The apartment of a Laventille mother of two, who spoke out against the firebombing of a tractor at John John, Laventille on Sunday, was sprayed with bullets, around 2.45 am yesterday.
Leslie Ann Lewis of Building 16, Apartment A, Marcano Quarry, Laventille, a CEPEP worker, said yesterday that the criminal act will not deter her in any way, and she will not be silenced. Lewis was visited at her apartment by ACP Crime Oswyn Allard who promised police action to arrest those involved. Allard told Newsday that the matter is receiving urgent attention. Lewis told Newsday that she was roused from sleep around 2.45 am yesterday by the sound of rapid gunfire. She said that on checking, she was greeted by the sight of broken glass in her living room and kitchen. A glass shade from an overhead light was also struck by the bullets. Lewis believes that the incident is linked to her statements on Sunday when she spoke out against criminal elements who firebombed the tractor where a housing project is in progress. “I will not be deterred by this act, and no one will cause me to leave my home, even if I am killed in the process,” said a tough-talking Lewis. She said that Sunday’s bombing of the tractor was intended to intimidate and to send a message to some workers to abandon the job.
Sanjay Maharaj, the owner of the tractor, described the incident as an act of terrorism. He called for round-the-clock police protection for his workers. Maharaj is the Managing Director of S&M Construction, and is a sub-contractor at the site on Plaisance, Quarry Road. He was contracted to clear away a portion of land to allow construction of 120 apartments in 10 buildings as part of Government’s Urban Renewal Programme which is being managed by the Urban Development Company Limited and the National Housing Authority. Police investigators told Newsday that they are working on information that a group of men believed to be part of a Muslim group are responsible for the firebombing of the tractor. The same group reportedly threatened workers on the site last Thursday claiming that they had bid for the same contract, but were turned down. Officers of the Besson Street Police Station said yesterday that they have increased patrols in and around the site. When Newsday visited the area yesterday workmen were back on the job clearing the site. The workmen claimed that despite assurances by the police of a round-the-clock presence, they remain afraid for their safety. Member of Parliament for the area, Eric Williams visited the site of the fireboming over the weekend. Newsday learned that compensation for the burnt out tractor was being organised.
JAILED drug trafficker Deochan Ramdhanie has been refused permission by prison authorities to leave the Maximum Security Prison (MSP), Golden Grove, Arouca, where he is serving a life sentence, to attend the funeral of his father, Mantoor.
But it was a defiant Ramdhanie, who from MSP yesterday, instructed his attorneys not to allow relatives to proceed with his father’s cremation until he (Deochan) saw his father’s face. Both father and son were convicted of drug trafficking in 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment by a High Court judge. A total of $3.3 million was confiscated by the State from the Ramdhanies under the Dangerous Drugs Act. Mantoor, 59, died last Thursday after feeling ill at the Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain prison.
Prison authorities told Newsday yesterday that the security risk was “too high” to facilitate the transport of Ramdhanie all the way to Icacos to attend his father’s funeral service. Relatives had tentatively fixed the funeral and cremation at the Mosquito Creek (according to Hindu rites), for tomorrow. However, Ramdhanie is demanding from the prison authorities that he at least be given an opportunity to view his father’s face at the funeral home where the body is being kept. Newsday was told that Ramdhanie had asked his mother, who visited him at MSP yesterday, not to cremate his father until he (Deochan) got one last opportunity to see his father’s face. Ramdhanie and his father were kept at the Frederick Street prison, but the younger Ramdhanie was recently moved to MSP.
Attorneys of Lincoln Chambers, Port-of-Spain, wrote National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee and the Commissioner of Prison, requesting that Ramdhanie be given the opportunity to attend the funeral service. Attorney Mark Seepersad of the law firm told Newsday yesterday that based on discussions with prison authorities, it seemed hardly likely the request would be granted. Seepersad, attorney Gerald Ramdeen, Ramdhanie’s mother and an uncle, visited Ramdhanie at the MSP yesterday to break the news. Newsday learned that Ramdhanie became extremely distraught when he learnt his request for leave to attend the funeral was denied.
Ramdeen told Newsday yesterday that Ramdhanie then gave his attorneys instructions that his father was is not to be cremated unless he (Deochan) sees his face at the funeral home. “Yes, he gave us instructions that his father is not to be cremated unless he (Deochan) sees his face. We will be returning to the prison today to make that request,” Ramdeen said. Newsday learned that authorities are not taking any chance with Ramdhanie having to leave the confines of the MSP. This was in the context of his escape in 1998 from the Princes Town Magistrate’s Court to the Venezuelan mainland.
An Appeal Court judge yesterday made it clear that crimes against visitors in Tobago will not in any way be tolerated.
Justice Lionel Jones, presiding in the Tobago Court of Appeal with Justice Margot Warner, stressed that “we have to send the correct message” as the Court dismissed the appeal of Trinidadian Lincoln Samaroo and jailed him for two years beginning yesterday. Samaroo had already spent some two years the equivalent of three “jail” years — in remand prison awaiting the hearing of the appeal. “This court is disturbed that people from Trinidad could come to Tobago, where tourism is so important, and do this kind of thing,” declared Justice Jones. “It gives Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago, a bad name. We have to send the correct message; we want this appellant and others to know that this type of thing will not be tolerated.” Samaroo, 38, then of Edinburgh, Chaguanas, was jailed for five years with hard labour by Senior Magistrate Marcia Ayres-Caesar in the Scarborough First Court on March 29, 2000. He had admitted to stealing US, British and TT currency and other personal items from a room at Patino’s Enchanted Water Guest House occupied by Roy William Green and his wife, on the very day — March 18 — that they had arrived in Tobago on holiday. Samaroo had appealed against the “severity” of the sentence.
The appellant was represented at yesterday’s appeal hearing by defence attorney Brian Debideen. Prosecutor Devan Rampe-rsad appeared on behalf of the State. The facts were that the couple had secured a black pouch containing, among other things, airline tickets and three different kinds of currencies. The following day, March 19, the Greens discovered the pouch and its contents missing. Old Grange Police were alerted, and Detective Insp Trevor Reid, then Sgt, and head of the Special Task Force, along with other officers, carried out a search at the guest house compound at Shirvan Road, Buccoo. Samaroo was also searched, but in both cases nothing was found. Samaroo’s Chaguanas home was later searched and $554 and a cell phone were handed over by his wife. Samaroo later gave a statement in which he confessed to stealing the items, and was subsequently charged by Insp Reid. Based on his confession, the black pouch was later recovered on the guest house compound minus the airline tickets. “One of the distasteful aspects of this case is that you came to Tobago, did your dirty act, and then went back to Trinidad, leaving people here to be put under suspicion,” Justice Warner noted as defence attorney pleaded unsuccessfully for leniency on behalf of the appellant.
Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee and Ag Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs spent several hours on Monday night viewing islandwide roadblocks carried out in all police divisions. They were accompanied by ACP Crime Oswyn Allard.
The two even went as far as Penal to view the roadblocks which ended at 1 am. During the roadblocks, 165 offences were detected. Minister Chin Lee even spoke with members of the public who were being searched during the roadblock exercise. He also sought their views on the crime situation in the country. The Minister viewed roadblock exercises in Port-of-Spain, St James, San Fernando, Penal, Arima and Morvant. Newsday learned that the Minister thanked officers involved in roadblocks and all divisions and assured them that the government was looking at ways and means of improving their conditions. Officers pledged their support after being given pep talks by the Minister.
Yesterday, Ag Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs said that he was pleased with the efforts of his officers involved in the roadblocks and added that from what he witnessed, officers are genuinely interested in dealing with the crime situation. Yesterday, a massive police exercise involving police/army and licensing officers was carried out at the Beetham Highway yesterday as part of the anti-crime initiative. During the exercise, which started at 10.30 am and ended at 1 am, 17 tickets were issued, five persons were detained in connection with stolen vehicles, two others were held for outstanding robberies and two cars believed to be stolen were seized. The exercise was carried out at the east- and west-bound lanes of the Beetham Highway. It was led by Supt Gonzales, Inspector Breyton and Ag Inspector Sahadeo Singh.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning confirmed yesterday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had accepted his invitation to come to Trinidad and Tobago for bilateral talks. The Prime Minister declined to say more, saying: “Things are being worked out.”
The visit is carded for Friday, but no one knows the exact time that Chavez, who travels in his Presidential plane, will arrive at Piarco. Two Ministers, probably of Foreign Affairs and of Energy will accompany Chavez. Sources said yesterday that the visit was planned in just about “two to three days.” It is understood that Manning issued the invitation last Thursday. Venezuelan Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Hector Azocar, said yesterday that the visit was neither an official or a state visit. Rather it was a “working visit,” aimed at promoting “cooperation and understanding between close neighbours.” Azocar said that the new diplomatic thrust, is one whereby the head of state — as opposed to ministers and/or diplomats — visits a country. He said Chavez had recently visited Brazil, Columbia and Cuba and was due to go to Paraguay and Urugray on similar missions. Government sources described the visit as “highly sensitive” because one of the main issues for discussion would be how to mine the oil and gas reserves on either side of the dividing maritime line between the two countries. Sources said since the economic life blood of both countries depends on oil and gas, the talks on how to share their reserves are of vital significance.
Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago had an agreement in 1990 which established the maritime borders and dealt with joint energy reserves. However, in the meeting bewteen Chavez and Manning a clear policy on how to share these reserves, where there resources and the borders overlap, will be fine tuned, according to TT sources. Azocar confirmed that a key element in the discussion would be joint venture cooperation on energy policy with specific reference to the Deltana Platforma. The Venezuela state energy company, PDVSA, only recently awarded the acreage in the Deltana Platforma area to BG/Chevron Texaco and bpTT. By PDVSA’s own estimates this area could hold as much as 38 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of gas, which may, end up being produced through Trinidad. For Chavez the visit to Trinidad and Tobago comes at a time of economic difficulties in Venezuela, after a prolonged battle with the country’s Opposition. Massive political protests brought not only the closure of several oil companies — and the importation of oil from Trinidad — but a decline in general business activity, forcing the Government to take several measures, including the imposition of restrictions on foreign exchange. In fact schools in Trinidad which accomodate Venezuelan students report a drastic decrease in enrollment because of these foreign exchange controls.
In May 2002, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee stressed the need for closer security ties between the two countries, especially when it came to battling the illegal drug trade. Sources said that during Friday’s visit both leaders will also discuss threats to the national security of both countries caused by arms trafficking. It is expected though that Government, which is optimistic that Venezuela will support TT’s bid to be the headquarters for the Free Trade Area of the Americas Secretariat, will raise that issue with the Venezuelan president. Chavez had visited Tobago in July 2000 when he attended the Caricom Heads of Government meeting. Then he invited all Caribbean countries to a grand celebration in Venezuela in the year 2000 with a mission of forming one super political union. Chavez said then that it was the dream of Simon Bolivar, liberator of Venezuela and he felt that after 200 years the time was right for it to be done. He had asked Caricom Heads to go to Caracas on July 24, 2000, the birthday of Bolivar, to launch the event. Venezuela was the only country which has a full diplomatic presence in all Caricom countries and was the first to sign a one-way free trade agreement with Caricom.
PLANNING and Development minister Dr Keith Rowley declared that neither the United National Congress (UNC) nor the Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) have provided hard evidence to disprove that secret talks between “a maverick group of doctors” and the UNC undermined the Public Services Association (PSA) and led to a $40 million backpay agreement being reached five days before the December 11, 2001 elections. Yesterday, Rowley said the doctors “evidence” showed there was a squabble between the PSA and MPATT but no concrete proof has been produced to disprove that a group of doctors had direct access to the Cabinet. He reiterated that his main contention was the manner in which the former government conducted its business. “Let them (UNC) say one other group of public officers who had that kind of arrangement,” the Minister declared. Rowley said one month has passed and the UNC has been unable to disprove his statement. Attempts to contact Baptiste-Primus were unsuccessful.
RELATIVES of murdered Princes Town mother of four Juliet Victoria Cummings, who was stabbed more than 20 times and her throat slit over the weekend, are calling on police to protect them, especially Cummings’ young children after the prime suspect in the murder was released from police custody yesterday afternoon.
However, while relatives are calling for police protection, a senior police source told Newsday yesterday that plans were underway to have 24-hour protection for the family. Last Saturday, Cummings, 41, was allegedly attacked and murdered by a man whom she knew while she sat in a maxi-taxi at the NIPDEC car park and maxi-taxi hub in Princes Town. She was stabbed in the maxi-taxi, dragged out onto the road and her throat slit in the presence of several horrified onlookers. However, police sources complained yesterday that despite the fact that Cummings was murdered in the presence of several persons, they were forced to release the 34-year-old labourer because of a lack of evidence. “We released him after midday from the San Fernando CID because we just did not have any evidence against him,” a senior police source told Newsday. The source added that the suspect was to be placed on an identification parade but no one came forward to identify him as being Cummings’ killer.
The suspect was subsequently released since local law prohibits a person from being kept in police custody for more than 48 hours if that person is not formally charged with an offence. However, police sources assured that investigations were continuing and that in no way the case was closed. Sources said they would also institute special arrangements with security authorities at both Piarco and Crown Point Airports and also the Port-of-Spain Port since they fear the suspect may plan to flee the country. The suspect was arrested at his Buen Intento home mere hours after the killing. In a telephone interview yesterday, mother of the slain woman, Eileen Mendoza, said that the entire family was now “living in fear” for their lives. She said that the man (name called) had threatened to kill everyone in the family, including Cummings’ children. “That is what he used to say, that if he killed Julie then he would kill the three children, my daughter Jane and me,” a frightened Mendoza stated.
However, she said that the family had “no plans” to either move or send Cummings’ children away to stay with other relatives. “I believe in God and I believe that He will protect us,” Mendoza said, adding that while the family had relatives living abroad, the suspect also had relatives living in the same country. “That is why Julie never moved because the man would have come after her,” Mendoza said. And asked what would be the family’s reaction to the man’s appearance at Cumming’s funeral, scheduled to take place at the New Grant Pentecostal Church today, Mendoza sighed and said, “Boy, I really don’t know what to say. I just hope that that doesn’t happen.” She said that the family was now appealing to members of the public who had witnessed the murder to come forward and give their evidence to the police so that her daughter’s killer could face justice. Police have also echoed Mendoza’s plea, asking the persons who saw the killing to contact officers of the San Fernando Homicide Bureau. Investigations are continuing.
The Medical Professionals Association of TT (MPATT) yesterday said approximately $200,000 is being spent to accommodate 30 Cuban medical personnel at The Normandie, St Ann’s, from July 24 to August 16.
MPATT yesterday said the Cubans will be receiving a stipend during their two to three-week orientation sessions at the hotel “without seeing a single patient.” Vice-President of MPATT Dr Lakhan Roop asked: “How much of taxpayers’ money will be spent on the remuneration package for Cubans?” Local doctors are questioning the preferential treatment being given to Cuban medical personnel who have been recruited by the Health Ministry to alleviate shortages in the health sector. Roop also wanted to know how much more of taxpayers’ money is being spent to refurbish State-owned quarters for the Cubans and for their travelling expenses. He said the Cubans were a select group receiving select privileges because Indian and Nigerian doctors have not received similar treatment. During a media briefing at Kam-Po Restaurant, Chaguanas, Roop displayed photographs of the comfortable, posh facilities at Normandie. This was contrasted with photos of the doctors’ common room where local doctors take naps because they did not have a room where they could rest while on call. Roop said doctors sometimes had to sleep on the floor. Photos of the dilapidated exterior of the nurses’ quarters at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital were also shown. Planning and Development Minister Dr Keith Rowley has said the government had to go to parliament because money was not budgeted for the salary increases to doctors from the agreement signed on December 6, 2001.
Roop said the Cuban situation has not been budgeted and wondered if Government will also go to Parliament. “This Administration is not prepared to pay local doctors even the equivalent of their Caribbean counterparts to encourage quality English-speaking doctors.” Commenting on recent amendments to the Medical Board Act, Dr Colin Furlonge, president of MPATT said the government wanted to bring in doctors who did not meet the criteria of being able to speak English fluently, work under supervision and are members of the General Medical Council with a recognised university degree. He said the Cubans should adhere to standards acceptable to all and write the Caribbean Association of Medical Councils’ exam. He described the power given to the Health Minister, to appoint the five members of the panel to issue temporary licences to doctors, as “direct political interference with the usually democratic process and interference with professional standards.” Before the amendments, the Medical Board of TT was the only body with the responsibility to give temporary licences to foreign doctors.
An 18-year-old man appeared before Senior Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim yesterday charged with the June 7 murder of his friend.
Darryl Osbourne, unemployed, of Perseverance Village, Couva, was charged on Monday for the murder of 33-year-old businessman Pradeep Chris Seecharan, of Mc Bean Village, Couva. His arrest followed extensive investigations by Ag Insp Anthony Lezama, Cpl Dennison Henry and officers of the Maraval CID. The charge was laid indictably by Cpl Henry after he received instructions from the DPP.
Seecharan, owner of Chris Distributors, Chaguanas, was reportedly knocked down by one of his own vehicles at Perseverance Road, Maraval, after he left the Villa Maria Hotel. The post-mortem showed that Seecharan sustained a fractured skull and a broken leg. The car was later found abandoned at King’s Wharf, San Fernando. After the charges were read, the Magistrate informed Osbourne that they were laid indictably, hence he would not be called upon to plea and could not be granted bail. Osbourne told Lee Kim that he had no attorney and would like to apply for legal aid. The Magistrate transferred the matter to the Eighth Court when the man will appear next Friday.
TWO men were supposed to have appeared before a Chaguanas magistrate yesterday charged with sacrilege after a team of Chaguanas police officers reportedly caught the men red-handed leaving a church they had just broken into, taking with them over $20,000 in musical equipment on Monday morning.
According to police reports, around 10 am, Randolph Rampaul, the pastor of the House of God Church at the corner of Pepper Sauce and Endeavour Roads, Chaguanas, secured the church and left. At 11.45 am, a team of Chaguanas CID officers on morning patrol spotted two men, aged 19 and 23, both from Longdenville, leaving the church. The officers stopped and searched the men, who were found with over $20,000 in musical equipment. The officers checked the church premises and noticed a door had been forced in. The two men were arrested and subsequently charged for the offence. Pastor Rampaul later identified the equipment as belonging to the church. And in an unrelated incident, Couva police have begun investigations into the robbing of a businessman on Monday night.
According to police reports, around 7.30 pm, Azard Khan, 36, proprietor of Coffee on the Line located at Southern Main Road, Couva, was conducting business when a man entered the store and announced a hold-up. The man forced Khan to hand over a gold chain worth $2,000 and his wallet which contained over $1,500 cash. The man then ran out of the store and escaped on foot.
