Opposition Senator Jonathan Wehner has argued that no prison term is sufficient punishment for people who deliberately commit the most heinous killings without remorse.
Speaking during debate on the Firearms Amendment Bill, 2026, Wehner said Antigua and Barbuda already had laws on its books that were not being enforced and suggested some should be applied in exceptional cases.
He did not identify the laws or the specific form of punishment to which he was referring.
“When you have serious, heinous crimes, when you have crimes where you take a life — you get up within yourself and decide that you want to take somebody’s life — and do it so callously, without remorse, no jail time is sufficient for those kinds of crimes,” Wehner said.
He said people who intentionally killed others should not receive what amounted to a “slap on the wrist.”
Wehner referred specifically to the killing of a pregnant woman, saying such an act demanded serious consequences.
“You can’t take the life of somebody, take the life of somebody who is with child, indiscriminately, and expect to have a little slap on the wrist,” he said.
Wehner added: “We have certain laws on our books, and they’re not enforced. I think in special circumstances they ought to be. The punishment should fit the crime.”
The senator acknowledged that the Firearms Amendment Bill focused largely on increasing minimum and maximum prison sentences for gun offences.
He said lawmakers had a responsibility to ensure that punishment reflected the seriousness of deliberate, callous and remorseless criminal acts.
Wehner said even the harshest penalty could not remove the grief and suffering experienced by victims’ relatives and friends. However, he argued that the law should still impose consequences proportionate to the crime.
“The penalties that we prescribe within the law can’t remove the grief, the suffering and the pain of the family members and friends and loved ones of the victims,” he said. “But for certain criminal, callous, unremorseful actions, there should be punitive measures to match that.”
Wehner said senators on both sides agreed that people who committed particularly brutal crimes should face serious consequences.
He also said it would be irresponsible to blame the government alone for every crime committed in Antigua and Barbuda.
“It would be totally disingenuous of me to get up here and say that the crime situation is solely because of the government or the failures of the government,” Wehner said. “That would be totally political fodder, and that would not be responsible at all.”
He said all sections of society had a part to play in combating crime and argued that crime prevention should begin long before an offence reached the police investigation stage.
“Crime-fighting doesn’t start with the police investigation after crime is reported,” Wehner said. “It starts with prevention.”
The opposition senator called for the government to provide annual grants to organisations that engage young people in productive activities.
He referred to a budget allocation for grants to individuals and organisations but said there was little detail about its distribution. Wehner suggested that youth-centred groups receive grants of EC$2,500 or EC$5,000 each year to support their programmes.
He identified the National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda as one organisation that had worked with young people across the country for years.
Wehner said opposition members had a responsibility to present solutions as well as criticise government policies.
“As opposition, we not only oppose where necessary, but we also propose what is necessary,” he said.
Wehner supported stronger consequences for firearm offences while arguing that punishment must be accompanied by prevention programmes capable of steering young people away from crime.
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Wehner says there are cases where ‘no jail time is sufficient’ for the most heinous killings.