Six killings overnight from Friday into yesterday surely would have dented any hope that the year would have ended without the sad and horrific spectre that has been haunting us, and that the clich?d greeting of Happy New Year would not have rung hollow.

It was indeed a woeful end to another year of murderous trauma.

The tale of the crime scene tape is as follows: Four persons were shot dead in Beverly Hills, Laventille, a man was shot dead in Caparo, while a teenager was stabbed to death at Enterprise.

These deaths pushed up the country’s 2016 homicide rate to 461 deaths, the worst toll in recent times.

The Laventille killings allude to a new trend of mass-shootings seen this year, as perpetrated twice in D’Abadie including one case of a ride-by shooting carried out by a man on a bicycle.

Overnight also, a murder- accused hanged himself dead in a police cell, so begging the question as to why no CCTV are routinely used to monitor cells instead of just the routine hourly visits by a police officer? A population that is by now crime-fatigued and weary of the constant knee-jerk reaction by the authorities claiming to have this or that plan, must surely now be asking themselves, “What’s next?” After all, a less bizarre scenario triggered a state of emergency by the People’s Partnership Government a few years ago. This is really no way for a people to live, as even the routine chore of going to the local parlour to buy bread now carries with it a grave risk, as seen in the shock shooting death of an innocent teenaged boy earlier this year, again the victim of a mass-shooting.

We endorse economist Dr Roger Hosein’s recent warning that crime makes local entrepreneurs become extremely wary of investing in high-profile activities in view of all including the criminal element. Foreign investors too will be very sceptical to bring vaunted foreign direct investment to our unsettled shores.

In addition to the usual “crime-fighting” stance against crime by more police and soldiers, more guns and more vehicles and vessels, a criminological approach must also become central to any plan.

White-collar crime – such as exposed in ministerial accounts of the Financial Intelligence Unit’s annual report and which drives street-level criminality – must also be stemmed.

We would agree that a lessening of crime does not occur overnight – short of a State of Emergency with a curfew – but we would certainly not encourage any abrogation of responsibility from undertaking the hours, days, weeks and months of “dog-work” by the authorities, the NGO sector and each of us to reduce the propensity towards criminality.

With all of this in mind, it is not exactly an environment in which the wish for a Happy New Year resonates without some type of divine intervention.

That is why we opt to wish all our readers a Blessed New Year

Last Wednesday, like a New Year’s blessing, a nationwide, government- driven clean-up campaign was announced by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kazim Hosein at the San Fernando City Corporation, in the company of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and a large group of regional corporation and ministry officials.

I now feel obliged to show appreciation and, given the enormity of this increasingly nasty situation, ask support for this six-month clean-up crusade from contractors, beverage manufacturers and the business sector, proprietors, government agencies from CEPEP, Solid Waste Management Company to the relevant ministries and 14 municipalities.

The Contractors Association – including Coosal, Jusamco, from small to big – all those “bottled water” manufacturers, the various Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations – from Port-of-Spain, Chaguanas, Tunapuna to Siparia and Debe – this is a golden opportunity for the nation to rise and serve in a most deserving cause.

Rubbish and its related lawlessness affect all of us. Flexing his prosecutorial muscle, Mr Al-Rawi warned: “The laws will be applied stringently after our clean-up campaign has kicked in.” And that’s where this nasty problem started. There are already relevant laws all over the place to prevent and even prosecute – the Environmental Management Authority, regional and municipal corporations, Solid Waste Management, Town and Country. How effective has the litter wardens’ programme been? So much tax-payers money spent all around and so little in return.

And here comes the critical post- 1962 question: Who is responsible? Minister Hosein promises: “This clean-up campaign involves removal of derelict vehicles, taking down all dilapidated buildings, getting rid of old tyres, batteries, cleaning underground drains, cleaning up of open lots, basically it’s cleaning up the country.” Excellent, but hold on a while.

Three things here. One, a nation- wide project of this magnitude with so many intended government agencies, private sector groups and volunteers will require strategic leadership and structure. Certainly, it would be counterproductive and confusing to have large crowds of enthusiastic people just bouncing against one another. The former San Fernando Mayor, Minister Hosein, has an impressive “national task force” comprising several government agencies. Hopefully, they have been told precisely what to do, and they do have an organizational plan with allocated responsibilities, time-schedules, outcome measures, etc. Because after the six-month period, there must be a big difference after which Mr Al-Rawi’s punishment will likely be executed.

Two, where are the public dustbins around Port-of-Spain and the other cities and districts? Why is there not an improved level of mechanized garbage-disposal where, for example, the organized piles of heavy garbage can be properly taken up with appropriately mechanised vehicles rather than leaving them scattered by willing but unable “rubbish-truck men.” After the six-month period, sanitation must be sustainably improved on all sides – by business, citizens and yes, government agencies.

Three, punish the miscreants but provide a reasonable level of garbage disposal facilities too. For example, while it’s true some people do dump their stoves and fridges recklessly on the roadside, there should be a series of decentralised containers for such stuff with appropriate pick-up periods.

Laws must have an element of justice in them. A relevant branch of criminology is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). It is notable the extent to which community breakdown and fragmentation contribute to unsightly rubbish heaps and lawlessness.

Squatting is a prime example.

It may be helpful if the clean-up crews could be given a basic course in CPTED.

Three weeks ago, Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation CEO, Mr Motilal Ramsingh, and several officials launched a “turf rake” mechanized scooper to help clean up the beach. That is a good and very welcome sign. In Minister Hosein’s clean-up promises, we heard nothing about the rivers and beaches. Caura River and Maracas Bay are two ugly examples. Once so beautiful and inviting, now so ugly and unclean.

Why? Aren’t our beaches and rivers an essential part of our eco-tourism drive? Many beaches are already lavishly littered and “mang ydog” populated.

So here is a n a t i o n – al cause.

Let’s all give support – one way or another.

According to police reports, 18-year-old Murrey was stabbed to death during a fight over an attempt to collect $50 to organise a fete in the area. Officers who responded to a telephone call about Murrey’s death around 10 pm on Friday went to Jack Terrace where they met a middle-aged woman, Gleta Douglas, standing on the roadway in tears and a body in an open plot of land not very far away from her.

Douglas told Sunday Newsday yesterday that Murrey was her grandson, and that he went out hunting with friends on Friday and they had caught an iguana.

“He was just collecting money from everyone to host a fete with his friends,” Douglas said.

She added he had collected less than $50 which he placed under a bottle in a small clearing on a plot of land nearby. “It was then that this man come out and took up the money and ran off, she said. “My grandson pick-up with him and a fight ensued and he was stabbed in his chest and he died shortly after.” Murrey lived with his grandparents and had recently completed his secondary school education.

Douglas said her grandson wanted to hold a fete Friday night and he went out and asked various people in the neighbourhood for funds. “He plan to make everyone happy with a meal and drinks and look how he was killed on the spot for less than $50 which he had collected,” Douglas said.

In a plea for police to apprehend the killer, the grandmother said she knew her son’s assailant was wanted by the police for committing certain crimes.

The Enterprise community has been plagued by many unlawful killings over the past several months and Douglas yesterday appealed to National Security Minister Edmund Dillon to provide more patrol in the area. She said with the wages from working as a labourer with the Community- based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP), she took care of her grandson.

In the other incident also on Friday night, Francis’ body was discovered at about 11 pm at the Brasso Animal Breeding Unit, located at Caparo Valley Road. A police report from the Brasso Police Station, stated Francis died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Responding to a telephone call, PC Ramoutar and PC Badadal from the station visited the scene and conducted enquiries. ASP Ablack is conducting further investigations.

Relatives of Francis remain tightlipped about the murder when approached by Sunday Newsday yesterday, except to say that Francis was a hustler and he was nicknamed “Sufferer”.

The sisters are the toast of Cumuto, a relatively peaceful district, west of Sangre Grande and south of Arima, which became popular as an American army base during the 1940s and 50s.

It’s an area the silvery-haired sisters have called home for much of their twilight years, having weathered many storms and experienced significant developments which shaped the social fabric of the country. The lovable, devout Roman Catholics have outlived their husbands, several family members and were only too willing to share their story of sacrifice, courage and determination.

Cared for by Selma Cadette, the elder of Edwards’ two surviving children and an occasional helper from the community, Edwards and Webster-Lardy live together in a modest, concrete house opposite the Cumuto RC Church, where they still worship on the times they are physically able to do so.

The sisters’ days are spent praying to their God, relaxing, listening to the news on television and poking fun at each-other.

“She can’t hear too good,” Webster- Hardy joked, pointing a finger at her sister.

Unconfirmed checks by Sunday Newsday revealed that theirs may very well be the first recorded case locally in which centenarian siblings have shared the same home over a prolonged period.

It’s a history-making feat Webster- Lardy would welcome.

“She has been saying that she wants to be in the news,” Selma joked, alluding to Webster- Lardy’s response when the idea of highlighting their story was first broached. The elder and feistier of the two sisters, Webster- Hardy celebrated her 105th birthday on Christmas Day and in keeping with tradition, there was much fanfare to mark the auspicious occasion. “The place was full with people. Everybody come across… plenty thing to eat,” she said enthusiastically, her Rosary dangling from her neck.

“I had three cakes. All the neighbours bring a cake.” Webster-Lardy said, however, she had no choice but to soak in the adulation.

“I have aches and pains all over, old age,” she joked.

For the most part, Webster- Lardy enjoys surprisingly good health, Selma said. “For her age, her heart is good and her cholesterol level is good. Her blood is good. She has nothing at all except a little arthritis,” she said.

Born in Santa Cruz to Paul and El Freda Webster, both of whom also lived to a ripe old age, Webster- Lardy is the first of three children, all girls.

Gotty Webster, who came after Webster-Lardy, died when she was just seven-years-old. Edwards, who turned 100 on October 21, was born in Todd’s Road, central Trinidad, in 1916, and was raised by a great aunt, Dolly Celestine.

Webster-Lardy told Sunday Newsday she grew up on a large agricultural estate owned by a German land owner in the community.

As a little girl, she attended Santa Cruz RC School, while her parents worked in various capacities on the estate. At school, she enjoyed a variety of games, including rounders and skip rope.

She also recalled being taken to school on horseback and later “in a buggy.” The family later moved to another agricultural estate in Longdenville owned by the German land owner before returning to Santa Cruz. After completing primary school, Webster-Lardy recalled she worked in a baker’s shop before landing a job with a wealthy businessman on an estate house.

She later ventured into Port-of- Spain where she found work in various reputable establishments, including Michael Llanos & Co.

Although her husband died when he was very young, Webster- Lardy said she enjoyed a happy married life.

She said the fact that the union bore no children was possibly God’s will.

Selma recalled her aunt, who now sports a short-cropped do, once had thick, long plaits that cascaded all the way to her waist.

“The husband had to help her plait it,” she jokingly recalled. “I figure it was the hair that had her thin but she gained a lot of weight over the years.” Unlike her sister, Edwards does not enjoy near perfect health.

She wears a catheter (urinary device) and experiences fluctuating blood pressure levels.

Edwards, who speaks in measured tones and enjoys looking at game shows on the television, opted for a quiet celebration for her birthday last October.

Having to trudge her way through thick mud to get to school, Edwards had an arduous life as a child in Todd’s Road.

Though the estate on which she lived produced abundant fruit, ground provisions, cocoa and coffee, it was often too much for her aging aunt to handle.

As such, she said they received frequent visits from family members who assisted with its maintenance.

“It was lonely in the bush so people would come in and stay a bit,” Edwards recalled. To compound matters, she said they also depended heavily on rain water and a nearby spring for cooking and washing.

“The old people worked hard in those days and that is why (Dr Eric) Williams freed them because he knew where they came from,” she said.

Her first ambition was to become a teacher but a late train caused her to miss a critical examination that would have enabled her to enter the profession.

“I liked a lot of reading in school and I was practising to be a teacher. I used to be in the infant department and when a teacher was short I would help out,” she said.

After school, Edwards went to San Fernando to learn sewing and later took a job at a Bermudez factory in Port-of-Spain.

However, she left the job prematurely to return to Todd’s Road to take care of her aunt who got gravely ill and subsequently passed away. Edwards and her husband, Lewis, whom she described as “poor but nice,” had four children but only two, Selma Cadette and Marilyn Edwards, are alive.

She is also proud of her three generations of grandchildren.

“I have plenty boys in the midst and just three girls. Not little boys but men,” she said of her grandchildren.

Asked what was her secret to long life, Edwards said: “I eat good as a child. We had a good garden.” She also spoke glowingly about the love and support of her daughter, other family members and care-givers. Saying the young people of today’s world need to behave themselves, Edwards noted many of them had far greater opportunities for education and employment than in her day.

She told Sunday Newsday: “They need to behave themselves and learn a trade or something.

In my day, when you were 15 years and in seventh standard, you had to leave school and fight your way but these children have plenty privilege.” Webster-Lardy regarded young people as “crazy” and indisciplined.

“The old people system different to now. Children long ago used to listen to their parents but not again. That have to change.” She related a story of how a friend of hers was forced to take a tough stance with her daughter after she frequently left the house with friends without telling her mother where she was going.

“I tell her (girl’s mother) that she should ring the police and you know the girl never go again,” she said. The sisters’ New Year’s wish was that people live decent, God-fearing lives without malice in their hearts.

For her part, Selma is hoping that the new year would bring her some relief in caring fulltime for her mother and aunt.

While she thoroughly enjoys their company and has their best interests at heart, she said she longs to visit family overseas and also craves some alone time.

Selma is hoping the Government, through the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, would help by providing either a patient or geriatric care assistant for the centenarians either full-time or on a temporary basis.

“She really wants the help,” Edwards said.

Pompey, 59, had been charged with the murder of Josiah Martinez, 16, after the teenager was shot during a heated argument at his Upper Seventh Avenue, Barataria home, on December 15, 2016.

The murder accused, a retired employee of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), had only recently appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar on Thursday in the Portof- Spain Eight Magistrates Court.

His first scheduled appearance in court, recently, was aborted as he was rushed to hospital to undergo medical attention. Before his court appearance, Pompey had complained about experiencing discomfort in one of his legs.

Yesterday, prisons authorities confirmed Pompey was found hanging in his cell in what appeared to be an apparent suicide but offered no further details about the incident.

However, president of the Prisons Officers Association (POA) Ceron Richards said yesterday the incident could have been prevented if there were more manpower on the ground.

He told Sunday Newsday that although some inmates experience a high level of depression, Pompey could have been saved.

“When you look at the officer population, they are very shortstaffed and in most instances are under-prepared to treat with all the security needs,” Richards said.

“The POA has always been expressing over the years, the need to have proper staffing levels and have proper technological monitoring systems so that you can deal with these type of incidents that occur from time to time.

“So while no officer will be at fault from this incident, the fact of the matter is that it points to some of the deficiencies in the TT Prisons Service.

“If an inmate can just hang himself and when you look at the ratio between officers and inmates, sometimes an officer has to monitor and secure hundreds of inmates and obviously that will tell you that the Service does not have enough resources to have eyes and ears everywhere,” he added Insisting that the Prisons Service needed resources to effectively carry out its mandate, Richards predicted the phenomenon will continue if nothing is done to address staff shortages.

“In modern correctional systems, technology and other implementation will assist in reducing these types of incidents,” he said.

“So this is definitely a lesson for the Trinidad and Tobago Prisons Service. It is not the first time that it would have happened.” He recalled an inmate had committed suicide about two years after becoming frustrated with the accommodation in the system and the manner in which his matter was being addressed.

“These things have happened in the past and we would have been making the same call over and over for years. This is the result of a system that is not properly monitored, a system that is under- prepared on the basis of resources to treat with these type of incidents,” Richards said.

Richards complained that issues affecting prisons officers were not being given the attention it deserved.

“We have not been seeing the priority been given in such an environment and yet we are expected to perform at an optimum,” he said.

Richards said he did not blame any officer for Pompey’s death “since officers do their best on the job in the interest off the State.” An investigation has since been launched into the incident.

The EMA in a release yesterday stated the monitoring is guided by the Noise Pollution Control Rules (NPCR), 2001.

“In addition to random monitoring of fireworks noise disturbances, the EPU will be visiting areas where complaints have been historically made to the EMA about noise disturbances.

Where noise levels in excess of the prescribed levels under the NPCR are recorded, the EMA can initiate enforcement action against individuals or entities found to be in breach,” the Authority cautioned.

The EMA explained this also applies to the use of fireworks, as well as, the playing of amplified music above the prescribed levels without a Noise Variation Permit.

The Authority also explained that in addition to the EMA’s monitoring, the public is also advised to contact the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) to make reports of indiscriminate use of fireworks and playing of loud excessive music.

Under the Summary Offences Act, the TTPS has the power to address general public nuisances or disturbances, the EMA explained.

The EMA also reminded the public of the detrimental effects that noise, particularly that of fireworks, can have on sensitive groups such as newborn babies, the elderly, the infirm and animals.

Members of the above groups who observe or are negatively affected by indiscriminate use of fireworks and playing of loud amplified music were asked to report such incidents to the EMA via text message at 680-9588 or call 285-4362.

Police said Keston Gabriel, of Flamboyant Crescent, was driving on the east-bound lane of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, near Agua Santa Road, around 3.30 am, when he reportedly lost control and slammed into a median.

Police said fire officers from the nearby Arima Fire Station arrived on the scene shortly after the incident and had to use the jaws of life to cut Gabriel from the wreckage.

Gabriel’s sister died in a similar accident some years ago, police said.

Investigations are continuing.

In her New Year’s message yesterday she wished citizens “a happy, healthy and productive New Year, one filled with hope and optimism”.

“The year that just ended has been an extremely difficult one for all of us. Crime remained a menace, with children and our elders becoming targets of killers and rapists; human trafficking was a disturbing and frightening reality, with women and girls being at greatest risk,” she said.

She continued: “Our economy experienced its worst performance in our history and everywhere there were signs of a country on a downhill slide. The present regime has led us to a sharp economic decline, and its irresponsible policy of borrowing to fund recurrent expenditure is putting future generations in deep debt.” She said added to this was Government’s “chronic lack of vision and the absence of any economic measure for growth and job creation”.

“I remain fearful for 2017 in every aspect of national life – the economy, national security, health care and social services.

The forecast for 2017 is bleak and the stresses that so many of our citizens have felt for more than a year will no doubt increase,” she predicted.

She however asked citizens to still be optimistic.

“Let us reflect on who we are and reaffirm our love and commitment to our country. If we can do that, we will rise again and make Trinidad and Tobago a better place for all of us. We can do it if we all work together, putting country first,” she said.

She continued: “The divisiveness and political partisanship that is the hallmark of this administration is a cancer and it will only go away when all of us decide this is our country and each of us has a responsibility to help make it the best it can be”.

She said that “under different political circumstances” they would have worked with all stakeholders “to navigate these turbulent economic waters to achieve growth and expansion through our green, blue and silver economic models”.

“Instead we find stagnation and a level of despondency our country has never experienced,” she lamented.

She called on citizens to unite and work at nation-building because that is the only way forward and stressed that “we cannot build a nation based on hate and political spite”.

“Today, citizens of this country are forced to carry the burden while those who govern treat you with contempt. The Government has not kept a single promise and there is every indication that they will continue this way in 2017 because they have no idea how to take us out of this crisis they manufactured to conceal their incompetence,” she added.

She continued: “We are governed by an administration that is handicapped by its arrogance and lack of vision and guided by a small elite that has no concerns for the people.” Persad-Bissessar said as this country begins a new year, as was the situation in 2016, “unemployment is on the rise, the cost of living is pushing families to starvation, new taxes will erode your shrinking income and the elite they serve will continue to prosper”.

“So my message as we start 2017 is that while you must be aware of the new circumstances in which we must live, you must also take charge of your destiny and work together as one family to effect the change that is inevitable.

You, the citizens of our nation must know your rights and stand up for them; indeed, you must demand that the government listen to your concerns,” she added.

She said that she is resolved to work harder in 2017 “to hold the government to account, and to try to push them to work towards enhancing your lives. Nothing is more important for me than the people of TT and my colleagues share this view”.

“The uncertainties you feel today are natural and the circumstances are real. But let me assure you that we have faced similar circumstances before and we have overcome them.

The darkest night ends with a new dawn that brings freshness and new hope,” she added.

Police said Sangre Grande fire officers received a trouble call around 3 am informing them that the shop, located a short distance away from the Manzanilla Beach facility, was ablaze. However, by the time the officers arrived at the scene of the wooden structure, it was already engulfed in flames. No one was hurt in the incident. Police said losses have been estimated at some $85,000.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Investigations are continuing.

This is how Lisa Bhanwarie remembered her sister, Elizabeth Bridgelal, as family and friends laid the young mother of three to rest yesterday, a week after she died in a car crash on December 24, Christmas Eve.

The house of mourning at Lalbeharry Trace, Penal was packed with people who bid farewell to Bridgelal, 35, who lost her life in an accident along the M2 Ring Road, Debe.

In her eulogy, Bhanwarie, quoting the Bible, said, “For everything there is a season. A time for every activity under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to cry and a time to grieve, a time to gather together and a time to embrace.” Bridgelal, she said, was devoted to her children, Deliza, 14, Emery, nine, and Emerald, seven.

“She was a beautiful human being who helped anyone who were in need,” Bhanwarie said.

Bridgelal’s husband, Devenish, 35, and daughter, Deliza, survived the crash which occurred at about 3 am while they were returning from a party.

Their vehicle collided with an oncoming vehicle. However, Devenish sustained injuries to the legs and chest, and Deliza suffered back injuries. Yesterday, she sat at the side of her mother’s coffin with her father and brothers.

The mourners responded in agreement when Bhanwarie continued her tribute to her sister.

“The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry and the skilful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives,” she said, noting life is filled with uncertainties.

It will be beneficial if people lead good lived regardless of challenges. People shouted, “Amen” when Bhanwarie said, “Like a fish in a net and a bird in a trap people too are caught by tragedy.” Weeping, she wished she had more time with her sister and appealed to people everywhere to be mindful of the roads and continue to exercise caution when driving.

The villagers then sang, “Life like a mist, appear for just a day.

Then disappear tomorrow.” The body of Bridgelal was then taken to the Mosquito Creek for cremation according to Christian rites.