FOUR DAYS before he was killed at his Mayaro beach house, the wife and daughter of chairman of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation, Hansraj Sumairsingh, saw a strange red car parked in front their home at Tabaquite Road, Rio Claro.

Yesterday, Sumairsingh’s daughter, Kavita, testified in the San Fernando First Assize Court how a tall man who emerged from the red car, spoke to her on December 27, 1999. The trial, in which former Local Government Minister Dhanraj Singh is charged with the murder of Sumairsingh, also heard evidence from witnesses of a telephone call Sumairsingh made at the corporation’s office days before he was killed, in which he appeared visibly upset and angry. The court also heard yesterday about a letter the chairman subsequently wrote to the then Prime Minister in 1999, and a complaint he made to the police. The evidence was given by seven witnesses who the state called yesterday in the continuing trial of Singh for the murder of Sumairsingh between December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000. Trial judge is Justice Melville Baird.

 British Queen’s Counsel, Sir Timothy Cassel, called Sandra Sumairsingh yesterday and she testified that on December 27, 1999, she and Sumairsingh (husband) returned to their home around 8:30 pm from her sister’s residence. It was while walking up the stairs, Sandra said, she noticed a red car stopped in front their home. It stopped for about a minute then drove off in a southerly direction. She said she continued walking into the house and so did Sumairsingh. Cassel, leading the prosecution team, allowed Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Devand Rampersad, to question Sandra who told the jury of seeing her husband dead at his beach house four days after they saw the car. Sandra testified that on December 30, 1999, Sumairsingh packed meat and alcohol in a cooler and left in his 929 Mazda motor car for his beach house. Around 9 pm that night, she telephoned Singh on his cell phone but Sandra testified she got no answer. The cell phone was shown to the witness in court and she identified it as belonging to her husband.

 Sandra told the court that on the following day she called again but got no answer. The woman testified that she and her stepson Visham decided to go to the beach house. The widow broke down in tears when she told the court of “peeping” through ventilation bricks and seeing her husband’s feet. She said she rushed inside the house and saw Sumairsingh in a pool of blood in the living room. The woman was offered a glass of water and wiped away tears with a tissue as she continued her testimony. Sandra was cross-examined by one of the attorneys defending Singh, Prakash Ramadhar, who asked her if Sumairsingh used to discuss “problems” with her. She answered in the affirmative and was asked by Ramadhar if the name Lancelot Ottley ever  came up in their discussions, Sandra said yes. The jury heard that Ottley was manager of the URP project in the Rio Claro/Mayaro district. Sandra told the court that she knew Ottley while she herself worked with the URP.

Kavita Sumairsingh testified that on December 27, she was sitting in the gallery of their home when she noticed a red 323 Mazda passby slowly. “Two minutes it returned and parked in front our house. A tall man of African descent, neatly dressed, spoke to me. He stood in the gateway. The conversation lasted a minute and a half. He went back in the car and left,” Kavita said. The woman who said she was the daughter of Sumairsingh, told the jury that the car returned that night about 9 pm. In answer to Rampersad, the witness said the glass was heavily tinted and she did not see anyone in the car. Kavita told the jury that when her father returned home that night the car was parked in front the house. She said she spoke to him (Sumairsingh) and he looked through the window. The woman then gave evidence of her father leaving their home for the beach on December 30, and finding him dead there the next day. The State called David Gene who was the chief executive officer of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation. He testified that he bought three cell phones on behalf of the corporation, one of which was for Sumairsingh.

The witness was shown the cell phone and after checking its serial number in the witness box, positively identified it. The state is alleging that Elliot Hypolite who was part of the killing, picked up Sumairsingh’s cell phone at the beach home that fateful night and threw it over the Ortoire/Mayaro bridge. It landed in a boat, according to the state’s case. Gene was the subject of lengthy cross-examination by Ramadhar who asked him if he knew Ottley. Asked if Ottley was a muslim and manager of the URP (Rio Claro), Gene said yes. The CEO was questioned by the attorney about contracts awarded by the corporation as well as material that was believed to have been stolen by the URP to construct a beach house in Mayaro. Gene was re-crossexamined by Cassel about a letter Sumairsingh wrote to the Prime Minister concerning Singh (Dhanraj). The CEO said he knew about the letter.

Mootilal Moonoo, Sumairsingh’s driver, was next called by the state and questioned by Cassel. The witness was privy to a telephone conversation in the chairman’s office. That was on December 8, 1999, Moonoo said. “I did not hear the conversation but I heard him speaking in a raised voice. He (Sumairsingh) looked kind of vex and serious,” Moonoo said. Moonoo said that later that day after Sumairsingh had summoned his secretary to his office following the telephone conversation, he (Moonoo) went to the Rio Claro Police Station. The driver said that he then accompanied Sgt George to Sumairsingh’s office and the policeman took away several “papers”. This witness was reserved in order for lead counsel for the defence, Karl Hudson-Phillips QC, to cross-examine if need be. Hudson-Phillips is due to return on Friday from the Hague where he was sworn in as a judge of the International Criminal Court. Hubert Ramnarine, the County Superintendent, next took the witness box and testified that around 1:30 pm on December 8, 1999, he was in Sumairsingh’s office when he heard the chairman speaking loudly on the telephone. “He was rather upset. I was there up to the end. Sumairsingh took the receiver and slammed it down in an angry and vexing way on the base of the phone,” Roopnarine said. This witness was also reserved for cross-examnination by Hudson-Phillips.

The state called Sumairsingh’s secretary, Gyaitri Geeta Roopnarine Bhahadoor. She testified that on December 8, 1999, the chairman asked her to type a letter. “He gave me a draft which I then typed,” Bhahadoor said. Asked by Cassel if the letter indicated that Sumairsingh’s personal safety was at risk, the secretary replied: “Yes”. She also answered in the affirmative when asked if in the letter, Sumairsingh stated that “he would have to walk with his own security”.  The last witness called by the state yesterday was retired policeman, Rudolph James. He said that on January 1, 2000, a fisherman called Terry Chaitan who was his friend, gave him a cell phone. The trial will continue this morning when the state will call more witnesses. (See Page 4)

THE office of the Attorney General has paid over $10 million dollars in legal fees to fight matters relating to corruption over a two-month period.

The $10 million is part of an overall total of $22,811,269.14 spent, and the records showed that up to January 24, the Ministry of the Attorney General did not have any outstanding bills on hand. However there are some overseas payments which have been approved by the Ministry and which are presently being pro-cessed. Of the $22,811,269.14 spent, Morean disclosed that $7,815,747.76 was paid for retainers that took place prior to her assumption of office.

This was the revelation made by Attorney General Glenda Morean in the Senate yesterday while responding to questions for oral answer from Opposition Senator Robin Mon-tano.  The AG also informed the Senate that the law firm of Montano and Company was one of the firms which received payments for work provided to a State Board. She went on to explain that it is her understanding that State Enterprises and Stat-utory Authorities retained their own legal services. She then informed the Senate that she had provided a bundle of documents showing the names of attorneys in private practice and law firms retained by the majority of the State Enterprises for the period 1996 to 2003.

She pointed out that included in her report was a statement from the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) which shows requisitions totalling $5.2 million dollars by Montano and Company with payments totalling $3.9 million dollars. She further pointed out that State Oil Company Petrotrin made payments in excess of $33 million dollars to British Law Firm Davies Arnold Cooper Solicitors between 1997 and 2002.

Montano had asked that the AG supply the names of all the attorneys at law in private practice and private law firms that have been retained by the Office of the AG and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the period December 25, 2001 to date. While presenting her report, Morean described corruption as an evil in society that is corrosive and which erodes the development of the State.

She also noted that, when corruption infiltrates public offices, authorities and enterprises, the principles of fairness, equality of treatment, professional ethics, objectivity and fair competition be-comes distorted and undermines the legitimacy of public institutions and confidence in government. However Montano interjecte,  “I don’t re-member asking about corruption. I asked a simple question relating to the attorneys. What I would like please is an answer to my question, it was simple and it was direct.”

Senate Vice President Rawle Titus asked Morean to confine her answers to the questions asked by Montano. Morean then infor-med Titus that she was only trying to answer the questions posed by Montano and was explaining to the Senate the order in which she compiled her report. Morean also explained that she had taken the liberty to include the figures paid to attorneys during the period 1996 – 2001 and found that a total of $45,598,023.01 was paid during that period.

 

With an almost permanent smile etched on his face, though at times even the smile made him appear expressionless, murder accused Dhanraj Singh sat quietly in the prisoners’ dock of the San Fernando First Assizes yesterday.

The former Minister of Government listened attentively to the testimony of Sandra and Kavita Sumairsingh, widow and daughter of former Chairman of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation, Hansraj Sumairsingh. Singh is on trial for Sumairsingh’s murder. Singh leaned forward but hardly moved as both Sumairsingh women broke down in tears as each related to State Attorney Devan Rampersad how they came upon the body of Hansraj on December 31, 1999 at his beach house in Mayaro.  In each instance Singh adjusted to a more relaxed position only when Justice Melville Baird intervened to ask the witnesses whether they could continue, he returned immediately to his “leaned forward” posture the moment each witness resumed her testimony.

Behind Singh, his mother sat at one end of the front row of the public gallery—a position she has occupied almost from the start of the trial that began more than three weeks ago. His father sat at the other end of the front row bench. Two rows behind, Singh’s wife, Leela, sat quietly throughout, hardly glancing in any direction other than straight ahead towards her husband, or towards the attorneys and witnesses in the box.

Between Singh’s parents and his wife, about 20 persons occupied the public gallery during the early part of the morning’s proceedings. By midday the gallery was filled to capacity with mostly elderly persons. With a loud “thud” that caught the attention of all present, British Queen’s Counsel, Timothy Cassel, who is leading the prosecution against Singh, watched as his lectern toppled from the inner bar table and crashed onto the carpeted floor.  The mishap caused Singh’s smile to broaden into a wide grin and prompted him to face reporters seated within only a few feet of him, and remark: “State case fall down”. The former Minister allowed himself a second laugh with media representatives when, after a mid-morning break, one of his attorneys, Prakash Ramadhar, persuaded the court to locate additional chairs for reporters, ‘some of whom were sitting up to then, on chairs provided for witnesses.

With a raised brow and a vertical shake of the head, Singh acknowledged reporters cluttered around a single media table, seemingly amused by the large number present. “The number is bound to increase as we go on,” Ramadhar observed.

A MAN, Dennis Babwah, was killed and four persons, including a four-year-old child, seriously injured on Monday night in a vehicular accident on the Uriah Butler Highway.

According to police reports, Babwah, 29, of Fitt Street, Montrose, Chaguanas, was driving his blue Nissan Bluebird south along the Uriah Butler Highway. Also proceeding in the same direction was a car driven by Earl Rouse of Longdenville, while Anil Chaitlal of Parbatee Trace, Chase Village, Carapichaima, was proceeding north. In Babwah’s car were his four-year-old son Adrian and a woman identified as Savitri Ramsumair, while Anil Chaitlal was accompanied by his relative, Meena Chaitlal.

Around 7.20 pm, in the vicinity of Charlieville, Babwah lost control of his vehicle which slammed into Rouse’s car. The impact sent Babwah’s car crashing into the median, then going airborne unto the north-bound carriageway, where it collided with Chaitlal’s red Mazda 626 car. Officers led by Snr Supt Philip Carmona and including ASP Anthony Bernard, Sgt Lewis, WPC Gordon and PC Radhaykissoon, visited the scene along with officers from the Chaguanas Fire Station. Adrian Babwah was taken to the Paediatric section of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope, while the other injured persons were taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. DMO Dr Katrie viewed Babwah’s body and ordered its removal to the Port-of-Spain Mortuary, where an autopsy was supposed to have been done yesterday. The mangled cars were towed to the Chaguanas Police Station.

After management of a store refused to change a defective pen for Barry Clarke, he bought himself a new cutlass, went back to the store and chopped to death 23-year-old cashier Summer Charles. He also went after supervisor Muzaffar Ali with his sharpened cutlass, but was poked away with a piece of iron Ali had armed himself with.

This was part of the evidence given before Justice Prakash Moosai, in the Port-of-Spain Assizes  yesterday, where 47-year-old Clarke is being tried for Charles’ murder. He is being defended by Sophia Chote and Shastri Roberts, while Cheron Raphael is prosecuting for the State. Sharon Stafford, who worked at Young’s Hardware on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, testified that about 9 am on November 1, 1999, a man resembling Clarke purchased a cutlass for $35. About an hour later, Clarke, armed with a new cutlass, entered Emdad’s Variety Store on Charlotte Street and began chopping Charles. The cashier evaded the chops and ran out the store chased by Clarke. According to Jason Ramlal, now a policeman but a former employee of the store, Charles fell as she ran and while she was on the ground, Clarke began chopping her. While Ramlal went to call the police, Clarke went back into the store looking for Ali, the supervisor he had spoken with two days earlier.

Cassandra Goodridge, a sales clerk at the store, testified that Clarke ran back into the store asking: “Whey ‘em, whey ‘em, whey ‘em.” Each time Goodridge replied: “I don’t know.” When Clarke saw Ali standing on the steps with a piece of iron in his hand, he shouted: “Is you ah want.” Clarke started firing chops while Ali poked at him with the iron. Clarke eventually left. Prior to the Monday morning incident, the court heard that on the previous Saturday Clarke went into the store and had a conversation with Charles about exchanging a pen. He also went to the back of the store and had a discussion with management. When he returned to the cashier, he took a new pen and left a 25 cent piece. Charles alerted Ali that “this man taking the pen” and Ali confronted Clarke and called the security guard. There was a scuffle and the pen was eventually taken away from Clarke who was escorted off the compound. Hearing continues today.

Drivers of vehicles five years and older who have not gone for inspection can now face prosecution.

Yesterday  the Senate passed the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Regulation, which would impose sanctions for non-compliance with the law. And  Works Minister Frankie Khan warned that there would be no grace period for offending motorists (those who have not had their cars inspected). The passage of the regulations clears the way for the law to be completely enforceable, by imposing specific sanctions for those who do not have their cars inspected biannually.

UNC Senator Robin Montano argued that without a grace period there would be much “confusion and hardship” for affected motorists. Montano noted that many people had not had their cars inspected because of the lacuna in the law. “There would be long lines…and inevitable confusion,” he predicted. But Works Minister Franklin Khan said the issue of a grace period “did not arise” because the law validating the inspection of  cars was passed since 2001.  “It was effectively the law. Why is it in the society where the law is valid..everybody sits down..every single car owner refuses to inspect their cars when the law was in effect because there was no punitive action, that we could go to a magistrate’s court and prosecute people” he said.

Khan said therein lay the societal problem. He said the law was in effect and therefore people should have had their vehicles inspected. However Khan hinted that administratively the Government would give motorists a grace period in which to comply with the law. He stated: “But We are not foolish people at the Licensing Authority. Tomorrow morning, the police wouldn’t go out and charge everybody. Operationally there would be an issue of what you manage on a day to day basis”. He said if Government said that there is a six month grace period for people to have their cars inspected, nobody would go for inspections in the first five months and then there would be a mad rush in the last month, with serious bottlenecking. He added that the problem was cultural- “a lack of adherence for law and order”.

Khan said on Friday he would be having a meeting with all the stakeholders in road safety and traffic management — the Police, Licensing Authority, Traffic Management Branch of the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Insurance Companies (“who are major stakeholders because the more accidents we have, the more premiums go up”). Earlier in the sitting Khan said the owners of garages had complained to him that while they invested a lot of money in setting up their businesses, no one was coming for the cars to be inspected because they faced no punitive action.