Usually, God alone knows the heart. However, when one can remain relatively anonymous and give free reign to spew out what is inside we are made privy to the true nature of man.

ANISA GRANT via email

The 12-year-old was charged with manslaughter, granted bail in the sum of $75,000 and placed in the care of his parents. His brother was charged with murder and remanded into custody. They appeared before magistrate Siumongal Ramsaran in the Couva Magistrates Court and are scheduled to reappear on September 14.

The charges were laid early yesterday morning by Sgt Susan John of the Region 3 Homicide Bureau after receiving advice from Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore-Paul shortly after 11 pm on Wednesday.

In court yesterday the parents of the accused wept as the charges were read to them.

Okera was last seen alive at about 3pm on Thursday last while he was selling vegetables near the Bethel House of God church at Calcutta, Freeport.

When his mother Abia Williams called him on his cellular phone at about 4 pm, she got no response and decided to go to the church and look for her son but he was not found.

She went to the Couva Police Station and reported him missing. Police visited the area and searched. They found traces of blood on the church compound and later found Okera’s body floating in a pond at the back of the church.

An autopsy revealed that he was stabbed at least 15 times.

Okera was laid to rest on Wednesday after a funeral service at the same church which allowed him to sell his vegetables, including melongene which he planted, to held support his siblings with their schooling.

At the funeral, Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh described Okera as a respectable businessman even at his tender age.

“He should be given a national award for single handedly being able to provide for a family of six,” Indarsingh said.

Minister Kenneth Bynoe said, “While Emmanuel did could not go to school himself, he was seen accompanying his siblings to school each morning on foot.”

Haleema’s mother Kristal Mohammed reiterated yesterday her five-year-old daughter had been suffering for too long and needed the surgery to take place as soon as possible.

When questioned about the possibility of further legal action, Kristal said, “We will not press for this matter to go further in court as yet because that will just delay the process and Haleema will have to miss her appointment and wait for a later date which we don’t want.” Haleema was diagnosed with Beta Thalassemia Major, a blood disorder, since she was 18 months old.

Her ailment requires her to visit the hospital three to four times monthly for blood transfusions.

To ease her ailment, Haleema’s parents sent an application to the CLFA on July 28 requesting assistance with the cost of the $400,000 procedure to be done in India.

The family lives at Mohess Road, Penal, and Haleema has two siblings. The family insisted they do not have the finances to fund Haleema’s bone marrow transplant and her subsequent stay there to facilitate her recovery.

Attorney Gerald Ramdeen petitioned the San Fernando High Court to force the CLFA to treat Haleema’s case with a greater degree of urgency. The CLFA in response to Ramdeen, issued a letter on Wednesday stating they had rejected the application on the basis that Haleema’s application “contains little evidence of a definitive diagnosis of Beta Thalassemia Major…” It added: “…and furthermore, it appears that the requisite testing for the donor has not been carried out, both of which may be required before the course of treatment can be appropriately selected. Thalassemia is not a life-threatening illness as required by section 19(e) of the Act.” The board indicated that Haleema’s case would be referred to the external patient programme unit of the Ministry of Health for their attention and consideration of assistance with funding.

At the risk of appearing to be a hair-splitting pedant, I add to this distressing list the disappointment we so often have in the command of English displayed by the constabulary.

The Newsday of August 14 quotes Inspector Michael Seales of the Police Social and Welfare Association as noting, “Our member, in her dire situation which has caused her irreputable damage, has approached the association . . .” There is no such word as “irreputable.” Perhaps Seales is creating such a word in response to the claim of Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams that the member of the association brought the Police Service into “disrepute.” Competence, corruption, detection and English are all serious subjects that the Police Service should address.

An inability to speak clearly could be an indicator of an inability to think clearly.

A BLADE via email

The kind of reception you get fluctuates from day to day. If it is not a long wait in the immigration line, it is harassment from Customs officers.

Returning citizens are often sleepy, hungry and tired and are in a hurry to get out of the airport.

Some may have pick-ups waiting for hours.

All over the world the priority is to get people out of the airport environment as quickly as possible.

Not in Trinidad. The aim here is to punish for having left the country.

The people who run the Immigration and Customs Departments forget that along with returning residents are tourists and investors.

The Government’s goal to attract tourists and investors sounds hollow.

Some years ago a sensible government recognised that people who travel abroad are bound to buy gifts and wisely allocated a personal allowance which is inscribed on the Customs form.

It also instituted a green line to facilitate speedy exit.

Apparently these have been thrown in the dustbin and the present administrators of the airport have gone back to the old bureaucratic system with the addition of total scanning.

Since people coming from the US are given a thorough checkout before embarking, I suspect the aim here is to raise money to replace what is wasted elsewhere.

The airport is a sensitive area.

Visitors get their first impression of the country there.

Residents are accustomed to the discourtesy and sometimes crass behaviour of airport personnel, and do not complain.

Workers at the airport need to meet certain aptitude standards and should be trained accordingly.

But one is not sure what the official objective is. As for the taxi drivers, that is a whole sorry story.

R RAMSARAN St Augustine

Wendy Izahark, 45, an employee at the San Fernando Magistrates Court, appeared in the Princes Town Magistrates Court to answer the charge arising out of an alleged incident on Tuesday night in Barrackpore. She was arrested and taken to the Princes Town Police Station where she was charged.

Yesterday, Magistrate Nalini Singh read the charge to Izahark, of Lengua Village, Princes Town, that she made a false report, causing wasteful employment of police time.

The charge, laid by Corporal Neil Nanan of the Princes Town CID. Izahark pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to her by the magistrate.

Attorneys Subhas Panday and Kiran Panday appeared on Izahark’s behalf and made an application for bail to be granted.

Panday (S) said Izahark has no previous convictions or pending matters and she is not a flight risk.

Prosecutor Sgt Shazard Mohammed did not object. The magistrate granted Izahark her own bail in the sum of $10,000 and ordered her to reappear next Thursday.

The National Hurricane Centre in an advisory posted on its website at 5 pm yesterday said an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found a well-defined circulation in the low pressure area east of the Lesser Antilles, with the center near a cluster of sheared, but strong, convection.

The Centre explained that a tropical storm warning meant that tropical storm conditions were expected somewhere within 24 to 36 hours while a watch meant that conditions were possible within 24 to 36 hours.

The Centre said tropical storm conditions were expected to first reach the Lesser Antilles within the warning area early today.

As for the rainfall, they said Harvey was expected to produce rainfall totals of two to four inches across portions of the Windward Islands from Martinique southward to Grenada.

These rains, they said could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

In an information bulletin, the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service said the leading periphery of the system was expected to affect Barbados last night with rainfall totals of 50 to 100 mm as well as gusty winds across portions of the Windward Islands, north of Trinidad and Tobago from last night into today.

They said, Tropical Storm Harvey posed no immediate threat to this country.

The 4×400 relay team comprised Renny Quow, Machel Cedenio, Lalonde Gordon and Richards.

Cedenio is also from Point Fortin but is yet to return home.

Point Fortin’s “Golden Boy” will be driven through the streets of Point Fortin in a motorcade beginning from 1 pm. He will be accompanied by the mayor and other officials.

At 3 pm, Richards will be presented with the keys to the borough at Victor Chin Kit Park located on the Main Road, Point Fortin, after the motorcade. Plans for today’s event were finalised yesterday when Richards met with Point Fortin Mayor Abdon Mason at the borough corporation headquarters in Mahaica, Point Fortin. The mood was joyous as the mayor and council members welcomed the IAAF Gold Medal winner to the Borough’s auditorium.

Having produced the top SE A student for 2017 in Lexi Bachan, Mason said the spotlight was once more on Point Fortin with the international gold medal winner.

Mason said, “As we plan to celebrate the victory by the T&T team who won gold in London recently, we take a look at the progress of our people both in academics and in sports.” He added that the win had thrown new light on the fact that the youths of Point Fortin had the ability to excel at the international level. At 11 am today the mayor will be hoisting the flag of Trinidad and Tobago at the borough coroporation after which a street parade will follow and then a motorcade beginning from the borough headquarters. As the borough celebrates the victory of two of its sons Mason is now looking at the completion of the major sporting facility in Point Fortin, Mahaica Oval.

“When I spoke to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley he assured me that the Mahaica Oval is the next project to be undertaken by the government following the completion of the Diego Martin Sporting Complex,” Mason said. He said he had faith in the Prime Minister and was looking forward to getting Mahaica Oval completed during his tenure as the mayor. He is also looking forward to the completion of the the Point Fortin Hospital and the Civic Centre, James Park and Coronaton Park.

“I believe in my people and I know there are lots of other sportsmen and women of Point Fortin who are competing at a national level in various disciplines and this is why I am eager to fix all the sporting facilities in the borough,” Mason said, adding that MP Edmund Dillon had also made requests for these facilities.

Mason also said both Bachan and Richards were inspiration for other burgesses and also for the country to work hard and aim high.

Speaking afterwards, an obviously elated Richards said words could not express how he felt to be back home with his people having won gold in London. “It is an amazing feeling,” Richards said. “It’s really great that all the hard work through the years has paid off and we are able to win the top medal for the people of this country.”

The woman, who asked not to be identified, was one of 31 employees identified to receive retrenchment letters yesterday from the GML’s Human Resources (HR) Department; located at its Chaguanas head office.

“When I found out retrenchment was going to happen, I knew that being one of the last people hired, there was a possibility of my being retrenched.

So when I got the news on Wednesday to come to HR today (Thursday) to collect a letter, I wasn’t entirely surprised but I was disappointed.

The retrenched GML employee shared that when she went into HR yesterday, “they asked if I knew what I was here for. I said I had a fair idea.” “They then proceeded to tell me the company was going through (restructuring) and I was one of those selected; based entirely on the last in, first out criteria. HR gave me a listing of jobs available across all of the ANSA McAL Group; as you know, (GML) is a subsidiary.

They said if I was interested in anything, I could apply and (if hired), my retrenchment would be shifted to me moving over to continued employment in a different sector of the group.” Asked if she intended to do so, the GML employee told Newsday, “No. Nothing that I’m aware of applies to me in terms of my skills.” Newsday attempted to speak with senior management of GML but neither calls nor emails were responded to as at press time yesterday

There were jab jabs at the Caribbean Premier League games at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain but no pan. Who can explain this? Who is responsible for it? What possible logical excuse can be used for this? Money, lack of planning, prejudice or just plain oversight? There was certainly no lack of tassa as is customary at cricket games now but again why no pan? What do they expect the viewers out there to think? This is the land of steel pan and calypso?

W DOPSON Woodbrook