00:00The first round of public consultations on the home invasion, self-defense and the defense of property bill 2025 drew a crowd last evening with roughly 150 people turning up at the Barataria Community Center with overwhelming support registered for the bill.
00:18I supported 400. The bill will allow property owners to use reasonable force to protect themselves or their property or even the life or property of another.
00:29While a person may be acting to protect himself or his property, if another person acts in good faith in the aid of an occupant in a home invasion or on the direction of the occupant of that house, that person also can use the same degree of force against the home invader.
00:53Persons found guilty of contravening this act will face fines and imprisonment.
00:59If the court sentenced someone to home invasion, they are liable on conviction to a fine of $500,000 and to imprisonment for 20 years.
01:14You all agree with that one?
01:15And if the offense is carried out by a gang member or the victim is a child, a senior citizen, a differently abled person, the fine will be $750,000 and to imprisonment for 25 years.
01:36And where a person who commits an offence of home invasion that results in the death of a person, they will be charged for murder and is liable for conviction to suffer death.
01:52However, while many support the move, concerns were raised.
01:56If a person is experiencing domestic violence and they pull their gun to defend themselves, can they use that at that point?
02:11Husband and wife have difficulties.
02:14Assuming the husband is the abuser, the wife is the abuser, and a domestic violence order is made against the other party.
02:22And assuming that person breaches the order, first one, he commits an offence by breaching the domestic violence order.
02:31And secondly, if the person intends to kill the other person, of course the person has a right also to defend themselves.
02:38But again, that must be looked at contextually.
02:41The subjectivity of reasonable versus excessive force was also presented.
02:46They enter your house with a firearm, they take off two shots, you take off about ten.
02:55Your ten shots, pick them up, their two shots miss you.
02:59In the past, I have known for a fact, persons were hauled before the court, right, for using excessive force.
03:06Where a court of law determined that these persons used this excessive force.
03:11What the bill is suggesting is that once the person reasonably believes and is justified in doing so, deadly force can be used against the home invader.
03:22Concerns were also raised about the legality of an occupant of a home using a firearm registered to another occupant or relative.
03:31That is a very gray area with respect to the law.
03:34I'm glad that you raised it, and that is something that we will take back to the attorney general.
03:38The attorney general will also deliberate on whether the legislation is applicable only to homes, or can also apply to business places.
03:48The law does contemplate circumstances of that, but again, that is a suggestion that we are open, that we can discuss with the attorney general for further elaboration.
03:59But in my respectful view, the law in itself does cover issues with respect to business places.
04:06For Nasa Cutting, TV6 News.
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