Cousins Sharaz Mohammed, 23, and Sadiq Mohammed, 24, and Brandon Basdeo, 24, stood before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John who read four charges. The cousins are from Pluck Road in San Francique while Basdeo who is a PH driver, is from Sahadeo Avenue, Gopie Trace in Penal. One charge read that the three abducted the woman at Cipero Street in San Fernando last Saturday. Another charge was that the men raped her, while a third was that they buggered the woman and the final charge was one of robbery.

Cpl Roger Nanan of San Fernando CID laid the charges against the three who were not called upon to plead. Attorney Martin Jadoonanan, who represented Basdeo, asked for bail to be granted while attorney Ainsley Lucky who appeared for Sharaz, also made a similar plea. Sadiq was unrepresented. Court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan told Magistrate Forde-John that the police need to conduct a tracing on the cousins in order to verify if they have a criminal record as police believe they have charges pending.

“Your Worship, I am objecting under the Bail Act 6 (2) (f), which states that a person who commits an offence whilst on bail relating to another offence, should be refused bail.” Magistrate Forde- John said that she was refusing bail to Sharaz and Sadiq, pending a determination of their criminal record. When the magistrate made the order, Sadiq told her that if he must be remanded into custody, he wanted to be sent to the Maximum Security Prison.

He said he is fearful for his life because his twin brother who is in jail, had an altercation with a prison officer. Sadiq also told the magistrate that he came out from jail five months ago. As for accused Basdeo, Seedan objected to bail being granted on the ground that the charges are serious and the offences were prevalent in society, adding that a gun was allegedly used in the commission of the crime.

The magistrate granted Basdeo $175,000 bail to cover the four charges. As a condition to the bail, he is report to the Penal CID three times a week. She remanded Sharaz and Sadiq into custody.

Basdeo and Sadiq are to return to court on March 17 while Sharaz is to return next Wednesday.

Brandon Dalzell, 24, of Belmont was slapped with the fines by Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John in the San Fernando Magistrates’ court after he pleaded guilty to the offences.

He appeared along with another man, Ricky Ayers, 59, who is a ‘PH’ driver of St Mary’s Village, Moruga, following their arrest on Wednesday by San Fernando CID officers.

Ayers pleaded not guilty and was granted $85,000 bail. Court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan told Magistrate Forde-John that at about 11.45 pm on Wednesday, police were on mobile patrol duty in a marked vehicle on Lower High Street where they observed a Nissan B15 car parked near Scotia Bank. The party of officers included Cpl Roger Nanan, WPC Praveen Rajkumar, PCs Thompson and Roodal of the San Fernando CID.

Dalzell was in the front passenger seat and another man in the driver’s seat, Seedan said, when the officers approached the vehicle. A search was conducted of the men but nothing illegal was found, however, the prosecutor said that when the officers searched the center console area which is under the dashboard, they discovered a gun and magazine containing 17 rounds of ammunition. They both were arrested and charged.

Asked why he had the gun, Dalzell told magistrate Forde- John that he was not a trouble- maker, and, he had one ‘bad case’ for trespassing. “You will never, ever see my face again in court,” the accused said. “I sell eddoes and ground provisions.

I saw a bag and thought it had marijuana in it.” He went on to tell the magistrate that had been marijuana, he would have sold the illegal narcotic to buy more eddoes. Magistrate Forde-John fined him $7,000 for possession of the gun and $2,000 for the ammunition.

He was ordered to pay the fines in the next 30 days or serve two years for the gun possession and nine months for the ammunition.

This follows an autopsy on Thursday which revealed Adams, a Form 3 student of Signal Hill Secondary School and footballer on the under-15 national team, died as a result of injuries to her neck.

A police source said investigators will approach the DPP for advice on the case. “The investigations are still ongoing. There are some things we still need to close off on and then we would have to approach (the DPP) for directions, so until we get directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions no one can be charged and the investigations continue.” On Wednesday, Snr Supt Joanne Archie confirmed the detainment of a suspect who was assisting police with their investigations. The suspect was one of three persons who were previously questioned and released, however he was subsequently detained. According to police reports, Adams, who lived at Mary’s Hill was found dead last Saturday morning in Courland after being reported missing by her mother, Katherine Gill.

Adams was last seen alive at 7.30 pm on February 10 when she she left home with a 19-year-old male friend, but never returned. The young man told relatives he had dropped Adams off at a shop near her home at about 8 pm.

A relative who was searching for the missing teenager stumbled on her body at 3.30 am last Saturday near a pile of garbage, at Solenn Lane, Fedilis Heights (North), Courland. She was partially nude and her throat was slit. Adams is Tobago’s fourth murder, equalling the total number of murders recorded last year.

First place, going into the finals next Tuesday, went to Kay Mason for her portrayal of “Out of the Blue” while second spot went to Roxanne Omalo with “Sheera, The Ice Queen”.

Curtis Eustace came in second to his younger brother, Ted Eustace, in the Kings category; Curtis portrayed “Falconidae, D Desert Prey” while Ted portrayed “Crypto, Lord of the Galaxy.” Third place went to Ravi Lakhan for his portrayal of “Nazgul, Harbinger of Death”.

The top 15 entrants in the Kings and Queens categories advance to the finals next Tuesday.

The show, scheduled to start at 7 pm, will take place at the same venue where the preliminaries were held.

Thursday’s show flowed smoothly, with little to no wind to impede or even blow over the many large costumes on display that evening. The North Stand was empty, as usual, while the Grand Stand was about half full. This was “average for the preliminaries”, one regular attendee informed Newsday.

A few costumes seemed underwhelming to the audience while those that ‘made the cut’ received applause during their time on stage. Kings and Queens, particularly those from larger bands, tend to add special effects or something extra to their costumes for the finals. It remains to be seen who chooses to do so this year and if this will make the difference between winning and placing second.

The island’s history includes its initial use as a processing depot and repatriation centre for East Indian labourers during the indentureship, as a sea plane base for the Americans during World War II and in 1970 as a detention centre for people involved in the Black Power Movement.

The tour takes place from 10 am to 2 pm, with boarding at 9 am at the Port-of-Spain Water Taxi Terminal.

Tickets for National Trust members are $200, non-members $250, seniors $225, and juniors $150.

Tickets can be purchased at the PoS and San Fernando Water Taxi Terminals as well as at the National Trust’s offices, 68-70 Sackville Street, Portof- Spain.

The National Trust, established by Act No 11 of 1991, is the agency responsible for safeguarding the tangible heritage of TT.

Its mandate is to preserve, protect and provide information and access to the country’s built and natural heritage.

It is also charged with the development of the Nelson Island Heritage Site.

The NCC, in a release issued yesterday, said this restriction was necessary to facilitate the hospital’s operation.

To ensure this advisory is observed, the commission said a police compliance unit will be stationed out side the general hospital to ensure all music trucks obeyed the rule.

He made this observation during a public inquiry held by this JSC at Tower D of the Portof- Spain International Waterfront Centre. Responding to a question from Government Senator W Michael Coppin, Hilaire said, “We don’t have evidence of this directly but we could consider in a small country, in a situation like the financial sector you could have, price leaders.” He explained this phenomenon could involve an institution setting a particular benchmark and others following it. Hilaire said he did not view the profits being made by financial institutions in TT as supranormal in any way. In response to another question from Coppin, Hilaire said he could not single out any commercial bank which was more dominant as compared to other banks in TT.

The Governor explained that the secrecy provisions in the Central Bank Act and good business practice prevent him from doing so. However, Hillaire said, “ I could say there are certain banks that would have more dominance than the others.” He stated this was because not all banks have the same clientele or offer the same services. Hillaire said this would result in difference in the type and reach of commercial banks in TT.

With eight commercial banks already operating in this country, Hilaire said the view has been expressed that, “ we already have too many banks in the system.” The Governor said while the banks must be profitable, they also understand that they offer a public service to their customers and have contracts with the Central Bank to that effect. Stating the Central Bank treats the issue of licences to financial institutions very seriously, Hilaire declared, “We don’t give licences just like that unless we think this institution would be solid and would be responsible. That puts a cap on the number of banks that can come in.” Hilaire said the Central Bank has a special Information Technology (IT) team which communicates regularly with commercial banks on how to strengthen security breaches that are IT related. He added that discussions on other areas of security with the banks also take place. Acknowledging concerns raised by Housing Minister Randall Mitchell and St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar that banks do not appear helpful to more vulnerable persons in society, Hilaire said the Central Bank also speaks with banks on these issues.

He explained that while the Central Bank cannot police commercial banks, members of the public can raise concerns with the Bank and it will see what could be done. Hilaire added that this was a balancing act and a situation where the cost of financial services is too high, is something which must never happen.

He said in such a scenario, people “will go outside of the traditional banking system” and this could have certain risks for them.

MX Prime and the Ultimate Rejects brought a sizzling end to the tenth edition of Telecommunications Company, Bmobile’s BSquared. The finale of the threeday event saw several soca stars gracing the stage among them reigning Soca Monarch, Aaron “Voice” St Louis.

The event began at 11 am with popular Carnival 2017 hits being played by the DJ. The A Team Band led by vocalist Eddie Charles took the growing audience through a series of Carnival hits when it took the stage at noon.

The crowd sang along as he took them through songs such as Orlando Octave’s “Single”.

Charles was followed by Shal Marshall, Jason “GBM Nutron” Carter and Akeem “Milko” Henry whose compendium of songs got the crowd moving. Patrice Roberts entered the stage next with her “Big Girl Now”. The crowd sang along as Roberts performed. She called on men to respect women as other stars who graced the BSqaure stage had done. Although yesterday’s crowd was the largest of the threedays of BSquare, it was smaller in comparison to years gone by.

Devon “Lyrikal” Martin also slightly moved the crowd with his hits such as 2016’s “Cloud Nine”.

But the afternoon belonged to MX Prime. There were fears that he would not show as The A Team came back on after Boxhill and again ran through a series of songs.

However, MX Prime was delayed due to traffic and as soon as he hit the stage after 1pm-although some members of the crowd had already left- those who stayed on vigorously sang and danced to Full Extreme.

They chanted after Thomas, “We don’t business.”

In Arima, like everywhere else, there is prevalent illegal vending on the pedestrian pavements.

Nothing lasting has been done about it, and now it has expanded.

Vendors now have vehicles — cars, station wagons, even big vans and small trucks.

They set up shop before business hours, vending on the pavement and from their vehicles.

They make sure there is a lot of space in-between their vehicles so people can freely walk around them to survey merchandise and to shop in comfort, depriving tax-paying merchants and customers of already limited parking.

The ever efficient wrecker (the only thing that seems to work in this country) is right behind you, should you commit the mortal sin and park on the opposite side of the street as a result of the vendors illegally occupying the legal side.

Repeated complaints go unanswered.

There is no move to find a solution for vendors to legally occupy an organised vending zone or city/town market.

Illegality is now the norm in our society.

Recently I have noticed socalled members clubs/casinos on the ground floors of main shopping areas advertising their illegal 33/1 services on their shop front.

That is what was previously called Whe Whe, an illegal enterprise.

That used to be an underground activity where the banker had to go in hiding to “buss the mark.” It is no longer so.

It is on the main streets in our country, illegally available to one and all, in competition with the legal Government-run NLCB Play Whe.

When illegality becomes acceptable, without consequence, we have failed as a society.

The message is that everyone is a law onto themselves.

Add this to our nation’s heightened delinquency, robbery, thuggery, kidnapping, murder, larceny, arson, it is clear to see why we are a failing state.

Ghassan Youseph via email

A claim to have 5,000 people clamouring for someone’s resignation is tantamount to the obscene misuse of modern technology to enliven political rumour.

Is an online petition as legally binding as a physical vote? Who are these invisible signatories, many never having set foot in TT ? At the stroke of an iPhone, from thousands of miles away, online voting can be used to create political mischief. Knowledge is power. This abuse of technology enables this particular aspect of power that corrupts absolutely.

An impressive number of people in TT of diverse ages and social backgrounds are walking about, iPhones in hand, seemingly unable to pocket these little squares of 100 percent entertainment.

Like the ownership of cars, a small minimum wage does not preclude the possession of the most expensive of these instruments.

Used as a mischievous political tool, you can be contacted 24/7 to decide which individual reputation is to be besmirched and deemed crass, ignorant or unpalatable to hold government office. Today, reputation, the accumulation of great wealth and political domination supersede all else. But because TT is comprised of only 1.4 million people, it follows that the illusion of complicity and political agreement must be found using the World Wide Web. We, the easily fooled, believe some of the lies conveyed to us via social media.

Lynette Joseph Diego Martin