A St Augustine man was stabbed 21 times and left for dead following a robbery on Monday night. Reports revealed that around 10 pm on Monday, Kerry Mayers boarded a PH car at Kelly Village, Caroni. On reaching a short distance away the driver picked up three other men. According to police reports, two of the three passengers placed a knife at the throat of Mayers and robbed him of cash and valuables. They then stabbed him 21 times about the body and threw him out of the car. Mayers managed to make his way to a house where he sought help. He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex and underwent emergency surgery. He was later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. Officers of the St Joseph and Caroni Police Stations are investigating.
Justice Gregory Smith yesterday dismissed an application by Oropune villagers over a land dispute with the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UdeCOTT) and Oropune Development Limited (ODL). The villagers, who formed themselves into the Oropune Cooperative Society Limited, were seeking to stop the Government from selling 46 acres of land and 149 houses that were promised them by a previous government. The matter was heard in the Port-of-Spain First Civil Court. Rangee Dolsingh SC, Dr Charles Seepersad, Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen, who are representing the Oropune residents, argued that the Oropune Society was promised the land by Government to be leased at the price of $5 per square foot. However, when UdeCOTT and ODL advertised the lots for sale, the Oropune residents filed an injunction restraining the two bodies from selling the lots. Speaking to Newsday, President of the Society, Dianne Balla, said that the land and houses were promised to the residents when they were forced to move from the area to make way for the new Piarco Airport.
She said the court’s ruling meant that the Oropune residents will be moving for the third time. Attorney Dr Seepersad also told Newsday that the residents were poor and were never paid compensation for leaving their homes. He said that the 149 houses and land were granted to the residents free of charge in exchange for their original homes. He said they would be appealing the judgement, and if that failed they would go to the Privy Council. Justice Smith also ordered that the Society pay the costs for junior counsel who are representing the government. Representing UdeCOTT are attorneys Reginald Armorer instructed by Sasha Brathwaite, while Desmond Allum SC lead Gregory Delzin, instructed by Saikah Carrmuddeen are appearing for Planning Minister, Dr Keith Rowley. Balla said, “We (the residents) went to the court to get justice and redress, instead what we got was injustice and unfairness. Something is definitely wrong with this system.” She said, “We will not let this government take away the lands that we are entitled to. It is very, very unfair. This government is very, very uncaring. There was a lot of political interference in this matter,” she added.
TRADE LIBERALISATION has increased competition in Trinidad and Tobago in the domestic financial sector and this has resulted in fierce challenges in the business community. As such the Government of the country is involved in serious and critical negotiations under the FTAA and WTO at the moment on the subject, according to Christine Sahadeo, Minister in the Ministry of Finance. She said so while delivering the feature address at the formal opening of the fourth Branch of Scotiabank in Chaguanas, located at Price Plaza, on Tuesday evening. On the formal openig of the Branch, the Minister said, “This is the 24th Branch of Scotiabank in the country and this is ample testimony of the confidence of the Bank’s Board of Directors in our economy and in particular your continued commitment to the development of the financial sector in Trinidad and Tobago.”
She said that Scotiabank had a “successful association with the people of Trinidad and Tobago over the past 49 years and you could not have reched this milestone without adhering to sound banking practices and being sensitive and responsive to the changing economic conditions and at the same time being creative and innovative in serving the people of the country.” She was sure that Scotiabank had not lost sight of their role in the development of the community as was evidenced by their involvement in projects like Women Against Breast Cancer; Kiddy’s Cricket, the Primary Schools Cricket League and the Adopt a School Programme. The Minister noted that “Chaguanas is a dynamic community that has grown substantially over the last few years and because of its strong entrepreneurial spirit the Borough has the potential for sustaining an even more rapid rate of expansion in the future, particularly among the small and medum-sized enterprises.” “Commercial Banks have a distinct, important and critical role to play in increasing levels of savings and investment and facilitating the diversification of the economic base of the country while providing employment for thousands of persons,” the Minister stressed.
She noted that “we are living in a fast-paced changing world and there are several forces impacting the development of the financial services industry worldwide,” The Minister was convinced that the “onset of liberalisation will see the entry of foreign providers and this would bring about challenges associated with the provision of cross border services and in fact the very survival of our domestic financial institutions will depend to a large extent on our ability to be internationally competitive. “We must not lose sight though of the opportunities which will be created for local providers that are ready to take advantage of these opportunities,” she added. The Minister emphasised that with the “vision of my Government to make Trinidad and Tobago the finanfial hub of the Caribbean we need to capitalise on the distinct advantage that we possess in that we have an international reputation of maintaining a safe and sound financial system, a modern telecommunications system, a good network and mix of indigenous and international financial institutions and we operate in a similar time-zone with one of the major financial capitals of the world.”
BRIDGETOWN: Double world batting record holder Brian Lara signed a contract, said to be worth more than a million dollars, on Tuesday with MRF Limited to use the bat from their product line. The West Indies captain joins two of the world’s other leading batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar of India, and Austra-lian Test captain Steve Waugh to use the MRF bat. “When I first saw Tendulkar and Waugh using the bats, I thought to myself it was a difficult group to join, and I’m very honoured to be only the third player offered such a contract,” Lara said during a news conference at the Kensington Oval’s Board Room. The 34-year-old Lara experimented with an MRF bat in his first match of the World Cup in February — scoring 111 against South Africa — and he has now signed an initial one-year contract with the company.
“From the first time I used the MRF bat, I felt comfortable with it, like if it was made for me to play with,” said Lara, who holds the individual Test (375) and first-class (501) world batting records. Woorkeri Raman, the Deputy Manager of the MRF Sports Goods Division, said he was happy to have Lara join Tendulkar and Waugh as clients. “This is an important day for MRF,” he said. “We have spent plenty of money in international cricket, and we want to be tied with the great players of the game today, and all three of these players are champions in their own way,” said Raman, a former India Test player.
FORMER WEST Indies middle-order batsman Floyd Reifer was appointed captain of a Shell Cricket Academy Invitational XI to face Sri Lanka in a limited-overs practice match at the Queen’s Park Stadium, St George’s, Grenada next Wednesday. The 30-year-old Reifer, a hard-hitting left-handed batsman who played four Tests — two against Sri Lanka at home in 1997 and two on the disastrous tour of South Africa in 1998-99 — is the only senior player named in the squad, announced yesterday. Despite his shortcomings at the international level, Reifer has been one of the most prolific batsmen at the regional level, with an aggregate of 624 runs at an average of 48.0, including one century and four half-centuries, in nine matches during the recent Carib Beer Cricket Series.
Also chosen are highly-touted all-rounders, Trinidad and Tobago’s Dwayne Bravo and Guyanese Narsingh Deonarine; and the up-and-coming pace trio of Jamaicans Jerome Taylor, Andrew Richardson and Barbadian Jason Bennett. Barbados’ middle-order batsman Kurt Wilkin-son, who came good in the Carib Beer Inter-national Series semi-final against TT and the final against Jamaica, Nevisian strokemaker Tonito Willett, son of former Test left-arm spinner Elquemedo, and former Windies one-day pacer Kerry Jeremy are also among the 12-member unit. Team — Floyd Reifer (capt), Krishna Arjune, Dwayne Bravo, Kurt Wilkinson, Tonito Willett, Narsingh Deonarine, Matthew Sinclair, Kerry Jeremy, Jerome Taylor, Jason Bennett, Andrew Richardson, Carl Simon.
NAIROBI: Trinidad and Tobago’s senior footballers can expect a thunderous ovation in Saturday’s opening friendly encounter of their first official African tour when they come up against Kenya at the Moi International Sporting Complex in Nairobi. This is the indication given by Kenyan Football Federation general secretary Allan Chenane because the visit by TT is the first by any team outside of Africa to this country in 30 years. The last match played by a team outside of the continent was newly-promoted English team Wolver-hampton Wanderers and Swiss club Grasshoppers FC (0-0 draw) back in 1973. Captain Reynold Carrington and his team arrived in Kenya on Wednesday following a ten-hour stop-over at Heathrow Airport in London. A barrage of media officials greeted the team upon arrival at Nairobi Airport which was closely followed by a well-attended media conference at the Utalii Hotel where the TT team is staying. The occasion gave head coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier, manager George Joseph and Carrington the chance to respond to several questions from reporters who were keen to hear more about TT football.
The names Dwight Yorke and Stern John were quite popular among the locals whose team has among their famous results a 1-1 draw with Nigeria during the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. They also beat South Africa and then Tanzania 3-2 on their way to winning the 2002 Castle Cup. They are currently on the verge of securing a spot in the 2004 African Nations Cup, having already defeated Togo 3-0 and Cape Verde Islands 3-0. Most of the Kenyans ply their trade in Africa excepting midfielder John Muiruri of Belgian First Division side Ghent FC and 17-year-old striker Dennise Oliech who recently signed a two-year contract with Norwegian club Hankam. “We are very thankful to Trinidad and Tobago for giving us this chance for our team to play against them. We have some important African Nations qualifying matches coming up. We know that Trinidad is a strong nation in football,” said Kenyan coach John Mulee who formerly coached in Turkey. He promised TT a tough task on Saturday from the Harambees Stars. Charles-Fevrier conducted a two and half hour training session at the Moi Complex on Tuesday afternoon. The 60,000 capacity venue is expected to be around half-filled according to officials. Kick off is 11 pm Saturday (TT time). Arriving here today is FIFA vice president Jack Warner.
ST GEORGE’S: Australian fast bowler Brett Lee was knocked in the back of the neck with a ball during a training session and suffered a mild concussion yesterday, team officials said. Batsman Jimmy Maher was having a practice hit and a stray stroke sent the ball flying toward the New South Wales pacer. The 26-year-old was stretching when he was hit, team officials said. They said he had a “mild concussion” and had been given orders to rest for the remainder of the day. He was being treated by the team physiotherapist, said Jonathan Rose, team spokesman. “It’s expected that he’ll be available for selection for Friday,” Rose said — when Australia play their sixth One-Day Iinternational against the West Indies at Queen’s Park Stadium. The Australians, who won the preceding Test rubber 3-1, lead the seven-match series 4-1. The seventh and final one-dayer is at the same venue on Sunday.
LONDON: Former West Indies captain Carl Hooper top-scored with a half century to help steer Lancashire to a handsome 143-run victory over Durham in their fourth-round Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Trophy limited overs match yesterday. Hooper stroked 61 in Lancashire’s 229 for nine off 50 overs, and Durham plunged to 86 all out off 26.3 overs in reply at Chester-le-Street. Sent to bat, Lancashire benefited from solid middle-order knocks from Hooper, Australian Stuart Law (59) and Andrew Flintoff (31) to push past the 200-mark. Hooper batted 84 minutes and faced 72 balls for his 61, hitting two fours and three sixes, and shared in an innings-best 61-run fourth-wicket stand with Flintoff. South African pacer Dewald Pretorius led the Durham bowling with three for 32 off 10 overs.
Durham got 44 from opener Nicky Peng, but wickets fell regularly around him and Lancashire cruised to victory and booked a quarter-final spot in the tournament. Opening bowlers James Anderson (3-14) and Peter Martin (3-22) combined to reduce Durham to 26 for six and they were unable to fend off the huge defeat. In another match, Nixon McLean’s Somerset lost by six runs to Surrey at Taunton. St Vincentian and the Grenadines and West Indies pacer McLean bowled economically, taking one for 29 off 10 overs in Surrey’s score of 281 for six, and made six runs as Somerset’s run chase fell short at 275 for nine off 50 overs.
The Divers Den-sponsored Mason Hall Police Youth Club’s fifth annual Sports and Family Day comes off at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago, tomorrow. Activities include track events, football, a 10K road race, and a cultural entertainment segment featuring limbo, folk dances, as well as a Maypole competition, with a live band, Caribbean In XS, in attendance. The track events will include 100-metre to 1,500-metre races and two relays with prizes of $1,000 each. Widely regarded as the top road race event in the island, the 10K, sponsored by Coco Reef Resort and Spa, starts at 4 pm in Mason Hall and ends at the stadium. Close to $15,000 in prizes will be at stake in this event, with $2,000 going to the winner in the open category and $1,000 to the top female.
Curtis Cox and Solange Griffith, who led the pack to winners’ row last year, are expected to have a tough battle keeping the other runners at bay this time around, while there will also be prizes in several individual age-group categories. A door-prize of a microwave oven, as well as other give-aways every half of an hour, will be in the offing for spectators. The day’s activities get going at 12.30 pm.
INTERNATIONAL matchmaker Buxo Potts has come out strongly for the inclusion of a Tobago representive on the Boxing Board of Control. Potts, who said he was born in Mt Irvine in the sister isle, charged that it was the responsibility of the government to amend the laws of boxing so that both islands of the union can have an equal say in the affairs of the sport. The matter came to a head after it was reported that Tobagonian Winchester Codrington was recommended to be appointed on the new Boxing Board of Control, but because of a literal interpretation of the Boxing Board Act of 1933, he could not be named. According to Potts, a former jockey who is a resident of Trinidad, Chapter 21:52, Part Two, Rules of Boxing states clearly “The Trinidad Boxing Board of Control,” hence the reason, he believes, for the omission of the Tobago representative. He admits that it was an obvious faux pas, but is calling on Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Roger Boynes, to immediately have the laws drafted to make it possible for the inclusion of Winchester or others from Tobago deemed suitable to occupy the position.
Winchester is a well known boxing personality in the sister isle and has been credited with the early development of Kerston Manswell, the national and Caribean heavyweight champion. Manswell also copped silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and Central American and Caribbean Games last year. Potts said yesterday he was amazed that there were still stumbling blocks in the way of the proper administration of the sport despite assurances from the authorities that everthing would be put in place to get the sport off the ground. “It is a shame that Tobago could be treated this way after producing this country’s first world title through Claude Noel. Also his cousin David is a former national and regional title-holder who has done the nation proud,” said Potts. He said to properly administrate the sport, the Boxing Board, headed by chairman Melchoir Taylor must be given the funds to do their job and not a mere pittance to cover travelling expenses and other trivial matters.
“I think that two million dollars should be granted every year to run boxing with ordinary members collecting $2,000. a month and the chairman $3,000,” said Potts. He said the board members must be given all resources within reason to conduct their affairs and only then can they be held accountable for the state of the sport. He said there is no shortage of talent in Trinidad and Tobago since a fragmented administration over the recent past, devoid of financial assitance, has produced regional and world class boxers and now, with the support of government will continue to defy the odds. Speaking from his decades of experience, Potts urged trainers and coaches to get their charges in action and ensure that they stick to their training regimen, working on the road and in the gym to get into top shape for upcoming cards. “We must get the fighters spiritually and physically fit for the challenges ahead.” “We must aspire to be a surprise package for the promoters around the world who only give us seven days notice to put out boxers against the finest in the world. Our fighters must be prepared to rise to these occasions and come out victorious when the opportunities present themselves,” he said.
