A female constable carrying out duties at the Ministry of Education’s schools’ Soca Storm at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, was pushed to the ground and beaten by five teenaged students for more than five minutes.

She was eventually rescued by colleagues who were alerted to her screams for help.

Up until late yesterday, the constable was nursing bruises about her body.

Reports revealed that around 1.30 pm, WPC Sherma Titus, who is attached to the Tunapuna Police Station,was carrying out duties when she was attacked by five female students in uniform.

The constable who was dressed in full police uniform was pushed to the ground, by the frenzied students after they were spoken to about their behaviour. The constable was rescued by other officers who immediately stopped the fete and ordered all the students out of the compound.

The students were followed to the Priority Bus Route and ordered into maxi-taxis by more than fifty heavily armed police officers.

This resulted in a war of words between the police and students who claimed police brutality. They were ordered out of the area and told to disperse.

WPC Titus was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where she was treated and discharged. Reports reveal that around 1.30 pm, more than 800 students from various schools were at the Centre of Excellence enjoying the sixth school Soca Storm. About 2,000 other students were gathered outside the venue attempting to secure entrance into the fete when they began cursing, arguing and behaving in a disorderly manner.

WPC Titus who was carrying out duties at the entrance gate spoke to the students about their behaviour when about five female students surrounded her and began threatning her. Two of the students pushed WPC Titus to the ground while five others began beating her. Her screams attracted other police officers who ran to her assistance. The constable was rescued by the officers who managed to grab a 16-year-old female student of the Bourg Mulatresse Senior Comprehensive School.

Two other 16-year-old students from a college were also arrested for obscene language and resisting arrest.

Up until late yesterday the three teenaged students were detained at the Tunapuna Police Station. Senior officers said yesterday that after the constable was rescued, they called for back up assistance from officers of the Port-of-Spain Task Force, Tunapuna, St Joseph, and Arima CID.

When officers arrived on the scene they took control of the situation and ordered all students out of the compound. The DJ’s and guest artistes were informed of the situation and told the show could no longer go on. Police officers seized more than eight knives from students.

Senior officers expressed concern over the incident and added that charges will be laid against the three students detained. Warrants have been issued for the arrests of other students involved in the beating of Titus.

Police officers who witnessed the beating of their collegaue expressed outrage over the incident and added that they will be taking the matter to the Commissioner of Police Hilton Guy, and the Police Second Division on Monday.

Last night a Ministry of Education official explained that the Ministry  had sanctioned some shows in schools, but the Ministry was unaware of yesterday’s show at the Centre of Excellence.

He said the Ministry also intends to find out how so many children were allowed to leave school for such a show at which the children were unsupervised.

JUSTICE Melville Baird is expected today to deliver a very crucial decision in the murder trial against former Minister of Government, Dhanraj Singh. His decision relates to the jury that has been empanelled to hear evidence against Singh, who stands accused of the murder of Hansraj Sumairsingh, former Chairman of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation.

The ruling, to be handed down this morning in the San Fernando First Assize Court, will follow Justice Baird’s decision yesterday to discharge a juror from sitting among the 12-member panel.

The juror whom the judge was forced to discharge was No 12 juror. He had been among the 12 members sworn in on Monday to adjudicate in the trial and who had been sequestered at a hotel.

Today makes five days since the trial began, but without a single witness being called to the box and without any evidence being heard by the jury.

The pool of jurors has now been reduced to 11 members on the panel and two alternates, bringing to thirteen, the number of jurors who have been sworn in to adjudicate in the trial.

The original number was 16 jurors, including four alternates. Prior to yesterday’s events two jurors had already been discharged – one having been acquainted with Sumairsingh and the other being the spouse of an employee of the Court.

When hearing continued yesterday, the jury comprising eight men, four women and two alternates, took their respective seats. Acting Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Devan Rampersad, was expected to continue his reply to legal submissions made by Karl Hudson-Phillips, QC, who is defending Singh on the murder charge.

Immediately Justice Baird told everyone on the panel and the alternates, to return to the jury room, except for the foreman and juror No 12.

Thirty minutes later the judge sent for the panel and after they had taken their seats in open court, Justice Baird informed juror No 12 that he had been discharged and instructed him to leave courtroom.

The decision brought a perplexed look to Singh’s face.

With the panel down to 11 members, Justice Baird adjourned hearing until today, but before doing so, told the rest of the jury members not to be perturbed by what had transpired regarding the discharging of the particular juror.

“It’s none of your business. Do not discuss the case with anyone, although you have not heard any evidence,” Justice Baird cautioned.

Hearing resumes at 9.00 this morning.

EVELYN JAMES, 47, was a dedicated teacher. She was planning to go to the Police about a man who had reportedly sexually assaulted one of her students.

She never got the chance.She suffered a martyr’s death yesterday morning on the school compound at the hands of one of her former students who went to the Montgomery Primary School at Bethel where she taught Standard 4, called her out of the classroom, argued with her and stabbed her a fatal blow in the chest. Her last words were: “Why did you stab me?” She then collapsed, bleeding profusely.
With teachers and some children reacting in horror, Ms James was rushed to the Scarborough General Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

A man said to be 38 years old gave himself up to a Police officer and was taken into custody. He was due to be charged last night and should appear in the Scarborough Court this morning.
According to reports James had been a teacher for more than 25 years and was the mother of two daughters and two grandchildren.
Her death was mourned yesterday not only by colleagues and students but by the Minister of Education, Hazel Manning who was in Tobago on official business, Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, Dr Orville London and the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association of which she was a founding member and active leader.
One young student who witnessed the entire incident will need at least six months of therapy to overcome the trauma, officials said.

Police reports said that the assailant had reportedly sexually assaulted a student of the school, who complained to James. James informed the student’s parents, who in turn confronted the man. According to the police, Ms James was threatening to take the matter to the police.
Eyewitnesses said that the man entered the school at about 8.15 am and confronted James about her role in the allegations. They said the two spoke for about five minutes, before the assailant pulled out a knife. James attempted to escape but fell down a staircase near the principal’s office, where she was stabbed in her chest.

According to one eyewitness, James got up and asked the man: “Why did you stab me?”  He replied: “I am just waiting for the police to come and get me now”. The teacher then collapsed at the bottom of the stairs and remained there bleeding before she was rushed off to hospital by an ambulance. Police recovered a knife.
The man, who was taught by James several years ago, then allegedly walked calmly out of the school and across a savannah where he went to the home of a retired Senior Supt and gave himself up.
School principal, Enid Smart said that the incident took place while the students of the school were in the assembly hall so fortunately few of the students and teachers witnessed the event. She was visibly traumatised and would only say that she was extremely hurt by the incident.

The students were sent home immediately but a large crowd had gathered outside the gates while almost two dozen police officers conducted enquiries inside. Several teachers had gathered in a nearby room and held a tearful prayer-vigil. Father Colin Sampson, parish priest of the Anglican St Patrick District, visited the school and held prayers for the distraught staff members.
Snr Supt in charge of Tobago, Richard Fredericks, headed the list of officers who visited the scene, which included ASP Crooks, Insp Broomes, Insp Dillon and Cpl Roberts, from the Scarborough CID and Old Grange Police Station.
 Leader of the Independent Senators, Dr Eastlyn McKenzie and Chief Secretary Orville London went to the school and met privately with the principal, who is Dr McKenzie’s sister.
London told the media that he heard of the incident while attending the opening of the Castara Primary School, which was also being attended by Education Minister, Hazel Manning.

London said he offered condolences to the teachers and the principal. He told the media that he knew James to be a “very dynamic person” that her death would be a tremendous loss to the society.
He said he worked with her as a fellow member of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teacher’s Association (TTUTA) and that she was “always very aggressive in the pursuit of what she believes.”
He said that he had instructed his Social Services Department to conduct counselling sessions with the teachers and students from 8.30 am to 11 am today, which he would also attend.

Later yesterday afternoon, Manning officially opened the Buccoo Government Primary School, which is only a stone’s throw away from the Bethel school. A moment’s silence was observed by the audience in memory of the slain teacher. Manning said that she was “very shocked” at the incident and that it was the first time that something like that had happened in Tobago. She said the Ministry was awaiting the investigations from the police on the matter.
Cpl Roberts is continuing investigations.

A 24-YEAR-OLD soldier committed suicide by shooting himself through the head early yesterday morning, at First Battalion Headquarters, Camp Ogden, Long Circular Road, St James.

Soldiers on duty at Camp Ogden, reported hearing a single loud explosion around 6.15 am in the vicinity of a wooden building which once housed the Officers’ Mess.
On checking under the building which is four feet off the ground, soldiers found Private (Pvt) Kambon Nkori Austin, 24, dressed in civilian clothing, slumped on a chair with blood streaming from a bullet wound under his chin. Near the body was a Galil machine gun.
Austin, who was still alive at the time, was taken in an Army vehicle to Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Visiting the scene yesterday morning were Snr Supt Selwyn Glasgow, Supts Nadir Mohammed and Nimrod, Sgt Nandram Monilal, Cpl Charles and Homicide Bureau investigators, ASP Nadir Khan and Sgt Wayne Dick.

An autopsy done yesterday at Forensic Sciences Centre concluded that Pvt Austin died of shock and haemorrhage consistent with a single gunshot wound under the chin, with the 5.56 calibre bullet exiting through the skull. The autopsy was carried out by Forensic Pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes.
Pvt Austin, who enlisted in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment on July 6, 1998, lived at Ramatally Park, Pepper Village, Fyzabad. He had two brothers and two sisters.

Police who visited the scene retrieved a letter near to where Pvt Austin committed suicide. However, military sources told Newsday that after examination of the letter, it was established that Pvt Austin did not write the letter.

Sources said the space under the abandoned Officers’ Mess building was a popular liming spot for soldiers and as such, someone else who may have been liming there, discarded the letter, which reportedly contained information about a soldier’s (name not given) problems with a certain Senior Military Officer at Camp Ogden. Sources within Camp Ogden reported that soldiers were in a state of shock following Pvt Austin’s suicide. However, when Newsday visited Camp Ogden yesterday afternoon, soldiers were engaged in a game of windball cricket, a mere walking distance from where Pvt Austin committed suicide.

Newsday understands that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Brigadier General Ancil Antoine is being kept abreast of internal military investigations into the suicide and is to get a report on the incident by week’s end. Efforts to reach CDS Antoine for comment yesterday proved futile.
Sgt Nandram Monilal of St James CID is leading investigations into Pvt Austin’s suicide.

DARLING Rampersad, 62, south businesswoman who with her husband Mohess, 64, was kidnapped and murdered near their home in Palmiste in August 2002, left an estate worth over $13 million although her four children had previously stated that at the time of her death she only owned a Mercedes Benz vehicle worth $300,000.

It was subsequently discovered that she had 14 bank accounts including US accounts worth over $1.5 million, real estate property and five insurance policies worth over $300,000 (US).

No application has yet been made for the estate of her husband Mohess. The couple were the owners of M Rampersad Auto Supplies Ltd of Barrackpore.

The couple’s two sons, Mukesh and Narish and their two daughters, Geeta Ramjattan and Angeline Nathu-Hari had first applied on September 11, 2002, for administration of their mother’s estate, stating that the estate comprised only a Mercedes Benz car and that she had no cash in the bank or in hand, no real estate, no stocks or shares. They were granted letters of administration.

But on November 20, 2002 they made a second application stating that they had since discovered that Darling also owned parcels of land with buidings, bank accounts including US accounts and insurance policies. The discovery pushed the value of Darling’s estate from ownership of only a Benz vehicle to over $13 million in assets.

The supplemental documents were filed by Mukesh Rampersad, a Managing Director of 496 Mahogany Grove, Block 2, Extension, Palmiste, La Romaine; Geeta Ramjattan (formerly Rampersad), a Director, of 454 Pollonis Crescent, Block 3, Palmiste, La Romaine; Angeline Nathu-Hari, a Director of 33 Bel View Drive, Bel Air; and Naresh Rampersad, a Managing Director who lives at 11-15 Siddiq Drive, Gulf View, La Romaine.

The second inventory showed that Darling Rampersad left money in 14 bank accounts totalling over TT$6 million. Included in this amount were three US bank accounts with US$235,302.10. She also left four parcels of land valued $5,457,938.32. Darling also had five life insurance policies, three valued at $100,000 (US) each, one with Colonial Life, two with Royal Bank and two with Caribbean Home Insurance worth TT $640 and $523.

The couple who were the founders/owners of M Rampersad Auto Supplies Ltd of Barrackpore, were kidnapped in front of their Palmiste home on August 4 minutes after leaving a birthday party at the home of one of their daughters some two houses away from theirs. No ranson demand was ever made and police began a search for them. On August 7, their bodies were found bound and battered in a canefield in Woodland, La Romaine. Police believed they had been shot to death the very night they were kidnapped. In a few days time they would have celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.