Ramdial and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter and 16-yearold son, both of whom were locked in other rooms in the house, were unharmed. It was reported that the killers then jumped a wall and made good their escape in a vehicle parked nearby. Sieunarine is the 399th person murdered in this country for this year. A shaken relative told Newsday, “All I heard was one man asking the other, ‘the man dead’ after the shots were fired.

They came for him and that can’t be right because he did no one anything.

He was a hard-working man who took care of his family.” Surveillance cameras are installed on the property and officers are hoping to obtain video footage to assist in their investigations.

Police are working on the theory that a dispute over land may have led to Sieunarine’s murder.

However, what relatives are describing as a ‘hit’ came as no surprise to them as Sieunarine received several death threats causing him to install surveillanc cameras around his Spike Avenue, Esperanza Road, Couva home.

Yesterday, relatives were busy cleaning the bedroom of Sieunarine’s blood. “For years now Larry was in a quarrel with a man over a piece of land,” said a relative who claimed numerous reports regarding death threats made to Sieunarine were made to the Couva police. Relatives said that in 2014, Sieunarine was shot in the face and suffered a broken jaw. Last year, someone burnt down the trailer of one of Sieunarine’s trucks at Rivulet Road in Couva.

“We tired make report to police but nothing cames out of it,” the relative said. The killers gained entry into the three-bedroom house by breaking a portion of glass pane on the front steel door and unlocking the door knob. Police said one of men wore a ‘hoodie’ jacket and the other wore a mask. Sieunarine’s daughter who was watching television, was herded into a bedroom and locked inside while his son who was awakened by the noise, was locked into another room.

“They woke up Sherry and put her to stand facing the wall. They then shot Larry, who was still asleep, three times in he neck. He dead right on his bed. He didn’t deserve that kind of death,” a relative said. No arrest has been made and investigations are continuing.

Festus managed to grab his two daughters and rescued them from the burning house. However, he was unable to remove his wife due to the intense heat and flames. He also claimed that due to the weight of his wife, he was unable to pull her to safety. By the time fire officers arrived at the scene, the house was already engulfed in flames. Fire officers however, were still able to rescue Dhanmatie, who reportedly suffered first degree burns and smoke inhalation.

She was rushed to the EW MSC where she suffered a heart attack while being treated for burns to her hands and feet. She died shortly after 1 am. The cause of the blaze remains uncertain but Radhu lost everything in the fire. The victim was the aunt of a media worker.

Yesterday, the discovery of charred human bones found in a burnt out Toyota vehicle at Connector Road in Waterloo have led officers to suspect this may very well be Ramsingh.

The remains are yet to be identified and police believe they will have to go the route of DNA to determine identity and gender as the body was burnt down to bones and ashes.

Officially, Ramsingh is still missing and unaccounted for.

The plant operator was last seen on Tuesday.

He never showed up for work on Wednesday and relatives, not hearing from him, checked his apartment and found it ransacked and a number of valuables, including a laptop and television, missing.

A Missing Person report was made to officers of the Chaguanas Police Station. Ramsingh lived along and has no children.

Yesterday at 8 am, a farmer on his way to his garden located on Caroni lands, just off Connector Road which links Couva to Carapichaima in Waterloo, came across the burnt shell of a vehicle.

Inside, was a pile of bones and ashes.

A skull was still visible. The District Medical Officer was summoned and ordered the remains to be sent to the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

Police said that although the vehicle in which the remains was found is similar to the one driven by Ramsingh, they cannot say with any certainty that the body in the burnt vehicle belongs to the missing man.

Without offering a shred of evidence, or illumination, Patasar made a capricious claim that Cazabon’s images are idealised as an artist’s attempt at giving dignity to a class of people previously treated with less respect. She stated that the perspective also offers an alternative reading to the MacFarlane mas.

On this basis, she erroneously concludes, “We can safely agree that MacFarlane’s intentions were not malicious.” It is difficult to see how an alternative reading in the absence of stated facts can result in a finding of anyone’s intentions.

While it may be true that no one has the right to limit an artist’s reading of particular periods in history, it is one of the duties of an artist to guide imagination, penetrating into the nature of things.

Having regard to the society’s preoccupation with colour, shade and ethnicity (the subject of mental illness in Lowenthal 1972), the intention of an artist should rest on findings of truth, evident to a host of others, drawn from the power of the imagination and representations of the whole, according to the degree of knowledge and facts of which mastery is demanded and the artist possesses.

When a church spire was left out of a landscape of a town, 19th century English painter JMW Turner turned to the author of the sketch and asked why he did not put in the spire.

The artist replied he didn’t have the time, to which Turner responded that the artist should take a subject more suited to his capacity.

Turner understood well enough where an artist is by definition an artisan, the spectator is none the wiser.

That sensibility is necessary for the perception of facts, after which come reflection, and memory. If the artist takes no care to reason upon those impressions and trace them to their sources (both physical and mental), he may remain totally ignorant of the facts that produce them (John Ruskin).

KATHLEEN PINDER via email

Might have been about a year ago, I arrived at the gas station some time after 10 pm. I pulled up at one of the pumps only to find the two “outside” cashier booths closed. A customer told me I had to pay “inside” – at the cashier that dealt with customers buying from the so-called Quik Shoppe.

So I had to line up with those needing gas and those needing junk snacks and sugary drinks.

Suffice it to say that it was a long wait, exacerbated by a cashier showing no urgency, oblivious to the long line of people waiting to be served. “Quik” certainly did not mean “quick”.

On enquiry, I was told that the outside cashiers close at 10 pm. I vowed never to buy gas there after 10 pm.

Fast forward to a few nights ago. I pulled up at a pump at 9.30 pm, fully confident that at least one of the outside cashiers would be open. Silly me. The cashier was still in the booth, counting money.

He said I had to pay “inside” since he had closed. But it was only 9.30. I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying so I decided to try the “inside” cashier.

I reached the door and peeked inside. The line was longer than I was prepared to wait. I asked the very polite security guard what time the outside cashier was supposed to close. He said he thought it was 10 pm but “talk to this lady,” a uniformed employee who happened to be passing by just at that moment.

Excuse me, ma’am, what time is the (outside) cashier supposed to close? Ten pm. But it’s only 9.30, why is it closed? Well, we close if the relief (cashier?) comes early.

So why tell customers the cashier closes at ten if it can close as early as 9.30? She, getting annoyed, grumbles something about doing that to avoid the rush. What rush? Mister, I eh have time to waste nah? And with that she stomps off and goes inside, “slamming” the door closed, leaving me to wonder what I said to warrant such unladylike behaviour. The guard and I looked at each other in equal bewilderment.

I’m sure many readers have had “cashier” problems at many places, mainly government offices: gone to lunch, not back from lunch, didn’t come out today, had to leave early, opening way past the advertised opening time, closing at 2 pm when the sign says 3 pm etc.

Now, at Brentwood, we have a private enterprise with a public/ civil (uncivil?) service mentality.

Is it really too much to ask that we do things at the times we say we’d do them? Forty-five years after Lord Kitchener immortalised in song “Any time is Trinidad time”, are we proud that the world uses the phrase “Trinidad time” as one of contempt? Can a nation that “has no regard for time” ever attain First-World status? To paraphrase Kitch with regard to Brentwood, “Dey say dey closing ten…dey closing but when?”

NOEL KALICHARAN via email

Residents are therefore forced to drive to the airport and pay for parking to use the machine there. People who travel have the inconvenience and expense of having to take a taxi to get to the airport.

I am especially writing on behalf of the many seniors who depend on this service and are almost always disappointed and forced to go elsewhere. This can put them at greater risk of being robbed, since within the area residents know each other and look out for each other.

Whoever has the responsibility of servicing this machine needs to have it done much more frequently.

ABMs are supposed to make getting cash fast and convenient; this is certainly not the case in St Helena.

As a customer of this bank, I look forward to an improvement in this service.

S SINGH Piarco

“I had a meeting with the acting Commissioner of Police (Stephen Williams) and divisional commanders of both Northern and Central Division to look at restrategising as to how we deal with the murders in those two areas, in particular, because I believe that we can use what I consider concentration of force in the right time and place to focus some attention on those two divisions with a view of reducing especially the murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago,” Dillon said.

He was speaking to reporters after delivering the feature address at the formal launch of The Right Tunes initiative at the East Port-of-Spain Regional Complex, East Dry River, Port-of-Spain. The six-month pilot initiative, a collaborative effort between legendary musician Dr Roy Cape and the Ministry of National Security, seeks to use music as a means of reducing crime, particularly among young people in the troubled community. It is hoped that the project will spread to other at-risk areas in the country.

At present, the minister said 98.1 percent of the murders are being committed in the Northern Division while 39.6 percent have been recorded for the Central Division.

He said the TT PS continues to work assiduously to reduce crime in TT . Dillon again responded to questions about the worrying issue of illegal immigrants, following Donald Trump’s elevation to the Presidency of the United States. “We have to give this new United States Government some time to see what kind of policies are being enunciated,” he said.

“As you well know, in politics, sometimes we make certain kinds of statements and until you see them being enforced then you realise they beocme part of Government policy. So, we have to wait and see what the new Government of the United States of America would enunciate in so far as policy with respect to deportees returning to Trinidad and Tobago. In any such case we have tp be prepared as a country to treat with any such eventuality.” Earlier, during his address, Dillon praised Dr Roy Cape for launching the music initiative and using his talents to uplift the quality of life of the young people in Laventille and environs. However, the minister, who regarded Cape as his close friend, issued a challenge to the music icon.

“Once you start in Laventille, it will have to spread throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

You will be openly using the Laventille area as a pilot project because the next thing I want him to do is to come to Point Fortin (Dillon’s constituency)

A response time of one week was given by the minister but the ministry said, “ultimately, the goal of the Highways Division is to mend potholes within 48 hours after receiving the report.” If you prefer using a computer to submit reports, inclusive of photos, of “landslips, caving roadways (and) potholes”, you can do so by filling out the “Report Issue” form on the homepage of the ministry’s website www.mowt.gov.tt To support this initiative, Sinanan unveiled a fleet of ten vehicles which will be dispatched to repair potholes on the major highways and roads that fall under the ministry’s purview.

The fleet includes two Pro Patch Pothole Patcher units, which the ministry said “will ensure that the road rehabilitation process is a much faster one, and which will improve the quality of patching in terms of labour, equipment, tools and production costs.”

However, the San Fernando City Corporation, unlike the other 13 corporations, does not have a sitting Mayor and entered uncharted waters with the elevation of then Mayor Kazim Hosein, to the position of Rural Development and Local Government Minister following the recent Cabinet reshuffle.

The City of San Fernando has previously experienced the phenomenon of having a Mayor elevated to a Ministerial position which allowed its deputy Mayor to assume the mantle of leadership in the southern city.

Unlike the previous occasion when Mayor Marlene Coudrey was elevated to that of Local Government Minister during the life of that SFCC council in the People’s Partnership Administration, Hosein’s appointment was made after the dissolution of the Council, including that of Aldermen, one of which was the position of deputy Mayor, held by then Alderman Junia Regrello.

Asked yesterday, at the installation of the Council of the National Trust, Robinson-Regis said the Red House’s completion (of restoration) was stalled by the Amerindian burial ground discovery.

She identified five sites in her address for a historic restoration project by the Government.

The buildings are Mille Fleurs, Stollmeyer’s Castle, White Hall, the Red House and President’s House, the latter to be given priority.

Robinson-Regis addressed and handed out letters of appointments to the six-member council.

The council is headed by Margaret McDowall-Thompson, deputy chair is Geoffrey Maclean, Candice Ramsaran, Secretary and Neisha Ghany, Aduke Willimas and Louis Vilian as members.

Robinson-Regis said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had taken a stewardship role in the restoration , preservation and conversation of the Magnificent Seven Buildings and the Parliament.

She said a historic buildings restoration project was being co-ordinated through the office of the PM to ensure the effective completion of all these projects with its main focus being the restoration of the five buildings.

The cabinet appointed committee, she said, composed of Rowley, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young, Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert and Regis.

She added that the Old Post Office in Sangre Grande had also been assessed and was being developed for restoration.

She added the Lapeyrouse Cemetery among others was, “an interesting venue for slowly building niche market in grave yard and cemetery tourism.” The newly appointed council was charged, she said, with developing a strategic plan for the national trust to become sustainable.

She asked a feasability study be done by the council to find out how much the sector could add to the economy. She noted that the Trust’s staff achieved a revenue growth of 308 percent in one year.