Police said, at about 5.30 am yesterday, Basdeo – a worker with the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) left home to go to work in the area.

Moments later, a gunshot rang out and residents found his body on the roadside with a bullet wound to the head. The father of two lived at Kanhai Road North, Barrackpore with his wife Samdaye Singh.

Relatives said only on Tuesday, the couple moved to the location.

For more than 20 years they were living at a nearby house and relatives were unable to give reasons for the couple’s relocation.

Singh said, early yesterday she prepared a meal for Basdeo and he left. She said she heard what sounded like an explosion but made nothing of it. It was only when a neighbour alerted her of what was initially thought to be a vehicular accident that she learnt of the killing. Sgt Ramjag, Cpl Patrick and other members of the Homicide Bureau (Region III) and Southern Division visited the scene.

On learning of the killing, several people, among them Member of Parliament for Naparima Rodney Charles and councillor Rafi Mohammed visited the bereaved family to extend condolences.

Another resident Carlos Samuel, 50, was shot and killed on Sunday outside his workplace at the Public Service Transportation Corporation compound at Lady Hailes Avenue, San Fernando. The father of two worked as a painter.

“We don’t know the man (Samuel) who was killed. That has to be something unrelated although he is from the area. As far as we know, Bahboo and Samdaye never received any threats for anything.

We are very confused right now,” said a relative.

Charles yesterday told Newsday it seems while the government works on the hot spots, people are moving out into other areas.

“It is very sad,” Charles said. “We do not know if this is something related to the area here or if it is a situation with the migration of crime to rural areas. We are noticing an increase. “ He called on government to have a serious evidence- based approach to crime.

The MP proposed that police visit each home in their respective jurisdictions “at least twice a year” so that residents develop a relationship with them. He said, in most instances the first time people meet police is when an incident had already occurred.

He charged government has cut back on various programmes among them the MiLAT and MYPART which create a sense of patriotism in citizens.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, 60-year-old Premchan “Borroughs” Anand was shot dead at Old Train Line in Claxton Bay less than four hours after Basdeo’s killing.

Police said residents heard gunshots and later found Anand’s body on the ground with gunshot wounds to the back. He was bareback and face down. Members of the Homicide Bureau Region III responded as well as PC Ramoutar and other members of the Couva CID. Police said Anand did oddjobs in the area and had no fixed place of abode.

All eight teams and seven individual players representing the hosts were eliminated on Tuesday’s opening of the international singles championships at the National Racquet Centre, Tacarigua.

In the Men’s Singles, TT ’s Jason Ramjass lost out to the top seed Karan Rajan Rajarajan of India, 21-6, 21-9 in their match up. Naim Mohammed eventually succumbed to his Dominican Republic rival, Reimi Starling Cabrera Rosario, in their hard fought battle 20-22, 21-13, 21-17. Naim Mohammed (TT ) was taken to the hospital, due to falling ill from the virus, and was unable to participate in both of his doubles matches.

The longest match of the day in the CAREBACO Open lasted one hour and thirteen minute and seemed like a marathon between Peruvians Daniel La Torre Regal and Jose Guevara.

At the end of the gruelling contest, with both players showing visible signs of fatigue, Guevara pulled off a 22-24, 21-19, 21-19 win over his fellow countryman to advance to the quarterfinals.

There were no other surprises in the Men’s side of the draw as the top four seeds progressed to the next round.

The Women’s Singles saw TT ’s Arielle Gomez bowing out to Montoya Riviera of Barbados 21-14, 21-8. Avril Plaza Marcelle and Nekeisha Blake, both representing the hosts, followed in Gomez’s path as they exited the tournament. Marcelle lost out to her Bajan rival Tamisha Williams 21-8, 21-12 while Blake fell victim to Santusha Ramzan of Suriname 21-16, 21- 15.

The two seeded Dominican Republic players were ousted from the Women’s Singles draw as they lost to their Peruvian opponents. Nairoby Jimenez could not muster revenge against her victor from the CAREBACO Under 19 International, Paula La Torre Regal, as she lost in straight sets 21-14, 21-8. Bermary Altagarcia Polanco Munoz suffered the same fate, losing to Ines Castillo, 21-8 21-11. Jamie Subandhi of the United States and Daniella Macias of Peru, had safe passages through to the quarter-finals, defeating their opponents Ariel Lee, also of USA, and Bajan Monyata Riviera 21- 5, 21-4 and 21-9, 21-13, respectively.

TT suffered the same faith in the doubles categories as Renaldo Sinanan and his partner Leanna Castanada lost in their match against Anthony Mc Nee and Shari Hope of Barbados 21-16, 21-7 during the Mixed event. TT ’s Brandon Graham and Cindy Ramroop also exited the tournament after they confronted Peruvians Bruno Deza and Ines Castillo but fell 21-10, 21-9.

There was an early exit for the No. 2 seeds in the Mixed Doubles, Paula La Torre Regal and Diego Mini representing Peru played the very strong Dominican Republic pairing of Nairoby Jimenez and Cesar Brito Gonzalez. Jimenez and Brito Gonzalez continued to press and wore down their opponents to register a 16-21, 21-17, 21- 17 victory. There were no other scares in the doubles competition as the teams expected to vie for medals all made it to the quarterfinal round.

Sinanan also lost in the Men’s Doubles with counterpart Jeremy Lewis, crashing out to their Jamaican opponents Joel Angus and Shane Wilson 21-10, 21-13.

Following them were TT ’s Plaza Marcelle and her Bajan partner Shari Hope as they bowed out 21-12, 21-19, to Noemi Almonte and Bernary Polanco Munoz of the Dominican Republic.

In other action on Tuesday, Boys Town United edged the high-flying Express 3-2 in an entertaining affair.

In game one of a doubleheader at North Oropouche grounds, the youth and stamina of SP Boys were enough to get past Alliance 3-2. A goal apiece from Jamaul Glenn and Jamal Wharwood before the half gave SP Boys a comfortable lead.

Alliance’s Daren Allen pulled one back early in the second half, making it 2-1, but it was Jamal Wharwood who completed his brace, sending the SP Boys supporters in a frenzy. Leornardo Dacosta brought Alliance within one with a goal but SP Boys walked away with full points. Game two on the night featured Two Touch versus Gremiol, in what seemed like a revitalised Two Touch team. The table proppers took the early lead when Ajay Andel lobbed the goalkeeper with a long range shot. But this goal awakened Gremio, who replied in rapid succession with two quick goals by Dwaine Ovid and Sherman De Gazon respectively. Gremio continued their goal scoring form after the interval through Joel Hoyte and a late hat-trick by Rickel Dickson, with an eventual score of 6-1. Gremio goalie Trey Eligon continued his solid showing for the Coalmine- based team looking to return to the final.

In game one last Wednesday, a late lone item by Garvin George from Fishing Pond Youths was enough to give his team maximum points over neighbouring rivals North Oropouche. El Carmen suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Boys Town United and Alescon FC respectively. Boys Town trounced El Carmen 8-0 last Wednesday. Dorian Robinson’s brace in the second half for Alescon was enough to see off Kerry De Four’s goal for El Carmen in the game that ended 2-1.

Manzan United had all to play for versus Gremio FC with first place position one victory away, after Dragon FC dropped points earlier in the week. Gremio FC, beaming from a recent 6-1 win earlier in the week, drew first blood in the first half with a strike by Joel Hoyte.

Elijah Parson equalised for Manzan United, but it was Hoyte who again put his team ahead to make it 2-1. But the action wasn’t finished, Maznan captain Darkiel Ferreira salvaged a point for his team with the last kick of the game.

Fixtures: Today – Fishing Pond Youths vs SP Boys, Fishing Pond Recreational Grounds, 4pm; Boys Town vs Two Touch, North Oropouche Recreational Grounds, 6:30pm.

Saturday – Express vs Fishing Pond Youths, Fishing Pond Recreational Grounds, 4pm; Gremio vs Alliance, North Oropouche Recreational Grounds, 6pm; North Oropouche vs Alescon, North Oropouche Recreational Grounds, 8pm.

Sunday – El Carmen vs Manzan Untied, North Oropouche Recreational Grounds, 6pm.

The meeting also discussed the statutory requirements of the supervisory authorities in relation to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism among other matters.

Also attending the meeting at the TTSE C’s head office on Dundonald Street, Port of Spain, were Nigel Stoddard, deputy director and Avelon Perry, director of compliance and outreach, both of the FIU; and Arlene Stephen, director, corporate communications, education and information division, TTSE C.

A statement from the TTSE C said the meeting is part of a series of courtesy visits and strategic meetings the new head of the commission is scheduled to hold over the coming weeks with fellow regulators within the financial services industry, after which he will also meet with other stakeholders operating within the sector.

The statement said the meetings are intended to help the TTSE C strengthen relations with its stakeholders while fulfilling its obligations of transparency, fairness and accountability as the regulator of the securities industry.

A statement yesterday from the Office of the Prime Minister said Rowley had advised President Anthony Carmona to revoke his assignment as minister with responsibility for the Ministry of Public Utilities and appoint Le Hunte as a senator and Minister of Public Utilities.

Le Hunte’s retirement from HFC Bank (Ghana) Limited was announced on August 15 and 16, 2017 on the website Modern Ghana, which stated that he was leaving the managing director’s post, which he has held since 2015, to take up a ministerial appointment in the Trinidad and Tobago government.

Le Hunte is a graduate of Economics of the University of Western Ontario, Canada; he holds an MBA from the University of Manchester, UK and an MSc in Accounting from the University of the West Indies.

He has been an executive director at HFC Bank Ghana Limited since April 2013 and its executive director of risk management until April 2015. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago.

The statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said Le Hunte is a former general manager of Special Projects of Republic Bank Limited and chief executive officer and managing director of Barbados National Bank Inc. He has held the position of chief executive officer of Barbados National Bank and served as director at Barbados National Bank Inc & its subsidiaries. He also functioned as a director of National Enterprises Limited from June 1, 2012 to November 2013.

In an interview with Newsday yesterday, Alexandrov said two tests which were seemingly important to prove the baby was born alive were a floating test of the lungs, and a gastrointestinal floating test.

“A floating test was conducted and showed air went into the baby’s lungs,” he said.

“If the baby just made one breath being alive, the air goes into the lungs. When the lungs are placed into a container with water they float. In stillborn babies, when the lungs are put into the container with water and the lungs do not have any air, they sink.” He said a similar exercise was done with the baby’s stomach.

“The lungs, the stomach and the gastrointestinal tract were floating which means the baby was born alive. The baby was perfectly well developed weighing three kilogrammes and was 51 centimetres in length. The umbilical cord was cut and a small one-centimetre stomp was left.” Alexandrov said he faced a challenge in determining what to put on the death certificate.

“I put ‘abandonment in hostile environment of a newborn viable full term infant’.” He said according to national standards, in his profession, there are rules and regulations to follow and the case should be treated as an infanticide to investigate until proven otherwise.

“Leaving the innocent child all alone, absolutely helpless newborn in a hostile environment is a homicide.

If the baby was put into a box and then a garbage bag, the baby had a lack of oxygen. And if the baby was put in the box and then in a plastic bag, probably this little baby was going through hyperthermia (extreme increase in body temperature). For a baby of this age, I think all it takes is a matter of minutes to die. Maybe ten minutes or so.” He said for the sake of possible identification, if the police find the mother of the baby, samples of the baby’s bone marrow and bones from the thigh were kept for future analysis to prove the baby belongs to that woman.

Meanwhile, head of the Police Service’s Corporate Communications Unit, Ellen Lewis, yesterday told Newsday investigations are continuing and anyone with information on the whereabouts of the mother of the baby should come forward.

However checks yesterday on the Parliament’s website showed, this JSC is yet to confirm September 4 as its date to hold its hearing. As of yesterday, the Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Bill, 2016 JSC is the first committee that will hold any kind of meeting in September.

This JSC will meet in camera at Tower D on September 5 from 10 am. After that, the Human Rights, Equality and Diversity JSC meets in camera on September 8 at Tower D from 10 am.

Both teams lost the penultimate round-robin matches.

Last Sunday, UTT went down against Defence Force in a close encounter 74-71. The latter placed its unbeaten record on the line and took control of the match-up from the jump, leading 19-10 after the first quarter, and extended its lead to 36-20 at half-time.

However, in the third quarter UTT made a 27-14 run which reduced the deficit to just four, despite the energetic pointguard Derrick Boxill being on the floor for the Defence Force for his first game this season.

The third quarter ended 51-47 in favour of Defence Force.

In the final quarter, the teams then traded baskets until the final three seconds with forward Steven “Lighter” Lewis netting the final two points from the free-throw line, for his match production of 14, to secure the win. Boxill finished with 17 which included four three-pointers and forward Kyeon Joseph added 10 to keep their team unbeaten going into the big-four play-offs.

For UTT, Jeffrey Harris led all scorers with 20 points and Lazard Campbell sank 18 points which left their team with a 2-2 record after four matches.

Meanwhile, Caledonia Clippers lost for the first time in its four matches to date.

WEEKEND RESULTS: Saturday Boys 21 and Under Division – Brian Chase Basketball Academy def Potential 70-54; Hawks Basketball Academy def Straker Nets 99-31.

Men’s First Division – Straker Nets def Off Limits 71-57.

Sunday Boys 16 & Under Division – Spartans BA def Brian Chase BA 51-43.

Boys 21 & Under Division – Trailblazers BA def Togetherness BA 66-48.

Men’s First Division – Defence Force def UTT 74-71.

There have been conflicting reports on what may have transpired last Saturday. But the fact remains that every hike poses specific risks, all of which must be catered for. People contemplating going on hikes should be aware of these risks and should be cautioned about them.

In the first place, a hike is potentially a strenuous physical activity.

People with various medical conditions should be mindful. If you have asthma, diabetes, a heart condition, knee or back problems, or any other health or medical issue, you must limit both your exertion and your exposure. Stay within your training, physical limitations, and abilities.

Hikers must also be aware of their environment. This means keeping track of one another and not getting left behind. Questions have been raised about how Baird fell behind the group.

One relative has even gone so far as to suggest all hikes should adopt a simple system to ensure none is left behind. This system would see key personnel man the group at the start, middle and end. Such a system, if executed by people with experience and competence, can be useful. But the environment also poses certain risks. Hikers have to be aware of the weather conditions, the terrain, the nature of the surrounding flora and fauna. Knowledge of the biota present should also be a basic requirement for operators.

During a hike, fellow hikers should also look out for each other. Always remain in a group and communicate any difficulties or deviations. It is also important for there to be adequate breaks built into the hike and for hikers to remember the need to conserve energy and supplies for the return segment of the expedition.

Hiking is a popular activity. In addition to being a good form of exercise, it is also part of our tourism package.

If we are serious about developing the eco-tourism niche market, then we must ensure that best practices prevail across the board when it comes to hike operators. We do not comment on any particular party or entity but note there have long been concerns about the degree of organisation of local hiking companies.

Some have questioned the professionalism of these entities, which are normally family-owned, informal or small businesses.

While every person going on a hike has a duty to be adequately prepared for any eventuality, because of the nature of the risks involved, and the fact that hiking can be a vital part of our tourism package, there may need to be greater involvement by the State in the regulation of hikes. Hike operators – whether incorporated companies or groups and private clubs – should be made to seek permits to conduct hikes along specified routes.

The conditions for granting these permits should be tied to the resources and competencies of the operators as well as any other relevant factor, such as the nature of the terrain or likelihood of bad weather.

Operators should be made to conform to a requisite level of sophistication in operations and should pass all health and safety requirements.

The Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of National Security and the ODPM should collaborate on devising robust systems. Hiking should not be deadly. It should be a fun and income- earning part of our tourism package. Let’s make it so.

Guaya, the only unbeaten team left in League One, have a seven-point gap over FC Santa Rosa, who pipped neighbours University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT ) 2-1.

At the Defence Force Ground in Chaguaramas, the visitors took the lead through striker Carlon Hughes, before veteran defender Corey Rivers equalised in the 30th.

Former national defender Glenton Wolfe restored Guaya’s lead with a 60th minute penalty, while Hughes notched his second goal in the 72nd. Defence Force’s Michael Edwards reduced the deficit to 3-2 in the 88th but Guaya maintained their slim advantage until the final whistle.

Santa Rosa got a crucial victory at the UTT O’Meara Campus Ground, Arima, courtesy of items from Rashad Griffith (35th minute penalty) and Nathan Julien (70th).

Shaquille Smith was on target for the hosts, in the 32nd, before Santa Rosa responded in emphatic fashion.

In another League One fixture, Cunupia FC registered a 3-2 victory over Queen’s Park at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima.

An own goal from Jamal Spencer, after eight minutes, put Queen’s Park ahead before Cunupia replied with strikes from Stevon Stoute (11th) and John Stewart (50th).

Devon Modeste scored the second goal for the Parkites, in the 60th, but Stewart netted the winner, for Cunupia, in the 79th.

At the Canaan/Bon Accord Recreation Ground, 1976 Phoenix FC responded from a half-time deficit to spank Siparia Spurs 4-1. Marlon Phillip scored on the stroke of halftime for Siparia, but Phoenix stormed back in the second half, with strikes from Akil Frank (49th), Shelton Williams (67th), Lejandro Williams (72nd) and Dave Grimshaw (90th).

In a meeting of the cellar-placed outfits, Club Sando Moruga and Bethel FC battled to a 2-2 draw at the Grand Chemin Recreation Ground, Moruga.

Andrew Samuel (second) and Jessie Edwards (34th) were the goal-getters for Club Sando Moruga while Teejay Cadiz (13th) and Nikosei Chance (30th) scored for Bethel FC.

And, at the WASA Ground in St Joseph, hosts WASA and Police played to a goalless draw.

The top of the table League Two clash, at the Edinburgh 500 Recreation Ground in Chaguanas, between Prisons FC and Central 500 Spartans was cancelled on Saturday, while fifth-placed Petit Valley/Diego Martin United swapped spots with Youth Stars in the points standings after a 2-0 win (over Youth Stars) at the Roxborough Complex.

Erick Charles netted both goals for Petit Valley/Diego Martin United, in the 37th and 86th.

Harlem Strikers defeated Marabella FCC by a 2-1 margin, at the Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre. Neon O’Garro scored twice for Harlem, in the eighth and 30th, while Husani Thomas pulled one back for Marabella, in the 86th.

Weekend Fixtures – League Two (Saturday) – Petit Valley/Diego Martin United vs Marabella FCC, Diego Martin North Secondary School Ground; Prisons vs Perseverance Ball Runners, YTC Ground, Arouca, 4 pm; Harlem Strikers vs Central 500 Spartans, Frederick Settlement Recreation Ground, 6 pm.

League One (Sunday) – Club Sando Moruga vs Guaya United, Grand Chemin Recreation Ground, Moruga; Queen’s Park vs Bethel United, Hasely Crawford Stadium Training Field; Siparia Spurs vs Defence Force, Fyzabad Petrotrin Sports Club Ground; FC Santa Rosa vs Cunupia FC, Arima Velodrome; Police vs 1976 Phoenix FC, St James Barracks, 4 pm; WASA vs UTT , WASA Ground, St Joseph, 4.30 pm.