Three persons charged with the murder of Arima taxi-driver Anslem Regis, appeared yesterday before Arima Magistrate Gail Gonzales. The matter was adjourned to next Monday and the three were remanded in custody. The suspects were arrested last Wednesday, almost one hour after the murder of Regis. Darion Nicholas, 20, Chad Eastman 18, of Maloney Gardens, and Andrew Simpson, 25, of Mahabir Lands, Morvant, appeared stone-faced when the charges were read out in court. The charge was laid by Inspector Samuel Bullein of the Arima CID. Regis was killed last Wednesday while plying his taxi for hire. He was shot once in the chest and then thrown out of his car. The car was intercepted by officers of the Cunupia Police Station who arrested  suspects, seized a shotgun, one spent shell, and six live rounds of ammunition.

OPERATION “Second Strike” continued early yesterday morning, taking down seven people, among them a man believed to be responsible for the shooting deaths of Maloney teenagers Dane Mitchell and Dayon Reyes, who were killed on the night of June 10 at Piarco Old Road, Red Hill, D’Abadie. Police sources said around 1am yesterday a party of officers headed by Supt Errol Denoon, and including ASP Alfred Sealy, Insp Clive Brereton, Insp Manechand Ramnarine and members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force went to the Maloney plannings and arrested the seven. The arrests of the seven during the exercise which ended at 5am, police said, was based on intelligence gathering by members of Operation Second Strike, which is under the Interagency Task Force. The suspect in the double killings had not been charged up to late evening, and police said a “confrontation” is supposed to be done, whereby the suspect must be verified by people who claim to know him.

Senior officers said because of the absence of such a “confrontation,” a woman was recently released from police custody for allegedly stabbing a teenaged boy to death. Mitchell and Reyes, both 18, of Maloney, were on their way home when they were reportedly confronted by a man, who appeared to be waiting for them on the Piarco Old Road. One of the seven suspects, whose ages range between 20 and 28, is also believed to be responsible for robbing Special Branch officer, PC Montrichard of his service revolver and a quantity of cash on the night of June 13. The robbery took place at Ojah’s Bicycle shop in Tunapuna.  The officer was reportedly confronted by two armed men who announced a hold-up.  They also relieved the bicycle shop of a quantity of cash. The other five were held on outstanding warrants and robberies in the Curepe and St Joseph areas. Yesterday, the Task Force Public Affairs Office sent out a release stating that the arrests of the seven people followed recent success of the seizure of three handguns.

The Town and Country Planning Division turned down the first application from Vale View Terrace developer, Gowkaran Mahabir, to build townhouses on the slopes of St Lucien Road, Diego Martin, but subsequently granted Mahabir permission after the intervention of former minister John Humphrey  in December 2000. Documents from the Town and Country Planning Division reaching Newsday show that in a letter to the Managing Director/CEO of the Environmental Agency, Dr Dave Mc Intosh from  Senior Land Use Planner, Rodney Ramlogan wrote that Mahabir’s St Lucien Road development was “consistent with the relief, granted on appeal,” on December 6, 2000, by Humphrey, against the Notice of Refusal to Mahabir’s first application. The refusal notice is decided upon by an advisory panel, which made its decision against Mahabir in 2000. The letter from Town and Country’s Ramlogan assured the EMA that Mahabir would be allowed to widen Vale View by 4.5 metres or 15 feet, even though this meant aquiring part of some residents’ private properties. It did not say how this would be done. A letter of a site by the EMA in Decemer 2002 shows that an EMA officer included a comment that the developer had promised to widen Vale View. But some Vale View residents have said they will not sell or be forced out.

Yesterday morning work continued as usual on St Lucien Road without a  police presence, despite instructions from the Diego Martin Regional Corporation for Mahabir to have police regulate traffic while he restored the surface of Vale View, which he dug up last week. Trucks and bulldozers from Ian Ramdeen blocked traffic occasionally and continued their onslaught on the sidewalks. The Corporation also demanded that Mahabir fix the damage to the mountainside. Meanwhile, an engineer who preferred not to be named, said yesterday that work going on did not seem to be restorative in nature, but of construction. And this despite the order from the corporation. Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment, Rennie Dumas said yesterday he had written to the EMA for the Vale View Certificate of Environmental Clearance  to be checked to see if the conditionalities of the EMA clearance certificate were being met. The EMA itself despatched an inspector to the site yesterday to see what was going on.  The report should be ready by Monday and will be submitted then to  the minister. The site is an old abandoned quarry, on which Mahabir of Valsayn Avenue, Valsayn, first built townhouses two years ago. His brother boasted to neighbours that each was being sold for $800,000.

PLANNING MINISTER Dr Keith Rowley declined to answer a question Tuesday on whether Cabinet had taken a decision to relocate the Parliament.. Rowley was in the Senate to respond to a question on whether there existed a development plan for the City of Port of Spain which involved relocation of Parliament and other institutions such as the Magistracy and Judiciary. Rowley said several plans existed — one done in 1972, another in 1987 and another in 2001. He said,  however, that none of them provided the level of detail required for the critical appraisal of the existing use or future use of any of the main buildings. He said the 1972 City Centre plan made a strong plea for the preservation of the civic centre of PoS focusing on the Red House, the library, City Hall, Trinity Cathedral, the Cabildo and Police Headquarters. He said it was within this context that any proposals for the redevelopment of the city centre and any associated building construction for Parliament or  for any institution were to take place.

Rowley said in 1992 the Government, in response to the unplanned development that was happening, took certain decisions to develop the city centre with the historic Red House and Woodford Square as a focal point.  This led to the City Centre Development Group consisting of various stakeholders. He said two of the projects emanating from the group were the Brian Lara Promenade and the National Library. Wade Mark enquired whether Cabinet had taken a decision to relocate the Parliament. Rowley said this was a new question, which he couldn’t answer at that moment.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua: Four legislators resigned from Antigua’s governing party and declared themselves independent leaving the embattled prime minister hanging onto a slim majority in Parliament. The resignations came Tuesday, hours after Prime Minister Lester Bird said he would call fresh elections by October rather than be subject to a no-confidence vote called by backbencher Sherfield Bowen, one of the legislators to resign from the Antigua Labour Party. Bird’s comments came two days after hundreds rallied behind Bowen, who filed the motion for no-confidence last month alleging corruption and lack of transparency in Bird’s administration. Bowen, along with fellow backbenchers Hilroy Humpreys, Bernard Percival and Longford Jeremy, sent a one-paragraph statement to Gov. Gen. James Carlisle announcing their resignations. “We no longer repose any confidence in Prime Minister Lester Bird and hereby withdraw our support from him,” the letter said. In separate letters to House Speaker Bridget Harris, the four said they would remain in the Parliament’s House of Representatives as independents. The move leaves the Labour Party with eight seats in the 17-seat House. The opposition United Progressive Party holds four seats and the Barbuda People’s Movement, one. Independent Observer Radio reported that Bird met with Carlisle early Wednesday but details were not immediately available. Bird’s office has not yet publicly responded to the resignations. Earlier on Tuesday, Bird said he would hold a June 29 party convention to determine whether and when he should dissolve Parliament ahead of fresh elections, which are constitutionally due by March 2004.

Legislators from both the governing and opposition parties said Tuesday they were not against holding elections early, as long as there was time to update voter registration lists to eliminate Antiguans who were deceased or had emigrated. At least 30 percent of the registered names were not residents in Antigua and Barbuda, which has a population of 68,000, the parties have said. Bird also said he was willing to debate the confidence motion if Harris decided it was admissible, but said it should be rewritten. He had scheduled a debate on the no-confidence motion June 12, but the meeting was never held. Bowen said on Tuesday he would continue to push,  when he accused him of corruption and asked him to step down following allegations that he had sex with a teenage girl. Bird has denied the accusations and has agreed to testify in a civil case accusing him of raping the girl. Two journalists videotaped the girl, now 16, who claimed she had sex with Bird and his brother in 1999 when she was 12. She also claimed that she did drug deals on their behalf. Bird has denied meeting the girl and has denied being involved in drugs. Last year, a government-ordered investigation cleared him on the basis of lack of evidence. Bird has been prime minister since 1994 when he succeeded his father, former Prime Minister Vere Bird.