Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Hend-erson yesterday gave directions to the police to charge a 17-year-old Valencia man with the murder of retired prisons welfare officer Goodraj Jaggernath.
Jaggernath, 54, a father of four, was shot dead on August 25 at La Horquetta Trace, off Tumpuna Road. Two men claiming to be police officers but not dressed in police garb broke down the door leading to the bedroom where Jaggernath was asleep. Jaggernath, who tried to arm himself with a cutlass, was shot in the chest and subsequently died. The killers then stole a quantity of jewelry and $30 cash. Then then drove off in Jaggernath’s grey Mitsubishi Lancer. A post-mortem revealed that Jaggernath died from internal haemorrhage consistent with a gunshot wound. A party of officers led by Sgt Johnny Abraham and including Cpl Eric Parks carried out extensive investigations, which led them to the home of a 17-year-old man. He was arrested on Saturday and questioned by the officers. Yesterday, directions were sought from the DPP who reviewed the evidence of the police and gave instructions for a charge of murder to be laid. The man was also charged with four counts of robbery committed in the Eastern Division. The teenager will appear before an Arima magistrate today.
NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY (NHA) executive director Noel Garcia yesterday revealed that the security forces will be deployed in “high risk areas” in order to prevent criminal activity from resurfacing in the NHA’s new apartment refurbishment programme which begins on September 29. On Sunday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning spoke about the armed forces’ role in the new programme.
In an interview at the NHA’s South Quay headquarters minutes before a meeting with the police-army Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) at 2 pm, Garcia said the security forces will be operating in areas “where we are seeing a tendency to some kind of violence of turf warfare” such as Morvant, Laventille and Beetham. He recalled that while the first nine months of the last apartment refurbishment programme were “an unqualified success, we ran into problems when certain elements, I would say, infiltrated the programme.” Garcia said their intrusion saw “the emergence of unsavoury activities such as ghost gangs, turf wars and in some instances people claiming payment for work that was not done,” and was one of the reasons why that programme was stopped, and those elements were rooted out.
However, Garcia stressed that the police-army mission would not be one of an occupying force but one “in conjunction with the community working together to get the job done.
“So it is not a question of the army walking around with guns, or intimidating people,” the NHA executive director added. Garcia also disclosed that to improve the efficiency of the new programme, the NHA has hired three project management consulting firms at a cost of $675,000, to work together with the NHA’s technical staff to identify the areas where work remains to be done. Documents supplied to Newsday identified these areas as San Fernando, Couva, Maloney, Port-of-Spain East, Port-of-Spain Central and Port-of-Spain West. He also revealed that a training element will be incorporated into the new programme through the involvement of Army engineers and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Garcia added that the NHA and IATF will closely monitor activities to ensure there is no spillover of questionable activities from “high risk” to other areas.
According to the NHA documents, an estimated 6,000 persons will be employed in this new programme and a budget of $15 million is allocated to complete the remaining ten to 15 percent of refurbishment works left unfinished by the last programme. The new programme will run for six fortnights with each of the 6,000 persons employed for at least two fortnights during the course of the programme. Garcia said that by December 31, the NHA will have constructed 2,435 units while Udecott will construct another 1,976 units and the NHA is “on course” to helping Government achieve its goal of constructing 10,000 houses annually. He also said the NHA hopes to spend $350 million on housing in the next fiscal year and while uncertain whether this funding would come via the 2003/2004 Budget or other means, “housing is a priority.”
POLICE officers attached to La Brea Police Station, say they are working in fear for their lives since they believe an outbreak of the dreaded and potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever has hit the station.
This after a corporal was confirmed to have contracted the disease while three other officers are being tested, after showing symptoms of the disease. Frightened officers reported to Newsday yesterday that the fear of contracting dengue was the latest on the list of woes at that police station, which according to the officers, is one of the most dilapidated and run-down stations in the country. Sources told Newsday that for almost a week nowes, Cpl Gillis Small has been warded at the Augustus Long Hospital, after tests confirmed that he had contracted the disease. Last week Thursday, a team of officials from the Ministry of Health (Insect Vector Control Department), while on routine check and spraying duties in the La Brea area, told officers they had identified several mosquitoes lurking in and around the police station as being of the Aedes aegypti species known to be the carriers of this potentially deadly disease. Infection with the dengue virus produces a spectrum of clinical illnesses ranging from a non-specific viral syndrome to severe and fatal haemorrhagic fever.
Yesterday, a police officer admitted there was a general sense of fear among his colleagues when they reported for duty since their health and very lives were at risk. Sources told Newsday that 13 officers are now at risk of contracting dengue at the police station, not to mention members of the general public who visit the station to lodge reports. “Our lives are in danger because dengue fever is something that could kill you, if it is not treated in time. And given the situation at the public hospitals, if you don’t have money to go in a private nursing home, you are very much dead like a dog,” an officer told Newsday, as he referred to the shortage of critical pharmaceutical drugs at the San Fernando General Hospital. The policeman added dejectedly, “as I sit here talking to you, I am praying that the Lord spare my life, as I have no other way to protect myself from the elements.” The suspected dengue outbreak is the latest misfortune which police officers have had to endure at the station.
The physical conditions at the rural police branch is considered one of the most dilapidated and deteriorating in the country, with leaking roofs, regular invasions from mosquitoes and other insects, broken toilets and inadequate change-room facilities, being the general features of this police station. Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the Ministry of Health, Keith Sancho, told Newsday yesterday that the Ministry would carry out routine insecticide spraying at the police station in an effort to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Newsday was unable to reach Mr Sancho later on in the day, in an effort to get him to answer several follow-up questions.
Criminal courts throughout the country were shutdown yesterday as protesting State prosecutors went on their second day sickout. The prosecutors are protesting poor terms and conditions.
In the meantime, Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson met with Attorney General Glenda Morean yesterday to discuss the sickout action. At that meeting it was agreed that a representative of the protesting attorneys be invited to meet with the AG to discuss their grievances. Judges sitting in the Assizes in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando had to adjourn matters listed to start before them yesterday. Some were adjourned to today and others to later in the week or next week. Among the affected cases to be adjourned was the murder trial of former Government Minister Dhanraj Singh. Singh’s trial was adjourned to today.
In Port-of-Spain, a murder trial which had started before Justice Melville Baird was adjourned to September 29, while a sexual offence matter before Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon also had to be adjourned. In the other courts, matters which were listed to start yesterday had to be adjourned when prosecutors failed to show. In San Fernando, the murder trial of two men which started on Friday before Justice Herbert Volney was also adjourned. The men are charged with the double murders of pensioners Selwyn Grant and his common-law wife Ursula Innis. Also affected were matters listed in Magistrates’ Courts in which State attorneys from the department of the DPP were expected to prosecute. The attorneys’ protest action started Friday last and DPP met with his protesting staff on Saturday.
Among the issues raised at that meeting, Newsday learnt, were a better pay package and their concerns if they are to replace police prosecutors in the Magistrates’ Courts. They also agreed with statements made by Chief Justice Sat Sharma at the opening of the new law term last week, that better terms and conditions in general should be offered to attorneys in the DPP’s department and especially for senior and experienced attorneys if the department is to attract and keep them. The CJ warned that without senior and experienced attorneys in the DPP’s department it would be like having to play cricket on a Lord’s wicket with coconut bats. The CJ had also suggested that State attorneys replace police prosecutors in the Magistrates’ Courts. Support for the prosecutors also came from the Council of the Law Association in a statement signed by its president, Karl Hudson-Phillips.
A total of 23 United Nations Volunteer (UNV) doctors are expected to be in TT by tomorrow. Fifteen of the 23 arrived yesterday as part of a contingent of 100 UNVs recruited to help alleviate the doctors’ shortage in the health sector.
The first batch comprises 17 General Practitioners, three paediatricians and one specialist in the areas of Ophthalmology, Obstetrics/Gyanecology and An-aesthesiology. Public Relations Officer with the Health Ministry Keith Sancho, who has been meeting the doctors at the airport, said the UNVs began arriving last Friday. He said the rest will be coming “over the next couple days.” Questioned about the Min-istry’s role in the orientation sessions for the foreign doctors, he said the Ministry “will be handling part of it.” While no additional details were forthcoming, Newsday subsequently learnt that the UNVs are being temporarily accommodated at Cascadia Hotel. United Nations Development Program-me (UNDP) will be handling their housing arrangements while they are in TT.
At the hotel, a group of six doctors who arrived last Sunday was seen in the lobby as they were about to return to their rooms. One doctor enquired if this reporter was a UNV. When told no, she smiled but declined comment. She would be willing to speak “later.” This sentiment was expressed by another female doctor who said they would talk to the media when the other doctors have arrived. The lone male doctor with them said they did not want to be photographed. The doctors smiled as they walked toward the elevator. As part of the US$12 million agreement between the Health Ministry and UNDP, the doctors will have one week orientation before being assigned to health institutions. A Ministry of Health official said this will begin on Thursday. The UNVs will be hired on contract for up to three years, and receive a “modest monthly living allowance.”
FOUR men, accompanied by police officers and a bailiff, yesterday levied on a property situated at Chacon Street, San Fernando, near the San Fernando Wharf, over alleged non-payment of rent by a woman who occupies the top section of the building.
However, occupant of the property, Mahadai Baldeosingh, disputed the men’s claim saying that the ownership of the property was presently listed for hearing in the San Fernando Civil High Court. She said her deceased husband had been deeded the land by his parents and that she was not required to forward rent monies for any of the businessplaces to the party, who are contesting ownership of the property. Four shops, including a barber shop, bar, variety shop and an eatery are presently located in the building, while Baldeosingh occupies the top floor with her family. Tenants hastily began packing goods and other items into vehicles after the legal documents (levy) were served. According to one of the businessmen who operated at the building, Jan Seecharan, tenants were now unsure of their next step as most had already paid rent for the rest of the year. This was the second time in less than a month that several shop owners at King’s Wharf, San Fernando, have sought the intervention of police officers, after an unidentified group of men attempted to close down their businesses.
POLICE Constable Dhanraj Maraj said yesterday he visited the home of Charles James at Haleland Park, Maraval, but despite a search in the swimming pool, nothing was found.
Maraj, who is attached to the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB), said that around 11 pm on May 23, 1998, he was in the charge room at the Maraval Police Station when Valerie Pascall came and made a report. As a result, he went with PC Mitchell and Pascall to the James’ residence. PC Mitchell interviewed Mrs Annelore James. Maraj said they were allowed onto the premises. They searched the premises and the swimming pool, but he could not see to the bottom because the pool was cloudy.
He said PC Mitchell used a rod to search the sides of the pool. “I was searching the pool to see if the boy (Akiel Chambers) was at the bottom of the pool, but I could not see the bottom of the pool.” Questioned by attorney Desmond Allum SC, PC Maraj did not find it strange that his colleague PC Mitchell was “prodding” the sides of the pool. This search of the pool lasted five minutes, Maraj added. After the search, the policemen returned to the Maraval Police Station.
SIX teenaged boys, arrested on Friday during a brawl between rival school gangs at a secondary school football match, appeared yesterday before a Couva magistrate charged with fighting.
The teens, whose ages range from 15 to 17, all pleaded not guilty to the charge of fighting when they were brought before Magistrate Gillian David. None of the six accused students appeared with an attorney. They told the court that they were ready to proceed with their cases without legal representation. The prosecution, led by Sgt Moonan Deokie, also indicated its readiness to begin the matters and the cases were set for trial on December 8. The accused were arrested on Friday evening and granted bail late that night at the Couva police station.
The boys were arrested at the Ato Boldon Stadium where the opening of the Central Division Intercol Football season kicked off. Police sources said the fracas erupted around 5.35 pm when the inter-school gangs squared off at the grounds where some 2,000 pupils from secondary schools in Marabella, Couva, Freeport, and Chaguanas were in attendance. The confrontations led to a riot among the young gangs, many of whom were reportedly armed with knives and other weapons. The six were later granted a $1,000 bond each by Magistrate David.
The protest action by State prosecutors was one of two reasons for yesterday’s adjournment of the murder trial of former Government Minister Dhanraj Singh. The other was an administrative situation.
Special British prosecutor Sir Timothy Cassel QC was expected to make his opening address to the jury yesterday in which he would have outlined the State’s case before calling his first witness. Shortly after 9 am, Justice Paula Mae Weekes, sitting in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court, informed the jury that there was an administrative situation and in light of that, she was adjourning the matter to today. Added to that, none of the three State prosecutors — Assistant DPP Devan Rampersad, prosecutors Sharon Raphael and Angelica Teelucksingh — who are assisting Cassel, were in Court. Attorneys in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are on their second day of a sickout action which they hope will force Government to improve their terms and conditions of work. If the sickout continues today, it is uncertain how far Cassel will be able to proceed with the trial unassisted. Cassel is not with the DPP department but was hired by Government to lead the prosecution’s team in the Dhanraj case. Dhanraj is being defended by Karl Hudson-Phillips QC, who leads Ravi Rajcoomar and Jennifer Hudson-Phillips.
DEPUTY CHIEF Magistrate Deborah Thomas-Felix was yesterday denied permission to introduce new evidence in the matter in which she is applying for judicial review of the decision by Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls to assign her to the San Fernando Court.
The matter came before High Court Judge Lionel Jones, Justice Margot Warner and Justice Stanley John in the Port-of-Spain Court of Appeal.
Justice Jones, also informed Thomas-Felix through her attorney Douglas Mendes, that the court would proceed with the matter on Thursday, minus the inclusion of the new evidence. Mendes was assisted by attorneys Stuart Young and Nisha Cardinez. In his application to introduce new evidence in the trial, Mendes indicated that there were three bases for admitting new evidence. He explained that it must be credible, consideration of the impact it would have on the case, and whether or not the evidence could be obtained at the time of the trial.
Mendes told the court that the results of a medical done on Thomas-Felix in May 2003 concluded that her back injury would be affected by long travel. He said that the results from this examination were not submitted, although they were assured that “everything had been sent.” He indicated that the only medical reports from January 2002 – February 2003 were submitted. Mendes also told the court that a letter had been sent asking that McNicolls revoke the decision to transfer Thomas-Felix to the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court. However, no response was given and the matter referred to the commission, who in turn sent it to the Medical Board. Justice Jones informed Mendes that McNicolls had responded to a similar letter in February and had indicated that he (McNicolls) saw no reason to rescind the decision.
