AN 18-year-old boy awaiting CXC results was burnt to death early yesterday morning after a fire of unknown origin completely destroyed a two-storey house at Annisette Street, Laventille, police said.

The teenager has been identified as Keston Simon. His 42-year-old mother, Monica James, sister of entertainer Curtis “General Grant” Grant, told Sunday Newsday yesterday that if the firefighters had responded in time, her son might have been alive today. Police said around 1 am yesterday occupants of the house heard a crackling sound after which they discovered that the house was alight. Simon was reportedly asleep in the upstairs portion of the Government house with his mother, and three other siblings — Shaquille, 10; Shermaya, 6, and Diamond, 22 months. Neighbours, on seeing the fire, attempted to pull Simon out of the blaze, but were unsuccessful because of the heat, James, mother of seven, said. A report was made and a party of officers headed by Cpl Thomas and including PCs Wayne Charles and Mervyn Edwards of the Besson Street Criminal Investigations Department (CID) responded to the call. A Fire Service official said they received a call around 2.04 am yesterday. Tenders from Wrightson Road Headquarters and Belmont, under acting Fire Station Officer (FSO) Bruce responded to the call and found the building well alight. The fire official said the blaze was later extinguished after which Simon’s badly burnt body was found. District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Clarke pronounced him dead and ordered his body removed to the Port-of-Spain mortuary.

At a relative’s house where she spent the remainder of yesterday, James told Sunday Newsday that the firefighters came more than a hour after neighbours called. Even so, James said, when the firefighters arrived on the scene, she informed them that her son was inside, but that they paid her no mind, until the fire was put out. “I insisted to them that he was there,” she said. Chief Fire Officer Lennox Alfred and his public relations officer John Springle could not be reached for comment on this up to late evening.  James said just before midnight she got up to make a feed for her youngest child, Diamond. After, the grandmother of one said she checked her children and realised that everyone was inside and went back to sleep.  Soon after, she said she heard the screams of neighbours. “I jumped up and saw the whole place white,” James said, adding:  “I called out to Keston ‘fire, fire’, but he never answered,” she said. “My son burn up.  I have nothing.  I have no food, no clothes, no shoes, no milk, no pampers, everything burn in the fire,” James said, at which time her brother, “General Grant” gave her a comforting hug. James said her son worked at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) as a construction worker with N&H International Caribbean Limited. He was a student of the Belmont Boys Secondary School, and was waiting on CXC results. The woman said she could not say what caused the fire, saying she did not leave anything on, that there were no electrical problems and that she had no quarrel with anyone to suggest that it was arson. “My son is gone but I need help to get my life back together,” James pleaded with the relevant authorities. Fire officials said the Fire Prevention Department will continue the probe to determine the exact cause of the blaze.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning is being asked to reconsider the “unlawful action” taken by Cabinet regarding the restructuring of  Caroni (1975) Ltd.

The Sugar Workers and Farmers Action headed by Ashton Ramsundar has given instructions to the TT Civil Rights Association to take legal action “if necessary” against Manning with respect to the pension entitlement of sugar workers and the “unreasonableness and unlawfulness of the Voluntary Separation of Employment Package.” Attorneys Garnet Mungalsingh and Ravi Maurice Mungalsingh have written to the Prime Minister requesting that the incentive package offered to sugar workers be reconsidered and a mechanism put in place to protect their rights and legitimate expectations. Seukaran Tambie of the Cane Producers Association has also given instructions to the attorneys and a letter has been sent to Manning. The decision to have cane farmers sell to the Usine Ste Madeline factory on a quality basis will put 90 percent of them out of business.

In it he was informed that statutory contractual arrangements enjoyed by cane farmers under the Production of Cane Act, Chapt 64:01 relating to payment for their canes was altered without Parliamentary approval. The new “quality based” pricing system implemented unilaterally by Cabinet would be a deprivation of cane farmers property rights “without due process of law.” The lawyers said the decisions or action would be unconstitutional and/or illegal and/or void. Cabinet’s decision also caused farmers not to have convenient access to designated weighing and collection stations in established locations. One location at Usine Ste Madeline has been proposed. When this is fully implemented farmers will be spending more to transport their canes.

The attorneys reminded Manning that Cabinet, through the Committee on the Future of Caroni (1975) gave public assurances that farmers in the event of Caroni being restructured, a system of payment for cane would be introduced as an interim measure during a five year period when all canes would be provided by private farmers. This created legitimate expectation “of a substantive benefit in favour of cane farmers,” and it should be honoured by Cabinet. If government wanted to introduce a new method for pricing canes sufficient notice should be given to the cane farmers. “There must have been general and effective consultation with them and if the new system is to be effected, then the farmers would have to be afforded sufficient time and other technical assistance to adjust to the new policy.” The lawyers advised Manning that actions and/or decisions taken the Cabinet have infringed or threaten to infringe on the constitutional right of the cane farmers to earn a livelihood. Manning was told of the farmers’ right to seek Judicial Review at the High Court for decisions taken by government or any public body or person exercising a public duty or function. 

An early morning police exercise in the deep South yesterday resulted in the arrest of some 19 persons for illegal drugs, while a middle-aged couple was arrested for hunting a protected animal.

The exercise was conducted by members of the Siparia and Point Fortin CID’s involved areas from Cedros to Cap-de-Ville and started at 4 am yesterday morning. The party of officers, led by Ag Inspector Michael Wells, also arrested two Colombian male nationals, aged 30 and 32 years respectively, at a house in Chatham. The officers also seized fifteen grammes of compressed marijuana.An iguana was also seized from a Chatham couple. The couple, a 35-year old man and woman, are expected to be charged with possession of a protected animal and hunting during the closed season. And acting on a tip-off, the officers raided a house at Cap-de-Ville and arrested a 28-year old man for possession of a 16-guage shotgun. The officers also uncovered a quantity of marijuna under a pile of old lumber in the man’s backyard.

A woman was raped after boarding a PH car in Curepe. She was awaiting transport to her El Dorado home on Friday night after liming in Curepe when she entered a PH car occupied by two men and two women. The car dropped off the women. But then the two men deviated to Chaguanas. They took the woman to a house where they sexually assaulted her. She later made her escape. She reported the assault to Chaguanas Police and received medical attention. An arrest is said to be imminent.

IN AN EFFORT to save himself from a third bite from the same dog, a 32-year-old Belmont man threw a stone at the animal after it rushed him around 3.15 am yesterday.

However, the stone that 32-year-old Ricardo Seepaulsingh threw did not strike the dog, but landed about 10 feet away from a group of four men, three of whom are brothers. The group became enraged at the straigtener/painter, who admitted in an interview with Sunday Newsday yesterday from his hospital bed that he gave the men “some talk” after they told him he had no right to throw stones. He said they hurled racial slurs at him and fired shots at him. Seepaulsingh, who was at the time riding his motorbike east along  the St Francois Valley Road in the vicinity of Fifth Dimension Panyard, Serreau Road, said he then left for home. Thinking his problems had ended there, Seepaulsingh, on arrival at his Upper St Francois Valley Road home, telephoned the Belmont Police and while speaking to a female officer, heard four shots outside his home. Seepaulsingh said the officer heard the shots and a party of officers under Cpl Edwards, was despatched. The petite man said  that from inside his house he heard the men say they were going to kill him and his family.

In order to protect his family, Seepaulsingh said he came out of his home, after which the men snatched him and shoved him into one of two vehicles the men came in. “When I reached in the car I kicked one of the doors and it struck one of them and he became enraged and started to beat me,” he said, grimacing in pain. He was hit with the butt of the gun several times and suffered a wound to his head as a result. One of his front teeth was broken and he showed Sunday Newsday a bruise on the right side of his stomach. He also had plasters to the left side of his forehead and at the right side of his head. The men then drove off with Seepaulsingh, who was taken to a room at Serreau Road, where he was again beaten. While in the room, the four men heard the police and fled the scene, Seepaulsingh said. He said he then kicked open the door to the room but when he came out he observed another group close to the one who assaulted him. “I ran and hid in some bushes for about an hour at Upper St Francois Valley Road,” Seepaulsing told Sunday Newsday.  He said when he thought the coast was clear he came out and went to seek assistance at a woman’s house. Seepaulsingh said the woman did not come outside but called the police, who came and carried him to the city hospital, where he is in stable condition.

The police later arrested the four men, two of whom are 17, another 14, while the fourth one is 21. They were being quizzed up to last night at the Belmont Criminal Investigations Department. Belmont police said they found no firearms on the suspects. However, they said, the scene was visited and a projectile from a spent round of ammunition was found. “They had a shotgun and a handgun,” Seepaulsingh said, later saying that he was grateful for coming out of the incident alive. The four men are facing charges of kidnapping, assault, possession of firearm and possession of ammunition, shooting with intent and other offences, police said. Officers of the Belmont CID are continuing investigations.

A 30-year-old woman was shot twice in front of her Prescott Alley, East Dry River, home Friday night, police sources told Sunday Newsday yesterday.

Investigators said it was around 9.30pm that Kathy Ann Francis heard a knocking on her door.  Police said she opened her door and was confronted by a masked man. Using expletives, police said the man told Francis to come outside, after which he shot her in the mouth. Francis is reported to have struggled with the assailant, who then pushed her to the ground. There, police said Francis received a second shot, in her left shoulder.  Her attacker then fled the scene and a male relative took the bleeding woman to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), where she is reported to be in stable condition, according to police.

Police said a report was made and a party of officers from the Besson Street Criminal Investigations Department (CID), headed by Sgt Randolph Boyce and including Cpl Clevon Browne and PCs Wayne Charles and Mervyn Edwards visited the scene and conducted investigations. The officers made a search of the area for the suspect but he was not found. Police are yet to establish a motive for the shooting of the woman. PC Edwards is continuing investigations.

THE SUGAR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LIMITED (SMCL) has been appointed by Government with a mandate to “produce 75,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes of sugar solely  with farmers’ canes, from the beginning of the 2004 sugar cane crop.”

Prem Nandlal, who graduated with a BSc (Special Honours) Chemistry Degree from UWI, Jamiaca in 1968, is the chairman of the SMCL, one of three companies established to replace Caroni (1975) Limited, the others being the Estate Management and Business Development Company Limited (looking after the distribution of lands) and the Rum Distillery Company of Trinidad and Tobago (looking after the Rum Division). Government announced earlier this year that  Caroni (1975) Limited would be restructured and as such the 9,000 plus employees were offered a VSEP Package so that the Programme could begin in earnest to co-incide with the 2020 vision which has been the projection of the PNM administration since it took office two years ago.

In an exclusive interview with Sunday Newsday, chairman of the SMCL, Prem Nandlal, emphasised that “Government has given the sugar industry a new lease of life so that it would be less of a drain on the Treasury.” He explained, “What we have been mandated to do is to purchase canes from the 6,000 farmers  in the sugar belt, based on quality, with the aim of producing 75,000 tonnes or 80,000 tonnes of sugar annually operating the Usine Ste Madeleine Factory only.” He said that the new Board has been working assiduously to ensure that any possibility of a breakdown at the Usine Factory would be minimised when grinding operations begin  in January. He noted that should a breakdown occur repairs would be effectively handled to ensure that the projected target of 75,000 of sugar is met. Nandlal, who was the president for two years of the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce, as well as the CEO of the National Petroleum Company Limited, and Deputy Managing Director of PCS Nitrogen Trinidad Limited (formerly Arcadian Trinidad Limited) stressed that contrary to rumours, “…the sugar indsutry is not targeted for closure”.

He explained that there has been a restructuring exercise which gives the SMCL the mandate to produce sugar only, rather than be involved in the planting of sugar cane. “The SMCL is principally involved in  producing sugar at a minimum cost to earn a profit so that the main stakeholder, (the Government) would be drawing dividends at the end of the day,” Nandlal said. Nandlal who was also the CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Urea Company Limited and also acted as CEO of the Iron and Steel Company of Trinidad and Tobago, is at present a consultant to the National Energy Skills Centre and the Kaizen Environmental Services Limited. He has a total of 32 years experience in the business field and considers this appointment  a challenge, one that he has dedicated to the memory of his mother and father, both of whom were involved in the sugar industry as cane cutters and later as farmers at Garth Road, Williamsville. Nandlal said that the Usine Factory will employ approximately around 1100 persons.

Irate BWIA passengers were yesterday threatening to never again travel with the airline after their flights had been delayed without further notice of a confirmed departure time.

BWIA flights to the US and Canada were affected following a blackout in these two countries on Thursday, which resulted in the closure of airports. However, recent reports revealed that the power in many areas in the US and Canada had returned to normalcy. BWIA flights 484 to Miami, 425 to Georgetown, 790 to Barbados and 254 to Tobago were delayed leaving a number of passengers at the ticket counter calling for some official announcement from the airline about when their flights would be leaving. Among the passengers were foreigners, some of whom had been stranded in Trinidad for four days. B790 was delayed for six hours from 7.25 am to 1.45 pm. Anxious passengers were left with the sole option of depending on flight monitors for information which revealed no rescheduled time for flights to Miami, Georgetown and Tobago.

A spokesperson at BWIA Reservations told Sunday Newsday that the delay in flights are a result of the power outage abroad and BWIA was now focussing on “relocating flights and rerouting passengers.” This, he said, would take a day or two. When asked what passengers were expected to do until their departure he said: “We (BWIA passengers) have to bear with it. It’s the sad state that we’re in.” A very incensed Cheryl Burgess, who was returning to the US after a short stay in Trinidad, said that after confirming a seat on her flight BW424 she was told on reaching the ticket counter at Piarco International that she was booked on BW426. She was also told that BW426 was not scheduled to depart yesterday. “I am leaving here today (Saturday), no matter what they say. I booked this ticket since July and I confirmed my flight and now they telling me it full. If 426 is not leaving today what do they expect me to do. This is it with BWIA,” lamented Burgess.

Frederick Hamilton complained that his family, seven of whom were returning to Canada, called BWIA to enquire if there had been a flight change. “We were told there was an hour delay from 3.30 to 4.30 pm for our flight BW604. But coming here now there’s nobody to give you any kind of information,” Hamilton said. “I was supposed to leave here for New York since Friday,” said S Winston who was booked on chartered flight BW520. “Due to the outage I’m on standby and I’m not sure to leave because I keep coming back all the time. This is the fourth time and right now I’m on standby. Not even the (travel) agency could confirm the time of the flight, is call this number and call that number and nobody answering. You just getting the answering machine,” Winston told Sunday Newsday. Canadian national R Krishna said that he has been stranded in Trinidad for two days. “My flight, BW602 was cancelled on Thursday. We were taken to Antigua and stranded there and then they brought us back here and no one in BWIA could tell us when we can get a flight to Canada. You go to them and they tell you I’ll let you know at 5 pm, you go at 5 pm and they say I’ll let you know at 6 pm, and then at 8 pm. I just had to pay $2,000 Canadian to get a one way to Toronto on Air Canada. I have my job to return to. If this is going to continue, I’ll never travel with BWIA for the rest of my life.”

Crystal Worrell feared that her nephew’s (12-year-old American national Shaking Smith) ticket would expire before he could leave Trinidad. “He was supposed to leave at 1.05 am bound for JFK International, New York but his flight was delayed,” Worrell said. It was 2 pm at the time. “When I spoke with BWIA office and those at the counter they said they could do nothing but put him on standby. They said the next flight was at 4.05 pm.” Ravi Pancham of Couva became agitated and was close to tears when he saw no sign of his 73-year-old wheelchair-bound father who was scheduled to arrive at Piarco from New York at 12.12 pm. “It’s two hours now and when I go to the clerk at the counter to find out what happened they say that is confidential.” According to one American Airlines agent with whom Newsday spoke, AA flights were back to normal. They maintained their four flights a day to Miami, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico. However, the flight monitor revealed a two-hour delay on AA2046 bound for New York.