Antigua and Barbuda’s Parliament has given final approval to the Offence Against the Person Amendment

Antigua and Barbuda’s Parliament has given final approval to the Offence Against the Person Amendment Act, 2013 abolishing the mandatory death penalty for murder. According to the Amendment, “Whosoever is convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death or to imprisonment for life or for such lesser term as the court considers appropriate.”
The bill was hotly debated when it went before Senate.
Errol Cort, leader of Government Business in the Senate and Minister of National Security, said while he remains a strong proponent of the death penalty, the laws on the statute books must be brought into conformity with decisions of the Privy Council and the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
Opposition Senator Lennox Weston said he was fundamentally opposed to the bill. He suggested that government was bowing to pressure from developed countries by imposing their value systems and will rack up a multi-million dollar bill for each convicted murderer housed for the stipulated 30-year minimum period.