TOBAGO police and Coast Guard officials were up to late yesterday searching for the body of 14-year-old Tarique Cupid, which disappeared at the John Dial Beach Saturday morning.
Police reports are that around 11.30am, Cupid, a student of the Scarborough Pentecostal Light and Life Secondary School, went fishing with friends. One of his friends fishing line got caught in a rock, and police said Cupid ventured into the water in an effort to get his friend’s fishing line. However, Cupid got into difficulty and his body did not surface. Officers of the Scarborough Criminal Investigations Department visited the scene and conducted a search of the beach but this proved futile. Investigations are continuing.
The Past Pupils’ Association of Naparima Girls’ High School yesterday hosted its gala fundraiser “Fabulous Fashions Throughout The Years” at the Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s, as they attempted to raise money to purchase audio visual equipment for the school’s multi-media room.
According to President of the Association Denise Harrison, the Tea and Fashion Show presented an opportunity for persons to just have fun, in addition to re-acquainting themselves with former classmates. Approximately 300 tickets were sold at a cost of $75, revealed Harrison, adding that the Association had just appointed a Northern Committee who would be coordinating activities in this part of the country. Former First Lady Zalayhar Hassanali was among the former pupils who agreed to “model” an outfit of her choice.
Mrs Hassanali stated that “this was just a fun thing,” and was the first to lead the models on stage, in the period 1940 — 1950. The presenter in this category remembered Mrs Hassanali as “always prim and proper” but “always appropriately dressed.” A smiling Mrs Hassanali then twirled to allow the audience a chance to view her light grey skirt and top, complete with a jacket and corsage, which was purchased in the United Kingdom. Local designs included outfits by Heather Jones and Meiling, as well as African and East Indian wear being modelled by Louise Brown-Clarke and Patricia Anthony, respectively.
Some of the models were accompanied by their daughters (who are now pupils at Nap’s), as well as their grand-daughters, who all proceeded to demonstrate that “Nap’s girls know how to raise their skirts.” In the informal setting provided in the ballroom of the hotel, persons enjoyed themselves as they called out friendly greetings to the models as they moved through the crowd, while others were content to sit quietly at the back and just observe the proceedings. Entertainment throughout the evening included a monologue by former past pupil and model Avion Crooks; a dance performance by the Clico Shiv Shakti Dance Company; two renditions on the pan by Shivana Ragoonanan; and a song performed by Lucille Leacock entitled “The Greatest Love Of All.” Also in attendance was First Lady Dr Jean Richards, who was presented with a bouquet of flowers during the proceedings.
THE OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) will not support the Anti-Kidnapping Bill when it comes up for debate in the Senate tomorrow, according to Senate Opposition Leader, Wade Mark.
On Saturday, Attorney-General Glenda Morean-Phillip called upon the Opposition to prove their seriousness about dealing with crime in Trinidad and Tobago by supporting the Bill. Morean-Phillip reiterated that once the UNC supports the Bill, Government will be able to reintroduce clauses of the legislation such as making kidnapping a non-bailable offence and seizing the assets of kidnappers. Both of these clauses require Opposition support. However, Mark told Newsday yesterday that Government would be holding its breath if it believed the UNC would support the Bill.
According to him, the AG was engaging in “tongue in cheek ole talk” and had misunderstood the party’s statement about wanting to meet with Police Commissioner Hilton Guy and National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee. He said the Opposition could not support the Bill when “Government is part of the crime problem in this country” and reiterated the party’s allegations that the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) was in league with criminal and terrorist elements in the society. Mark also claimed the PNM had compromised Trinidad and Tobago’s national security. Responding to similar allegations levelled against the UNC while it was in office, Mark stated: “Whatever we did with those elements you are referring to, we did it officially and in broad daylight.”
Referring to last week’s kidnappings of Cindy Mahase and Geewan Geelal, the UNC chairman claimed: “They seem to be clueless, hopeless and they seem to be directionless in addressing this issue.” Both of the 13-year-old children were freed by their abductors after ransoms of $10,000 and $200,000 respectively were paid for their release. Mark added that if the PNM could not solve crime in Trinidad and Tobago it must call fresh general elections within the shortest possible time.
FORMER Attorney-General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj declined to comment about San Juan/Barataria MP, Dr Fuad Khan’s plan to establish a civilian Anti-Kidnapping Squad. Khan told a news conference last Friday that he plans to launch a group called “Guardian Angels” today.
This group, according to Khan, will comprise young persons from San Juan/Barataria between the ages of 15 to 18, who will carry out anti-kidnapping and anti-crime manoeuvres including surveillance work. The Opposition MP said he has written to Police Commissioner Hilton Guy, asking that the “Angels” be trained in the use of firearms and other combat techniques. When contacted yesterday, Maharaj said he has been occupied with a plethora of legal matters within recent weeks and could not make a comment on Khan’s actions.
The San Juan/ Barataria MP was one of three MPs who incurred the wrath of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday for holding talks with Maharaj after the party was defeated by the People’s National Movement (PNM) in last October’s general elections. Khan admitted to talking with Maharaj, while his parliamentary colleagues Kelvin Ramnath (Couva South) and Dr Roodal Moonilal (Oropouche) denied ever speaking to the National Team Unity leader. United National Congress (UNC) chairman Wade Mark said the party supports any initiative taken by any MP or councillor to form crime watch groups in their district, but these groups must operate within the framework of the law and the Constitution. Mark added that UNC correspondence to CoP Hilton Guy and National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee requesting meetings with both of them will be dispatched this week.
The 32-year-old suspended Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer who was arrested Saturday after a robbery and the shooting of a Highway Patrol officer is to be placed on identification parades today.
Police sources told Newsday that the officer may also be placed on ID parades relative to robbery-related offences from last year to present. He was up to late yesterday being detained at the La Horquetta Police Station. The SRP was picked up by officers of the St Joseph and Tunapuna Criminal Investiga-tions Department (CID) after Ramsaroop’s Furniture Store in El Dorado was relieved of $22,000 and PC Edric Jeremy was shot in the right thigh.
Four armed men, three with cutlasses, the other with a .380 Baretta pistol, had stormed the furniture store, and pointed a gun at the head of proprietor Basdeo Ramsaroop, 67. They also plannassed a relative. An eyewitness contacted the Emergency-999 and Highway Patrol officers, PCs Jeremy and Bassant responded after which the former was shot. The bandits then drove off in two vehicles, one of which crashed about 200 yards from the robbery incident.
The SRP was held, allegedly with the .380 Baretta pistol, while the other three managed to escape and had not been captured up to late evening. Tunapuna police are continuing inquiries. PC Jeremy, meantime is resting comfortably at Medical Associates, where he was transferred to from the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex.
A MARKET vendor was on Friday night shot in the left leg by armed bandits who then stole $11,000 from him. Reports are that around 8.05pm, the 48-year-old man was walking along Covigne Road, Diego Martin, when he was confronted by two armed men.
On seeing the men, police said the market vendor began to run. The men followed him and a shot rang out. The victim fell to the ground and he was robbed of the cash. The bandits then escaped on foot and had not been captured up to late evening. The vendor was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where he is warded in a stable condition. PC Samuel of the West End Police Station is continuing investigations.
A forensic science officer with expertise in firearms, ammunition and tool marks will continue his testimony before Justice Alice York Soo-Hon when the Clint Huggins Murder Trial continues in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court today.
In his testimony before the court last Friday, Derek Sanker said he submitted three certificates of analysis to the police. He indicated that the first certificate dealt with 19 pellets that were reportedly discharged from a shotgun, the second concerned his examination of the burnt car in which Huggins’ body was found and the third dealt with four pieces of circular cardboard material which he said were once part of a 16 bore cartridge. Sanker is expected to be cross-examined by attorneys for Junior Phillip, Leslie and Arnold Huggins who have been accused of murdering the former Special Reserve Policeman at Mt Hope on Carnival Tuesday 1996.
Last week, two police officers, Sgt Hendron Moses and Insp David Nedd, gave conflicting testimonies about whether or not Phillip was offered a deal to become a State witness. Insp Nadir Khan dismissed suggestions from the defence that then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday was putting pressure on police to solve the murder but admitted that Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents were offering assistance to the police. Attorneys Osbourne Charles SC, Ian Stuart Brook and Keith Scotland are representing the accused. Wayne Rajbansie is prosecuting the matter for the State.
A verdict is expected today in the case against Tortuga gardener Eugesh Sookhoo, who is on trial for attempting to murder and committing grievous bodily harm against his former employer’s teenaged daughter. Trial Judge, Justice Melville Baird is expected to summarise the case for the nine-member jury panel, who will then retire for a verdict. For the last four days in the First Criminal Assizes in the San Fernando High Court, Justice Baird and the jury have heard evidence on the incident, which occurred some two years ago.
The State’s case against Sookhoo, 36, of Cedar Hill Road, is that on February 11, 2001 he attempted to choke Tishura Chinnia to death while she was asleep in a bedroom. Chinnia, who was left physically disabled following the incident wept openly in the courtroom as she identified Sookhoo as her attacker, and detailed the incident to the judge and jury. A police officer, constable Steve Haynes, also testified that Sookhoo confessed to the crime at the Gran Couva Police Station. On Friday, Sookhoo was called into the witness box by his attorney Ian Gray, denied committing the offences against Tishura Chinnia, who was 16-years old at the time of the incident. Sookhoo testified that he went to the police station to report that six men had beaten him up, when Cpl Best dragged him aside and informed him that he was charged with the offences. The case continues today at 9 am.
A moral values project is currently underway which, when completed, will have two ambassadors — one male and female, who will promote the benefits of abstinence, fidelity and chastity and HIV testing.
Anderson Figaro, founder of the Chaguanas based non governmental organisation Voice of One Overcomers Club, said it is conducting the project which it offers an alternative to the dual messages being disseminated. It is being sponsored by RBTT, First Citizens Bank, and Farmland MissChem Ltd. He said youths are being told about abstinence, but they are also advised that if they are sexually active to use a condom. Figaro said the project is based on the one used in Uganda. This country has been able to reduce its HIV infection rate. “They went the way of fidelity, chastity, abstinence and HIV testing.” The moral values project, will last seven years. The first part is currently taking place with an essay competition for schools in central Trinidad which has as its theme “Choice not chance determines destiny”.
Their entries will reflect why abstinence, fidelity, chastity and HIV testing will work. Deadline for the competition is April 19. “The youths taking part will understand the research needed before becoming sexually active”, Figaro said. The second step involves selecting those who wrote the best essays to be participants judged before a panel and live audience. Two individuals who are judged the best will represent the project. “It is sickening to hear big men and women blaming each other for HIV infection,” Figaro said. While it may be an individual’s right to be sexually active, he said they should not until they research the sexual history of their partners. He said becoming sexually active today is not about chance but choice. He described it as an exam where research must be done. The project will be targeting uninfected youths and preparing them to make the right choice.
Figaro said it is not competing with other programmes but presenting an alternative that has proven to be successful in Uganda. He asserted that condoms only promoted risky behaviour and did not stem the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS in society. “Condoms have their use such as with HIV positive couples, and those who have HIV, but to provide it as an alternative to youths is destructive.”
SAN JUAN/Barataria MP Dr Fuad Khan has not told the United National Congress’ (UNC) leadership that the real “Guardian Angels” (GA) organisation after which he named his own constituency group, has no authority to do the things he claims they can. So said UNC party Chairman, Wade Mark.
On Friday, Khan said his group will be launched today and will comprise young people between the ages of 15 to 18. The Opposition MP said the group will conduct anti-kidnapping and anti-crime manoeuvres, including surveillance. He has written Police Commissioner Hilton Guy asking that group members be trained in combat techniques, including the use of firearms. UNC chairman Wade Mark told Newsday yesterday that while the UNC supports this initiative, “we (UNC) are not going to establish any of kind of vigilante groups in our society”. Asked if Khan told the party’s leadership that his group was patterned after one already in existence, how that organisation operated, or if he had sought advice from them, Mark said the San Juan/Barataria MP revealed no such details.
The original GA was founded in South Bronx, New York on February 13, 1979 by Curtis Sliwa, a McDonalds branch manager. In 1992, there were two assassination attempts on his life and last year, Sliwa was wounded when a gunman ambushed him near his New York home. Since the GA’s inception, four of its members have been killed in street violence. The Angels’ website states: “The GA have no special powers of arrest. A vigilante is someone who makes the decision over guilt or innocence and administers punishment as well. GAs are not vigilantes. The decision over innocence or guilt can only be made by a court of law, which also has the power to decide the penalty for any crime committed. These decisions cannot be legally made by GAs, or a peace officer, or a police officer.” The website said GAs have no legal authority to carry weapons or undertake surveillance of suspected criminal activities.
