A MEDICAL DOCTOR who allegedly bit a policeman was yesterday granted bail in the sum of $15,000 to cover three charges arising out of the incident. Doctor Mark Joseph, attached to the Accident and Emergency Department of the San Fernando General Hospital, appeared before Justice of the Peace, Ramona Premchan, in the Couva Magistrate’s Court, mere hours after being discharged from the hospital’s Psychiatric Unit. Joseph, 39, of Exchange Lots, Couva, had been admitted to the ward for treatment after he was arrested on Sunday, following a confrontation with the police. It was alleged that while the police were trying to handcuff the doctor, he bit an officer on both hands.
Upon his release from hospital yesterday, the police escorted the doctor to the Couva Police Station where he was charged with resisting arrest, possession of a weapon and assualting Cpl Naresh Ramlogan. The first two charges were laid by Cpl Ramlogan and the latter, by Sgt Burke. When he appeared before the JP yesterday, the doctor was granted bail in the sum of $15,000 to cover the three charges. The doctor is to re-appear in court today before a magistrate to answer the charges.
As a second BWIA Boeing aircraft (9YGEO), was impounded in Miami yesterday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Government was fast approaching a position where it felt that it has had enough of BWIA. And he said it might well let the airline go bust. “It is by no means a foregone conclusion that the Government will bail BWIA out,” the Prime Minister told a news conference at Whitehall yesterday. Asked whether he believed the crises at BWIA triggered by the seizing of the aircraft, was being deliberately timed, in order to force government to pump money into the airline, Manning stated: “Let me put it this way, I cannot say that the crises are not being strategically timed”.
The airline is now down to four 737 jets to ride all of its Caribbean and North American routes, which includes New York, Miami, Toronto, Guyana, Jamaica, and the Costa Rica route, which only started yesterday. (BWIA uses the airbuses for the London and other transatlantic routes). On Tuesday 9Y KIN was seized by the lessor in Miami. And, according to sources, a third aircraft, 9Y BGI has been in the hangar for the past three weeks. The engine of this aircraft was sent for servicing and it is now being withheld until payment is made. Prime Minister Patrick Manning signalled that an automatic bailout was definitely out of the question.
“Those at BWIA who have been reporting to the Government, we believe they have not been as forthright with the Government as they ought to be,” he said. “When we were being told that US $5 million is to be applied to a particular problem. The following day we are being told that of the US $5 million, $1.5 million is to go in one direction, $3.5 is to go in a next. “In other words the tune seems to be changing with the weather…We are fast coming to the position where we believe that enough is enough.”
Manning said a Cabinet sub-committee was meeting shortly to discuss whether Government, which had signed a letter of comfort for US $5 million after the seizure of the first aircraft- should do anything about this second seizure. In a release yesterday the airline advised all passengers to check with Flight Information (868- 669-3000) on the availability of flights and times and to follow the instructions for flight arrival and departure times. BWIA stated that a second aircraft had been detained in Miami by the owners. The airline assured passengers that negotiations with the owners were continuing for the return of both aircraft which were seized this week. (see page 9)
A MASSIVE police and army exercise continued in the Petit Valley hills late last night for three of five remaining suspects who shot and wounded an off-duty police officer and another man yesterday evening following a shootout in the hilly area of Cassia Drive. The police officer, identified as uniformed officer, PC Wallace, of the Four Roads Police Station was attended to and discharged from the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. He was reportedly grazed in the head. The other man, unidentified up to late last night, was reported to be in critical condition at the same institution after being shot in the head.
It is not clear how the shooting took place, but police said PC Wallace, Tobagonian by birth, may have been pursuing some information when he was shot. The policeman was said to be in company with the other wounded man, while they were walking along Cassia Drive just after 4pm yesterday. A shootout is said to have taken place on Cassia Drive, where the other man was injured. police believe that the gunmen wanted to steal the officer’s gun. An eyewitness, who was part of a construction crew working on the road, told Newsday that he saw PC Wallace running up Cassia Drive, telling them to take cover. The man said the officer asked for a cellphone, and one was given to him by one of the workers. The witness said the officer, who was armed with a firearm called for help, saying he was being shot at.
The man said he then saw about five men, one armed with a shotgun and the other a revolver coming down a hill at Cassia Drive Extension, firing shots indiscriminately. “Look him (officer) there,” the eyewitness said one of the men shouted. He said the officer ran behind a wall, which is situated at the back of the house of Senior Counsel Osbourne Charles. However, the eyewitness said, PC Wallace was shot. The officer fell down and dragged himself, while the five men fled into the Petit Valley hills. A report was made and a party of officers headed by acting Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs and including Deputy Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul, acting Supt Roderick Roach, Insp Thomas and Narcis Cadette and Sgts Anthony Lezama and Stephen Ramsubhag visited the scene, where the officer’s firearm was found. While the wounded were taken to the hospital, the national helicopter and tracker dogs, 100 cops and 20 soldiers were later involved in a manhunt on the Petit Valley hills.
Not only is Trinidad and Tobago at the heart of the international trade in illegal narcotics, but local transhipments are being controlled by this society’s elites and are being used to fund a local cell of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. This claim came from local author/academic/lecturer, Daurius Figueira, who upstaged Canadian forensic investigator, Bob Lindquist, at a conference on “International Crime and Terrorism: Implications for Business and Caribbean Economies” yesterday at the Hilton Trinidad. Calling Trinidad and Tobago a narco-democracy, he said the drug trade had influenced every institution of the State and was run by supposedly respectable local businessmen.
He said that Al Qaeda was likely to try to ignite tanker-ships transporting LNG to the United States to use it as a weapon of mass destruction. Figueira said that the drug trade was also destroying Trinidad and Tobago, saying the drug-traffickers were also importing guns into the country. Not only were rival drug gangs engaging in a drug war but by their proliferation of weapons, they were also encouraging banditry. Lamenting that this was all occurring under successive political regimes and that the drug-trade had involved certain politicians, Figueira said: “Sometimes you get tired of being a crusader.”
Figueira’s contribution was markedly contrasted to that of Lindquist who had spoken before, and had said he was optimistic that societies could in fact control high-level criminality. Given a theme of “Effects of International Crime and Terrorism on Business”, Lindquist actually gave a prescription for good company management, saying: “The challenge isn’t international crime or terrorism, but to continue to develop their vision for their business, to translate that vision for all employees, and to create good governance.” Attorney General, Glenda Morean, in what might be seen by some as a criticism of stringent new security measures in the United States, said that country had recently shown a “disturbing trend” in using anti-terrorist laws to tackle lesser offences. She said: “Enormous and unwarranted powers are to be used against citizens, unchecked by judicial review”. In contrast, she said, Trinidad and Tobago protected itself from terrorism by measures in accordance with its Constitution and the law. She said the Chief State Solicitor was currently reviewing our terrorism/crime laws to draft new anti-terrorism laws.
MARLON “Browning” Stanley was freed of murder yesterday after the main prosecution witness in the case refused to give evidence. Stanley, 30, of Latiff Street, Tunapuna, was charged with murder of 21-year-old Leo “Lippy” Jackson at Lovell Trace, Tunapuna, on February 28, 1999. Jackson died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. State attorney Nalini Singh told Justice Carlton Best in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court that she received instructions from the police that the prosecution’s main witness, identified only as “Heads”, refused to give evidence as he claimed his life was being threatened. Singh said the State decided to discontinue with the trial as “Heads” was a main witness in the case.
Best directed the 12-member jury to return a not guilty verdict. He then told Stanley he was “a rather fortunate person” and discharged him. Best commended Singh for acting in the highest standard of the bar and added that no blame falls on the prosecution. Stanley was represented by Joan Charles and Ryan Cameron.
DAVID “JANGO” Nicholas was yesterday committed to stand trial in the Port- of-Spain Assizes for the murder of his common-law wife Margaret Haynes. The Diego Martin labourer, 40, was charged with the murder of 45-year-old Margaret Haynes, mother of two, at Diego Martin between December 25 and January 22. Haynes’ decapitated and partially decomposed body was found in the Diego Martin River. The charge was laid indictably by Sgt. Stephen Ramsubhag of the Four Roads CID. Sgt.Ramsubhag was the last of the 32 witnesses called to give evidence in the matter. Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls asked Nicholas if he wished to call any witnesses. Nicholas replied: “My witness is already in court, but you can’t see him.”
Following murmurs and chuckles from those present, Nicholas continued: “God is my witness.” There were no closing submissions from attorney Marissa Gomez of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) or defence attorney Ian Brooks who was not present. Magistrate Mc Nicolls told Nicholas he was satisfied that a prima facie case had been made against him and he would stand trial at the next sitting of the Assizes. “Thank you sir, have a nice day,” said Nicholas to the Magistrate.
PRESIDENT GEORGE Maxwell Richards yesterday called on the media to pay more attention to their writing and verbal skills, particularly basic grammar and spelling. The President was speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) in honour of executives of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. “Basic grammar and spelling,” he said, “suffer innumerable casualties in the media.” The President said he could not over-emphasise the need for training, and implored managers to place value on training. “The need for it is self-evident when we look at our enormous potential and compare that to our less impressive achievements.”
President Richards suggested that the proposed University of Trinidad and Tobago could have within its quarters a School of Print and Broadcast Journalism to develop optimum standards in the profession. Stating that the quality of reporting was on a “downward slide”, the President pointed out that “good and accurate handling of the news seems to be under threat by a marked trend of gory front pages. The President praised MATT for the accomplishment of securing the relocation of the headquarters of the CJA from London to Port-of-Spain. CJA President Hassan Shahriar said the organisation has been wrongly branded as a British organisation. He said he believed the organisation should be based in a developing country and added that the CJA wanted to be one of the first international NGOs stationed in the Caribbean. Shahriar and other CJA executives are currently in the country to source a location for their new headquarters.
Virgin Atlantic chairman Richard Branson has expressed an interest in a regional airline, St Vincent Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said yesterday. Gonsalves, who was addressing the Chamber of Industry and Commerce at Crowne Plaza, said Branson had written to him expressing his interest and also wrote to Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning. A committee has until June to submit to Caricom a plan for the formation of a single airline which will comprise BWIA and LIAT. International Finance Corporation (IFC) will also be involved in the new airline. Gonsalves said air transport is key to regional integration and so the current problems faced by BWIA and LIAT are small compared to the bigger need for transportation.
Both LIAT and BWIA have found themselves in severe financial difficulties. BWIA is now in talks with its aircraft lessors to keep flying while it waits for a $116 million bailout from Government. LIAT, which received assistance recently from regional governments, owes about EC$200 million. Gonsalves included $52 million in severance if the airline was to close. Of the total, US$70 million is owed to the Canadian Export Development Corporation (ECD). Gonsalves said EDC officials will be coming to the Caribbean soon to discuss debt forgiveness.
St Vincent, which gave $2.5 million to the airline, has a 10 percent stake in LIAT and Gonsalves said he wants a bigger stake in a regional airline. Trinidad and Tobago pledged a $12.5 million line of credit as a basis for borrowing by other governments to help the airline. Gonsalves said it was important to keep LIAT in the air, although some people have said the airline should be closed. He also knocked Caribbean Star boss Allen Stanford. “Some who come into the region with very deep profits and engage in predatory pricing to run other airlines into the ground,” he said. He also said that no other region would allow a foreign airline to control its transportation. He said he welcomes competition but was sure that if LIAT were allowed to fail, Caribbean Star, would increase its price.
CAMILLE MARINA James, 22, last saw her parents when she was five years old. But she remembers them and yesterday, the young woman made a tearful plea: “I want to find my mother and father.” James grew up with an elder brother, whom she is also seeking to find. Five years ago she began searching for her family but has had no luck to date. Her birth certificate says she was born at Third Street, La Romaine and she has gone from door to door on the street seeking information without success. Yesterday, frustrated by unsuccessful checks for adoption proceedings dating back to 1983 in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court, James made an emotional public appeal for help in finding her long lost family.
At age five, James was put up for adoption in the Magistrates’ Court. “That was the last time I saw my mother and father. I remember that morning. There were people in the court,” she recalled. James was adopted by My me and Kissoon Rampersad of Diamond Village, near San Fernando and lived with her adopted parents until recently. She learned sewing with YTEPP. “I cannot go on without my mother.” The birth certificate she obtained last week listed her mother’s name as Chandroutee Hanif, formerly Ramsubhag, of Third Street, La Romaine. Her father’s name was not on it, but James said based on records at the San Fernando General Hospital, her father’s name is Emanuel Haniff. “I went to Third Street but no one knew my mother or father,” James said.
“I checked the Red House, Births and Deaths and the ID card office, but nothing,” she added. James went to Coffee Street and knocked on the doors of residents and store owners living near the statue of panman Winston “Spree” Simon. She recalled, she said, seeing that statue while being taken in a taxi to the court for adoption. “I remember the place clearly, so I thought I was from around there,” James said. “I am pleading to anyone who remembers me, my mother or father, to contact me. “I know I have a brother but don’t know his name. I’m sure he remembers he has a sister,” James said. Anyone with informatiocan call telephone numbers 756-1453 or 781-3562.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL Glenda Morean-Phillip yesterday called on Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh to bring forward any information he has about a reported overpayment of $29 million to Waterfarms (Trinidad) Limited by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA). Morean-Phillip also said she stands ready to arrange a meeting between Singh and Canadian forensic investigator Bob Lindquist “at Mr Singh’s convenience”, so that Singh can hand over his information to Lindquist.
The Caroni East MP alleged in Parliament on Tuesday that former PNM parliamentarian Dr Joe Laquis, attorney Mark Laquis and WASA vice-chairman Rawlingson Agard were behind the reported overpayment and he was prepared to meet with Lindquist and turn over certain information in his possession. All three men have denied Singh’s allegations. In a statement, Morean-Phillip reiterated the Government’s willingness “to treat seriously with any such information unearthed by the MP for Caroni East and advises that any information provided will be treated with the seriousness the matter deserves.” “This Government is committed to transparency and accountability in all its undertakings and will not hesitate to deal decisively and effectively with matters coming to its attention involving wrongdoing on the part of anyone,” she declared. Morean-Phillip added that Singh “is free to call upon the Attorney-General for any assistance”.
