A day after the lead contamination disclosure was made by officials of the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL) to a e Public Accounts Enterprises Committee (PAEC) of Parliament, Government said it wants answers from SWMCOL and WASA on how this situation was allowed to continue for three years.

In addition, Government is demanding that all relevant agencies act immediately to assure the population that there is either no threat to the country’s water supply or that any potential threat has been eliminated.

In fulfilling this mandate, WASA yesterday issued a press release reiterating water supplied to the public from its Caroni Water Treatment plant is safe for human consumption and meets international health standards.

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh outlined Government’s plans to deal with this issue at the post-Cabinet news conference yesterday. Young said, “As a Cabinet, we have asked for a report…an urgent report on this.” Stressing that Government will not issue any premature directives to the population regarding water consumption, until it knows what the facts are, Young said, “we don’t want to overreact or under react.” He added that to date, there has been no evidence of any lead contamination of the country’s potable water supply.

Young said he would be “shocked and surprised”, if SWMCOL and WASA have not started working on resolving the issue, “with immediacy.” Describing the disclosure by SWMCOL officials to the PAEC as, “historical information”, AG Al Rawi said, “The report has to come carefully but it’s much more than Ministry of Health and (Ministry of) Public Utilities.” He said this issue cuts across the Ministries of Planning (which now has responsibility for the environment), Energy (dealing with renewable energy) and Rural Development and Local Government (which manages the country’s landfills). Al Rawi said this problem cannot be solved simply by closing the Guanapo Landfill or any other landfill.

Saying this issue is not novel and other countries have successfully dealt with it, Al-Rawi was confident that once Cabinet is apprised fully, “the best efforts will be taken with immediacy.” For his part, Health Minister Deyalsingh said, “When you have an issue of potential lead poisoning, I don’t think you have a line minister. All ministers should be concerned because this issue cuts across everything.” Young said a committee looking at the future of landfills in TT, is awaiting certain reports before making recommendations to Cabinet.

WASA: HAVE NO FEAR WASA in a release yesterday said water supplied from the Caroni Water Treatment Plant is safe to drink. “The Authority wishes to assure customers and the general public that water it produces meets and exceeds guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for potable or drinking water quality,” the WASA release stated.

The statement listed mechanisms for treating water to WHO standards. “Lead is a heavy metal contaminant which is easily removed from water during WASA’s coagulation/flocculation and sedimentation processes. In addition, there is disinfection to eliminate dangerous pathogens,” the release stated. Additionally, WASA undertakes regular water quality tests at the Plant’s on-site laboratory in keeping with WHO Guidelines.

Water Quality Monitoring System (WQMS) monitor water quality parameters in the Caroni River Basin and provide real- time water quality data to the Plant from several locations upstream of the Caroni Plant. This system measures six water quality parameters which are key indicators of different types of pollution that can impact the Plant’s output, WASA said.

WASA said that in recent years the Water Resources Agency (WRA), SWMCOL and the University of the West Indies (UWI) have worked together to improve water quality in the Guanapo River. This work includes reducing the volume of ‘leachate’ (pollution run-off) from the Guanapo landfill entering the river, through measures such as terracing the landfill, construction of three ponds within the landfill to control run-off, pumping the ponds and the removal of the ‘leachate’, and construction of an artificial wetland to assist with bio treatment of the ‘leachate’.

Environmental Management Authority (EMA) managing director Hayden Romano yesterday said that while lead in general is a “very serious pollutant”, information from WASA is that water supplied from the Caroni Plant meets WHO standards, including the level for lead. While the EMA has a regulatory role for specific instances of pollution such as piped effluent, air pollution and noise pollution, he said the agency is still awaiting its Waste Rules due by mid-year to broaden its remit.

Chaguanas West MP Ganga Singh, the then Public Utilities Minister under the former People’s Partnership government, yesterday said the water-intake into the WASA system is heavily polluted but this contamination is removed by WASA’s treatment system. Saying sewerage from 16 sources flow into the Caroni water courses and the PP built a water treatment plant in Malabar to ensure a higher quality of effluent in the system.

AIR POLLUTION TOO Arima businessman and activist Roger Belix yesterday urged the authorities to employ the service of foreign experts to test levels of toxins in the water courses and atmosphere from the Guanapo landfill.

“Seven years ago the Justin Belix Foundation conducted a test. We looked at the air and water pollution from the Guanapo landfill. When we did our test back then, Cariri (Caribbean Industrial Research Institute) could only handle a certain type of chemical component, not bacterial component, and we realised it (pollution) was coming from the dump.

“The then PNM government and then the UNC after, said they would look more into it. And that was that. We met with persons from WASA and they said they would give us a test every three months to ensure things are safe.

After so many years, now we are getting this report when before we were getting from them that pipe-borne water was as safe as you can get,” Belix said.

Belix said while they felt vindicated about being right about lead poisoning, there were other chemical tests that could not be done locally. He believes the air around the landfill is heavily polluted.

“We are time bombed now because there are a lot of people now who would be getting a lot of ailments that we can’t explain.

We are not the research people, we are just normal people on the sidelines observing these trends.

We hear people complaining on a daily basis. Just this morning a guy came, very pale, and he said they were doing tests, but they not know what it is.

He lives on deGannes Street which is downhill from the dump. He said he was going abroad to have more tests done.

This thing is so far and wide we need specialists to come in to really pinpoint what is happening,” Belix said.

(Additional reporting by CAROL MATROO and SEAN DOUGLAS )

King, 30, of Chinapoo Village, Morvant and Mora Drive, Cleaver Heights, Arima was charged late Wednesday after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard SC, gave instructions to police.

King was remanded into custody as murder is a non-bailable offence, but his attorney Kiev Chesney, who held for attorney Christian Chandler, requested of the chief magistrate that the accused be separated from the general prison population as threats were made to his life. After being asked to clarify what he was asking of the court, Chesney said perhaps prison authorities can place King in a ‘supervised’ area in the prison or “anything the court can do to ensure the allegation does not come to fruition.” Chesney also asked that a state prosecutor be appointed in the shortest possible time so the preliminary inquiry can begin. King will return to court on March 16.

De Revenaux’s mother Sharon Hernandez-de Revenaux sat quietly at the back of the courtroom while her daughter’s alleged killer made his first court appearance.

Also charged in connection with assisting King to evade arrest were Christopher O’Connor of La Fillette Village, Blanchisseuse and Jamal Lewis of Arima Old Road, Arima and Block 22, Upper Laventille. It is alleged, according to the charge read out to them separately by the chief magistrate, that between February 4 and February 11, they perverted the course of justice by doing a deliberate act to conceal King, with intent to assist him evade arrest and/or lawful apprehension.

Neither man was called to enter a plea and bail was objected to by court prosecutor Inspector Kenneth Dillon. In O’Connor’s case, he has ten pending matters. His lawyer Nicholas Rampersadsingh noted that some of those matters were already dealt with and submitted there are only two charges for resisting arrest and using obscene language that were pending.

A visibly upset O’Connor was told by the chief magistrate to provide copies of court extracts to substantiate his claim that some of the cases against him were discharged.

O’Connor was advised to apply to a judge in chambers for bail and told to return to court on March 16. Lewis will return to court on February 20, so that bail can be considered once the police verify one of the addresses he gave. De Revenaux’s throat, according to an autopsy report, was slit from ear to ear.

He dropped the hint when he announced Cabinet’s approval of several pieces of legislation, at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

He announced that the Access to Bail Amendment Act 2017; the Indictable Offences Pre-Trial Procedure Bill 2017; the Criminal Procedure (Plea Discussion and Plea Agreement) Bill 2017 and the International Financial Organisation Bill 2017.

Al-Rawi said there are currently 2,242 odd persons in Remand and 1,000 of them are in for non-bailable offences, “specifically for the allegation of murder” He explained that of the 1,242 odd persons who are in the Remand Yard, “nearly half of them have been granted bail by the courts but simply could not come out of detention because they could not access bail.”

The AG stated, “We undertook to look at this very seriously and the Cabinet has approved today an access to bail improvement.”

Al-Rawi explained the information that the state and condition of this country’s prisons, “can reduce your chances of coming out a better person and therefore the recidivism aspect is a very real one.”

He said in ensuring that the burden is eased with respect to the prison population and to equally facilitate what has been granted by a court, which is someone’s liberty pending their trial, “we have brought forward a bill which proposes that you can actually use certified cheque and cash, and that can be paid into the system.”

Al-Rawi elaborated that the definition of system meant, “at court and at the prisons itself, on every day except for Sunday and a public holiday. He said this would facilitate, “the movement out of the Remand Yard, for people who have been granted bail by the courts.”

Al-Rawi said this legislation runs alongside the operationalisation of the electronic monitoring system for persons out on parole, “as well the discussion that is being had with the Judiciary on estimating persons who have passed maximum sentence and ought to be considered for conditional release.” The AG disclosed there is an allegation that there is, “almost an underground element to the manner in which bail is procured.” He said there is the phenomenon of “professional bailors” because the Magistracy has sought to opt to one provision of bail only, which is the provision of a deed to a property.
Al-Rawi said, “Most people who find themselves incarcerated, are in there because they simply just don’t own property. They don’t have access to deeds.”

Asked whether this could lead to criminal financiers being able to bail out their friends, Al-Rawi replied, “If there is suspicion and objection to bail, then there is a process to deal with that, where the State can object to bail.” Reminding reporters that 95 percent of prosecutions are handled by the police and five percent by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Al-Rawi said his ministry has been working with Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams in doing a snapshot as to how the cases handled by the police are managed.

In a release, the Caribbean Prestige Foundation (CPF) for the Performing Arts said it had to adjust the prize structure for the competition and as a result, this year’s winner will receive $500,000.

The CPF said the prize for second place will be $250,000 compared to last year’s prize of $750,000.

This year the third place prize will be $150,000 compared to last year’s $500,000 while those who place fourth to 22nd will receive $50,000 compared to last year’s $100,000.

There has also been a reduction in the prize money for the Carib Breakout artiste. This year, the winner will receive $50,000 compared to last year’s prize of $100,000.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said this year, CPF received an estimated $1.3 million compared to the $3.5 million they received last year.

“Based on our reduced allocations we were not able to approve anything greater than that this year,” she said.

The CPF said in an effort to ensure the maximum prize earnings for all finalists it acquired additional funding to enhance the 2017 prize disbursements.

Newsday tried contacting CPF Chairman and CEO Peter Scoon but his phone remained unanswered up until press time.

PC Parris appeared in the First Court before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John who read out the 40 which included obtaining $83,100 from Ian Gibbons, 72, of San Fernando.

Parris of Marabella, has two and half years’ service in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). Cpl Darwain Badree of the Fraud Squad charged him with nine counts of uttering cheques; nine counts each of larceny of cheque leaves; forgery of cheque and obtaining money in the sum of $83,100.

Additionally, Parris was charged with four counts of money laundering in which the charges allege he purchased two cellular phones, a car, a seven- piece dining set and a twintub washer. The alleged offences occurred between the period October 12 and November 30, 2015 in the Marabella and Couva districts. All charges were laid indictably and he was not called upon to plea Senior Supt Totaram Dookie, ASP Ken Ghisyawan together with Cpls Badree, Bachoo, Ramdath and Hosein conducted enquiries with the assistance of PCs Lively-John, Kissoonsingh, Cummings, Solozano and Lutchman.

Attorney Subhas Panday, made a bail application for Parris saying his client has no previous convictions, is a father of two and has a fixed place of abode. Court prosecutor Cleydon Seedan suggested to the court that if Parris is the holder of a valid TT Passport, it must be surrendered to the police as a condition of bail being granted. Magistrate Forde- John granted Parris $250,000 bail to be approved by a Clerk of the Peace with a $75,000 cash bail alternative. As a condition to the bail bond, Parris was ordered to report to the Fraud Squad Office twice a week, stay at least 500 metres from Gibbons’ property and not to have any contact whatsoever with him. She adjourned the case to March 16.

Twelve of the 40 charges were allegedly committed in the Couva area so Magistrate Forde-John transferred those cases to the Couva Magistrates Court.

The investigations comes two days after Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi stated his intention to bring legislation to Parliament to deal with the proliferation of false and misleading information on social media fora which could lead to public outrage, fear, hate and/or panic.

The man, deemed a ‘high risk’ prisoner, was as brought to Tobago to attend court and while inside the Scarborough Magistrates courthouse, he complained of feeling unwell. The man was taken to Scarborough General Hospital under armed police escort.

While being examined by a doctor, it is alleged that a policemen recorded the examination using his cellular phone.

The recording was uploaded to social media with the tag stating the man was being treated for a bite to his penis caused by a schoolgirl while he was forcing her to perform a sex attack.

The post was shared hundreds of times and most comments focused on condemning the prisoner, with some commentators saying doctors should castrate him.

Contacted for comment, Head of Tobago Division Snr Supt Joanne Archie said, “The information that it is an attempted rape is not true.

The fact is, the man was seeking medical attention and someone recorded the examination and this is what we are investigating right now.” An email was sent by Newsday to Ag Chief Executive Officer of the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) Godwyn Richardson for a comment, was not answered.

Speaking last Sunday following an interfaith service at the auditorium of the Chaguanas Borough Corporation’s Administrative Complex, Ag Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams condemned “fake news” on social media saying this could give the wrong impression of Trinidad and Tobago to an international social media audience.

The man has now gone to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) seeking justice.

“I would like to know if we are living in a land without law and order; where police officers could walk up to anybody and say they could lock you up. To me that is high-handedness,” John Romero said.

According to a report sent to the PCA, Romero who is from Toco Main Road, was at his girlfriend’s store at the Shops of Cunapo off the Eastern Main Road in Sangre Grande on Tuesday when at 5.55 pm, he saw five police officers choking and dragging a street-dweller, outside the store. As he left the store to see what was going on and called out to officers to leave the homeless man alone, Romero said a policeman struck him in the face with his fist and he fell to the ground.

Romero said he was threatened with “lock-up” if he reported the beating. Romero went to the Sangre Grande Hospital for treatment.

He then went to the PCA to file a complaint.

Also present outside the Scarborough mortuary yesterday was the victim’s maternal grandmother who said the teen’s murder had traumatised the entire family .

“What we need is justice. I have faith in the police system and also in God. I have faith that God will use the police to get the justice that we need. I believe they will see and gather all the evidence and give us justice for Abby (Abiela),” the weeping woman said .

Adams of Mary’s Hill was reported missing last Saturday after she left home with a friend. Her mother filed a missing person report at Old Grange police station at 12.15 am on Sunday. The teen’s body was found at 3.30am in Courland by a relative. A suspect remains detained by police who are seeking the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) guidance on how to proceed .

However, when the matter was called, Ramdath of St Margaret’s Village in Claxton Bay, took the witness box and said he no longer wanted to continue with the case as the incident had, “happened so long”.

At about 7 pm on April 13, Ramdath was walking along the roadway near St Margaret’s Junction when a man approached placed his hands inside Ramdath’s pocket and retrieved $30. Before fleeing the scene, the man slapped Ramdath who fell to the ground and sustained injuries to the face. PC Buchoon later charged Cedeno with robbery with violence. Cedeno was granted bail but was unable to secure a bailor and as such remained in police custody. Yesterday, Magistrate Forde-John dismissed the case, after Ramdath indicated he no longer wanted to proceed with the matter. Cedeno left the court a free man.

According to a police report at about 12.30 am, Bhawani and Joseph were inside the car wash when the incident occurred. Reports said the two men were at the time washing a customer’s vehicle when a vehicle pulled up in front the compound and its occupant(s) began shooting at the men.

The killers then sped off. Bhawani and Joseph died on the spot after being shot in their chest, abdomen and face. A District Medical Officer (DMO) visited the scene and pronounced Bhawani and Joseph dead and ordered the bodies to be removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James. The area was cordoned off by police. Crime Scene Investigators spent several hours inside the premises of the car wash recovering spent shells to be taken for further testing. Bhawani resided on the compound where his business place was located.

Sources told Newsday the gunmen were targetting Joseph while Bhawani was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Newsday learnt Joseph recently had an altercation with a man who threatened to kill him. Newsday was told the man was looking for Joseph. Speaking with Newsday at the crime scene, Joseph’s aunt Margaret Simon-Mann said her nephew was not involved in any illegal activities.

“He does just hustle and work hard. He does mason work with his father and he recently started working here at this car wash,” she said. Simon-Mann said she believes someone may have approached her nephew to get involved in some type of illegal activities and he may have declined.

“He does not be on that , so I think that is what happened, because I can’t see anything else why they would have just killed him just like that,” she told Newsday.

The emotional woman said she was still in a state of shock. “It is real dred what is happening in this place,” she said.

Also, among onlookers at the crime scene was one of Bhawani’s close friends, Anthony Noriega.

Holding back his tears, he said Bhawani was an ambitious man who did not deserve such a death.

He said Bhawani was also a stuntman.

Noriega said that Bhawani had recently opened the car wash business “Aqua Splash Car Wash” near his home but never stopped performing his stunts on his bike at events.

“He loved putting a smile on the faces of people and he did so by doing his bike stunts all over the country. He was really talented and good at what he did,” Noriega said. Bhawani was also the father of a two-year-old daughter. Bhawani , he said started performing bike stunts at the age of seven years. He described Bhawani as a kind individual.

Up to late yesterday police were viewing footage captured from nearby closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Police of the Homicide Region Three Division are investigating.