Crime was al­lowed to spi­ral out of con­trol in Trinidad and To­ba­go over the past decade, de­clared Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter and Cou­va South MP Bar­ry Padarath, as he de­fend­ed the Gov­ern­ment’s push for Stand Your Ground leg­is­la­tion.

Speak­ing on Wednes­day at the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress’s pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion on the pro­posed law, held at the Cal­drac Recre­ation Club in Dow Vil­lage, Cal­i­for­nia, Padarath said crime had evolved far be­yond mur­ders and kid­nap­pings.

“Now it’s home in­va­sions, it’s ex­tor­tion, and what we’re see­ing is a con­sor­tium of all,” he said. “This has cre­at­ed a gen­uine fear among the pop­u­la­tion.”