Barbados: Opposition leader calls for resumption of death penalty

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley

(BARBADOS NATION) It is time to resume hanging people in Barbados when all their appeals have been exhausted.

That’s the view of Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley, who on Tuesday maintained the death penalty could be a deterrent to some potential murderers.

Speaking in House of Assembly during debate on the Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Bill, 2018, he stressed the death penalty should be executed expeditiously in instances where the courts have ultimately determined it to be the appropriate punishment for people convicted of murder.

The bill, in the name of Attorney General Dale Marshall, was piloted by Member of Parliament for Christ Church East, Wilfred Abrahams. He said it was intended to bring Barbados’ laws into conformity with human rights conventions and to accord with decisions of the Privy Council, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, and the Caribbean Court of Justice. (GC)