Murders, accidents, abduction

"Taken from our C R I M E section.

TWO road fatalities, two murders and an abduction — which took place within 24 hours of each other — kept the police very busy between Wednesday and yesterday.

In one of the accidents, nine-month-old American citizen Michael Khan was injured when the car his father Miguel was driving, crashed into a lamp post off the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near the Mausica intersection at about 5.30 pm on Wedesday.

According to reports, Miguel Khan who lives with his family in Maryland, USA, was driving a car in company with his son Michael and two other relatives when he lost control of the vehicle which ran off the eastern side of the highway and struck a lamp post.

The occupants were taken to the Arima District Hospital and later transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where the child died while receiving treatment. Miguel remains warded in critical condition.

The Khans were on a short vacation in Trinidad and were due to attend the wedding of a relative who lives in this country.

In the second road fatality, at about 5.30 am yesterday, Paul Beliziare, 23, of Carnbee Village in Tobago, was driving a car which ran off the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near the Arawak Poultry Processing plant in Mausica. Beliziare died on the spot.

The police’s work did not end there, a 40-year-old businessman was shot to death in his Cascade home yesterday morning.

Gary Bertrand, owner of Sunup Shoes on Prince Street in Port-of-Spain, was shot in the back of the head by two men who went to his West Hill home. According to reports, at about 6.05 am, a group of men called out to Bertrand. When he responded he was shot. The suspects were still at large up to last night.

Commenting on this murder, DOMA president Gregory Aboud said it seemed that murders had become the order of the day. “The country has stopped understanding how serious the situation is. We have become conditioned to accept this high number of murders as being the norm,” Aboud said.

In the other murder, a 27-year-old Santa Cruz man was shot and killed during the early morning hours yesterday. According to reports, at about 12.45 am, Sean James of La Canoa Road, was washing a vehicle in company with a friend when two men approached them. James and his friend were shot by the men who then ran off. James died on the spot. His friend, identified as Kevin Henry remains warded at the EWMSC.

Joey Motilal was snatched in Chaguanas on Wednesday night. Five men are assisting police in their investigation with the Motilal kidnapping.

According to reports, at about 8.15 pm, Motilal of Calcutta Road, McBean Village in Couva was dragged from his car at the corners of Joyce and Perseverance Roads in Chaguanas.

He was forced into another vehicle which sped off. Motilal made a living as a gardener, planting tomatoes and peppers, on five acres of land, in the Chaguanas area.

The Anti-Kidnapping Squad is continuing investigations. His mother Sharma Balchan who was with Motlilal at the time of the incident and who was injured, pleaded for her son’s abductors to release him unharmed.