A MAGISTRATE yesterday ordered that the mother and step-father of six-year-old Joshua McKenzie have no access to the boy who has been sent to the St Mary’s Children’s Home in Tacarigua.
Magistrate Gail Gonzales also ordered that the couple’s two other children be placed in the care of their grandmother and that the couple be given only supervised access to them. The couple, Joshua’s mother, Nadine John, 23, and his step-father Collins Stephen, 32, have been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to the child whose right hand was allegedly held over a lighted stove. They were not called upon to plead when they appeared in the Arima Magistrates Court yesterday. The incident is alleged to have taken place on April 5, 2003. John and Stephen were granted $50,000 bail each.
Joshua, who has been at the Paediatric Ward of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex will remain at the Home until the end of the case. Attorneys Lal Krishna Doodnath and Albert Beckles represented John and Stephen respectively. Social worker Sita Beharry, who has been assigned to investigate the hand-burning incident and other alleged abuses against McKenzie, was in court yesterday. The charge against the couple of Heights of Guanapo, Arima, was laid by Constable Sheldon Sylvester of the Arima CID. Magistrate Gonzales made it clear to the couple and their attorneys that she was concerned about the welfare of John’s other two children and was granting them bail on certain conditions. She ordered that John’s two other children be sent to stay at the home of their grandmother Bernadine Garib. The Magistrate also ordered that the couple be allowed supervised visits to the two children but no access whatsoever to McKenzie. Supervised access, Newsday was told, means a social worker must be present whenever the couple visits the two children at Garib’s home.
The matter was adjourned to May 12. Prior to yesterday’s appearance before Magistrate Gonzales, the couple appeared before a Justice of the Peace on Wednesday. McKenzie suffered severe third degree burns to his right hand after allegedly being forced to keep it over a lighted stove. He suffered the abuse as punishment for coming home with his clothes dirty. Doctors at Mt Hope stated that if Joshua’s hand does not heal properly from burns, he may have to undergo skin graft surgery.
AUTO businessman Allison Hamilton, 52, shot and killed a man who came to rob him on Wednesday night but was upset that the man was dead.
“I am not taking it too good,” he said. “Nothing can justify taking a life. I am very distressed,” he said at his auto garage place, located at Production Avenue, Sea Lots. But while Hamilton is distressed, police sources say he had little choice as his life was threatened by the bandit, who was later identified as Sterling King, 32, of Beetham Estate. Preliminary reports are that around 10.35 pm, Hamilton and his common-law-wife Kathleen Registe were asleep at their business place. They heard a noise where the businessman stored his motor vehicle parts. Investigators said Hamilton went in the direction of the noise and police said King ran past the businessman and subsequently dropped something. Police said King then turned towards Hamilton with a cutlass and stepped towards him. Fearing for his life, police said Hamilton then drew his licensed firearm and fired two shots. King collapsed and died on the spot.
A report was made and a party of officers from the Port-of-Spain Division headed by Insp Manswell and including acting Insps Manechand Ramnarine and Persad, Sgt Randolph Boyce, Cpl Bridgeman and others visited the scene and conducted investigations. The officers found and seized a cutlass. District Medical Officer Dr Kenneth Chai Hong viewed the body and ordered its removal to the Port-of-Spain mortuary. A post mortem could not be performed since the dead man had not been identified. At his business place yesterday, Hamilton said it was the fifth time his place had been broken into for the week. He also said he had changed five locks, as a consequence. The businessman said when he heard the noise, he opened his back door and ran after King to a gate, where the lock had been broken. Hamilton took Newsday to the back of his building place and showed a large hole which had been made in his fence. The hole, he said, is where King passed from the adjacent compound of the Trinidad and Tobago Electric Company (TTEc) Storage House. Behind the broken fence was a red jersey and an orange-coloured lighter.
The businessman said while he ran behind King, he shouted to him to stop because he wanted to get a good look at him so that he could identify him to the police, as he had done on previous occasions without touching his licensed firearm. This time was different since the man threatened his life. “I am really not happy about this,” he said. He also said that around 5 am Monday, a store room outside his building was burnt down. However, he said, he does not think it was deliberate since the area had no electricity. He said whoever went into the place probably lit something that eventually led to a fire. Sgt Boyce of the Besson Street Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is continuing investigations.
THREE prison officers were yesterday committed to stand trial at the next sitting of the Port-of-Spain Assizes for the murder of inmate Anton Cooper who was found dead in a cell at Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, on June 26, 2001.
Magistrate Gail Gonzales, sitting in the Arima First Magistrates’ Court, gave her decision after she found the State had made out a prima facie case against the three prison officers: Devindra Ramdial, Anson Griffith and Dave George, The preliminary inquiry into Cooper’s death began on January 30 and the prosecution, represented by State attorney Alexander Prince, called 12 witnesses. Three inmates were among the prosecution witnesses to testify. They are Barrymore Briggs, Victor Flores and Lenny Brewster. The complainant in the matter, ASP Gregory Correira also testified for the State. The prison officers were represented by attorneys Gilbert Peterson, Prakash Ramadhar, Owen Hinds and Carl Mathis, the lone attorney in court yesterday.
During the preliminary inquiry the defence team called three witnesses on behalf of the three accused prison officers. They are infirmary officer Neil Bhagan, senior prison officer Renwick Kalloo and University of the West Indies professor Hubert Daisley, who is also a pathologist and medical practitioner. Ramadhar had indicated his intention to call a fourth witness, Carrera inmate Keith Julien, but this never materialised. He was due to give evidence on April 25. The State closed its case on February 14, and two weeks later defence attorney Gilbert Peterson made a no-case submission.
A MAN out on an early morning jog yesterday morning came upon the bullet-riddled and bloodstained body of a man lying in the savannah of the Maraval Recreation Ground mere walking distance from the Maraval Police Station.
Police investigating the murder of 29-year-old Wade Charles told Newsday they believed that Charles’ death was drug related as they found a quantity of marijuana clenched in his hands. But his wife, Nadalia Charles said that while he never told her what he did “on the outside”, as far as she was concerned, he was a good man, a good husband and a good provider to his family. She was critical of the police who failed to catch a killer so close to the police station. The police station is walking distance to the Maraval Recreation ground where Charles was shot dead. However police sources responded that officers on duty did hear multiple gunshots on Wednesday night, but when they went to the savannah, they could see nothing and no one since the floodlights on the Pavilion roof had been smashed. Officers also complained that residents and regular limers on-the-block were refusing to say anything to them.
Charles was one of three persons shot dead in separate incidents on Wednesday. Two of the shootings were murders while in the third, a bandit was shot dead by a Sea Lots businessman whom he had gone to rob. Wednesday night’s killings have sent the overall murder rate for this year to 70. ACP (North) Celestine Richards, Snr Supt Selwyn Glasgow, ASP Badal, Insp Narciss Cadette, Cpl Dennison Henry and Homicide Bureau officer Cpl Michael Veronique visited the scene. DMO Dr Pounder arrived and examined the body which appeared to have three gunshot wounds, with at least two being to the back. The body was later removed to the Port-of-Spain Mortuary.
An autopsy carried out yesterday afternoon at the Forensic Sciences Centre confirmed that Charles died of shock and haemorrhage consistent with multiple gunshot wounds. Charles’ wife Nadalia said she last saw her husband alive on Wednesday night when he left home around 7 pm. “He did not return home and this morning a relative came saying that the police had just found his body in the savannah,” she said. Cpl Henry of Maraval CID is continuing investigations.
WHAT at first was a serious wounding, in which a San Juan man was stabbed yesterday morning, turned into a murder when the victim succumbed to his injuries at hospital yesterday evening.
Marlon Matthews, 20, of Maitagual, San Juan was reportedly stabbed near a poultry depot at First Street, San Juan yesterday morning during an altercation with another man. Although bleeding quite badly and in a semiconscious state, Matthews arrived at Port-of-Spain General Hospital alive and underwent emergency surgery. He was later warded. Police sources reported to Newsday that around 3.30 pm, Matthews slipped into a coma and later died. His body was removed from the ward and taken to the nearby mortuary. An autopsy will be done today at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Matthews was the third person murdered in separate incidents in Maraval, Laventille and San Juan between Wednesday and yesterday. Up to late yesterday evening, a team of North-Eastern Division detectives led by Snr Supt Desmond Lambert and including Insp Dave Hilaire and Cpl Thomas were on the scene continuing investigations.
FAMILY members of 25-year-old Marlon Dennie are baffled at his shooting death which occurred in the Laventille district Wednesday night.
Dennie, who would have turned 26 on May 13, of St George Circular Road, Gonzales, was shot and killed while liming with a friend at La Resource Street around 7.30 pm. Police reports are that three men approached Dennie and the other man. They opened fire, striking Dennie approximately four times about the body. Dennie fell to the ground and died on the spot, while the three men fled the scene and up to late evening, they had not been captured. A report was made and a party of officers from the Port-of-Spain Division under Insp Manswell and including acting Insps Manechand Ramnarine and Persad, Sgt Randolph Boyce, Cpl Bridgeman and others from the Homicide department visited the scene and conducted investigations.
District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Kenneth Chai Hong was also called in to view the body and ordered its removal to the Port-of-Spain mortuary for an onward transmisison to the Forensic Science Centre for a post mortem yesterday. The autopsy, performed by pathologist Dr Hughvon DesVignes, revealed that Dennie, a construction worker, died as a result of multiple gunshot injuries. In an interview yesterday, Dennie’s younger sister, Alicia, 17, told Newsday she had no idea why anyone would want to kill her brother. Senior police officers confirmed that they had no criminal record against Dennie and were just as puzzled about the construction worker’s murder. Alicia also said she had no idea what her brother was doing in the Laventille area. His mother, Rosalind Dennie, said she had never had problems with him. “I am leaving everything in God’s hand,” the mother of five told Newsday. No arrests had been made up to late evening and Cpl Bridgeman of the Besson Street Criminal Investigations Department is continuing investigations.
While Prime Minister Patrick Manning stayed clear of criticising his Junior Finance Minister Ken Valley, the message was pretty clear at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference — Valley had erred when he suggested that the proper procedure was not employed in approving Petrotrin CEO Malcolm Jones’ salary.
The Prime Minister defended Jones’ $70,000 salary saying it was “in order”. In fact, Manning brought along Chairman of the Public Sector Negotiations Committee (PSNC), responsible for approving the Jones salary, Conrad Enill, who painfully explained how the committee operated. Enill said that for the past two decades the committee, which has responsibility for monitoring salary and wage negotiations and levels of remuneration in the public sector, including the remuneration of top executives and persons employed on contract, operated with the CPO providing secretarial and advisory services. Contrary to what Valley stated, Enill stressed that the committee was authorised to take decisions on matters for which it was responsible. While it reports to Cabinet “from time to time” on its activities, “it has not been customary to seek Cabinet’s approval, or ratification of its decisions,” he said.
Manning, who admitted that Jones was his best friend “after my wife of course”, said the Government considered itself extremely fortunate to have his expertise and managerial experience. He said Jones was the only man in the country who had worked in every aspect of the petroleum and energy sector. “His breadth of exposure and experience is great,” Manning said, saying that he did not know of anyone with his experience. “It was in those circumstances that it was our view that the salary afforded to him was quite in order,” he said. Manning pointed out that the person who replaced Jones at Titan Methanol is getting a salary which is “significantly lower” than what Jones received, “and therefore it should not surprise you that the person Mr Jones replaced at Petrotrin (Rodney Jagdai) also had a significantly lower salary”.
Manning said the salaries in the public sector were too low and Government was committed to addressing the issue. He said this Government’s record in seeking to bring about equity was “almost like Caesar’s wife” — above reproach. But Manning consistently refused to be drawn out on Valley’s statement, saying that he didn’t want to add any fuel to the controversy. He said last week the Cabinet had a full discussion on the matter — in the context of the question which was asked in the Parliament- but Valley was in Cuba at the time and therefore was unable to participate. Manning said the six-member PSNC committee — unlike other Cabinet sub-committees — was given delegated authority because of the nature of the issues it considers, though sometimes the committee consults the Prime Minister if the issue is “weighty”. Enill said for all the salaries which came before it — FCB, National Quarries, Civil Aviation Authority — the committee followed the process. “It is the process that allows the system to have integrity,” he said. He added that the committee meets twice monthly. It comprises Lenny Saith, Pennelope Beckles, Martin Joseph, Howard Chin Lee and Knowlson Gift.
The ebullient and effusive Trade Minister Ken Valley yesterday went virtually and suddenly silent, claiming no response to everything that was put to him.
Valley, who was very vocal last Thursday on the issue of whether the proper procedure was employed in arriving at Malcolm Jones’ salary, turned reticent by the end of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting. When Newsday contacted him, even before the first question was put, he blurted out: “No further comment.” You have nothing to say on the controversy which your statements generated? “In big, capital letters, No Further Comment!” Valley replied. Did that mean that he was recanting? He laughed and said “Is so?” Told that the matter was raised at the post-Cabinet briefing and it appeared that he (Valley) was misguided when he said that the proper procedure was not followed, Valley stated: “All I said was that the thing did not come to the Cabinet.” Told that he was seen on television saying that all the other sub-committees of the Cabinet reported back to it and this committee did not follow this process, Valley laughed. Then he said: “Other than that, I have no further comment”. So was he satisfied now that the procedure used by the PSNC was correct? “I have no further comment. That is all I have to say”.
Chief Executive Officer of National Flour Mills (NFM) Michael Potella yesterday said his current pay package was “a private issue,” but in light of recent reports concerning the salary packages of his contemporaries in other organisations, “perhaps my compensation is not in line with market rates”.
Potella made this statement when questioned as to whether or not he thought he deserved to be paid along the same lines as his counterparts, when he spoke to Newsday yesterday. He confirmed that he had indeed met with approximately half of the managers at NFM, who all expressed a “general sense of dissatisfaction” with their current salary packages. He revealed that he had met twice within the last three months with these persons but would not disclose what came out of the meetings. It was reported that approximately 24 executive and middle managers have not had a pay increase over the last three years, in addition to having experienced a salary reduction last October, under the new board headed by Christine Sahadeo.
Potella would only say that following deliberations by the board, they decided not to award any increases in executive pay packages. However, he attested to the fact that these persons were qualified and had proven themselves, but that they felt their efforts were not being appreciated. Asked as to whether or not he could offer an explanation as to why he was paid substantially less than persons in other organisations who held the same positions, Potella replied “the powers that be, that is the value they place on my position,” and laughingly offered that they “probably don’t value the duties and responsibilities of the CEO”. However, he also said he was “happy to be running an organisation that has enjoyed some form of success”.
Laventille residents and residents of the Roy Joseph area are to benefit from major re-development which would see the rebuilding of their dilapidated homes.
Housing Minister Martin Joseph announced yesterday that Government agreed to a $100 million Urban Renewal and Re-development programme for the two areas. Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Joseph said the Cabinet agreed that the programme would start in two areas in the two cities: PoS in the Beverly Hills/Laventille area (which is situated at the back of the John John Towers) and the Plaisance/Quarry Road/Laventille area and in San Fernando in the Roy Joseph Housing.
He said the Beverly Hills project, which comprises of 25 dilapidated wooden, multi-family apartment units owned by NHA, had been in existence for 50 years. He said 523 persons live there and the intention was to construct 9 three-storey apartment blocks, with 168 three-bedroom apartments on 1,384 square acres. The cost of each unit would be about $180,000. He said the construction would be done in three phases starting in June and ending in January 2005. He added that there would be an additional 120 units after all the current residents have been placed. He said in the case of Roy Joseph, the intention was to build a mix of two- and three-bedroom apartment units with the construction phases similar to the Laventille programme. He said once this programme was completed, some of the other areas which would benefit from urban renewal would be Nelson Road, Malick, Beetham Estate, Carlton Street, Jamadar Lane, Rushwood Street, Mon Repos and Pleasantville.
