HEARTBROKEN over the loss of his pet pompek, who was accidentally run-over and killed by a relative, a 35-year-old San Fernando businessman, died at San Fernando General Hospital yesterday morning — one week after he ingested a toxic substance.
Kerwin Sookram, a computer store owner of Vistabella, died after being warded for a week suffering from severe internal injuries, caused by the poisonous substance. He died at Ward Nine. According to reports, two Mondays ago, Sookram’s female relative came to his businessplace on Lower High Street, San Fernando, and broke the news that his pet pompek died after she struck it while reversing her car. The businessman reportedly slumped into a severe depression and went to several bars complaining about what his relative had done to his favourite dog. He was said to have separated from his wife and is the father of several children. Investigations are continuing.
Three FBI officers, reputed to be the best, are currently training officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad. A fourth Federal Bureau of Investigation officer, a female, arrived in the country last night to join her colleagues who started the training course on Monday.
The one week training programme is taking place on the second floor of the refurbished Police Headquarters. On Monday, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee officially opened the course which was made possible through the Mutual Legal Assistance Programme signed with the United States. He told AKS officers the programme was timely since they were currently dealing with the scourge of kidnappings. The FBI officers are expected to review the kidnapping of six-year-old Marc Prescott and suggest new ways to deal with the case. Yesterday marked 28 days since Prescott was kidnapped. Some of the US $941,800 recently provided by the US Government to assist in the fight against drug trafficking will go to the AKS to update equipment and mobility.
POLICE yesterday picked up two Penal men who were allegedly among five lovers involved with a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
The men, aged 30, and 33, were brought into the police station and by evening investigators were expected to charge them with having sex with a minor. Last Thursday, the victim was taken to the Siparia police by her mother after she confessed to skipping school to meet the men to have sex. The girl was forced to divulge the names and addresses of her sexual partners with whom she admitted she had intimate relations. One of the men arrested yesterday is the father of a two-year-old child, police said. The two are expected to appear before a Siparia magistrate today.
Marvin Potello, a 30-year-old Petit Valley man was abducted from his home on Monday night, taken to Malick, Barataria where he was shot in the head, then taken to Fort George, where he was thrown over a cliff. Potello managed to raise an alarm and was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was warded. PC Ramoutar is investigating.
A 40-YEAR-OLD labourer of Upper Waterhole, Cocorite, was yesterday charged with the murder of Issac Joseph, who would have turned two next week Thursday.
Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Hen-derson gave instructions to Sgt Nandram Moonilal of the St James CID to charge the labourer with murder. He will appear before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate today. The child’s mother, 16-year-old Nadine Joseph, said she left her son in the care of a man on Saturday and went away. When she returned at around 6 pm, she found the child lying on a bed and frothing from the mouth. He was semi-conscious and had bruises at the side of his buttocks, chin and a gash on his upper lip. The child was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospi-tal and transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where he died around 11 am on Sunday. An autopsy revealed that the child died from a ruptured stomach, caused by blunt abdominal trauma.
ALMOST three weeks after being critically injured in an accident and three days after awaking from a coma, Latchman Jagmohan, 20, remains in serious condition at hospital. His family is pleading for financial help since a much-needed CAT scan costs $1,200.
Jagmohan, of Rochard Road, Penal, is in Ward Six of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). He suffered massive head injuries and doctors said some of his brain cells have been damaged. They have ordered that he be sent to the Gulf View Medical Complex for a brain scan. Jagmohan is unable to speak, eat or drink and is in dire need of blood. So far four people have donated at a cost of $900 a pint. His mother, Leela Ramdeo, 37, has been at his side since he arrived at hospital. His father Seepersad Jagmohan, a part-time labourer, receives $700 a month in state assistance but there are five other children in the family to feed. Jagmohan’s mother said: “It’s very hard, he does not know himself…he is in a bad condition.” Another victim of the accident, Anand Ishmael, who turns 20 today, is also in Ward Six of the SFGH. His left leg and hand are broken, along with three of his ribs and his jaw. Doctors will perform an operation on his jaw soon.
For 18 days Ishmael has been unable to eat. The accident, which landed the two young men in hospital, occurred on May 24 in Union Village, Rio Claro. According to Ishmael, they were heading towards Mayaro when a van travelling in the other direction veered into the path of their car. The vehicles collided and all four occupants in the car were injured, including the driver, a national of Holland. The 37-year-old driver of the van, who is from Penal, said he noticed a car attempting to cross over to his side of the road and he took evasive action, swinging into their lane. He maintained that he was not at fault for the accident. He said: “Since that happened I scared. Whatever in my own little way I can do to help, I would.”
THE OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) is threatening to take Speaker of the House of Representatives, Barry Sinanan, before the Privileges Committee of Parliament for violating the Standing Orders.
Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal, speaking at the UNC’s Monday Night Forum at the Guaico Presbyterian School in Sangre Grande, accused Sinanan of violating the Standing Orders last Friday in Parliament, when he changed a question asked by Caroni Central MP Dr Hamza Rafeeq. Moonilal said by editing the question, Sinanan had created a question which was a repeat of a question previously filed. He said that was a violation of the Standing Orders. Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday in his turn at the podium, supported Moonilal, saying Sinanan was the most biased Speaker he had ever seen in Parliament. Panday said Sinanan was demonstrating “naked bias” in favour of the government. He accused the Speaker of carrying out the “dirty work of the PNM unashamedly.” Panday said Sinanan was trying to muzzle the UNC.
Also joining in the condemnation of Sinanan was Nariva MP Harry Partap. Partap said he was not happy with the way Sinanan was conducting the affairs of the House and it was painfully obvious that “he feels he is there to protect the PNM MPs.” Partap said Sinanan should never be showing bias and called on him to demonstrate “evenhandedness.” Partap said he was disappointed in Sinanan especially since he had filed several questions for answer, and none of them had been placed on the Order Paper. He complained that the questions were filed since February and April. Last Friday, after Sinanan edited Rafeeq’s question, the Opposition refused to pose their questions for answer which resulted in their nine questions remaining unanswered. They will be struck off the Order Paper.
TRINIDAD and Tobago is now in a virtual state of crisis and there is a high level of anxiety in society because of the escalating crime situation, therefore there is need for crime management with the objective of preventing not only kidnapping but all other crimes.
That was the view of temporary Independent Senator Bashret Ali yesterday during debate of the Kidnapping Bill in the Senate. Ali said he saw panic among citizens which could lead to illegal actions since people might take matters into their own hands to protect themselves. He said the situation could also lead to anarchy which one didn’t want to see. Ali also said there was the need for urgent, decisive action by the police backed up by strong laws. The Senator said the Kidnapping Bill should be dealt with expeditiously with a non-partisan approach so that the Ministry of National Security and the Judiciary will be provided with the necessary tools.
Meantime, Government Senator and Minister of Community Development Joan Yuille-Williams in her contribution said nothing would persuade the cold hearts of the Opposition Senators to support the Bill. He said the loss of power was guiding them and even if God came down there would be no difference. She said even if God forbid that someone close to them was kidnapped, that too wouldn’t change their minds. It was suggested by Independent Senator Ramesh Deosaran that the Bill be redrafted to accommodate the widespread comments and maybe even be taken before a Joint Select Committee. However Yuille-Williams said even that would not persuade the Opposition to support it, although she admitted that government would do anything that helps to get the legislation passed.
IN THE restructuring of Caroni (1975) Limited, 25,000 acres of the company’s lands will be leased for sugar manufacturing to meet the requirements of its down-sized operations, according to Uthara Rao, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the newly established Estate Management and Business Development Company Limited.
Rao was one of the speakers at a Breakfast Business Seminar oraganised by the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce at Cara Suites and Conference Centre, Claxton Bay, on Tuesday morning. He said the land, along with canes to be supplied by farmers, will help the company achieve total sugar production of around 75,000 tonnes. This is based on projections in the restructuring programme announced by Agriculture Minister John Rahael earlier this year. The Estate Management Company was incorporated on August 8, 2002, “to manage the lands of Caroni and to stimulate and facilitate new business activity in light manufacturing, agricultural estates, residential development and commercial complex”. After allocating 25,000 acres for sugar plantation, the remaining 52,000 acres of land will be used for various developmental projects and 11,000 acres for small business. The company is developing alliances with Plipdeco and TIDCO to fast track the initiatives on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.
Rao said small business activity would concentrate not only on the Couva and Point Lisas areas, but the country as a whole. In the first phase of development, some 175 acres is earmarked for commercial development, 250 acres for industrial and light manufacturing, 400 acres for residential estates and 600 acres for agricultural estates in South and Central Trinidad, he said. Rao explained that the Estate Management Company would undertake the necessary infrastructural development and would meet all the environmental and Town and Country Planning requirements for such projects. He said, “The developed lots would then be made available to the investing public by creating investment opportunities made known in advance to all potential investors.” Rao said a US firm, Moore Ammonia, has shown “deep interest in establishing a company in Trinidad and Tobago and in this regard they were seeking to acquire lands to start construction to streamline production by the end of 2004.”
ONE of four men who allegedly carried out a “hit” on a Cedros man, after a cocaine deal went sour three years ago, went on trial for murder yesterday in the San Fernando High Court. Another man who was involved in the killing is the State’s main witness.
The case against Glenroy London, 43, a labourer of Point Ligoure who is charged with the murder of Clifford Mark, began yesterday in the First Criminal Assizes before Justice Melville Baird and a 12-member jury. London is being represented by Ian Stuart Brooke. According to an autopsy report, Mark died after being beaten and strangled. The jury of four women and eight men were yesterday shown photographs of Mark’s nude corpse, which was found tied to a juniper tree in Limefield Village. According to State prosecutor Joan Honore Paul, on November 12, 2000, two days before Mark was murdered, the State’s main witness, Byron Vespry, took London and others to Bamboo Village; here he pointed out where the victim lived. Later they plotted to kill Mark, if they could not get a quantity of cocaine from him.
The jury heard that early on November 14, 2000, London who was armed with a gun, and two other persons armed with cutlasses, dumped Mark into the trunk of a car and drove to the Cedros forest where they planassed (beat with flat side of cutlass) him while questioning him about the cocaine. Mark, who claimed he lost the drugs, was brutally beaten. Paul said Mark led them to a fig patch where he dug a hole but nothing was found. The jury heard that London repeatedly stamped on Mark’s face until he was unconscious and bleeding, then allegedly urinated on Mark and told the others: “Let we leave him and go back out. He go dead right there.” The case continues today at 9 am.
