At a media conference yesterday at the Hyatt Regency in Portof- Spain, he said a recent elevation to the Court of Appeal raised questions in the public domain, the legal profession and the Judiciary.

He also disclosed that five new appointments to the Supreme Court, are expected to be made by the JLSC, and he is deeply concerned.

“The Judiciary is the institution where people go every day to determine their rights and obligations. Taxpayers are giving the JLSC $400 million a year. What is the system of accounting for that money? What have the people gotten for the $400 million given to the Judiciary for this financial year and years gone by,” he asked.

He questioned the competency of the impending appointments.

“There are two magistrates said to be appointed to the Supreme Court. There is a civil practitioner with little or no experience in civil law and a former registrar who are going to be appointed to the Supreme court bench,” Ramdeen said.

“As citizens, we all have a duty to ensure when appointments like these are made they are done in the most transparent and accountable manner,” he added. Ramdeen claimed many members of the Judiciary are extremely upset about what is going on as people qualified and deserving of appointments are being by-passed.

He also said this was the first year 36 persons applied for positions as judges of the Supreme Court and it was also the first time Chief Justice Ivor Archie, as head of the JLSC, has implemented a written exam for prospective candidates.

“Who sets that exam? Who marks the exam? Where is it in the Constitution that the JLSC has the authority to set an exam,” Ramdeen asked.

“I don’t think citizens understand the power that is vested in the office of a Supreme Court Judge. A Supreme Court Judge has the power to send you to execution and the power to stop an execution.

It is one of the most powerful positions anyone can hold in a democracy. As a member of the legal profession, I will not stand and allow any JLSC to appoint people who, on an objective examination, are not deserving.” Ramdeen intends to write the JLSC chairman asking for the criteria used for appointments to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.

The woman,who had been eluding capture in connection with similar charges, was spotted by Fraud Squad officers as she was about to leave the court and promptly arrested.

The 40-year-old woman, whose sister is a police officer, has several addresses in north Trinidad. She was arrested following several reports to Fraud Squad by her elderly victims. She is now facing a total of seven counts of fraud. She is expected to appear in the Portof- Spain Magistrates’ court on Monday to answer the charges.

Fraud Squad Head Snr Supt Totaram Dookie led the exercise which included Insp Dipchand, Ag Cpl Louis and WPC’s Murray, Lazarus, Kissoonsingh and Plante

Yesterday, Abdul “Krysis” Wakeel claimed to have enough information to bring down the police service and revolutionise the way policing is done in Trinidad and Tobago.

Yesterday, Imam Umar Abdullah, the head of the Waajihatul Islaamiyya (The Islamic Front) facilitated a press conference in the Southern Hall of Centre Point Mall in Chaguanas to update the nation on the state of Enterprise and announce a way forward to peace. Abdullah was flanked by Wakeel, Nation of Islam Leader David Muhammad, and Citizens Security Programme representative Mtima Solwazi.

“Let me state very clearly here today that the conversations we have had thus far is more than enough to not just bring down the police but to advise on a total overhaul of how we do policing in this countr,” said Abdullah in response to media questions about the nature of the information Wakeel claimed to have.

“That is how serious it is. There are police officers who are moonlighting as poster boys for the police service who claim to have done a tremendous amount of work and solved numerous amount of crimes et cetera, but when the truth is told, the nation is going to be the judge.” Chiming in to the conversation, Muhammad said anyone who questions the degree of corruption in the police service is “na?ve.” He listed several newspaper articles published over the last two years which spoke of police officers being arrested and charged for misconducts ranging from police brutality to armed robbery. “That information is already out there, but yet still there seems to be a position that there still has to be some proof.” “I have decided to start a research paper on police who have openly confessed about their bosses running drug blocks and they not being able to do anything about it.

We have gotten verbatim reports from police officers who have been transferred from one station to very far away from their home for trying to interfere with police criminal conduct.” Muhammad said the country has a “legacy” of corrupt police which calls for a “more relentless aggressive pursuit of this kind of information when it comes to police misconduct.” Newsday asked Abdullah how confident he was in their ability to give information to the police on police corruption given the level of police corruption he described. He said, “We believe that the powers that be is going to find a way to receive that information in the manner in which we want to give it. There are police officers in this country who do a tremendous amount of good work and there are police officers in high ranks in this country who wants to see justice and fairness prevail in the land.” Abdullah said, “Unruly ISIS”, now to be known as “Masjidus Salaam” (Masjid of Peace), and the Rasta City were willing to provide information to the police in this regard.

However, absent for the press conference was Kerron Alexis, son of deceased Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis. Abdullah said Alexis’ absence was due to him being fearful of being misunderstood by the media, but he assured that he too was willing to cooperate.

Today, the Roots Foundation, also led by Solwazi, will facilitate a “focus group discussion” in the Trinidad Muslim League Auditorium in St Joseph.

Members of the community are expected to gather to discuss the causes of violence in the community and develop ways to reduce it.

On April 22, Roots will host a “Violence Prevention Seminar” which will explore the “upturn in violence involving Muslims, masculine identities, sexual gender-based violence and men’s violence.

Singh made the comments while testifying yesterday at the San Fernando High Court. Appearing before Justice Malcolm Holdip, Singh told the court that on November, 24, 2008 while inside his parlour, Wayne Vesprey came to purchase alcohol . He said he refused to sell Vesprey because he owed him for other items.

He said Vesprey became enraged and used obscenities towards him. Singh told the court Vesprey also threatened to rape his wife. The accused told the court that Vesprey was rocking the gate to his parlour and leaned over and “grabbed at” his wife. Singh said that he was fearful that Vesprey wanted to harm him and his wife so, he drew his gun and shot him.

“I did not aim at no specific place. It was one shot,” he said.

Singh gave evidence before a nine-member jury .Vesprey gave evidence on Wednesday that he was then a tug boat captain and had gone to the parlour to buy a phone card when an argument erupted between Singh and himself. The State is contending that Singh, also known as “Tufie”, shot Vesprey in the forehead with an air gun. Singh was charged with wounding with intent. State Attorney Stacy Laloo-Chong, together with attorney Krishna Jaglal, is prosecuting the case.

Last Wednesday, the air gun was admitted and tendered into evidence. Singh is being represented by attorney Kevin Ratiram.

Under cross-examination by Laloo-Chong, Singh admitted that he and Vesprey were friends and he would often come to the parlour and listen to music.

He also admitted that at times, when he was not selling at the parlour, he would be in the forest hunting during open season while his wife remained at the parlour. The trial continues next week.

The matter came up for hearing yesterday at the San-Fernando High Court.

HDC is seeking damages for trespass from Junior Sammy Contractors Ltd, businessman Shaun Sammy and another man identified as Robert Gormandy.

HDC is identified as a State agency and Junior Sammy Contractors is an infrastructural organisation in Trinidad and Tobago.

Based on court documents, HDC is contending that Gormandy had no right, title or interest whatsoever in the land — a three-acre plot located at Couva near the Couva Junior Secondary and the Couva Government Secondary Schools.

According to court documents filed in the High Court, a declaration of agreement was made between Gormandy and Sammy (Shaun) last month when Gormandy is purported to have sold the land to the businessman in “fee simple absolute”.

The matter yesterday came up for hearing before Justice Ricky Rahim in Chambers.

Attorneys Ramesh L Maharaj SC, Ronnie Bissessar, and Darin Gopaul Gosein are representing the defendants, Gormandy and Sammy while HDC is being represented by attorneys Ravi Heffes-Doon and Andre Rudder.

At the hearing yesterday, the HDC gave an undertaking that they will not enter upon or take any steps to enter the subject lands while Gormandy agreed that he would remain off the subject lands.

Junior Sammy Construction Ltd also agreed that it will no longer carry out any construction work at the lands.

Newsday learnt that the purpose of the order is to maintain a stay that would allow the court to adjudicate on the matter in the next four or five months.

This is because both men, said to be childhood friends, remained in police custody up to last evening fielding questions from officers at the Homicide Bureau.

At about 2 pm yesterday, scores of mourners flocked the Forres Park Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Cedar Hill Road, Claxton Bay, to bid the 31-yearold woman a final farewell.

Police sources said they are still awaiting the results of gunshot residue tests to determine who pulled the trigger which claimed Mohammed-Ramkissoon’s life.

Initial police reports are the relative was driving his Nissan Tiida with Mohammed-Ramkissoon and the friend as passengers, en route to Chaguanas to purchase a vehicle on Tuesday at about 9 pm. During the trip, an argument ensued in which the woman was shot in the head while in the front passenger seat.

The friend then jumped out of the car and fled while the driver proceeded to the Chaguanas Police Station where a doctor pronounced her dead. The following day, the friend surrendered to police at Freeport Police Station.

Police recovered a loaded firearm in the car. Police said that both men claim the other shot Mohammed-Ramkissoon.

Investigations continue.

Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard yesterday told the Joint Select Committee on National Security meeting looking into staff deficiencies at the Office of the DPP that an increase in the staff complement at the DPP’s office and urgent emphasis on the spatial needs of the office need to be addressed to ensure maximum output.

The Office of the DPP has outgrown the current locations at which it is currently housed, he said.

On the Gulf City Mall, La Romaine being identified as accomodation for the DPP’s office , Member of Parliament for St Augustine, Prakash Ramadhar said he found it “a bit troubling” and that accommodation could have been found closer to the court house. To be housed in a mall, he said, does not enhance the respect of the office.

Gaspard said when the request was made for removal of the office from its current site, the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs referred several sites to him over the past four years and those sites proved unsuitable for office space.

When the proposal was made for Gulf City Mall, he said, “I give that location my blessings but not before I would have indicated that it would have been a less than ideal site for the Office of the DPP.” On the rental of a property in Port-of- Spain, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Attorney General, Ingrid Seerattan said, the DPP still has concerns with the property.

Once his concerns are alleviated, she said, the ministry will begin the negotiations and then go forward to seek approval from Cabinet.

Approval for outfitting the Tobago office has been approved, and the contractors have indicated the outfitting will take three months, she said.

Gaspard said the Tobago office was needed because police officers are constrained and forced to use unreliable air and sea bridges when they need to seek legal advice. Very often they are placed on stand-by to travel.

“That is demeaning and inconveniencing,” he said.

On the other hand, he said that every time the DPP’s office has to provide legal representation in Tobago, there are costs involved in terms of travel and accommodation, as well as inconvenience for the legal counsels. If there is a Tobago office, he said, the DPP’s office could retain and hire legal counsel based in Tobago.

We condemn outright the use of chemical weapons. For too long, Assad’s regime has been suspected of using this method, propped up by rationalisations and Russian backing.

The Pentagon’s firing of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat airbase near Homs early yesterday morning (Syria time) represents the first hit against Assad’s regime. In making this move, Trump has cited his changed views on Assad after the atrocious chemical attack.

Critics of the US, however, will note the irony that it is the same Trump who mere weeks ago banned Syrian refugees, some of whom would have been fleeing Assad’s reign. They will also observe that the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted in a resolution (A/RES/71/248) establishing an International Mechanism of Accountability for crimes committed since 2011 in Syria. They will say the appropriate response was not to engage in force, but to hold Assad to account in a court of law or under some judicial mechanism.

Yet, it is not clear how soon such a mechanism could have been devised and how clear the path to implementation would be given the politics of the UN, which sees several nations holding veto powers at Security Council level. (China and Russia voted against A/RES/71/248.) Sceptics will note that the strikes amounted to a show of force as Trump met with China’s President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate. China stopped short of condemning the action yesterday, as Russia, Iran and Syria decried what they described as a breach of sovereignty.

But those backing the action, including countries such as the UK, Australia, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Japan, will note that it is Assad who has apparently breached international rules against the use of chemical weapons.

Presumably these nations, as well as the US, have reliable information about the nature of the facility targeted as well as the veracity of the initial reports which surfaced earlier this week. If the strike will hobble Assad’s ability to use chemical weapons, then it is justifiable.

While action under a judicial mechanism would have been the preferred way to go, the world will nonetheless breathe a sigh of relief that action has been taken against a despot willing to kill his own people. At the same time, we all have good cause to be nervous, mindful of the possible repercussions. A dangerous – even if justified – precedent has been set.

Trump has taken huge risks in this action, especially considering his history. He recently oversaw a disastrous military operation that did not go according to plan. If he proposes to now engage in the use of force for every violation of international law, then we may soon face disaster.

These developments underline the fact that the risks, daily, are rising.

Before Syria, there was an escalation of provocations by North Korea. The US has signalled an intention to tackle that issue alone, without China. Yet there is serious doubt North Korea’s nuclear programme can be stopped completely without Chinese aid.

Ahead of his meeting with Xi yesterday, Trump set himself on a collision course with the Chinese leader, once more taking to Twitter to criticise the impact of global trade on US jobs and blaming China. It is likely that the tensions will remain high between the two most important nations in the world for some time.

If this is not bad enough, other tremors are being felt in relation to the European Union – which was set up to guarantee European peace – and NATO.

While the strike on Syria can be justified – morally if not legally – one thing is clear. The world is now, irreparably, in a dangerous place.

I recall my grandmother, a staunch Catholic, using coconut oil to massage and pull the limbs of newborn babies, a practice that mother Basdai spoke about.

I dared not ask my grandmother what she was doing as she bent over the child, face deep in concentration, bottom lip pushed out in that stern way when she was focused. I found out years later that it was a ritual to strengthen the child and imbue positive life force into their new human form.

Childbirth is a sacred, serious event for the Hindu; throughout the process, the woman is central.

The aajee, grandmother, would whisper the name of God to the baby while in the womb. Everyone is especially careful with the pregnant woman who is believed to have “one foot in the grave, one foot out.” There is also a strong focus on God and prayer. A photo of Baby Krishna is on the wall, watching over everything and to ensure that the baby is “chul chul” like Baby Krishna, that is mischievous, but miraculous too.

Once the baby is born, the mother and grandmother of the new mummy take charge. “In the nursing home, they send you to take a shower after you have the child. Not in a Hindu home. We have to massage the belly with coconut oil and you have rituals to do. It’s only after the sixth day that the mother will take a bath, with special herbs for cleansing.” As part of these rituals, the afterbirth is buried, not flushed or burnt. It gives literal meaning to the local phrase “my navel string bury here,” and is symbolic of grounding the child to the place of his or her birth.

Outsiders are still not allowed to see the baby. The family is focusing on infusing the child with their energy, while singing almost constantly. On the 12th day, visitors are allowed, and even then they are careful “who shadow fall on the child.” My grandmother used to say “kiss the child on dey foot” with her lip pushed out.

The belief in reincarnation and karma are fundamental to Hindu philosophy and teachings.

The newborn will treat with any unresolved issues, or unfulfilled karma. As the child grows, he or she will be taught certain principles and values guided by the guru, that is, anyone who can take you from a position of darkness to one of light. The first guru is the mother. “When you have a problem you go to Ganesh. When you have a real problem, you go to your mother or to Laskhmi.” These ancient traditions hold much wisdom for us. This week, a little girl of 11 years old was drugged by a sweet she accepted from a taxi driver. The story shows that there is much that we are not teaching our children, and so are contributing to their vulnerability to abuse.

Rituals like the massaging of coconut oil must strengthen all our youth, or we face the consequences of a karma we do not want, because we allowed too many shadows to fall upon our children and on the face of our beautiful nation.

Dara Healy is a performance artist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN

Five drivers in the fastest class, all with one aim of being crowned Rally Trinidad 2017 Champion, will be in action today. Who will have that honour on Sunday afternoon to have their names inscribed in the history books forever? This is the 4WD class, Group A, or as they say, where the big boys come to play. There is a mix of a past Rally Trinidad winner, a past Solodex Champion, past Rookies of the Year winners, an all-round racer and the youngest competitor in the field stepping up from Group N to Group A.

2015 TTRC Overall Drivers Champion and Rally Trinidad Champion, James Betts, will be starting as car #1. While not the position he was hoping for, James, who is co-driven by TTRC president Robert Cadiz, will play the role of sweeper for several of the stages. And I say several because James has a love/hate relationship with the Rally’s opening Stage, Bronte.

Should he survive today, then he will surely be hard to beat come Sunday. But we will see.

A rebuilt engine and driveline, and a full season of racing on the cards, the aim is to take the car to Rally Jamaica come November.

“A baptism of fire” was how Ryan Pinheiro described the upcoming rally and 2017 season.

With a newly rebuilt car in every sense of the word, it was also built to participate in Rally Barbados in June and will be shipped out next week – no doubt after a wash.

Co-driven by long-time friend Ross Vieira, the team’s outlook is to be in the hunt for the overall championship by year’s end, as it’s up to the driver and navigator to see not only their rally car’s potential but their own in the forthcoming season.

Also sporting a newly rebuilt car, from front to back and all that’s in between, Matthew Russell, co driven by Brian Bhagwandass, is taking square aim finishing the year on the top of the group and within the top three overall at season’s end.

Adopting a Frank Kelly vision of “win it or bin it”, Matthew, piloting his Mitsubishi Evolution 3, should be exciting to watch all season long. Joining the fight to the finish would be Noel Junior Phillips, co driven by Neval Dindial, in a car that is all too familiar with the stages of Trinidad and Tobago, if not wider Caribbean.

His newly acquired Mitsubishi Evolution 3, formerly owned by Kumar Ramdass, who acquired it from none other than John Powell.

Junior, with circuit and boat racing experience to his name, should not be one to overlook over the next two days. Rounding out the Group, is the club’s youngest driver, though certainly not by age, Harold Morley, driving his Subaru Sti N16, co driven by Shiva Maharaj. A former UK Rally Champion with many rally wins to his name, Harold is one of the club’s most treasured drivers with many a rally tale to tell, never afraid to speak his mind on growing the sport of rallying here in Trinidad and Tobago. This year, Harold has stepped up in class, from Group N to Group A, and should be interesting to see him take on this new challenge.