INVESTIGATORS working on last Wednesday’s fatal shooting at Movie Towne, Audrey Jeffers Highway, said yesterday they intend to question Clive “Wolfie” Lewis, aka Adil Ghani, some time today relative to the shooting incident that left Jillia Bowen, 31, dead. Lewis, 36, who lived with Bowen and her parents at Nelson Street, Port-of-Spain, is recuperating at Ward 54 of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Police said Lewis was in stable condition and was now in a position to give them a statement on what transpired at the upscale Movie Towne complex. Lewis and Lincoln Alexis, 32, aka Salim Rasheed, are the two survivors of the attack. The latter remained in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the city hospital up to late evening. Doctors have told police that his prognosis is poor.

Lewis, Alexis and Bowen were all sitting on an iron bench on the Movie Towne compound when a white B14 Nissan Sentra pulled alongside them and its occupants off-loaded several shots at the trio, killing Bowen on the spot. Several statements have been taken from a number of witnesses, but police said they are yet to make an arrest. Senior police officers also said that they are predicting an upsurge in criminal activities as a result of the shooting incident at Movie Towne. Sgt Nandram Moonilal of the St James Criminal Investigations Department is continuing investigations.

THE search for the body of a 15-year-old boy who drowned while swimming with friends in Mayaro, ended on Saturday night after the body washed ashore. The body of Ryan Bholai was discovered around 7.10 pm by a villager who was walking along the beach. The villager stumbled upon the body on the sand. The body was found a short distance away from where Bholai disappeared on Friday near Stone Bright Village. Police reports revealed that around 11 am, Bholai, of Bristol Village, Mayaro, and his two friends were frolicking in the water when he dived into an approaching wave. But he never resurfaced. His friends ran to the village and informed them of what had happened. Fishermen made unsuccessful attempts to find the boy, before the Mayaro police and Coast Guard were told of the drowning. Mayaro police are continuing investigations.

A TEENAGER, up to late yesterday identified only as “Sean”, was knocked down and killed Saturday night by a car driven by the former Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Crime, Cecil Carrington. Police reports state that around 11.30 pm, Sean Edmund was attempting to cross the Priority Bus Route (PBR) from North to South at Reid Lane, D’Abadie. The young man, said to be dressed in dark clothing, reportedly ran into the path of the former policeman’s silver grey Nissan Sifero vehicle, which was travelling in a westerly direction along the dark street. The youth, said by the police to be about 18, died on the spot. Police said he lives in Sangre Grande, but rented an apartment in D’Abadie. A party of officers headed by Insp Fraser of the St Joseph Police Station and others visited the scene and conducted investigations. Carrington’s car was seized for examination, police said.

District Medical Officer Dr Paul Bissessar was also called in to view the body, which he later ordered removed to the mortuary at the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex. Contacted yesterday, Carrington said he is coping under the circumstances, but said he preferred not to comment on the road fatality until he gave a statement to the police. “Remember it is fatal,” Carrington said.  Insp Fraser is continuing investigations.

THE deceased wife of the first President of Trinidad and Tobago, Lady Clarke, has left an estate valued just over $53,000. Her husband Sir Ellis Innocent Clarke  filed an application in the Registry of the Port-of-Spain High Court, on May 15, 2003  for the estate. According to documents filed by Sir Ellis and attorney Ruth Van Lare, Lady Clarke, a housewife, had no insurance policies or real property, but only some  cash in the bank. She left $6,000 in Unit Trust  shares; First Citizen Bank, $2,460 and Republic Bank, $45,000. Her total estate was valued at $53,460. Lady Clarke died on April 23, 2002, at her Pine Grove Villa home, Fairways, Maraval. She was the mother of two children — Peter Ellis and Margaret Ann. The couple was married on June 28, 1952 at the St George’s Catholic Church, Grenada. Sir Ellis, who was 34 at the time and a lawyer, lived at Diego Martin and had travelled to Grenada to marry his bride of 31, who was then  a clerk. In 1976 when this country became a Republic, Sir Ellis was made the first President and held that position until 1987.

CHAGUANAS MP Manohar Ramsaran has slammed Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s claim that the assassination(s) on Wednesday night at Movie Towne were merely “internecine warfare” that did not affect ordinary citizens. In the House of Representatives on Friday evening, Ramsaran read out news headlines: “‘Ambush in the night. Two dead. Blood in Movie Towne’. Blood is on the hands of the PNM. This religious organisation was part of the PNM campaign. They used violence. They were in Tunapuna, Barataria/San Juan and Ortoire/Mayaro armed to the teeth. “This blood must fall squarely on the hands of the Prime Minister. We have not yet heard his condemnation. He has said that it is people sorting out themselves. This is dangerous. We have heard two of the worst statements of a Prime Minster: That the average citizen has nothing to fear and that the guns came in when there was unrest in Venezuela. If members on the other side (ie Government benches) don’t condemn those Prime Minister’s statements publicly, they will do so privately. “Our Prime Minister must be careful of making these statements which come from a desperate and incapable man. How can you blame another country for what’s happening in Trinidad and Tobago?”

At that, Speaker of the House Barry Sinanan intervened and told Ramsaran to be relevant to the Bill at hand, the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2003. Saying the Opposition had nothing against ordinary CEPEP workers, Ramsaran calculated the labour wages paid to a single gang of 10 people over four months at $1,400 each per month to be some $158,000, out of a total contract award of $400,000. He asked: Where is the money going? The people stealing the Government’s money are the contractors. The people in the blue suits are not the businessmen. We are not against the people in blue.”

He read from a weekly newspaper to list the CEPEP contractors, detailing the position of many of them as PNM party activists or as relatives to PNM politicians. He read: “Horace Gordon; Charmaine Cummings; St Clair Williams;  Stanley Butcher; Marva Bostick; Ainsley Matthews; Lionel Beckles, Brian Beckles, father and brother of the MP for Arima; Kathy-Ann Cardinal-Austin;  Prakash Persad, former PNM Senator’s brother; McDonald Padmore; Jennifer Marrishaw; Patrick Clifford, father of ex-Mayor of San Fer-nando; Roopchand Balliram and Philip Salazar; Jameel Mustapha, Nafeesa’s campaign manager. Devon Simmonete, son of former PNM general secretary; Peter Marine; Sharon Thomas-Mony”. Claiming cronyism over CEPEP contractors, Ramsaran concluded: “This isn’t a fair selection process”. Minister of Trade, Ken Valley wrapped up debate on the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2003 which will increase tax exemption on severance benefits from $100,000 to $300,000. The House passed the Bill unanimously.

REVEREND Rawle C Sukhu was installed yesterday as the new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church. After he was installed, Rev Sukhu called on Presbyterians when thinking of a career or  profession to think of the ordained ministry first. He told a packed congregation which witnessed his installation that the church needs ordained ministers and that it must not be an alternative choice but their first. He pledged that during his stewardship, the Church will be ready to play its part in the transformation of  “our” society, and will implement the restructuring programmes planned for the Church. While delivering the sermon, Rev Brenda Bullock suggested that the church did not need more rules and regulations, but to reach out to people and show it’s loving and caring capabilities and comfort its people. In offering some advice, she said that a show of strength is not doing it all alone but using team work.

She said that a true leader must reach out to the people and hear and understand their visions and expectations; that a leader must cultivate the discipline of talking to God. She said while Rev Sukhu will be compared to past moderators, he will have his own gifts and that the church must pray for him. Rev Sukhu was presented by General Secretary of Synod Vitra Imambaksh and installed by outgoing Moderator Rev Winston Gopaul, at the Curepe Presbyterian Church, Lyndon Street, Curepe. The Leader of Worship was Rev Daniel Teelucksingh, while Rev Cyril Paul brought greetings on behalf of Synod. Also bringing greetings and pledging support to Rev Sukhu were Rev Annabell Ramkelawan from the Northern Presbytery, Mr Rudolph Ramjattan, from South/Central and Rev Anna Sharma from South/Eastern.

WITH CRIME on the upsurge in Trinidad and Tobago, and with laws that need amending — penalties for drug offenders and kidnappers including — one has to be mindful of the role the legal system plays in combatting violent incidents, especially among the nation’s youth. Between the period of September 1, 2002, and May 28, 2003, I was privy to witnessing the legal system first hand, in a way I would have preferred not to! As a victim/lone witness to an aggravated robbery incident on my way home I had to undergo the trauma of attending court, in, of all places, Arima. The problems faced by prisoners, witnesses, visitors and workers at the temporary/permanent (depends on which way one looks at it) Arima Magistrates’ Court were highlighted in a recent newspaper story. But it is really an ordeal to be challenged with delayed cases (which I had to face on a regular basis), bomb scares, humid conditions, which aggravate prisoners enclosed in a pair of Amalgamated Security vans to the extent that they create an uproar, and cramped rooms in the Third Court. Those problems aside, it was a shell-shocking experience to recreate the incident on the night of September 1, which I had to do when I gave my testimony to the Magistrate, Gail Gonsalves, on May 13.

The defendants — 19-year-old Nigel Pamphille and 20-year-old Dwayne Nicholas, had a tough time proving their case with lawyer Hugh Jacobs at their side. I was as nervous as I had ever been in my life. This nervousness was increased by   the fact that the West Indies cricket team were inching their way towards a famous three-wicket victory over Australia in Antigua. I was asked time and time again to reconsider testifying against the duo, even up until May 12, but I felt obligated to act within the law and state my case as follows: After walking from O’Meara Road, via La Chance Trace, to Subero Street in Malabar, I noticed two guys (on the opposite side of the street) following me. I don’t know whether it was a sixth sense but I had an uneasy feeling that something was “going to give.” Looking over my back regularly, I felt the need to divert my path but, at the corner of Subero Street and Malabar Gardens, the guys, perhaps reading my thoughts, decided to confront me and, with a gun, demanded that I “pass everything.”

I complied, handing them my cellular phone and $15 but, in their greed, they snatched a pouch which contained my walkman and $300 which I had withdrawn from the bank during the day. After I spotted five ‘limers’ and related my story, they offered to call the police on my behalf (for which I’m eternally grateful), and, in the space of 10-15 minutes, the police had picked up the guys on O’Meara Road. They were awaiting public transportation to head back to Arima. It was ironic that, after running through a short-cut, they took the contents of my pouch and discarded the empty pouch on the property of legendary, notorious murderer Abdul Malik. The stolen items (ALL) were recovered  and the duo arrested without incident. Their story to the officers was that I willingly gave them the stuff when asked for directions (imagine that)!!! Nicholas, the accomplice, and who, on the night of the incident had a bottle, was granted bail, while Pamphille (whom I was later told was on bail on a marijuana charge) remained incarcerated until the trial begun. Both Nicholas and Pamphille were handed three-year sentences with hard labour by Magistrate Gonsalves on May 28. But it would be remiss of me to end this episode without publicly thanking “the famous five,” patrol officers Rene Katwaroo, Raymond Emmanuel and Kyron Nicholson, as well as PC Chaumette and WPC Aguillera of the Malabar Police Post for their efforts on the night of September 1, 2002.

A WRIT of habeas corpus was granted by Justice David Myers directing Commissioner of Police Hilton Guy to bring before the court Benedict Farrel, who is alleged to be in police custody. The writ was granted on Friday following an  application by attorney Asaf Hosein that Farrel had been detained by police at the Port-of-Spain CID since June 2. The writ will also be served on the Commissioner of Prisons and the Attorney General.  The writ  commands  the Commissioner of  Police to bring Farrel before Justice Myers in the Hall of Justice Port-of-Spain,  on June 12, 2003, at 9 am. In default an application will then be made for a warrant to arrest the Commissioner for contempt in not obeying the writ. An affidavit of Farrel’s alleged plight was filed by his cousin Mboya Wilson and used in the application for the writ.

AS they continue to pray that they will soon re-unite with six-year-old Marc Precott, relatives are pleading with persons who were in the area around the time the child was snatched to reflect again whether they saw the child. In a telephone interview yesterday his great aunt, Lyncia Bailey, pleaded with the parents, teachers, and anyone else who were outside the school compound after it dismissed to jerk their  memories. Describing him as a happy and loved boy, she recalled that he had spent half of the Easter holidays with her and she would have known if he was abused.  Investiga-tors are working on the theory that Marc, who has been missing for almost a month, may have willingly left with someone he knew. However, the police have not yet gotten any solid leads.