TT races towards 2003 murder toll

ACCORDING to information coming out of the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police Oswyn Allard, TT is heading towards another record murder rate for 2004. As of October 31, TT recorded 225 murders. For the same period in 2003 the country recorded 190 murders with the total reaching 229 on Decmber 31, 2003. Of these, 78 were solved last year, while up to October this year only 49 were solved.

While the DCP was unable to supply statistics on all the divisions of this year compared to last year, he did indicate that the Port-of-Spain division had the highest in the country with 68 for the year, seven of which have been solved, while 57 were recorded and 12 were solved for the same period last year. The latest murders to add to the list were taxi driver Larry Logie, 65, also known as “Santaman,” who was shot dead in Gonzales on Saturday morning, and that of Shane Louison who was shot dead at the Beethan Estate (PoS Division) on Saturday night. Police however maintained that while they consider 90 percent of the murders as being senseless and not methodic, they are nevertheless pursuing several strategies to curb or stop the murders. Efforts to contact CoP Trevor Paul or DcoP Glen Roach for comments were futile.