00:00According to this, however, if somebody's mental faculties are substantially impaired by alcohol, which is a legal drug, but it's not therapeutic, then they are not covered and they cannot claim self-defense.
00:15Independent Senator Dr. Desiree Murray raising her concerns about the government's 2025 Home Invasion, Self-Defense and Defense of Property bill as she proposed an amendment while the Senate sat in committee to examine the bill close by close.
00:30And this is quite common, carnival, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, you're in your home, you have an event, you consume alcohol, and then your home is invaded, but you're not covered, you would not be covered by this law because your mental faculties would have been substantially affected by alcohol, which you are perfectly entitled to consume in your own home.
01:00So this cannot be a fair application of the law, the legislation.
01:08Attorney General John Jeremy responded to the independent Senator's concerns during the Senate's committee stage of the bill on Friday night.
01:15I think the general principle in criminal law is that the use of alcohol combined with the commission of an offense is not a defense.
01:30I think that that is the general proposition, I mean, subject to some refinement, and I would like to keep it.
01:44I think the legislation, the policy of the legislation is in sync with that.
01:49The Attorney General was referring to Clause 9 of the legislation.
01:52There are some interesting questions that arise, but prosecutorial discretion, that's my, that's what I would suggest.
02:03So I would like to leave this section as it is.
02:07The independent Senator's amendment was not approved.
02:10Earlier in the debate, Senator Mustafa Abdulhamid reflected the opposition's concerns.
02:15I suspect that this legislation is politically driven, and I'm just cautioning against the population getting carried away,
02:24because you see that point there about all of that interpretation that the court has to do.
02:29Long before that, the police has to do that.
02:33And good luck.
02:36Good, with all of those responsibilities, the police has to do a preliminary assessment of that.
02:40The night that this, or the day, or whenever this incident takes place, you are in a police station, subject to the interpretation, the question and interpretation of the police.
02:52Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Arnold Roberts, outlined the government's response.
02:56And you know what, I hear that attitude in this PNM bench here today, and that is what I can't take.
03:02Because they have all the security, they have all the gated community, their family is safe and sound.
03:07And when we want to make everybody safe and sound, they are coming here to obstruct and talk nonsense.
03:16The Stand Your Ground legislation was passed in the Senate on Friday night without amendment via the government's majority.
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