A 35-year-old Prison Officer, Winston Sandy, who worked as a paramedic, was gunned down in a deserted dirt trace at Rose Hill, Laventille on Tuesday night around 11 o’clock. Residents said they heard the gunshots, but were too afraid to venture out of their homes.

Sandy’s body was found about six hours later by a group of policemen and soldiers who were engaged in Operation Baghdad in Laventille. Sandy lived at Clifton St, Laventille and was said to have been on his way home when he took a shortcut through the track at Rose Hill and was gunned down. He was shot five times, twice at the back of his head, twice in his back and once on his hand. The body was viewed by Dr M Pounder and taken to the Forensic Science Centre. Cpl Rommel James is investigating. Sandy was dressed in black jersey, black pants and black sneakers and was due to resume work yesterday after his day off from the Prison.

Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Crime, Oswyn Allard who led the Baghdad operation, was on the scene and comforted Sandy’s mother Evelyn and his sister Joanne who were distraught.  He promised them that the Police would do all in their power to find the killers, and that Laventille would be a safe place again. On the scene where Sandy was killed, Claudius Galston, President of the Prison Officers Association, expressed shock and concern about the brutal attack on an innocent prison officer and called for some government policy to protect prison officers. Also on the scene and expressing outrage at the murder was the Association’s public relations officer, Carlyle Babb.

DOCTORS have accused the Health Ministry of being deliberately slow in handling the reinstatement of Dr Austin Trinidade as Medical Chief of Staff of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Dr Trinidade went to the Ministry’s Duncan Street, Port-of-Spain office last Tuesday to collect his letter of reinstatement. However doctors received reports that he was not allowed to proceed beyond the foyer at the ground floor of the Ministry. MPATT said Dr Trinidade was told the Permanent Secretary was at a meeting and could not deal with the matter.  “To this present time the illegal and illegitimate instructions of the Permanent Secretary to Dr Trinidade still stands.” MPATT said the illegal and illegitimate appointment of Dr Anand Chattergoon as Ag Medical Chief of Staff is still in effect. Doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital met yesterday and reiterated their dissatisfaction with these two acts. They will inform the public and Administration of their continued dissatisfaction with the authority’s unwillingness to return the hospital to its “normal efficient mode of functioning.”

“Operation Baghdad,” the anti-crime plan aimed at flushing out criminal elements in Laventille and surrounding areas got underway at 5 am yesterday, when a large contingent of policemen and soldiers moved into Laventille and cordoned off several areas.

Ironically, around 5.30 am at Alexander Place, Rose Hill, the party also stumbled upon the body of a man, prison officer Winston Sandy, who had been shot at point blank range and killed mafia-style. Sandy’s murder brought to the scene a large group of prison officers. By the end of the early morning exercise 15 people had been arrested for drug possession, arms and ammunition and outstanding warrants. Police also seized a .22 pistol, and one round of ammunition. Residents of Laventille welcomed the action but pointed out that the real criminals had gone into hiding and would come back to Laventille only to shoot or kill their victims. They, however, said the regular presence of policemen and soldiers in the area would restore peace. From as early as 3.30 am, five trucks transporting heavily armed soldiers arrived outside the recently refurbished Police Headquarters on St Vincent Street.

Inside the CID building, police officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch, CID, Crime Suppression Unit, Port-of-Spain Task Force, North Eastern and other officers were briefed about the exercise by ASP Alfred Sealey. Around 5 am, the convoy of vehicles moved out to Laventille and “Operation Baghdad” was underway. The first stop was John John where a car transporting persons in muslim garb was stopped and searched before being allowed to proceed. The joint team of officers then went to Mapp Trace, Brooklyn, Laventille Road, Pump Trace, Desperlie Crescent, Blondell Alley, and Rose Hill where several road blocks and random searches were conducted, including a search of one house.

A man was held with one round of ammunition and was arrested. Residents told Newsday that they will feel much safer in their homes if the police and army continue to maintain a heavy presence in Laventille on a round the clock basis. Newsday learned that “Operation Baghdad” will continue indefinately. Police officers involved in the exercise have been placed on temporary transfer to the Port-of-Spain CID. Senior officers said yesterday that the searches will continue and certain measures put in place to ensure that the criminal elements in Laventille are weeded out.

FOUR men, described by police as “big players” in the local marijuana trade, were arrested by Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU) officers who also seized 110 kilos of compressed marijuana in an early morning sting operation at the Caroni river yesterday.

The four men, aged 19, 32, 36 and 45, all from Bamboo Settlement, Valsayn, were scheduled to appear before a Chaguanas Magistrate yesterday afternoon to answer charges of possession of marijuana for trafficking. The exercise was coordinated by head of OCNU Snr Supt Kathleen Weekes, with field operations being marshalled by Insp Nanan. The sting came after police received a telephone tip-off. According to reports, at around 1.45 am, Insp Nanan and a team of officers in small, speedy boats, hid in the mangrove along the Blue River, on the Caroni Swamp, near the mouth of the Gulf of Paria. Assisting the OCNU officers in the operation were members of the TT Coast Guard who were led by Chief Coast Guard officer Sankar.

Half an hour later, they spotted a pirogue slowly making its way up the Blue river with four men in tow. The heavily armed OCNU officers intercepted, surrounded and boarded the suspects’ vessel. They seized 110 kilos of compressed marijuana found in crocus bags and one-kilo cellophane-wrapped packets. Police sources estimated the value of the marijuana to be TT$160,000. Police believe the suspects had just collected the marijuana from Venezuelan suppliers and were en route to sell the marijuana which in turn would be sold on the local market. OCNU sources said that the Caroni river from the mouth of the Gulf of Paria up to tributaries off the CR Highway in El Socorro, are popular drop off and collections points for illgal narcotics.

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning is of the view that condoms should not be distributed to school pupils.

“I do not agree with it,” Manning said when asked his views on the action of Advocates for Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights which caused quite a stir recently by distributing condoms to students. Manning pointed out that Government’s $500 million AIDS programme was due to get underway soon. Ther co-ordinating committee for the programme met on Tuesday and discussed implementation. He said while he disagreed with condom distribution in schools, sex education was not his line of expertise to warrant him making any pronouncements. “As to whether sex education should be taught in schools, I leave that for the experts,” he said.

Twenty-five-year-old Indrani Rampersad kissed her parents and congratulated them on their 36th wedding anniversary before she left for work yesterday morning. The next time the couple saw their daughter, her lifeless body lay on a tray at the mortuary of the San Fernando General Hospital.

The young woman, an auditor employed at the Ministry of Works and Transport, Port-of-Spain, died instantly yesterday when a car landed on top of the taxi in which she was a passenger. Rampersad, of Laltoo Trace, Penal, suffered massive head injuries, resulting in her head being split open. Five other persons were injured, four of whom are warded in a stable condition at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Police reports indicated that around 9.20 am, Glen Dickson, 36, a taxi driver, was transporting four passengers, including Rampersad, on the north-bound lane towards Chaguanas, in his brown B-14 Nissan Sentra. On reaching approximately 200 metres from the Freeport off-ramp, a blue Honda Civic driven by Yuri Toolsie, 20, of Couva, travelling on the South-bound lane, attempted to overtake a car and lost control of his vehicle. There were two passengers in the Civic. Reports stated that the Civic crashed into the median, went up into the air and landed upside down on top of Dickson’s car. One of the passengers of the Civic was thrown out of the vehicle.

Claiming it was his air bags that saved his life, Dickson said he assisted the injured passengers out of  the mangled wrecks. Rampersad, who was already dead, lay sprawled out on the back seat. He said another female passenger, who was also seated in the back, jumped out of his car when she saw the Civic coming towards them. The injured persons: Toolsie; Ronako Banister, 20, of Couva North; Marc Lee Wong How, 21, of Mamoral, (passengers of the Civic) and David Brewster, of Pleasantville, who was seated in the taxi, were rushed to the Chaguanas Hospital, from where they were transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital. Rampersad’s body was viewed by DMO, Dr Berger, who ordered its removal to San Fernando mortuary where a post mortem is expected to be performed today.

The young woman, who was pursing a professional accounting course, was travelling to Chaguanas to visit her school before going on to her job in Port-of-Spain. When Newsday visited Rampersad’s home yesterday her mother, Polly Rampersad, 58, was screaming inside the house and was too distraught too speak. However her husband, Deodath Rampersad, 58, said they had planned a family get together yesterday to mark their 36th wedding anniversary. Visiting the scene was a party of officers of the Freeport Police Station, spearheaded by Supt Nimrad, including Sgt Housen, Cpls Satnarine and Khan. Cpl Satnarine is continuing investigations.

THE people who snatched and held 28-year-old Keith Bissessar Monday night accused members of the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) of being the ones responsible for his kidnapping, the victim said yesterday.

“Is the AKS who have you here,” Bissessar said the kidnappers told him.  The father of three spoke hours after he was rescued around 9.30 pm Tuesday by AKS officers at a house on San Pedro Road, Valencia. However, Bissessar, from his Huggins Street, Tacarigua, home told Newsday that he will put his life on a block for members of the AKS. “Those AKS officers are clean.  They rescued me,” Bissessar, proprietor of Metro Recreation Club, said, praising the AKS officers for their response. 

Bissessar, also the manager of Tacarigua Parliament Football Team and Tacarigua United Cricket Team, said he believes that the kidnappers made the charge against the AKS officers because they simply wanted to brainwash people. He was however in doubt about other members of the police service, some of whom he said expressed happiness that he had been kidnapped. Contacted yesterday, AKS chief Sr Supt Gilbert Reyes said he preferred not to comment, but other police sources said it is a “funny thing” that AKS officers arranged the kidnapping and rescued Bissessar at the same time.

Bissessar was rescued around 9.30 pm Tuesday by AKS officers, under Reyes, ASP Henry Millington, Insp Adam Joseph, Sgt Netram Kowlessar, Cpl Joseph Isaacs and PCs Gill, Nesbitt and others who stormed the Valencia house. Police said they received certain information and went to the house, where they found Bissessar naked, tied up and suffering from head injuries inflicted by a gunbutt.  He was treated at the Arima Health Facility and later discharged. During the raid at the Valencia house, police arrested a 22-year-old Curepe man who tried to flee the scene.  A shotgun and cartridges were also seized by the police.  The man was in custody up to late evening.

During his brief time in captivity, Bissessar said one of the people who held him hostage said they wanted $1.5 million for his safe return. However, no ransom calls were made to family members. Police had dubbed the kidnapping as drug-related, but Bissessar said he is not involved in drugs.  He admitted to having court matters, but refused to identify what they were, saying: “My court matters are my personal affairs.” Asked why anyone would want to kidnap him, Bissessar said it is probably because he owns two homes and three vehicles. He said he inherited them.

Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Project, retired Chief Justice Clinton Bernard, yesterday re-buked the Law Association of TT for its uninformed and “belligerent approach” to the Inquiry.

He said the Association has made several statements in the media without first apprising itself with the correspondence passing bet-ween the Inquiry and persons interested in its proceedings. Bernard’s latest defence of the Inquiry which entered its 140-day yesterday follows the publication by Newsday yesterday of the contents of a letter (dated April 28) sent by the Council of the Law Association to the Commission. In it the Council cautioned against following the advice of Lord Justice Scott of the Privy Council with respect to procedures at public inquiries. The Council also enclosed an article by Lord Howe of Aberavon which criticised the Scott Inquiry’s refusal to afford persons appearing to have legal representation.

Bernard said it was “utterly misleading” to the uninformed reader for the Association to advise caution as it must be aware the Scott Inquiry was conducted within parameters of a statute different from this country’s Commission of Inquiry Act. At yesterday’s sitting Bernard read into the record the Commis-sion’s response dated Tuesday that was hand delivered to Hendrickson Seunath SC, the Honorary Secretary of the Law Association yesterday morning. Bernard reminded Seunath that the Commission, “unlike” the Scott Inquiry, has given all persons appearing the right to be legally represented. As a result, he said Howe’s article bore no relevance to the present Inquiry. Bernard said the Council has on previous occasions publicly criticised the Inquiry for identifying persons interested in its Terms of Reference as “subjects” while now “going on record” in connection with Howe’s article on the issue of legal representation.

He reminded that the “subjects” were the “very people” entitled to representation under the Commis-sion of Inquiry Act Chapter 19:01. It states: “Any person whose conduct is subject of the inquiry under this Act or who is in any way implicated or concerned in the matter under inquiry, shall be entitled to be represented by counsel at the whole of the inquiry, and any other person who may consider it desirable that he should be so represented may, by leave of the Commissioners, be represented in the same manner.” Bernard said the Tribunal has exercised its discretionary powers under the Act regarding legal representation and there was no exclusion of lawyers. “Had your Council inquired, it would have become aware that not a single request for legal representation has been refused, and on occasion such representation has been insisted upon by the Tribunal.”  Sittings have also been adjourned to accommodate persons whose law-yers were not available. Bernard said the Tribunal is sure that having studied Howe’s Article and its opening statement and procedural rules, the Association would conclude that words of caution are unnecessary. “As a responsible body” he said the Association should withdraw them. He welcomed any other comments it wished to make about the procedures adopted at the Inquiry.

ATTORNEY Gillian Lucky assured the Court of Appeal yesterday that there was no sinister plot to interfere with witnesses if full disclosure is made by the State in the $19 million Airport Authority fra-ud case in which eight persons, including two former Government Ministers, are charged.

Lucky gave the assurance while arguing that Chief Magis-trate Sherman Mc Nicolls was well within his  power to order the prosection to make available separate lists of all relevant documents as it affects each accused.  She made it quite clear that production of the list was not tantamount to disclosure. In other words, the prosecution could produce the list without the defence having to see the documents. With the list available the defence could ask the Court for disclosure on documents it did not have.  She accepted that there could be documents of a sensitive nature that would not be available to the defence.

Lucky, together with attorneys Alan Alexander SC, Frank Solomon SC, Russell Martineau SC and Desmond Allum SC, are resisting an application by DPP Geoffrey Henderson to have the Court of Appeal rescind Mc Nicolls’ order to produce a list. They have also told appellate judges Jus-tice Margot Warner (President) and Justice Rolston Nelson   that the Court of Appeal under section 36 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act has no power to hear the appeal, since it was a mere administrative decision in an inquiry, not a decision of any “material error.” Former Minister of Finance Brian Kuei-Tung, former Minister of National Security Russell Huggins, bus-inessman Ishwar Galbaransingh, Amrith Maharaj, Steve Ferguson, John Smith, Renee Pierre and Barbara Gomes are jointly charged with Maritime Fidelity Finance and Leasing Company, and Nor-thern Construction Limited, with conspiring to defraud the AA of over $19 million. When hearing re-sumes today, Lucky will wind up her submission, after which Gilbert Peterson for the DPP will respond.

THE PROPOSED University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) could be running as early as next year at the Wallerfield Light Industrial Park, Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, Danny Montano announced yesterday.

He was speaking at a ceremony to distribute letters of appointment to members of the UTT steering committee at his St James office. Montano said that  by September he would bring legislation to Parliament to establish an Accreditation Council to regulate degree-granting tertiary institutions. “By January 2004 we will have the Accreditation Council running, which fits in with our time frame to establish the university. We want to have the University of Trinidad and Tobago up and running by 2004 or 2005.”

Despite the institution being national, Montano said it should look regionally and extra-regionally to source its faculty staff. He said: “The Ambassador of the Russian Federation suggested they have a tremendous number of scientists and lecturers wandering around the former Soviet Union who speak English. So don’t confine your thinking to the United States, Britain and Canada.” Saying that in the next few years this country was likely to see a shortfall in engineers and engineering technicians of 2,000 persons, Montano said the UTT would begin its focus on training for science and technology, to be followed later by arts and humanities and other subjects.

The UTT’s emphasis on science and technology was underlined by most members of the steering committee having had careers in science or engineering. The committee is headed by engineer Prof Ken Julien. It includes University of the West Indies (UWI) science/engineering academics Prof Baldwin Mootoo, Prof Dyer Narinesingh, Dr John Agard, Dr Winston Lewis, Dr Clement Imbert, and Prof John Spence (retired). From industry come bpTT CEO Robert Riley, ISPAT managing director John Kuriyan, Industrial Gases Ltd CEO Lingford Carrabom, BHP Billiton’s Nicholas DeVerteuil, and PCS Nitrogen managing director Ian Welch. 

Representing government are permanent secretaries of  the Ministry of Energy Andrew Jupiter, Ministry of Planning Victoria Mendez-Charles, Ministry of Education Thecla Reyes and Ministry of Science Jennifer Sampson, plus Tobago House of Assembly administrator Peter O’Neil. Other members are: Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Technology manager Harris Khan, Ixanos Ltd chairman St Clair King, TT Chamber of Commerce president David O’Brien, SWWTU president general Michael Annisette, an SWTTU representative, UWI Institute of Business director Dr Rolph Balgobin, COSTAATT chairman Trevor Boopsingh, and attorney John Jeremie. As he presented members with their letters of appointment, Montano said their job was to come up with proposals for the UTT programme.

He said: “Will we have indigenous programmes or franchise programmes from abroad? You will have to determine how far and wide the programmes should be.” Montano asked that the committee give him an interim report within four months to take to Cabinet. On the issue of funding, Montano asked the committee to comment upon his proposal that private companies be allowed tax concessions for any funding of the UTT. He also repeated the Government’s view that no qualified person should be denied education because of poverty. Montano justified the UTT by saying that developed countries had one university for every 500,000 to 600,000 persons, so that statistically Trinidad and Tobago should have two or even three universities. He said that while UWI, St Augustine annually takes in 8,700 students, the country currently has 19,000 students in form five, and moreso 26,000 students in form one. He urged: “We have to do more to provide opportunities for our students.”

Justifying the UTT’s emphasis on science and technology, he said he had met the head of Lockheed Corporation, USA, who had said in the next decade that company alone would require 100,000 engineering technicians and welders. Acknowledging private institutions offered bachelors and masters degrees in sought-after subjects, Montano said: “There are other programmes the country needs desperately but are not being provided.” An example of this, he said, was the recently-established Faculty of Geo-Sciences at UWI, which he lamented could only take in 15 of the 150 applicants. Montano assured that UTT was not competing with UWI, noting: “UWI has a vital role to play. We’d like to see UWI fulfill its mandate.” Ken Julien said: “We have a wide and deep enough expertise to meet the challenge head on.”