Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves is now insisting that past remarks in which he criticised judges for granting bail in murder cases did not oppose the principle of bail itself for murder.
His about-turn comes as he leads a constitutional challenge aimed at widening access to bail for people charged with murder in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).
On his programme on Star FM, his party’s radio station, the former prime minister on Wednesday revisited what he said he told a regional symposium on crime in Trinidad three years ago, where he publicly complained about what he described as judges being “too liberal” in granting bail for murder.
He is now arguing that those comments have been “misrepresented” and are consistent with his current position that while bail for murder must always be approached with great caution, an absolute statutory bar on even applying for bail is unconstitutional.
What Gonsalves says he told the regional symposium
In the radio programme, Gonsalves summarised his contribution to the regional crime symposium as a warning against what he considered excessive leniency in some Caribbean jurisdictions where courts began granting bail in murder cases.
Gonsalves, recalling that intervention, said he had been responding to reports from other countries in the region and referred to information from Trinidad, Barbados and the Bahamas.
He stressed that he had received no such reports from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, whose 12 members include SVG but not Trinidad, Barbados and the Bahamas.
His concern, he said, was that in those jurisdictions “some judges” were granting bail in situations where, “by reasonable assessment”, it should not have been granted.
As he now frames it, his complaint at the symposium was not that judges were hearing bail applications in murder matters, but that some judges were “behav[ing] as though they’re on Mars by giving bail for murder cases” in circumstances where bail “ought not to have been granted by any reasonable assessment”.
He emphasised on the programme that he was not, then or now, saying bail must never be considered in murder cases.
Gonsalves’ comments at the symposium in Port of Spain in 2023 came as he was prime minister and minister of national security, amidst a spate of killings that saw the homicide count rise to a record 55 that year.
Gonsalves used a regional symposium on crime to criticise judicial officers across CARICOM for granting bail to murder accused.
“Sometimes you get the impression that some magistrates — depending on who is the lawyer — their client seems to get better treatment…” Gonsalves had said.
He said that the Caribbean had put a lot of resources into crime-fighting, even though more money ought to be invested.
He also called for an updating of the laws across the region, saying that they must be “reasonably required for the protection and the promotion of … and in defence of public order and public safety and are reasonably … justifiable in a democratic society.
“So I’m not calling for any totalitarian measure. I’m not calling for that. But there is in aspects of our judiciary a creeping lack of awareness as to some of the problems which we face,” the then-prime minister said.
“How can you go and give somebody who is charged for murder bail? Let’s be serious. How can you do that? I saw in the numbers from the Bahamas. Where those judges live? On Mars?”
Gonsalves’ comments were widely condemned by lawyers, bar associations and the media across the region.
What he is saying now in the teen’s constitutional case
Now, Gonsalves, as opposition leader, has secured bail for a murder accused even as the country has recorded 28 homicides this year, with the 2025 number — 40– likely to be surpassed if the trend continues.
On Wednesday, Gonsalves said that at the symposium he supported judges retaining the power to consider bail in murder cases but opposed what he viewed as overly liberal bail decisions in some jurisdictions once that door was opened.
Those earlier remarks are now being weighed against Gonsalves’ central role in a landmark bail case in SVG, in which he and a team of lawyers are challenging Section 43 of SVG’s Criminal Procedure Code on constitutional grounds.
On Wednesday, the opposition leader explained that the original Criminal Procedure Code imposed a blanket ban on bail for anyone charged with murder.
However, a 1993 amendment removed the absolute ban but still prevents any judicial consideration of bail for up to nine months, or until the preliminary inquiry is concluded, whichever is shorter.
In a constitutional motion filed on behalf of a 16‑year‑old murder accused, Gonsalves’ team argues that this statutory bar violates several core guarantees in the SVG Constitution.
He mentioned the right to personal liberty, protection of the law, freedom of movement, and separation of powers, in particular the principle that pre‑trial detention can only lawfully occur upon an order of a court, not by automatic operation of an Act of Parliament.
He stressed that, in his team’s view, each day the teen spends in custody under Section 43 represents an ongoing breach of her constitutional rights.
“What we are simply saying,” Gonsalves told listeners, “is that… the High Court would see whether you should get bail or not… [and] give individualised attention to pre‑trial detention”.
A ‘historic’ grant of bail in a murder case
Although the broader constitutional issues remain pending, the High Court has already ruled on bail in the teen’s case.
During preliminary proceedings on the constitutional motion, Gonsalves said his team filed a formal bail application, supported by affidavit evidence, which was opposed by the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Justice Gertel Thom subsequently granted bail — a decision Gonsalves has described as unprecedented in modern SVG.
The judge’s reasoning, as summarised by Gonsalves, turned on both constitutional principle and fact‑specific risk assessment.
The teen accused was granted bail in the amount of EC$25,000 with two sureties.
The court issued stop orders for the teen, who did not have to surrender her passport, which has expired.
The court, however, ordered her to report to the Colonarie police station three times per week.
Gonsalves noted that the accused murderer’s age, adding that she has no passport and no voter’s ID, is unemployed and “of very limited means”, was not alleged to be a flight risk, was not alleged to pose a danger to the community, nor to be likely to interfere with witnesses or pervert the course of justice.
“If she couldn’t get bail, I don’t know who else could have gotten bail,” Gonsalves said.