even worse because it occurred during the state of emergency when, you know, this

00:55related to a matter that triggered the very state of emergency we have.

01:01And was there a failure to protect people like, or is there an ongoing failure?

01:09Have we remedied that?

01:10There's been no confirmation as to the motive behind Hector's killing.

01:15But with gun crimes escalating, Hamill-Smith believes changes to our judicial processes

01:20are needed.

01:22One wonders in matters like this, if in fact the burden of proof should alter to put upon

01:31the defendant an obligation to demonstrate they have nothing to do with a murder that

01:38is so connected with an ongoing trial.

01:41But despite many linking Hector's death to the state's prosecution of a known gang member,

01:46information from some quarters suggest that his role as a former Security Services Agency

01:51SSA legal director may be at the root of his demise.

01:55Regardless, Hamill-Smith believes the authorities should have already made some pronouncement

02:00and taken action to ease the fears of the public and those who may feel targeted.

02:06There needs to be announcements where the public fears are allayed, and action is actually

02:13seen to be taken to protect all the people within the criminal justice system.

02:19Prosecutors, witnesses, judges, juries, you know, when this happens, all are at stake.

02:28And I think that, you know, the state needs to come out, the criminal, the police, the

02:34Commissioner of Police needs to come out and give us some sort of comfort.

02:39And you would have thought it would have happened already, but it's never too late.

02:44Vernessa Cutting, TV6 News.

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