Wanted man to surrender

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s most wanted man, Sheldon “Skelly” Lovell wants to surrender. Newsday was reliably informed that Lovell contacted an attorney just after 11am yesterday and indicated his willingness to surrender. A reward of $100,000 is being asked for his capture.  It was increased from $25,000 yesterday.  Crime Stoppers chief co-ordinator ASP Wayne Richards said the $100,000 reward is specifically for Lovell. “Well he is deemed the most wanted man in the country and the ‘centrepiece’ in kidnapping and we don’t want him to be out there much longer,” Richards said, commenting on the reward increase. Newsday was able to contact the attorney who confirmed that Lovell, 27, contacted him.  The attorney said he had done work for Lovell in the past. “Yes I have spoken to him and as a matter of fact we have been speaking to each other for a long time,” the attorney, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. The lawyer told Newsday that Lovell contacted him to “sort things out” and that the wanted man would surrender Monday to face charges of kidnapping and falsely imprisoning teenagers Yves Ayoung Chee and Benedict Barrette. He added the decision to have Lovell surrender Monday is to avoid the “long weekend” in jail, which starts tomorrow  with Emancipation Day, and also because of personal problems he (the lawyer) has.

The attorney also told Newsday that he had been in contact with the police even before the warrants were issued for Lovell’s arrest. The attorney said he does not know where Lovell is “hiding out” as stated by the police, but ASP Richards said numerous calls were received regarding Lovell’s whereabouts. “We received numerous calls this morning (yesterday) and we are recording all calls and checking all leads,” the senior officer said.  Officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) said they too were checking information received. Richards did not want to say the exact location the callers reportedly sighted Lovell, saying only: “In various parts of Trinidad and Tobago.” The lawyer said he could not speak for “Gumbo” and “Fruity”, two other men who are also wanted by police for kidnapping the teenagers. The bonafide names of “Gumbo” and “Fruity”, both from Morvant, were unavailable up to late evening and their whereabouts were unknown. The three wanted men are jointly charged with former Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer Reginald Gibson, 34, of Phase 4 Beetham Estate, and Kenny Bonnet, 24, of Eastern Main Road, Laventille.

Gibson, who at one time played football for the police team and Bonnet, a TSTT technician, appeared Tuesday before a Port-of-Spain magistrate and were denied bail.  Their matters were adjourned to August 8. All five are charged with two counts each of kidnapping Ayoung Chee and Barrette, and two counts each of falsely imprisoning the youths, both aged 18. Ayoung Chee, of St Clair, and Barrette, of Santa Cruz, were snatched on the morning of July 17 at Marli Street by men in a black car with a siren at the top, after coming from the Club Coconuts. Following the arrest of Bonnet, top ranking police officers speculated yesterday that that there might be a possible link between TSTT employees and kidnappings in the country.

“There must be more connections within the company, as TSTT workers may have been used to make negotiations regarding ransom demands,” senior officers told Newsday. Reached yesterday, Rae Ann Harper-Walters, TSTT’s manager corporate communications, said that any employee caught infringing on customers’ privacy would face disciplinary action. “We do not treat these things very lightly,” Harper-Walters said via telephone.  She said the police had not communicated their speculations to the company, and considered the allegations as pure speculation.