She was married to Reverend Ethelbert Samaroo for 56 years and was the mother daughters, Wendy and Arlene. In 2012, on the 50th anniversary of this country’s Independence, Mahase-Samaroo told Newsday that the National Anthem was chosen in the small village of Guaico, Sangre Grande, where she was still living in her parents home.

She had been invited to be a member of a Committee appointed to select the Anthem. As Chairman of the Committee, the late Helen Mae Johnson, founder of the Biennial Music Festival and Queen’s Hall, divided the music from scores of entrants, giving each one of them a small pile to take home and select the best for final presentation to the overall Committee.

The late Pat Castagne’s music was in Mahase-Samaroo’s file. “I played them all,” she said, “and just knew immediately that Castagne’s entry was the one. I called the entire household to come and listen to the National Anthem of Trinidad and Tobago and played it for them.” At the final meeting of the Committee, the Chairman asked Mahase- Samaroo to play all the selections from the sub-committees who explained: “It really was from the beginning the anthem, it was so majestic. I did not write it but I selected it and the others agreed it was the best…Castagne had really written this anthem for the formation of the Federation of the West Indies which fell through…Castagne submitted it, which would explain his thoughts of ‘side by side we stand islands of the blue Caribbean Sea’ but it worked well for us as we are islands of the blue Caribbean.” At the Church service last Saturday, beautiful music for this extraordinary musicologist filled the air. She had once said in an interview with this writer: “Music is a great part of my life!” The St Augustine Girls Alumnae Chorale, which she formed in 1984 and remained as director up to the time of her passing, fittingly serenaded their late Choir Mistress as her body was borne out of the church with the song, “Thank You For The Music.”

Kieron John slammed the second-best score of the First Round, a well-constructed 83 and got valuable support from Nicholas Kanhai who made 54, while Denzil Antoine chipped in with 32 as Central racked up 288 for nine in their allotted 50 overs.

Bowling for South West, Raja Premchand took two wickets for 46 runs from his 10 overs, while Jamal Ramnath grabbed 2/67 and Lorenzo Loubon snatched 2/37.

When South West Zone batted, they were routed for 86 in 30 overs. They had no answer to Jayden Searles who put them on the ropes with 4/13 in eight overs, and Nicholas Kanhai who snared 2/24 in seven overs.

Also winning emphatically were defending champions East Zone against Tobago at Cane Farm, Tacarigua, romping home by 128 runs to give their campaign the best possible start.

Batting first, East Zone chalked up 225 all out in 49.5 overs with Leonardo Julien making an excellent 84, and Leonardo Francis contributing 48.

For Tobago, there were three wickets each for Joshua James and Shane Ali, while Shakeel Carrington and Keston Rodney grabbed two apiece in a match that was played on Thursday, one day later than the other First Round fixtures.

In their turn at the crease, Tobago were dismissed for 97 in 40 overs with Joshua James top-scoring with 17, while Dari Roberts and Orlando James were the only other batsmen making it into double figures with 12 runs each.

Outstanding East Zone cricketer Samir Ali, was virtually unplayable snatching 6/29 in 10 overs, while Sameer Mohammed, Rivaldo Ramlogan and Ceejay Rampersad all took one each to complete the clinical demolition job. At the Queen’s Royal College Ground in St Clair, North Zone rallied to score a four-wicket victory against North East, who put up a stout batting performance in making 197 all out in 46 overs.

Christian Ramroop tallied 38, Darien Dodds struck 37 and Andy Mahase compiled 36 in an encouraging show of defiance against the North bowlers led by Adam Reyes with the best figures of 3/51 in nine overs, and Giovanni Letren, with 2/40 in eight.

In their run chase, the North Zone effort was spearheaded by Michael Ambard whose 66 laid the foundation for the calculated victory, with allrounders Letren (28 not out) and Reyes (25) getting into the act, ending the innings at 199/6 in 42 overs.

And at Sancho Ground, St Julien Village in Princes Town, South East Zone scored the biggest upset of the opening round with a 50-run win against South in a low-scoring nail-biter.

Batting first South East made 166 in 39.2 overs as their batting line-up exhibited great patience and maturity, led by Kevin Ramkisson (32), Jevon George (31), Avinash Mahabirsingh (29) and Javed Arjoon (24).

On what proved to be a difficult wicket for batting, Rattan Singh took 3/21 in five overs and Jalen Agaro snatched 2/31 in six overs to help South Zone restrict their opponents to a target they would have fancied as gettable.

However, South East bowlers had different ideas, working in tandem to dismiss South for just 116 in 38.2 overs with only Mbekz Joseph (48) and Antonio Gomez (21) offering any resistance in a disappointing batting effort.

Nicholas Ali was the main South East tormentor with 4/28 in 10 overs with four maidens.

Mahabirsingh took 2/12 in 10 overs, Quincy Roodal grabbed 2/14 in five and George returned with 2/21 in 6.1 overs.

This was the warning given by Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar yesterday at a service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-of-Spain held to commemorate International Women’s Day. “Our brothers have to understand we are not property and I think that’s the thinking, even in 2017, from a lot of men. Women are not property and if you’re in a relationship and that relationship for whatever reason is not going the way you would like it to be, then we need to be mature and step away from that relationship,” she said.

Ayers-Caesar was responding to questions from reporters on recent acts of violence against women after she addressed the service. “We need to come together as adults to do what is best in the interest of our children, because at the end of the day it makes no sense, a mother or father who cannot get along and then one kills the other and inevitably commits suicide.

“This is trend we have been seeing and we leave these children as orphans.

A lot of parents do not realise how they interfere with the psyche of their children,” she said.

Ayers-Caesar said parents should start having these kind of discussions with their daughters and sons.

“We need to have the discussion from within our homes and not have our men grow up and try to deal with emotional issues when they get older. We need to start that discussion when they are very young, with our boys and our young girls,” she said. She advised women that the court is there to help them.

“You may not want to come to the court at the first instance because in a lot of situations, the women have children. For us women, the thought of moving out of your home, leaving those children behind or sometimes running with your children deters a lot of women from seeking protection.

You want the women to know there is help out there, there are NGOs, there are groups that you can approach to talk to. Coming to the court does not mean that that is the end of your family but it may be a means of saving your life,” she said.

Ayers-Caesar said once a woman seeks a protection order from the court its enforcement lies with the police. “If it is that someone goes to the police station because an order has been breached, the thinking cannot be ‘go back home and try to fix it’ or ‘go to a JP (justice of the peace) and file a complaint’. The police have a role to play at that point in time and once that is done and a perpetrator is brought before the court then the court will deal with that breach because the legislation empowers us to deal with it,” she said.

Asked if she felt not enough was being done she said, “I don’t want to say that not enough is being done, but more can be done and I think there must be some sort of sensitisation of police officers so that they understand that this is important. It comes down to a matter of life and death in most situations and they need to act and act quickly.” Ayers-Caesar also expressed her concern about the overall crime situation in the country and advised young men involved in crime to put down the gun and take up their respective holy books.

According to reports the teenager went to the health centre on Friday last at about 10 am after complaining of severe dehydration, vomiting and other health issues.

After being attended to by a doctor at the health institution, tests later revealed her to be two-months pregnant.

The girl was further interviewed by the doctor and confessed to being in a sexual relations with a 39-year-old man of Rio Claro. The police were called in.

Officers of the Mayaro police station and investigators from the Child Protection Unit (CPU) detained the 16-year-old girl and interviewed her. She gave a statement to the police about her relationship with the man who is now being sought and has gone into hiding.

The girl’s parents said they were unaware of their child’s relationship with the 39-yearold man. Newsday understands that further medical treatment was recommended for the girl and counselling is also expected to be provided.

Investigations are ongoing.

Eva Charles-Fraser, 65, and her husband Mc- Donald, 85, are listed as being in serious but stable condition at Port-of- Spain General Hospital nursing gunshot injuries to the hip and back respectively.

According to police reports, at about 1.07 am McDonald and his wife were asleep at their Belmont Valley Road home when he was alerted to the sound of someone opening the front door. He made a check and was confronted by two gunmen who demanded cash and other valuables. After robbing McDonald, the men forced the victim into the yard of his home where he was shot in the back. As he slumped to the ground shouting for help, his wife Eva who by this time had awakened and ran into the living room and was shot once in the hip by one of the gunmen. Officers of the Belmont police station were alerted and the elderly couple was taken to hospital where they underwent emergency surgery.

Relatives and neighbours of the couple said they believed the intruders could be from the area who knew the couple lived alone.

The interception took place on February 16 in international waters north of Paramaribo, off the coast of Suriname and resulted in a find of 4.2 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of US$125 million ($837,000,000).

The ministry said this was one of largest drug busts in the Atlantic since 1999.

TT also has an extradition treaty with the US. The State Department said, “The past two years have seen a sustained utilisation of that extradition treaty.” In collaboration with its international partners, this country seized approximately 1.2 metric tonnes of marijuana and 292 kilograms of cocaine last year.

In 2015, 1.35 metric tonnes of marijuana and 249 kilograms of cocaine were seized in 2015. The State Department said drug treatment professionals assess that drug usage continues to increase among young people in TT. No charges of drug-related corruption have been filed against senior government officials last year.

The Police Complaints Authority recorded 352 complaints (including perverting the course of justice, fraud, corruption and extortion) last year. Media and anecdotal reports of drug-related corruption in the ranks of the Police Service, Defence Force, Customs and Excise Division and port employees are common.

The State Department also said Government is an active partner in the US Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’s programmes. Those programmes include preventing financial crimes and reducing the illicit trafficking of firearms.

Identifying the main challenges to combating the drug trade as “institutional challenges, “ the State Department said, “In order to deter traffickers, the Government of TT should implement reforms and programs to expedite prosecutions and persist with a more evidence-based criminal justice system to enable convictions.”

A recent report about an eight-year-old child being rescued after years of abuse at the hands of a relative is a reminder of glaring deficiencies that exist in our State systems and in social awareness.

There are simply too many gaps. Untold numbers of cases are likely slipping through the cracks.

While some attention has been paid to the conduct of the Children’s Authority in the recent case, we do not think it fair to question the actions adopted by the Authority without a full understanding of the facts.

And because the case involves a minor, many aspects of it must remain confidential. The Authority is not in any position to defend itself, nor should it be forced to engage in public debate over what should have be done in this sensitive case.

It must also be remembered that child rescue is not just a simple matter of finding a safe house and placing a child in it.

A complex matrix of factors must be examined. Things officials might consider include the welfare of the child, the impact of being close to relatives as opposed to strangers, the availability of suitable locations. None of this is clear cut.

What we can question is whether the Authority has enough resources to act speedily on reports sent to it. If the Authority was unable to act on a report made in January, why was this the case? It has been suggested the nature of the report made a difference in the response.

However, we find this an unconvincing basis upon which to differentiate degrees of urgency.

Surely any report involving the interests of a child deserves urgent attention? However, none of this should make us lose sight of other glaring matters. The biggest issue raised by the recent report is the fact that a known sexual offender seems to have been able to function unhindered in a community.

We must ask: what is the status of efforts to examine the sexual offenders’ registry? That registry is kept private for law enforcement officials and other State officers. However, we feel there is enough basis to make such a registry more widely available to give communities the information they need to take precautions.

It is true there is a risk of acts of vigilante justice. However, it seems clear enough that information about the offender in this particular case was already public information. A relative of the abused child states she though the offender, “was over that”. Was there a need for the community as a whole to have more information about this offender? Was the offender not a risk to other children or persons in the vicinity? The State has to take a closer look at how a registry available to parents might work.

Related to this is the vital question of treatment and rehabilitation.

If it is true the offender in the case is a repeat offender, this is a clear sign of a need for more facilities to help counsel persons found to cross the line.

But more importantly, there needs to be counselling for the victims. Somewhere out there is a prior child whose case may have slipped the radar. Who was lobbying on her behalf? Who was seeking her interests as this offender moved on the next subject of his proclivities? People can bad-talk the Children’s Authority — which has been making strides — all they want. The real issue is the system in which the Authority functions.

It must be remembered the Authority is relatively new and the enormous extent of the problem it is meant to address is only now becoming clearer.

This more restricted definition will embrace the various art forms — literary, performing, musical, manual and others. Thus we include literature and poetry, theatre and drama, musical concerts and performances, painting and sculpture, festivals and street parades, religious observances and practices and a host of other cultural expressions.

When we observe this comprehensive range of endeavours by a people or groups of them, it may be difficult to identify a defining or overarching national culture even in an ethnically homogenous society. This difficulty will be compounded in a culturally diverse society such as Trinidad and Tobago.

Given the above observation, the question arises whether a government should or can financially support all facets of a nation’s culture.

If it does decide to provide assistance to certain elements of the culture, there is the further question as to what justifiable criteria a government would employ in deciding areas to accord priority and the respective quantum of funds to disburse.

A guiding principle could be that those activities which are popular and involve wide participation and patronage should be deemed financially self-sustaining and therefore entitled to the least amount of public funds.

In this regard, if Carnival is considered mass culture with wide popular appeal, then, if suitably organised and marketed, it should generate sufficient income to meet the expenses incurred. However, it would indeed be a courageous administration that would even contemplate such a prescription.

Another justification for huge government funding of Carnival, arguably in the total sum of $300 million, is that it represents the epitome of the national culture.

However, one may justifiably ask whether the essence of a culture can be defined by two days of revelry and its associated activities. Moreover, it is a matter of speculation whether a majority of the population do in fact participate, support or are indifferent to the festival.

Even with huge government financial support, there is the plaintive claim that Carnival is dying. Should scarce tax dollars therefore continue to be lavished on a moribund venture? Finally, a legitimate and relevant question would be: was the status of Carnival, steelband and calypso before the advent of State funding any less popular, attractive and lively? On the other hand, there are other art forms (literature, theatre, drama, music, painting, sculpture etc) which do not enjoy significant popular appeal and therefore may not be commercially viable. Nevertheless, they constitute vital expressions of cultural creativity and intellectual endeavour and therefore should attract much greater financial support from the Government if the purpose is to maintain the vitality of all the critical elements that comprise the gamut of societal cultural expression.

However, to address the issues involved with the above frame of reference would require the establishment of a transparent and fully discussed cultural policy which no administration has been able to formulate.

At present the allocation of Government’s funds appear to be dictated by political expediency, patronage and the calculation of electoral benefit.

Arguments which can be made against any substantial funding of Carnival can also be directed to State assistance for other elements of the culture, in particular Divali Nagar and the Chutney Monarch show.

They are both deemed to be highly popular judging by the attendance and therefore should be financially self-sustaining.

Moreover, Divali Nagar has att r a c t e d a host of substantial corp o r a t e sponsors and there is rental and other s ou r c e s of income.

Since the beginning of this year, she said yesterday, quite an alarming number of young women comprise the statistic of 91 murders thus far. Rape and sexual assault on girls, particularly those under age 15, have been recorded. She said the manner in which some female victims have been murdered, such as in having their throats slit and stomachs disembowelled, wreaks the society’s psyche.

Gayadeen-Gopeesingh, an attorney, pointed out that when the bulk of the country’s resources in the form of budgetary allocations, is devoted to national security, “then we as a society has fundamental problems and we have to deal with it or we will soon become an animal society”. Some B10.5 billion has been allocated to National Security for the current period. Yet still the murders and mayhem is worsening.

Crimes against women, Gayadeen- Gopeesingh said, is rapidly becoming the norm and young girls falling victims to sexual predators is a constant threat. “Almost every day you hear of females who are victims of assault and violence.

It happening in the schools. Teachers seduce schoolgirls and police officers, soldiers, taxi drivers are taking advantage of young women who are vulnerable due to their immaturity.

“Young women, desperate to find work or trying to reach their destination after work are being abused. Even in the matrimonial home there is abuse as men believe it is their right to be abusive to their wives,” the well-spoken MP, alluding to the unstated view among certain men that women are basically their ‘property’.

“Women must not be blamed for the attitudes of men. They must not be blamed for socialisation into submissiveness which also is a retention from some patterns of our ancestral cultures. Therefore, we have much to do, distinct from (Prime Minister Dr Keith) Rowley’s suggestions which confirm a set of simplistic prejudices that may even incite violence, as it suggests the woman, ‘look for that’,” she said.

Gayadeen-Gopeesingh told Newsday that given the volume of crime against women, Government must as a matter of priority, reach out to victims who are in need of empathy, counselling and financial support. On the other hand, perpetrators need therapy and need to knew they will be brought to justice expeditiously through a proper functioning criminal justice system.

Taking issue with PM Rowley’s recent statements that women should choose their men wisely, Gayadeen-Gopeesingh said that young school girls and children have no choice in the matter to avoid sexual violence at home. In fact, the parliamentarian said, t such statements ignore what she describes as the evolutionary, cultural and psychological factors that research has shown, are part of the cause of violence against the female.

The developments come amidst rampant dissent by other Board Members over Sahadeo’s efforts to recruit a General Manager.

In addition to Sahadeo the incumbent board comprise Deputy Chairman Michael Patterson, Radha Permanand, Glen Wilson, Ken Wright, Melissa Alexis James and Ferdie Ferreira.

Sources told Newsday that Sahadeo invested some $500,000 in a management consultancy firm to headhunt for such a candidate but other Board Members were vehemently opposed to her approach.

Some of them have gone as far as blaming line Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and even Prime Minister Keith Rowley for seemingly protecting Sahadeo despite their dissatisfaction with her modus operandi.

One source revealed yesterday that the Prime Minister wanted to deal with the appointment of a new Port Authority Board as a matter of urgency and did not wish to wait until its regular meeting on Thursday which will be held in Tobago.

Additionally, the Prime Minister did not wish to discuss the matter in the absence of certain Ministers who are undertaking overseas missions this week.

These include Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart Young, and Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon.