“He just gave me a kiss and then left. Little did I know, that would be the last time I saw my son alive,” cried the mother of three.

“An hour later, I got a call that he was dead and my other son is in the hospital,” Terri-Ann Goodridge said. Wiping away tears, the woman added that her sons Omari and Tekima, went to her home on George Street in Port-of- Spain on Thursday, to spend the day with her. Just before 8 pm, she said, her two sons left to go to their respective homes. A short while later, she received news no parent ever wants to hear. Son Omari was dead.

According to reports Omari, 25, and Tekima, 24, were liming with a group of friends under a shed near their home in Dan Kelly, Laventille. At about 9.30 pm gunshots rang out. When the smoke cleared, the two Goodridge brothers and a 16-year-old girl identified by police as Deyshaun Campbell, were all lying on the ground, shot several times.

All three were rushed to the Port-of-Spain General hospital but Omari succumbed to his wounds while en route. Newsday understands that Omari was shot multiple times in the chest while Tekima was shot in both legs.

Tekima, a father of one, remains warded at hospital in a stable condition. The murder toll has reached over 430 for this year. No motive has been established and investigations are continuing.

The side of that vehicle, a Nissan B14 car, was damaged in the collision with the driver sustaining minor injuries. Police sources revealed that at least 14 passengers who were in the maxi-taxi were injured during the accident and were taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for treatment.

Newsday understands that the traffic lights at the intersection were defective and did not change, which would allow motorists on the Eastern Main Road to cross the PBR, once given right of way by the traffic lights. The driver of the motorcar sped across the PBR and collided with the oncoming maxi taxi. Upon impact several passengers were reportedly thrown from their seats and have suffered injuries including cuts, bruises and one person even suffered a concussion. Officers of the Besson Street police station visited the scene and investigations are continuing.

Cooper, 54, was shot several times to her head and chest, while her husband Carl Edmund,63, shot to the left shoulder at their Harmony Hall, Marabella home.

The mother of five died on the spot, while her husband survived the attack. He was rushed to San Fernando General Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

He remains listed in a serious condition.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday, a close family member said that the murder of Cooper has the left the family devastated.

“She did not deserve to die like this, her death is hard for all of us to come to terms with, but we are just praying that her husband recovers to attend her funeral service,” the relative said.

According to police reports at about 7 am on Thursday, Cooper who worked in the Community- based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) was seated in her husband’s car in the yard of their home at the time of the incident.

Reports said that as the couple was about to drive out of the yard in their vehicle, a man, clad in white, approached the left side of the car, pointed a gun at Cooper and fired repeatedly.

Al-Rawi made the statement in the House of Representatives after Opposition MPs walked out of the continuation of the debate on the Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill 2016, which is essential to this country being Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compliant with the United States.

Al-Rawi said he was “ashamed” to report to Parliament that on November 4, the Global Forum has publicly identified TT as one of three countries which are non-compliant with it. He said the other two countries are Guatemala and the Federated States of Micronesia.

The AG said Cabinet notes from 2011 and 2013 clearly show the former government was aware that,”the consequence of non compliance with the FATCA version of for global forum was that TT would suffer negative consequences by way of delisting, debanking and derisking, the loss of our banking services with Europe, if we did not act with urgency.” Al-Rawi declared, “I am ashamed to say that not only do we face the jeopardy of the position of FATCA today but the UNC (United National Congress) government has specifically when they were in charge, left us with a deeper, darker more dangerous hole on the Global Forum outcomes.” He further stated this shows the UNC, “has engaged in a complete and total dereliction of duty to the people of TT as they have walked out on the Parliament now, twice without explanation.” Declaring this was the fifth opportunity the Government has given the Opposition to debate their concerns about FATCA, Al-Rawi said the Government was prepared “to stay here, blankets and all,” until the debate was concluded.

Reiterating that all but one clause in the bill remains to be addressed, Al-Rawi said the UNC was displaying a “morbid fear” about TT being FATCA compliant.

Saying he was “genuinely upset” by yesterday’s walkout, Al-Rawi asked, “Why is the UNC hiding from this debate?” Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young said the UNC found time before last September’s elections to sign other questionable agreements but failed to sign the inter-government agreement (IGA) on FATCA, despite giving a commitment to do so.

Young agreed with Al-Rawi that the bill spoke to Government’s efforts to bring civil asset forfeiture legislation to Parliament.

Noting the legislation concerned TT nationals who have US citizenship, he wondered if the UNC was worried that persons it knew had not paid taxes in accordance with UNC.

Young also wondered whether the Opposition was concerned Government was seeking to enter into similar FATCA agreements with other jurisdictions. He said the Opposition cannot claim they were muzzled or ambushed on the FATCA legislation when they have been given every opportunity to voice their concerns

The breakdown of the expenses for the CoE were laid in the House of Representatives yesterday by Leader of Government Business, Camille Robinson-Regis, on behalf of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who was absent from the sitting. Within the total bill, foreign attorneys who appeared before the CoE were paid a total of $62,056,877.90. Inquiry chairman, Sir Anthony Colman, was paid a total of 1,258,343.51 (Pounds Sterling).

Local attorneys involved in the inquiry were paid a total of $24,872,250. Within this group of four lawyers, Gerald Ramdeen (now a UNC senator) was paid a total of $5,854,000 in legal fees. Varun Debideen was paid $6,155,000 in legal fees while Shankar Bidaisee received the highest in the quartet, of $9,532,000 in legal fees. The fourth attorney, Celeste Jules, was paid $3,331,250.

A total of $1,806,600 was paid in criminal prosecution proceedings fees were paid in 2013 to three attorneys.

Among them was Wayne Sturge (now also a UNC senator), who was paid $567,600.

Other attorneys Israel Khan SC and Lemuel Murphy were paid fees of $989,000 and $250,000 respectively.

Another attorney, Avory Sinanan, was paid $254,250. The total combined fees for criminal prosecution and threatened judicial review proceedings was $2,060,850.

The total combined fees for criminal prosecution, threatened judicial review proceedings professional fees for English and local counsel was $88,989,977.90.

IAM and company remained closed, following the discovery of the body of missing bank clerk, Shannon Banfield, in a storage unit just above the store on Thursday.

As they went about their business, pedestrians along the street offered curious glances at the caution tape around the doors of the store, while police officers maintained a visible presence at the scene.

Newsday spoke to Donna Charles, a roadside vendor and Port-of- Spain resident, who said that while the crowds may have returned, the scent of death and a sense of unease lingers among merchants and shoppers.

“That wasn’t a nice thing at all,” Charles said.

“As a mother of two daughters and just as a person, it really churned my stomach to find out what happened to that girl. I’ve been working as a vendor in Port-of- Spain for about 20 years now and I have never seen anything like this. I came out here this morn ng and you can still smell the body around the store.

When I came out this morning to set up my stall I saw the police in front the store.” Charles added that on the afternoon of the discovery, she too had complained of a foul scent to the other vendors, but did not know which direction it was coming from. “I remember asking the other vendors around me, what was the smell. We all are accustomed to the smell of garbage and rotting vegetables, but this was something different. It was only after my son came down the road told me that they found a body inside the store, I really felt it in my heart.” Businessman, Steve Matthews, said that he was taking inventory in his stock room when he learned of the find and described the entire incident as “disgusting”.

“No one saw this coming,” Matthews said.

“Of all the places you would find a dead body, you wouldn’t think that it would be here on Charlotte Street. With all that’s going on, how can you protect your children again? It’s sad.” Matthews said that he also noticed a foul scent on entering his businessplace on Tuesday morning, but could not recall seeing anything suspicious around the building.

Banfield, 20, of Santa Cruz was employed as a Customer Service Representative at Republic Bank, Independence Square, Port-of-Spain branch.

She was reported missing when she did not return home from work on Monday afternoon.

Banfield’s mother, Sherry-Ann Lopez, said that she spoke to her daughter when she left work and said that she was going to Pennywise cosmetics store and then to IAM and company.

On Thursday a security guard at the store discovered Banfield’s decomposing body beneath a pile of boxes in the storage room upstairs the store, while investigating the cause of a foul stench.

He said this “gang” is left untouched and there have been no prosecutions.

West made the statements yesterday at an event held at the British High Commissioner’s Residence, Beaumont Road, Maraval. The event took the form of a discussion titled “Eat and Tweet: Anti-Corruption Debate.” Live tweets were made by the Commission as the event progressed.

The debate was held in observance of International Anti-Corruption Day. Stuart Young, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Dion Abdool, chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute and Richard Blewitt, UN Resident Coordinator and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, sat on a panel leading the debate on corruption in TT.

A number of topics were raised among them human trafficking, key legislative changes, required changes to the Licensing Authority among others. During the question and answer session of the debate, West said crime and corruption is out of control in TT.

He added it was depressing to read the newspaper and listen to talk shows in the morning.

“I want to know, as a citizen, what is the Government’s policy for dealing with crime and dealing with corruption.” he said.

West added that citizens needed to hear from the Police Service as well as the Government.

While, he added, he knew that prosecutions and investigations took time, there were no money laundering convictions in TT despite, “billions of dollars in suspicious transactions reports have been made.

How far and how low do you want us to go?” He said corruption was endemic in this country and that it has become a lawless society.

Young responded by saying that he agreed with West. His personal response was to get involved to deal with the issue. The Government, Young said, had no control over the Police Service.

Young said a lot of suggestions were made but some were carried out and some weren’t by the service.

Young said he could not overemphasise that the Government had no control over the TTPS and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). He added that there has been a lack of accountability for too long. During the debate, Young stressed that the fight against corruption was the responsibility of all. He added that a culture change was needed to address the issue, starting with children. Young added a number of legislative pieces, among them whistler blowers legislation, Public Procurement Act [waiting to be proclaimed] and human trafficking legislation were being worked on to aid in the fight against corruption.

Abdool called on TT to work on its ranking on the Corruption Perception Index, stating that the country has been failing on the index.

Sharon Inglefield, President of Arrive Alive, called on the Government to address issues at licensing office.

This was the declaration of Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh yesterday in a ruling on a judicial review claim brought by NATUC, which challenged the decision of the minister on February 15, to terminate Annisette’s appointment as NATUC’s representative on the labour college’s board.

In his written decision, Boodoosingh also declared that former TTUTA president Devanand Sinanan, who replaced Annisette, was not properly appointed.

He made no orders to quash either of the minister’s decisions since it was made unlawfully and was void from the beginning.

Annisette’s tenure on the board was to expire on August 14, 2017.

The judge said while Baptiste-Primus may have acted under a genuine desire to give representation on the labour college’s board to both NATUC and the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), the law did not allow her to do so.

Two representatives from JTUM and two from NATUC were appointed before Annisette’s position was terminated for Sinanan, JTUM’s representative.

Boodoosingh suggested an amendment to the Cipriani College of Labour and Cooperative Studies Act, to allow for more than one organisation representative of trade unions to make nominations.

He also suggested the minister consult with NATUC if she chose to review their status as the “most representative” of labour in TT as provided for in the Act.

He also referenced the memorandum of understanding signed between JTUM and the People’s National Movement, prior to 2015’s general elections, saying giving effect to any agreement between a political party and a grouping would be an irrelevant consideration where there was statutory obligation to appoint on the basis of fixed criteria.

Of the decision to terminate Annisette’s appointment, Boodoosingh said there was no evidence that he could have been removed under the provisions for doing under the Act and that the minister ‘could not simply decide to end the three year term just like that.’ Attorneys Irshaad Ali and Nalini Bansee represented NATUC while Antoinette Alleyne and Nisa Simmons represented the Minister of Labour while Kerwyn Garcia and Vishma Jaisingh appeared for JTUM which intervened in the judicial review claim.

EBC communications manager, Dominic Hinds, in a telephone interview yesterday, also noted that while the EBC had received the list of aldermen from the political parties, it was unsure whether they (the political parties) had kept the four-day timeline in which to submit their list to the Commission.

“Once the elections are certified, the EBC writes to the different corporations indicating to them the number of aldermen they have been allocated, that’s four days after the elections have been certified,” Hinds said.

“The Corporations now have four days to respond to the EBC, these are the names that we are putting forward to be aldermen and the EBC will then respond to them and say we acknowledge your correspondence indicating these are the persons and will now make it public,” he said, adding, “we have indeed received their correspondence, I can’t say exactly the time line it was received, but we have received it and very soon we will make it public and get back to them indicating these are the persons we recognise and thereafter, they will go through for the selection of their mayors and chairmen.”

“Please submit them to the Parliament so that we can look at them and we will try to accommodate them as best as we can,” he said yesterday in the House of Representatives.

Imbert’s call was made while in the process of wrapping up the debate on the bill but did not complete the debate.

Government Leader of Business Camille Robinson-Regis interrupted to adjourn the session to Monday at 1.30 pm as Imbert reminded her, “I am not finished yea” and she acknowledged.

Newsday understands Robinson- Regis took the stance to adjourn the session to give the Opposition a chance to make their contribution at Monday’s sitting.

If TT does not become FATCA compliant, sanctions will include the loss of foreign correspondent banking. In his presentation, Imbert said, “We hope the Opposition would stop grandstanding, stop ‘gallerying’, and stop playing the fools with a very serious matter.” He expressed the hope that before the bill goes to the committee stage, Government will get something out of them.

“It is ridiculous for something as serious as this where we are going to lose all our correspondent banking and our financial relationships with the rest of the world that the opposition is just carrying on and they won’t give us written amendments.” It is “highly unfortunate”, he said, that they walked out of the Parliament, describing it as “a stage-managed walk out.” Government wanted to hear what the Opposition proposed amendments were, he said.

“We have tried our best based on the newspaper advertisement and the vague utterance they have made in the newspapers to fashion amendments that capture their complaints, but we don’t know. All we hear is that they coming with amendments,” he said.

Since September 9 or 10, Government has been trying in the Parliament, he said, “to squeeze out of them” their required amendments, but was only getting old talk.

The Opposition while in the last government made a commitment since May 2013 to enact legislation to become FATCA compliant and were now “procrastinating”, Imbert said.

He sought an extension to the deadline and has given a commitment to ensure that the legislation is passed by February 2017, and that the systems and processes to ensure reporting were in place by September 2017.

If TT fails to meet the deadlines, he said, “I daresay, we would not get another extension.”