Work on Anse Aux Pins police station going well-• First remand centre to be operational mid-November |02 November 2016

The new police station being built at Anse Aux Pins to replace the existing one should be ready late this year or early 2017, while the first remand centre at Bois de Rose will be operational by mid-November.

Former Home Affairs Minister Charles Bastienne visited the two construction sites last week accompanied by senior officials from the police and prison departments.

The foundation stone for the new Anse Aux Pins police station was laid on September 24, 2015 by Minister Bastienne and the general manager of Green Island Construction Company Ltd (GICC) Veronique Herminie.

Being built next to the existing police station which is almost 50 years old, the new police station will have new facilities to boost the operations of the police force as it will cover Pointe Larue, Cascade, Au Cap, part of Montagne Posée and Anse Aux Pins itself.

With a proper reception area, a meeting room, criminal investigation department (CID) area, and better detaining cells among other facilities, the new modern police station will cost more than R5 million.

“This new police station is very big it and it will be able to cater for the growing population of east Mahé for the next 20 years. Some one-and-a-half years ago I made a promise to build a new police station in Anse Aux Pins and I am delivering on this promise,” said Mr Bastienne, who is now the new Minister for Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport.

He added that now that they will have a more conducive work place, police officers should continue to work hard to bring a better service to the people.

“A good police force is not only about having a new police station. The Seychelles police is going through a transformation phase and officers must have the right mindset to be able to deliver to the people’s expectation,” said Minister Bastienne.

From Anse Aux Pins, the minister’s delegation drove to the ex-coast guard base at Bois de Rose to see the first remand centre which can hold 80 people.

Expected to be operational by mid-November, the centre is the first of its kind in Seychelles as people on remand should not be together with prisoners as is the case right now at the Montagne Posée prison.

To save money, the Home Affairs Ministry has converted an existing facility used by the Seychelles Coast Guard and the second phase of the project is a remand centre for women and juveniles.

“Right now, some people on remand are being kept in cells at different police stations at times for up to one month while others are at the Montagne Posée prison. But now they will all be sent to the centre once it is ready. Offenders will now not spend more than 24 hours in cells at police stations,” said Mr Bastienne.

He added that this forms part of the ministry’s efforts to reduce the prison population at the Montagne Posée prison.

“From 800 last year, the prison population at the Montagne Posée prison has dropped to 530 and this is thanks to the introduction this year of the Misuse of Drugs Act 2016 under which 124 people who had been convicted for various lengths of time have been set free,” said the minister.

The new Misuse of Drugs Act 2016 law has replaced the one enacted in 1990.

It provides for more effective measures to fight drug trafficking, abuse and make easier investigation in such offences and prosecution of offenders as well as promote treatment, education, rehabilitation, recovery and social reintegration of addicts.

Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey constituted a tribunal to review the sentences of persons sentenced under the repealed Misuse of Drugs Act, 1990, as amended (“the repealed Act”). This is in terms of section 51(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 2016 (“the Act”).

Persons who were found guilty of an offence under the repealed Act and were serving a sentence of imprisonment under the repealed Act applied to the tribunal in terms of section 51(2) of the Act for the review of the outstanding portion of that sentence.

In considering the applications, the tribunal took into account the following:

(a)    Whether the offence in question would be treated as an offence of an aggravated nature under the Act, in which case there shall be a presumption against review;

(b)   The relative severity of the sentence for the offence in light of the law in force at the time the sentence was passed;

(c)    The range of sentences that might be imposed if the offender were to be convicted of a similar offence under the Act;

(d)   The conduct of the offender while in prison and the evidence of his or her rehabilitation; and

(e)   The prospect of social reintegration and the risk of reoffending if the offender is released.

The tribunal only considered the sentence and had the power to confirm or vary the sentence.