2 for murder, 1 for shooting

THREE Laventille men appeared before two Port-of-Spain magistrates yesterday charged in connection with last Thursday’s high noon shooting on the Brian Lara Promenade, in which one man was killed and an innocent bystander shot in the leg. Two of the accused men, 21-year-old Kareem “Smokey” Baptiste and 24-year-old Aaron “Samalian” Worrell, appeared for the murder of the URP worker, while another man, 19-year-old Marvin “Mappey” Jones, was charged with shooting with intent arising out of the same incident. All three men are from Picton Road, Laventille. The two murder accused, who were escorted to court under heavy police guard along St Vincent Street from the Central Police Station (CPS), were taken back to CPS shortly after their arrival as  Worrell needed urgent medical attention.

Worrell, who complained of  pain in his left eye, was taken to a medical health facility on George Street, Port-of-Spain, where he was attended to by medical personnel. Both men returned shortly before 1 pm, just in time for the start of proceedings in the late court. Magistrate Andrew Stroude, who presided in the Tenth Magistrates’ Court, called the matter which was heard before a full public gallery comprising of relatives and friends of both accused men. As Baptiste and Worrell stood in the prisoner’s dock, the indictable charge of murder was read to both men. The charge stated that on April 21, both men murdered Oba Jones on Independence Square, Port-of-Spain.

Tracing carried out on both the accused revealed that Worrell had six previous convictions, all for robbery with aggravation. Worrell  told the magistrate, “I did not use violence, sir.” The matter was transferred before Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls in the Eighth Court for Thursday. Shortly after the appearance of the two murder accused, a third man, Marvin “Mappey” Jones, (not related to the deceased) appeared in another court on five charges arising out of last Thursday’s shooting incident on the Brian Lara Promenade. The teenager appeared before Magistrate Avason Quinlan on charges ranging from possession of arms and ammunition, and shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Jones was charged with possession of a .38 revolver, contrary to common law and  possession of a .38 revolver with intent to endanger life.  The third and fourth charges read that Jones, at the same place and on the same date, was in possession of ammunition and also in possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. The fifth charge stated that the accused shot at Kelly Denoon with intent to do grievous bodily harm. All charges were laid indictably.  Jones was put on $120,000 bail with a surety, to be approved by Clerk of the Peace. After the charges were read, Quinlan asked the accused about what he did for a living. It was during her questions John admitted that even though he was not employed with the Unemployment Relief Programme, he collected cheques under the URP.

“Ma’am, I does just work URP and collect cheques,” Jones told the magistrate. “What do you mean, you just work,” the magistrate questioned further. “Well, I don’t work, but I does collect cheques,” the accused attempted to explain. “Oh, well I think I understand what you are trying to say,” Quinlan told the accused. Before he was taken away, Jones, who was not represented by an attorney, told the magistrate he was before the court because of major gang warfare where he lives. “Kelly Denoon is a bad boy, ma’am. He riding with Mark Guerra long time. It have real war going on between people from John John and Laventille. Anytime they see people talking to Sheldon Scott, they does want to kill them,” said the accused. After listening, the magistrate took note of Jones’ complaints. The matter was adjourned to May 5.