Schoolgirl’s murder saddens Dillon

Speaking following the launch of the National Clean-Up Campaign on the Foreshore, Audrey Jeffers Highway in Port-of-Spain yesterday morning, Dillon told reporters that as a father of two girls he feels the grief of the family and the nation was mourning with her family.

“It saddens me,” he said of Rachael’s death.Chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) David Lee, in a statement, described the recent murder of the teenager as a further sign of the “decay of our society and evolution of our twin-island Republic into a land of lawlessness where there is no respect for human life as yet another young girl has been robbed of a bright future and life of brilliant possibilities.” He recalled the outrage last December of the murder of 20-yearold bank clerk Shannon who was found dead at the IAM store on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain.

“It was only one month ago when the nation was shell shocked by the gruesome murder of Shannon Banfield who was found dead in a department store. So our nation has reached the point where are citizens are no longer safe in stores, public places, their own neighbourhoods, using public transportation and conducting the same day to day business they once did freely in the past,” Lee said. He noted citizens had lost lose their “peace of mind and continue to desperately clamour for some form of relief or solution to this “national catastrophe” while the ruling PNM administration continues to “abandon the population in the fight against crime and all endeavours to protect their lives.” Lee pointed out the Opposition party had attempted to raise the issue of crime in the Parliament but Government has used the standing orders to shut it down.