Death threats for new Princes Town alderman

RECENTLY appointed alderman of the Princes Town Regional Corporation (PTRC), Zaniffa Fakira, 60, has reported threats to her life to police after her home was shot at and she received a death-threat letter, which included a live round of .38 calibre ammunition. Fakira told Newsday her Princes Town home was shot at on Monday night, mere hours before she was to be elected and sworn in as an alderwoman at the PTRC.  Last week, the frightened woman said she found a threatening letter in her mailbox along with a live round of ammunition, which was wrapped in toilet paper. Fakira, a retired school teacher, would only disclose that the note warned her to “decide the future of you and your family or else.” Police told Newsday the bullet was a .38 calibre. The alderman said she did not know the reason behind the attacks but her husband, Fyzool Fakira, said he believed they were politcally motivated since they began after she made the decision to join the Regional Corporation.

Monday night’s shooting at Fakira’s home occurred around 11.45 pm after she and her family had retired to bed. She recalled hearing “a loud sound” and when she and her daughter investigated, they found the front glass door shattered and a spent shell lying on the floor of the gallery. “We didn’t touch anything. We just called the police,” Fakira told Newsday. Minutes after the shot, Fakira’s husband said they received three calls but the caller did not say anything on the line. MP for Princes Town Subhas Panday said he has pledged his support to Fakira, saying no one was taking the incidents lightly. “We are asking the police to keep an eye on her. We don’t want them (Fakira’s attackers) to feel they can get away with this. They can’t just put a bullet with her name on it,” Panday told Newsday. The alderman July 29, 2003 said while the attacks have scared her, she is comforted by the support she has received from the PTRC and MP Panday. Princes Town Police are continuing investigations.