RELATIVES of Mantoor Ramdhanie want the State to release his body to them as well as a portion of his seized assets so they can give the 59-year-old convicted drug dealer a funeral.

Ramdhanie, who was sentenced to life imprisonment eight years ago, took in ill at the Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain prison on Wednesday and died on Thursday at hospital. News of his death caused his wife at Icacos Village to fall ill. She had to seek medical attention. Ramdhanie has one daughter and two of his three sons live abroad. The other son, Deochan, is serving a life sentence along with two other men for the same offence Ramdhanie was convicted for in 1996 — drug trafficking. A wake is being held at the Icacos home but tomorrow, attorneys for the Ramdhanie family of Icacos Village, will file a summons in the High Court for the State to release a portion of the $3.3 million confiscated by the State from the drug dealer’s assets. Already, attorneys at Lincoln Chambers, Port-of-Spain, have written to the DPP Geoffrey Henderson on the matter. They have dispatched a letter to the Commissioner of Prisons requesting that Ramdhanie’s body be released to his wife and four children. Except for a person on Death Row, a prisoner who dies in prison is given a pauper’s funeral if his or her body is not claimed by relatives. The summons to be filed on behalf of one of Ramdhanie’s children will seek to have the State release $15,000 from the seized $3.3 million assets under the Confiscation of Property Act.

Ramdhanie died just two days after the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England granted him leave to appeal his life sentence. Lord Hutton, leading a panel of two other judges, granted Ramdhanie leave on Monday morning. Their Lordships granted leave only on three of the 17 grounds filed by attorneys of Lincoln Chambers. Contacted yesterday, attorney Mark Seepersad of Lincoln Chambers, said that it was only yesterday he was able to reach Ramdhanie’s attorneys in England to break the news of his death. They are British QC Edwards Fitzgerald and Dr Charles Seepersad. The State was represented by British QC Peter Knox. Seepersad (Mark) said Ramdhanie’s son, Deochan, who is incarcerated at the Maximum State Prison (MSP) in Arouca, was only informed about his father’s death late yesterday. Senior prison officers told Sunday Newsday yesterday that no arrangements had been put in place up to late yesterday for Deochan to view his father’s body. Since Deochan’s escape from the Princes Town Magistrate’s Court in 1998 to the Venezuelan mainland, security had been tight around the cell block area at the MSP where he stays.

Seepersad said a letter has been sent to Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee and the Prison Commissioner requesting that Deochan be given the opportunity to view his father’s body and also attend the funeral. Ramdhanie two other sons who live abroad, Seepersad said, are planning on returning to Trinidad to give their father a funeral according to Hindu rites. Ramdhanie, son Deochan, Patrick Toolsie and Ken Gresham were convicted for drug trafficking in 1996 by a jury and sentenced by Justice Stanley John to life imprisonment. The judge ordered that they not be released until after 20 years. Subsequent to their jailing under newly enacted legislation (Confiscation of Property Act), the State seized a total of $5.5 million worth of assets belonging to the four accused men. Seepersad said that he spoke to Ramdhanie as recent as Monday about his appeal in the Privy Council. Ramdhanie, he added, pleaded with him to secure bail for him, principally because he was extremely ill. He had suffered two stokes, was chronically diabetic and ailing from high blood pressure. Ramdhanie also had a heart condition. Three applications were made in court on Ramdhanie’s behalf for bail but all were refused.

Yesterday, relatives who spoke on anonymity, said they were dissatified with the treatment meted out to the ailing Ramdhanie at the prison. Seepersad took issue with the fact that Ramdhanie was kept at the Frederick Street prison while son Deochan was incarcerated at the MSP. “As to why an ailing prisoner was not kept at MSP where there are better facilities, the authorities have not answered,” Seepersad said. The attorney said that on Monday last, relatives were forced to purchase medication for Ramdhanie because a prescription lodged at the prison several days had not been filled. Ramdhanie was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital on Wednesday when he fell ill.

A 28-year-old Penal man was shot dead in Belmont yesterday.  The dead man, according to his driver’s permit, is Wayne Cassius Allum, of Loukie Trace, Penal.

Allum’s murder is the second by shooting that occurred within a near 19-hour period, the last one being National Housing Authority (NHA) sanitation worker, Vernon Hospedales, 52, who was killed in his home in what police said is a clear case of robbery. In Allum’s case, police said around 2.50 pm yesterday, a resident heard a single gunshot coming from the vicinity of Walcott Lane and Belle Eau Road, Belmont. The resident checked then saw Allum’s body slumped over the steering wheel in his white B13 Nissan Sentra vehicle, which was near a garbage dump. He had been shot once on the right side of his head. Police said the resident then contacted a police officer who lives near the scene of the shooting.  The officer took the bleeding Allum to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), where he succumbed to injuries around 3.20 pm.

A party of officers headed by Insp Glen Hackett and including PC Jodah of the Belmont Criminal Investigations Depart-ment (CID) later visited the scene. Police said they were trying to determine what Allum was doing in the area.  They have ruled out a robbery motive, saying that the man’s wallet containing an undisclosed quantity of cash has been recovered. At the scene yesterday, residents gave conflicting reports, with one saying he heard several shots, while another one said he heard one shot. They, however, agreed that they never saw the man in the area, and believed it was a drug deal gone sour. Investigations are continuing.

One man and his dog were left literally in the pouring rain yesterday after being evicted from his apartment at the rear of the compound of Bretton Hall, Victoria Avenue, Port-of-Spain.

The apartment block was then demolished by workmen. The block was wrecked to make way for a new six-storey office block for which the grounds have already been excavated and steel rods laid for the foundation. Displaced resident, Joe Texeira, bemoaned his eviction as the last tenant, claiming the landowner, Mark Poon Tip, had breached due legal process although Poon Tip had a different version of events. Texeira said: “I’ve been living in the apartment for 14 years since September 1989 and I registered with the Rent Assessment Board in October 1989. On 19 March in the Second Magistrate Court, Justice Andrew Stroude dismissed the case against me (a case allegedly brought by Poon Tip to evict him).”

Texeira said that since then, Poon Tip had twice refused to accept rent payments from him and that events had culminated in yesterday’s eviction. He lamented that the workmen had also turned his small pet dog, which he had locked in his bedroom, loose into the pouring rain.  Texeira said he came home yesterday to see 20 or 30 men breaking down his apartment. He claims they went through his household possessions and personal effects. “They were breaking down my home in the presence of Mr Poon Tip who has known me for 14 years. A gentleman claiming to be a bailiff was also there but I was never served. What was done today was totally illegal. I now have nowhere to live.” But Mark Poon Tip disputed the tenant’s viewpoint.

Poon Tip said: “He wasn’t unlawfully evicted. There was a certified bailiff and four police officers present. In fact, he had called the police who came and saw what was happening and then left. He had received a notice of eviction and was supposed to be out by the end of July. We made every effort to find alternative accommodation for him but he refused the offers we made to him. The company had no choice but to take the action it did yesterday.” He assured the company had been very careful with Texeira’s possessions and regretted that the matter had to be resolved by the eviction.

Poon Tip said that he and not Texeira had won the court case. “The magistrate ruled in our favour the right to recover the premises and said the company did everything to find him alternative accommodation. But the court also said that by accepting rent payments afterwards, we had started a new tenancy and would have to serve notice again.” Poon Tip said his company had lawfully again served Texeira with written notice of eviction, leading to yesterday’s events. He added: “We secured a two-bedroom apartment for him for six months until he finds another place and we’ve paid the rent for six months. We had also made him an offer (of a lump sum payment to quit) equivalent to 16 years of the rent of what he is paying now. He is being very unreasonable. The place is still available and our offer stands.”

A SANITATION worker at the National Housing Authority (NHA) became the country’s latest murder victim, having been shot to death at his Twelfth Street, Beetham Gardens, home on Friday night.

Police have since given Vernon Hospedales’ death a robbery motive, since cash and jewelry amounting to approximately $16,000 was stolen by the two gunmen who entered his home around 8pm on Friday. At the time of his death, Hospedales, who is also a part-time butcher, appeared to have been brushing his teeth since his toothbrush was in his mouth. Neighbours told police that they heard a loud explosion, after which they saw two men running away from the scene. On checking, police said neighbours told them that they found Hospedales lying in a pool of blood. The 52-year-old father of four, who police said was home alone at the time, was dead.  A report was made and a party of officers headed by ASP Alfred Sealy and including acting Insp Manichand Ramnarine, Sgt Creighton Hudson, Cpls Elizabeth Boland and Francis Collins visited the scene.

District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Althea Holder pronounced Hospedales dead and ordered his body removed to the Port-of-Spain mortuary for an autopsy tomorrow. Hospedales’ common-law wife, Sandra Alexander told reporters that Hospedales died like a dog.  She said he was a very hardworking person and believes it was people in the area who committed the act. Alexander said Hospedales had recently fought off bandits who tried to rob him at his home, and feels his death is just a continuation of that episode. Residents from the area said they know who did the shooting and claimed that one of the killers returned to the area yesterday morning. No arrests had been made up to late evening and Cpl Boland of the Besson Street Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is continuing investigations.

Meantime, officers of the San Juan CID are investigating Friday’s shooting of a Maloney man, who is reported to be in stable condition at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Reports are that around 10am Marlon Griffith, 31, of Maloney Gardens, was walking in the vicinity of Blanche Street, Bourg Mulatresse, when a man he knew approached him and fired a single shot, striking him in the leg. The assailant fled the scene, while passersby rushed Griffith to the medical institution.  A report was made and a party of officers that included PCs Sylvan, Weekes and Bennett visited the scene and retrieved an empty casing and projectile. No arrests were made up to late evening and PC Sylvan is continuing investigations.

Afrocentricity was the theme of this year’s Emancipation pageant  for female prisoners at Golden Grove on Friday evening last. The pageant, designed to allow creativity and expression, is part  of the rehabilitation process, and is an annual event in which the female prisoners design and make their own gowns, play musical instruments and choreograph their own dance routines.

This year’s Emancipation pageant was won by 22-year-old Kirsten Bodkin, a former sales clerk of San Fernando. Appearing as Ms Lybia, Bodkin, in the talent segment, she sang a calypso written by former inmate Tesa Gill  and an evening gown designed by Barbadian inmate Jane Spaulding. Second was Dutch national, Bianca Tel, 21, who appeared as Miss Botswana. She performed a folk dance choreographed by fellow inmate Georgette Henry. Tel was also the winner of the Miss Photogenic title. In third spot was Miss Rwanda, Demali Olivierre, who performed a monologue.

Attending the show was Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Carlo McHoney, Superintendent of Prisons, Allister James, Ag Asst Supt Prisons Hasrubal Sampson, and retired female Prisons supervisors. Chief Judge was Lucia Eligon of Sacha Cosmetics. The Emancipation pageant now in its eighth year was coordinated by a committee headed by Prisons Supervisor, Esther Knights and includes Prisons officers Charmaine Johnson, Helen Trotman, Lisa Wright, Beverly-Ann Breton, Pat Asseviero, Sharon Jones and Hazel Toney.

IN pursuance of a police investigation, members of the Police Service will soon be able to get “real time information” on registered owners of vehicles who may or may not be involved in criminal activities.

This will be implemented by Tuesday, according to Transport Commissioner Nathaniel Douglas, who called an impromptu press conference yesterday to inform the media of the latest development. Douglas, speaking from his Wrightson Road office, told reporters that the Licensing Department along with the Police Service, under Acting Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs, have agreed that the computerised database at the Licensing Department should be immediately linked with that of the Police Service. As a consequence, Douglas said, with the “press of a button,” all information will be made immediately available to the Police Service and will go a long way to find the drivers who do “dirty work.” Senior police officers told Sunday Newsday that for several years the police have not been getting “timely information” when pursuing vehicle owners who may or may not be involved in illegal activities. “Now we will be able to get ‘real time information’,” one senior officer said.

The Transport Commissioner also spoke at length on the use of flashing lights and pleaded with members of the public to report to the nearest station any driver whose vehicle is illegally fitted with flashing blue lights. “They (drivers) will be stripped of the lights and the driver can be prosecuted,” a stern-sounding Douglas told reporters. The Transport Commissioner said he had a personal encounter with an individual, who he said was in possession of a blue light and claimed he passed through Customs with it on his way from Miami. Douglas had a warning for the Customs people too: “We are going to look at the Customs area too.  We are now at a cross road and it is a question of make or break.” He said Police Commissioner Snaggs intends to speak with the Comptroller of Customs. Douglas further pointed out that only regular police vehicles are supposed to have flashing blue lights and that red lights are supposed to be used only by the Fire Service, the green is to be shared between the Prisons, Army and Ambulance Services, while he said the amber is strictly for trucks and private security firms.

Douglas said he had heard adverse reports about some security firms. He accused their drivers of overtaking and using their devices illegally. He also said that the name of a certain security firm was called in the recent kidnapping of teenagers Yves Ayoung Chee and Benedict Barrette. Douglas said he has been in consultation with a number of security firms — while some have come to see him. He also said that they have already implemented a system to deal with drivers who use heavily tinted windows. Saying that the law points out that people from the outside should be able to see individuals on the inside of a vehicle, Douglas told the media that road blocks, spot checks and patrols have been stepped up in an attempt to remove illegal tints from vehicles.

LATEST — A man last night stabbed his wife while she was sitting in a maxi taxi about to travel home. He then pulled her out of the vehicle and slit her throat. The woman died on the spot at the Princes Town Maxi Taxi stand. Police officers were on the scene up to late last night.

Former monthly-paid employees at the now defunct Caroni (1975) Limited began receiving their Voluntary Separation of Employment Package (VSEP) cheques at the company’s section offices yesterday. However, a delay in processing workers’ income tax applications by the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) saw employees receiving only 50 percent of their VSEP payments.

According to a company official, the BIR had requested that all employees submit updated tax returns for processing, including for the 2002 financial year. And that due to the “sheer volume” of tax return forms, the BIR was not able to complete the processing of returns before the cut-off date for payment of the VSEP cheques. However, he pointed out that the process would be completed by early this week with employees receiving the remaining payments by next Thursday.

Meanwhile, Association of Technical Administrative and Supervisory Staff spokesperson, Jai Ramkissoon, said the entire exercise was proceeding “fairly smoothly” and that former staff members, numbering in excess of 1,000 persons, had been advised to visit the company’s section offices to collect their cheques. Ramkissoon also revealed that “certain adjustments” to the staff’s pension plan had been agreed to by the company’s board following a meeting on Thursday evening. Government has allocated an estimated $800 million to cover Caroni’s VSEP programme.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has observed that the annual Tobago Heritage Festival was well placed to promote domestic tourism but stressed that this aspect of national development was not getting the attention it deserved.

He made the point in an address during the formal segment of the festival’s “Caribbean Night” presentation at Shaw Park Thursday night. Manning noted that in addition to national cohesion and understanding, “It (Heritage Festival) will also promote domestic tourism, which is another aspect of national development that needs much more attention than before. “For tourism to be fully integrated into the national economy, and not solely dependent on the external environment, domestic tourism must become an essential platform of the way forward,” Manning said.

The Prime Minister emphasised the need for more national awareness, declaring: “Too many of our ordinary citizens are limited to a visit to a nearby beach and liming out of a car trunk. The fact is, we need greater interaction!” he asserted. “How many citizens of Port-of-Spain have been to this Tobago Heritage Festival? How many citizens of Tobago have been to Mayaro or a chutney show? And even in Trinidad itself, how many citizens of Cedros, or even San Fernando, have been to Toco?” Manning asked.

Residents of Guayaguayare and interested parties have until Friday, September 12, 2003 to comment on the Environment Management Authority’s (EMA) Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Report on the proposal to construct a US$50 million port facility at Galeota Point, Guayaguayare.

In December 2002, Cabinet agreed to grant approval for Plipdeco to develop the port facility and deep-water harbour at Galeota Point. However, as the proposed port would have significant environmental impacts on the area, the project needed a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) before construction. Consequently EcoEngineering Consultants Limited prepared the EIA for Snubbing Services Limited. The Snubbing Services Ltd file in the National Register in the EMA offices shows that construction of the proposed port would mean clearing 15 hectares of land from Isthmus Road to the shoreline, reclaiming 35 hectares of land from the sea, the construction of a finger pier 480 metres long, and the dredging of a 1.2 km access channel and turning basin.

Plipdeco has held two public meetings on the proposed new port — one in Guayaguayare, the second in Mayaro — at which residents expressed their concerns about the area of beach loss due to shifting sands, an increase in the seaweed problem, loss of mangrove and the relocation of fishing due to traffic at the proposed marine terminal. Residents were also concerned about the impact on local infrastructure.