Crimes News Thread

[Flex]

Missing security guard found dead.
By Rachel Espinet (Guardian).

A 23-year-old man reported missing by his relatives three days ago was discovered dead in an abandoned house in Laventille on Monday. Miguel Gaskin, a security guard from Sarah Lane, Laventille, was found shot dead by police in the abandoned Church Street house. Gaskin’s godmother, Lisa Huggins, told the T&T Guardian he went missing on Saturday after helping a neighbour paint his home.

“He was by his neighbour helping them paint. I called him to give him a plaque to take to his grandmother and that was the last time I saw him,” Huggins said at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday. According to police reports, at about 5.30 pm on Monday residents called them to report a foul stench coming from the abandoned house. Upon investigating police discovered Gaskin’s decomposing body with visible gunshots.

Yesterday, Huggins described Gaskin as a loving person who was always willing to help others. She added: “Miguel was loud but he was loving and nice. He was not that type of person to be involved in anything (criminal activity). “He just liked to lime and make jokes. It is shocking that someone will want to kill him.” Huggins said before Gaskin went missing, two men from the neighbourhood said a man was chasing them down with a gun. However, she could not say if that was related to Gaskin’s case.

“On Saturday we heard firecrackers, followed closely by gunshots. Then, I did not know what to think,” Huggins said. Gaskin’s mother died when he was a baby and Huggins said his father was not involved in his life. He was raised by his grandmother and aunts with whom he resided until he went missing. “His grandmother is in a state right now. She loved that boy so much. He was a good youth. He never interfered with anyone,” Huggins said.

T&T Guardian visited Detour, Gaskin’s former place of employment, where a worker who asked not to be named expressed shock at the man’s death and also stated he was friendly and kind. “He was a really nice person. He was a lot of fun. When we found out this morning the entire place was down.”

[Flex]

NO LET UP
By RYAN HAMILTON-DAVIS and LAUREL V WILLIAMS

DESPITE the country’s security forces being placed on heightened alert in the face of rampant murders, there has been no let up in the bloodshed, violence and wanton lawlessness

In addition to the murder rate rising to 14 in six days, gun violence saw a woman and her baby son being shot in broad daylight, a woman being shot as she changed her baby’s diaper off the Beetham Highway and a bandit being shot and killed by security officers in Barataria yesterday.

The murder rate jumped from 11 in five days to 14 in six days following the discovery of a man’s bullet-riddled body in Laventille, another man being gunned down in St Joseph yesterday and a man being chopped to death near the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court, also yesterday.

Murder over cocaine

The 14th and latest murder in 2015 took place yesterday evening when a chopping incident over the ownership of $40 worth of cocaine ended the life of a street dweller, who collapsed and died a stone’s throw away from both the San Fernando Police Station and Magistrates’ Court.

Police identified the victim only as Brian also called Ali and up to last night were in search of the killer who is believed to also be a street dweller, who sources said is believed to have suffered injuries in the incident.

An eyewitness told Newsday that at about 4.35 pm yesterday, both men were engaged in a heated argument over the ownership of $40 worth of cocaine at an empty lot of land next to Ali’s Doubles along Harris Street in San Fernando.

The argument escalated into a fight during which the suspect dealt victim several chops with a cutlass. With blood flowing from his body, Brian ran a short distance away before collapsing on the pavement in full view of startled passers-by.

Minutes after the brutal chopping, officers of both the Southern Division Task Force and the San Fernando Municipal Police arrived on the scene, placed Brian in the tray of a police van and rushed him to the San Fernando General Hospital.

Although eyewitnesses told Newsday that the man died at the scene, police investigators said he was pronounced dead on arrival at the general hospital.

“He (the victim) usually fought other drug users over cocaine. They are accustomed to sleeping in the area where the fight broke out.

Sometimes they fight over $1 and $5 worth of drugs. The suspect left with the cutlass in his hand and he, too, appeared to be injured,” said an eyewitness who requested anonymity.

The body was removed to the hospital’s mortuary and will be sent to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for an autopsy which is expected to be done today.

Snr Supt Santana, Insp Don Gajadhar, Sgts Julien and Persad together with PC Sukram and WPC Coomansingh visited the scene and searched the area for the suspect who is believed to originally hail from Siparia and had been charged in the past with shooting with intent and robbery.

Father of 2 gunned down

Meanwhile, a father of two was gunned down while he was washing a car in St Augustine yesterday afternoon. According to police, at about 1.30 pm, Josh Nipper, 22, was washing a car at a carwash on Railway Road in St Augustine, when he was ambushed by a gunman wearing a track suit and cap. Nipper who was shot multiple times, died at the scene. An onlooker, police said, was also shot but survived. He was taken to hospital for treatment and subsequently discharged. Police did not divulge the name of this shooting victim.

Crime scene investigators recovered at least 13 spent shells as they processed the area where Nipper was gunned down. Several women, one of whom was said to be Nipper’s wife, arrived at the scene a short while later and the reputed wife fainted and was taken away by the other women to a car where she was given water. Police sources said while there is no motive for Nipper’s murder, his killing is believed to be gang-related. Relatives at the scene refused to speak with reporters. The gunman remains at large.

Bullet-riddled body found

In an unrelated incident, the bullet-riddled body of Miguel “Croc” Gaskin, 23, was discovered on Monday at about 5.30 pm. According to reports, at that time, residents of Church Street in Laventille detected a foul stench coming from an abandoned house and on investigating, discovered Gaskin’s body riddled with bullets. Gaskin’s godmother Lisa Huggins, who raised him as a child after his mother died, described him as a boisterous and fun-loving person. He was last employed with a security firm and worked at a clothing store. As she awaited the autopsy report outside the Forensic Science Centre, Huggins revealed that Gaskin had been missing since Saturday.

“Someone called me and said his body was found. He went missing on Saturday gone. When I last saw him he was painting my neighbour’s house and I called him to come and collect a wall plaque for his grandmother. He wasn’t a troublesome person, the only thing was that he was loud. “He loved to work, he loved to dress and to my knowledge he was not involved in any crime. When I heard this all I wanted to know was who could possibly do this,” Huggins said. No arrest has been made. For the same period last year, 15 murders were committed.

JAN 1

Vernon Carter, fatally shot outside his Maloney Gardens Home. Later dies at Arima Health Centre. No arrest. It is believed he was struck in the leg by a stray bullet.

JAN 01
 
Sherwin Skeete, 40, of Punette Avenue, Pinto Road, Arima is shot while liming with his friend Simeon Bravo along Pinto Road. Bravo was also shot but survives. No arrest.

JAN 1

Handyman Sheflan “Fingers” Rampersad shot dead near St Margaret’s Junction. His body was found at the side of the road by police. No arrest.

JAN 1
 
Petrotrin estate police officers on patrol, observed a white Nissan Almera car parked on the shoulder of Casserina Avenue on the Petrotrin compound. In the car was the body of 30-year-old Stephen Harrington in the back. Harrington, an ex-convict had been shot in the chest. No arrest made.

JAN 2
 
The first female to be murdered is that of 30-year-old Dorothy Rodrigo who was found dead at her home in Jokhan Trace, Carapo. She was found shot to death at 3.15 am, shortly after returning home from a party. No arrest made.

JAN 2

The life of 23-year-old Kevin Francis was ended by bullets fired into his head and chest. His body was found by police at about 1.30 am. It is believed that the murder may have stemmed from Francis taking a bottle of champagne from a party on New Year’s Day. No arrest made.

JAN 3
 
Sean Carrabayo, 18, is shot dead in Carenage shortly after leaving a card game when he received a call on his cellular phone. He was shot along Fitzallen Street in Carenage at about five o’clock in the evening. No arrest made.

JAN 3

At 9.45 pm, carpenter and father of three Krishendath Mahabir is fatally shot in the yard of his Kowlessar Trace, Biche home. He died later at the Rio Claro Health Centre. No arrests made.

JAN 3
 
Roger Frederic is shot dead outside the San Juan home of a female friend shortly after he left that house following a lime. He was shot dead at 11.32 pm and no arrests have been made.

JAN 4
 
Part time labourer and parlour owner Levi Snaggs is gunned down not too far from his home in Belle Vue Road, St James. Like the nine murders committed earlier, no arrest has been made by police.

JAN 4
 
Burger vendor Khemraj Seerattan is gunned down near his burger cart in the vicinity of the Grand Bazaar at 11.20 pm. After being shot several times, Seerattan stumbled in the direction of his nearby home but collapsed and bled out along the road. No arrest made.

JAN 5

The decomposing, bullet-riddled body of Miguel “Croc” Gaskin, 23, is found in an abandoned house in Laventille by residents who investigated a foul stench emanating from the structure. Gaskin who worked as a security guard was missing since Saturday. No arrest.

JAN 6

Father of two Josh Nipper is gunned down while washing a car at a car wash in St Augustine. No motive established and no arrest made.

JAN 6
 
A street dweller known only as “Brian” is chopped to death along Harris Street in San Fernando. It is believed that another street dweller chopped Brian during an argument over some cocaine. No arrest made.

[Deeks]

Go ahead Africans. We doing a fine job!!!

[Socapro]

Go ahead Africans. We doing a fine job!!!

Not all those who were murdered or who carried out the murders are of African descent.

We have a general crime problem in T&T which is not being seriously tackled by a corrupt government who are not setting the best example themselves.

[asylumseeker]

Go ahead Africans. We doing a fine job!!!

Not all those who were murdered or who carried out the murders are of African descent.

We have a general crime problem in T&T which is not being seriously tackled by a corrupt government who are not setting the best example themselves.

... not that the predecessors did any better. In fact, under a certain analysis, the predecessor government(s) might be 'more' culpable.

[Sam]

Good reply by Deeks and asylumseeker.

SocaCrapo love to defend his African brothers wrong or right.

Manning was a lump of hard shit.

Let them kill one another and then blame de odda man.

All I'm saying, if they wrong, they f00ck well wrong.

[Socapro]

Good reply by Deeks and asylumseeker.

SocaCrapo love to defend his African brothers wrong or right.

Manning was a lump of hard shit.

Let them kill one another and then blame de odda man.

All I'm saying, if they wrong, they f00ck well wrong.

Sam I stated a fact and corrected what Deeks seemed to be implying which is that only those of African descent are being murdered or are carrying out murders. However I do acknowledge that the majority are of African descent.

But I am also aware that there is a definite policy to promote crime in African majority communities and also use these areas as the scapegoat for crime in the country. All this while the Big Fish (who are the main ones responsible for bringing in all the guns and drugs and who target certain areas/communities to generate their profits) all get off scotch free while offering money to sponsor the election campaign of the main political parties so that they are allowed by the government in office to freely operate their destructive trade.

[Socapro]

Go ahead Africans. We doing a fine job!!!

Not all those who were murdered or who carried out the murders are of African descent.

We have a general crime problem in T&T which is not being seriously tackled by a corrupt government who are not setting the best example themselves.

... not that the predecessors did any better. In fact, under a certain analysis, the predecessor government(s) might be 'more' culpable.

I can't believe that some of you here are trying to be apologists for this corrupt racist government who are busy executing their plan to turn T&T into the next Guyana.

Did they not promise to stop murders and other serious crimes in 120 days and to completely stamp out corruption and to start running the country in a transparent and accountable manner?
So why haven’t they yet arrested Calder Hart if he was corrupt and stole money from the government? And why is Manning not also in jail for facilitating Calder Hart’s thief and corruption as the PPG accused him of doing and tabled as one of the main reasons for the people of T&T to vote him and his party out of office?

I have family members who believed what they heard in the flashy PPG 2010 election campaign and who voted for that new age coalition party and who have been regretting their decision within one year of this government being in office as one of the biggest mistakes they have ever made in their lives.
And what do we clearly have now? The most corrupt and racist government in T&T's history and serious crime like murders, rape, robberies etc at the same levels as they were in 2010 and in an upward swing.

I can guarantee you this current racist government has a well thought out plan to steal the next general elections because of their current general unpopularity; using voter padding, elections run-off, and other dubious methods like trying to buy votes to make it as difficult as possible to get rid of them.

The government is now aware that Trinidadians generally don't appreciate when they have it good and are highly gullible to remove their thinking caps and be misled with a flashy media campaign.
Tobagonians seem to be generally less gullible than Trinidadians are and are not as susceptible to flashy advertising campaigns filled with empty rhetoric.

[Sando prince]

Drug trade fuelling crime in T&T, says Israel Khan

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Drug-trade-fuelling-crime-in-TT-says-Israel-Khan-287868081.html


SENIOR COUNSEL Israel Khan has said it is only when Trinidad and Tobago rids itself of the notorious, illicit drug trade will spiritual values prevail.
He said there is empirical evidence to suggest that there is a strong correlation between the international drug trade and crime in this country which is seen as a strategic depot for cocaine being shipped from both Colombia and Venezuela to North America and Europe.
Khan made the statement during a conference last month sponsored by the Organisation of American States on the topic “Legal Co-operation on Access to Justice” in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

“Domestic gangs fight over the right to control turfs. Usually part payments are made to the locals with drugs and sophisticated arms and ammunition,” he said.

Speaking in the capacity of chairman and director of the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, Khan also said, the respect for rule of law would only be embraced by all citizens if it was perceived that justice means more than just having a fair trial.
“It must mean that there must be a fair distribution of the material resources of the country: The social structure of the country must be re-arranged so the perception and reality must not be that the rich is getting richer while the poor is getting poorer.

In Trinidad and Tobago we profess in our Constitution to respect the principles of social justice and therefore, believe that the operation of the economic system should result in the material resources of the community being so distributed as to subserve the common good, that there should be adequate means of livelihood for all, that labour should not be exploited or forced by economic necessity to operate in inhumane conditions but that there should be opportunity for advancement on the basis of recognition of merit, ability and integrity,” he said.
“We must get rid of the notion that all men are equal but some are more equal than others: only pigs subscribe to that view. Indeed, it is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity. The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members- the impoverished,” said Khan.

[Brownsugar]

Drug trade fuelling crime in T&T, says Israel Khan

No shit Sherlock!!!! 

[Bakes]

Drug trade fuelling crime in T&T, says Israel Khan

No shit Sherlock!!!! 

Harsh man, lol. He wasn't addressing a local audience, and the message apparently wasn't as simplistic as the headline makes it seem.

[Flex]

Missing teen found in grave behind home.
By Derek Achong (Guardian).

Community loses a jewel, say residents

Missing teenager Shabana Mohammed’s family were left distraught yesterday after five days of intensive searching by the police ended when her badly decomposing body was discovered buried in a shallow grave behind their Santa Cruz home.

The discovery was made around 10 am by Mohammed’s neighbour, who decided to conduct his own search behind the family’s property after he and others in the community noticed a strong foul scent in the area.

Mystery surrounds the find, however, as it was made in an area searched by police armed with cadaver sniffer dogs on several occasions since Mohammed, a sales co-ordinator at a shipping company in Woodbrook, was reported missing on Saturday.

Investigators believe she may have been killed somewhere else before her killer returned to dispose of her body between Wednesday and yesterday morning.

This theory was disputed by a senior police source close to the investigation, who yesterday suggested the area where the shallow grave was hidden was possibly overlooked by investigators and relatives.

“Because of the state of the body it would have been nearly impossible to move it to that location without being noticed,” the source said.

Homicide detectives have already identified a prime suspect in the crime, a male friend of Mohammed.

The suspect, whose father is a member of the Special Branch, was initially interviewed by police on Monday but later released.

“There were some irregularities in his original statement so we need to question him again to get some clarity,” the police source said.

Investigators are expected to interrogate him again after they obtain a report on Mohammed’s post mortem, which is to be conducted at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, today. It is also needed to determine Mohammed’s cause of death as it was not immediately recognisable due to the advanced state of her body’s decomposition.

​Torture for family

When a team from the T&T Guardian visited the crime scene yesterday, scores of curious neighbours and friends lined the street outside the family’s home.

Many could not hold back their tears as they openly recounted their memories of the teen, who they described as beautiful, kind and a “jewel” in the community.

Over two dozen heavily-armed T&T Regiment soldiers were seen patrolling various parts of the community, which featured utility poles still plastered with missing posters of the teen. The posters were also stuck to the windows of most vehicles driving through the area.

Mohammed’s family, who spoke extensively with media personnel on her disappearance earlier this week, were too distraught to speak after her body was removed from the scene.

“It is torture for them. They need to come together and comfort each other at this time,” a spokeswoman for the family said briefly before returning to the house to comfort her grieving relatives.

According to reports, around 7.30 am on Saturday, Mohammed’s relatives left her home alone. When they returned several hours later she was missing and an area of the house had been ransacked.

Relatives reported her missing after neighbours said they heard screams coming from the house and Mohammed’s cellphone went unanswered.

Insp Roger Alexander and Sgt Cornelius Samuel of the North Eastern Division Task Force (NEDTF) are assisting detectives of the Region One Homicide Bureau in investigating the murder

[Flex]

‘14 killings sign of no true peace, harmony in TT’
T&T Newsday

ARCHBISHOP Joseph Harris has commented on the country’s high murder rate for 2015 saying that “we have removed the centrality of Christ from life, and we are reaping the results”.

He made the comments as he delivered greetings yesterday during the Fatima College Annual Distribution of Prizes and Certificates for the academic year 2013-2014, held at the College Hall, Mucurapo Road, St James.

He noted that over history there has been many “isms” and ideologies professing to bring peace and harmony to the world, but they have not brought this.

He added: “Here in Trinidad and Tobago it certainly hasn’t. If at the start of the year, day seven or eight, we are already 14 or 15 murders, and various other crimes.” He said that the “ism” which has not been truly tried is “Christian-ism or Christianity”.

Harris pointed out that Catholic education is one of the forms of evangelism and through the teaching office and work in Catholic schools students, Catholic and non-Catholic, can come to know and understand the centrality of Jesus Christ in the history of the world.

He noted that Catholic education is meant to put Christ “back in the centre” and to show that the values Christ proclaimed and lived which are capable of bringing peace and harmony necessary for the true development of the country, and the world.

He stressed that Catholic education was not simply about winning scholarships, or preparing students for a good career, but more importantly, building people who can live the values which ensure the world and country is a harmonious place.

He congratulated the students who won prizes and noted that beyond this what marks a school as a Catholic school was the ability to produce young men who live the values of Jesus Christ.

He said that Trinidad is Spanish for “Trinity” which means “unity in diversity” and he called on the students to embody this. Fatima College Principal, Fr Gregory Augustine, noted that the school produced five scholarship winners and had more than 95 percent full certificates in both CSEC and CAPE.

He also reported that the school was able to complete their new wing at a cost of $4.5 million, a cost fully borne by the college community, without any contribution from the State.

Attorney and Fatima Old Boy Ian Benjamin in his feature address told the students not to take what they have for granted, and pointed to attacks by schoolchildren from groups like the Taliban and Boko Haram. He said that the college must nourish and support a respect of all God’s children despite religion and justice for all beliefs without the compromising of personal faith.

Former student William Ward received the prestigious College of Our Lady of Fatima Cup. Ward was praised for excelling in football, athletics, his academics and spirituality. He told Newsday that he was honoured to receive the award from his college, which is “very dear to my heart”.

Ward is currently in New Jersey, studying civil engineering.

[Flex]

Mom suffocated by bandits
By Alexander Bruzual (Express).

SHABANA BURIED ALIVE

The final moments of 19-year-old Shabana Mohammed were spent gasping for air, face down on the ground, after she had been violently strangled.

This was revealed yesterday, following an autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov atthe Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park.

Speaking to reports shortly after making his findings, Alexandrov explained the teenager had died as a result of asphyxiation due to strangulation.

“However, what is of note is that she was placed face down in the ground after she had been strangled. We know this because dirt was found in her air passages. Therefore, she was violently strangled, and then when she lapsed into unconsciousness, she fell face forward and remained on the ground for a few moments, still alive. She made a couple of terminal inhalations before she died,” Dr Alexandrov explained.

He also noted Mohammed’s body was badly decomposed, leading him to believe she was killed most likely on the same day she disappeared.

“Her body was in a bad state of decomposition, which means that she died most likely on the day she was reported missing. I say this because the body was completely beyond visual recognition.

“However, she had unique features that the family was able to iden­tify, such as waist-long hair, which was dual coloured. It was par­tially black and partially blonde in points. So I was able to wash it thoroughly and showed it to the respective relatives, and they were able to identify it from there,” Alexan­drov said.

The forensic pathologist also noted he had taken samples from her nail clippings to determine whether there was the presence of foreign DNA.

“We did utilise the rape kit and take swabs and such to determine if she had been assaulted. But we will have to wait for those results,” Alexandrov said.

On Thursday, the nude body of the 19-year-old was found in a drain behind her home in Akal Trace, Santa Cruz.

She had been reported missing since January 3.

It was reported that on Saturday last (January 3), at about 7.30 a.m., Mohammed was home alone and sometime later, a loud scream was heard.

Relatives who returned to the house a short while later, and realising she was missing, dialled her cell number but got no answer.

Searches were conducted and a report made to the Santa Cruz Police Station.

The funeral service for the 19-year-old is expected to take place at 2 p.m. today at the family’s home.

Speaking to the media yesterday, a male relative described Mohammed as a helpful and respectable young woman who would do anything for her family. He added she was a pleasant girl, who was always smiling.

She was also a well-kept girl, according to the grieving brother.

“Anything any one of us needed, she would go out of her way to get it for us. If she saw me come home and I hadn’t eaten, she would make sure and get something for me to eat. She would do the same thing for our father. She would make sure he had tea, that he had been fed and that he took his tablets,” he recalled.

Relative of policeman to be questioned again Police sources told the Express that on Monday, the male relative of a police officer was questioned in relation to the missing teen and was subsequently allowed to leave.

Police sources last night revealed the relative is to be reinterviewed by investigators in the coming days as it is believed he could assist in the investigation.

Up to late yesterday, the suspect, police said, had yet to be questioned.

[Flex]

Man killed transporting Desperadoes’ pans
By Joel Julien (Express).

Fatal mix-up

ONE MAN was shot dead and another injured yesterday while transporting pan equipment from the Laventille home of ten-time Panorama champions Witco Desperadoes to the band’s new safe haven, located at Queen’s Park East, Port of Spain.

Dead is 25-year-old Atiba Pantin, from Diego Martin.

The other man, whose identity has been withheld, is currently at the Port of Spain Hospital nursing gunshot wounds.

The management of Desperadoes, however, is adamant that the fatal shooting incident has nothing to do with the steelband.

In 2009, after more than 60 years of calling Laventille home, crime forced the Desperadoes to flee the hill and seek refuge in Belmont.

The move was made as it was considered that Laventille was no longer safe for players and supporters because of rising crime.

The “Pride of Laventille” relocated to the empty lots at Cadiz Road and 16-17 Queen’s Park East, Port of Spain, the car park for customers of restaurants Apsara and Thamnak Thai.

The property is owned by the National Insurance Board of Trinidad and Tobago (NIBTT).

However, NIBTT recently turned the sod at that location for construction of its new headquarters, leaving the band without a location to practise ahead of this year’s Panorama.

Eventually, NIBTT decided to allow the band to use its other vacant lots at 21-24 Queen’s Park East rent-free for the 2015 Carnival season.

Desperadoes hired a contractor to move equipment that was housed at its Laventille Road headquarters to the new Queen’s Park East home.

“We hired a contractor to get the rack and the pans down from the hill and we were just as surprised as you all to know that there was a fatal shooting...we were in the yard waiting for the racks and thing to come down, because we had just gotten the yard paved yesterday,” Desperadoes’ assistant manager Anthony Joseph told the Express in a telephone interview yesterday.

Pantin was one of the men hired by the contractors to do the task.

Around 11 a.m. yesterday, while Pantin and the vehicle’s driver were transporting the pan racks along Rudolph Charles Link Road they were ambushed by three gunmen.

Rudolph Charles Link Road links Laventille with Belmont.

The gunmen opened fire and Pantin and the driver were injured in the shooting.

They were both rushed to Port of Spain General Hospital, where Pantin died while undergoing emergency surgery.

The driver is said to be in critical condition.

Joseph offered condolences to Pantin’s family on behalf of Witco Desperadoes.

“As we heard about it and we send our condolences to the family. He (Pantin) was no direct member of the band, the contractor we hired to bring the pans down hired these gentlemen, we are sorry as it is that he lost his life,” he said.

Joseph said they are of the view the shooting was a “mix-up”.

Homicide detectives have not determined a motive for the killing as yet.

“We are of the opinion that it had some mix-up, apparently these guys believe this person who I heard is from Diego Martin was someone else,” Joseph said.

“There was nothing at the Despers’ panyard, either up the hill or the new one at Queen’s Park East, it was at the Rudolph Charles Link Road, we understand, that the shooting took place and the victim died at the hospital, as far as the information we received, and a driver also got shot, he is at the hospital right now,” he said.

Joseph said transportation of pan equipment to and from the hill usually occurs without incident during Carnival.

“We accustomed moving pans, so we don’t think it is linked to Despers. We are almost certain that it is some kind of mistake with these guys and them who just start to shoot up the place.”

Joseph said the band still has 75 per cent of its equipment to be relocated to Queen’s Park East.
Police have offered to provide protection for the band in this venture.

“Only about a quarter of the pan racks are down, we have about three-quarter to bring down again, so we have more racks to come down (today), so the police have come to us and said they will assist us in escorting the transport of the pans and the racks tomorrow (today) starting from 8 a.m.,” Joseph said.

Last night’s scheduled practice session was cancelled.

Joseph said he hopes spectators will come to the panyard to support Despers.

“As far as we know, we have no connection whatsoever with any sort of gang violence or anything, it is a normal thing that Despers move off of the hill at Carnival time, this is about the sixth year since we have done it,” Joseph said.

“Because of the crime situation we decided it was best to come down from the hill for the safety of the players and supporters likewise.

“To say it (Pantin’s death) will hamper people from coming, it is too early to speculate, but I doubt because Desperadoes is a renowned band and it is a known band all over the world and people would want to hear them and they will feel safer around Queen’s Park East rather than up the hill,” he said.

The murder toll for the year to date now stands at 17.

Homicide detectives as well as officers of the Belmont and Besson Street police stations are investigating this latest killing.

[Deeks]

We doing a fine job. Go Ahead Africans.

[Socapro]

We doing a fine job. Go Ahead Africans.

This is all planned by design.

Who is bringing in all the guns & drugs and targeting the urban African majority communities?

Remember how during the SoE that no Big Fish responsible for bringing in the guns and drugs got arrested but over 8000 innocent young Black males were arrested and imprisoned without any evidence and eventually had to be set free?

Some of these youths should be playing with a football rather than with guns but where are the community programmes etc to keep them busy, involved with something positive and off the streets?

[Deeks]

Socapro, we , Africans have failed to take care of our business. The other ethnic groups were not in power as long as us, but they took care of their business. They cherished their own and bide their time. Pro, we youths just killing we own kind. Their parents have not control over them. The fact that outsiders can infiltrate the Afro communities and have young Afro use drugs and kill one another is a testament to the failure of Afro Trinis. Breds I from Quarry street side in EDR and to see the disrespect these ignorant f**kers have for a institution like Desperados. Ironically, Despers was a gang and over the years became positive musical institution. I can't explain it.. 12 days in the year and we have 14 murders already. 90% are Afros.  We failed Breds. We well and truly friggin fail.

[Flex]

SILENCED
By RYAN HAMILTON-DAVIS
T&T Newsday

A 35-YEAR-OLD wheelchair-bound man, who was due to give evidence in a shooting incident, which late last year left him crippled, was killed in a gun attack by a group of men who stormed his home in the dead of night, pretending to be police officers.

Police sources yesterday told police that they are on the theory that Kerwyn “Kello” Scott, who was due to head to the magistrates court shortly, was silenced, since he was the principal witness in the shooting which left him disabled.

According to reports, at about three o’clock yesterday morning, Scott was at his home in Blue Basin, Diego Martin when gunmen invaded his yard shouting, “Police! Police!” The men proceeded to kick down his front door and shot Scott several times about the body. He died on the spot.

Relatives at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday described Scott as an outspoken man who lived for his two children and his aunt who raised him from a tender age. “He was outspoken and very full of life,” a relative told Newsday.

“He was the kind of person that would never say ‘no’ to you. He was also very loving. He had lots of love for his aunt.” The relative added, “His mother and father died when he was very young and his aunt took care of him. As soon as his aunt called he would drop what he was doing and would be there for her.”

The relative said that they got a phone call at about 4.30 am telling them that Scott was killed at his house.

Scott was shot late last year and left paralysed. He was confined to a wheelchair ever since. News of his death left the entire family shocked because of the attempt on his life a year ago which resulted in him being wheelchair-bound.

“None of us expected that someone would have come after him,” said another relative.

Police are working on the theory that he may have been killed to silence him as a witness to his previous shooting. Relatives are countering this, however, saying that his frank manner despite his good nature, may have earned him enemies.

“Sometimes the way he came across might have been a bit abrasive,” another relative said. “A lot of people cannot deal with outspoken people, but deep down you know he meant well.” An autopsy done yesterday confirmed that Scott died as a result of shock and haemorrhage consistent with multiple gunshot wounds. Up to press time, no arrests were made and Western Division Homicide Investigations Bureau detectives are continuing investigations.

In an unrelated incident, the country’s murder rate rose to 20 in 12 days after a man who was described as mentally unstable and would regularly be seen around Port-of-Spain driving an imaginary car, was gunned down yesterday morning.

Police said that at about 10.15 am, the victim, identified as Donell Phillip, 27, was at Observatory Street in Port-of-Spain when gunshots were heard. Phillip of Second Caledonia in Morvant was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No arrest has been made and no motive for this murder has been established. Investigations are continuing.

[asylumseeker]

All good things come to an end ... so too all bad things. Some bad things doh come to a screeching halt without the aid of sufficient political will. We are exhausting the sources of political will.

[Socapro]

Socapro, we , Africans have failed to take care of our business. The other ethnic groups were not in power as long as us, but they took care of their business. They cherished their own and bide their time. Pro, we youths just killing we own kind. Their parents have not control over them. The fact that outsiders can infiltrate the Afro communities and have young Afro use drugs and kill one another is a testament to the failure of Afro Trinis. Breds I from Quarry street side in EDR and to see the disrespect these ignorant f**kers have for a institution like Desperados. Ironically, Despers was a gang and over the years became positive musical institution. I can't explain it.. 12 days in the year and we have 14 murders already. 90% are Afros.  We failed Breds. We well and truly friggin fail.

Again who is bringing in all the guns and drugs and targeting youths in urban African majority areas to pedal the drugs and to use the guns to stamp their authority over rivals in those areas?

Yes I know there are negligent parents in African families and that problem needs to be addressed by us so I am not denying we have failed more than other communities in that regard.

Btw what do you mean by "The other ethnic groups were not in power as long as us"?
The PNM has always been a multi-racial party that has looked out for all communities in a balance manner.

But who do you think have been the main elections campaigns sponsors of the PNM over the years? It has not been African Trinbagonians so they have never politically controlled the party despite giving the majority of voting support over the years. Also take into account that Africans were the majority population in T&T until the early 1990's.

African people in T&T are just not as conscious and as organized as the other communities in building and supporting our own businesses.

Hopefully all Afro-Trinis will join the Black Caucus in 2015 and that major problem will change in the future as unity is strength. http://www.bcmmovement.com/

[Deeks]

Socapro, I know what you talking about. But AfroTT has to get a they friggin coconut head that we have to build and support business institutions, no matter which party in power. There is a serious imbalance in our "family", Breds. I hope your organization do good, Breds. I really hope so. I will check your organization out.

[Socapro]

Socapro, I know what you talking about. But AfroTT has to get a they friggin coconut head that we have to build and support business institutions, no matter which party in power. There is a serious imbalance in our "family", Breds. I hope your organization do good, Breds. I really hope so. I will check your organization out.

Its not my organization as such. Its any Black or African Trinis organisation to join and use as a vehicle to promote and support Black businesses in T&T and to help us to unite, educate in business and become a serious economic force that can demand better reprsentation from any government in power.

[Flex]

Man wanted for murdering two former lovers.
By Jensen La Vende (Guardian).

Police are looking for a man with two broken legs wanted for murdering two former lovers.  His latest victim is 20-year-old Salma Chadee of Chadee Street, La Paille Village, Caroni, whose relatives are now emotionally distraught and living in fear for their own lives. According to police, Chadee was at her home with the suspect and other family members around 9.30 pm on Saturday, when the two began arguing he accused her of being unfaithful.

The suspect, who broke his legs in a car accident recently, shot Chadee repeatedly, then escaped in a waiting car. There were conflicting reports about the driver of the car. Police said it was an unknown man, while relatives claim it was a man close to the victim. The man was yesterday evening assisting police with their investigations.

Speaking with the media at their Chadee Street home yesterday, Chadee’s relatives said she was a good mother to her 11-month-old son, Noah. They said their relationship with Salma’s family was a strained one, which caused both families not to interact often. As a result, they were unaware of who was staying upstairs.

One relative, who said she cared for Chadee for most of her childhood, said, “She left to go away when she was nine years old. She went to live in New York but came back home recently. She was young and vibrant like to do things a teenager would do. She was a very nice child, a little hot tempered at times, but for the right reasons,” the woman said. Fearful of the suspect, the relatives, all women, chose not to identify themselves but said the suspect had been staying with Chadee for some time.

The women said the former customer service representative abandoned her career for motherhood and was “a mother figure.” The women said an ongoing family dispute strained the relationship and while they had not spoken to Chadee for sometime, her death has left them shattered emotionally.

“I am very, very distressed. Although I haven’t spoken to her in a number of years, I feel very distressed. I feel it for her. Because I brought her up for a while. And if she had a problem in the US, it was me she would call, so to me it hurt me the most because I lost a loved one. Someone close to me, yet far” the woman said. The women said they usually stay at home but decided to go out on Saturday night. They were told of the murder when a relative called frantically asking if they were alright.

The woman added: “To be honest with what happened last night, I am totally scared for my husband, my daughter and myself. What we understand is the person is already wanted in connection for a murder. And to me living with this above your head and not knowing is horrifying because if he was upstairs staying with them and could do that to Salma what can he do to us?” The scene was visited by Snr Supt Johnny Abraham and several officers from Homicide Region Three.

Former lover shot dead

On May 8 last year, the suspect who lived at Maculay Village, Claxton Bay murdered his estranged wife Sherlene Charles after accusing her as well of being unfaithful. Charles, 37, a kitchen assistant at the Royal Hotel, San Fernando, was shot three times while liming with her children and sisters at their Stoney Hill, St Madeleine home. After murdering Charles, the suspect turned his gun on her 17-year-old daughter, Kimberly Mahangoo, shooting her three times. Mahangoo survived.

The suspect escaped after he ran through some bushes at the back of his victims’ home. The shooting came three days after the suspect severely chopped and threatened to kill Charles for ending their relationship in December the previous year.

[Flex]

DOC, NURSE HELP KILLER
By NALINEE SEELAL
T&T Newsday.

A DOCTOR and nurse had been doing house visits to attend to the man who murdered 19-year-old Salma Chadee in Caroni last Saturday evening. These visits took place in the very house where the man shot the young mother of one to death.

This is the information police are saying they now have as they continue their manhunt for the suspect whom they have now dubbed the country’s most wanted. He has been nursing two broken legs which, it is said, he sustained in a vehicular accident last November.

The medical attention administered via the personal visits of the doctor and nurse to the Chadees’ residence was not restricted to his most recent refuge. Police are saying that following the accident last year the man was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where he was informed his legs were broken.

He was transferred to St Clair Medical Centre in Port-of-Spain, but by the time police found out that he was at that institution and went there, the suspect secretly discharged himself with the assistance of persons unknown and returned to Caroni where he was hiding out for the past few weeks. Head of the Northern Division Task Force Insp Roger Alexander went as far yesterday as lambasting the murdered girl’s relatives who he alleged assisted her killer who was already wanted for the murder of another woman, Sherlene Mahangoo-Charles, on May 8 last year and for which he was on the run from police.

Alexander was emphatic: “The blood of that girl is on the hands of the suspect, the person who took him upstairs their home at Chadee Street, Caroni; the person who housed him all this time, the person who fed him, the doctor and nurse who visited him on location at Chadee Street, the man who threw him over the wall to get away, the driver of the getaway car and the neighbours of the dead woman at Chadee Street, who knew he was wanted for murder.”

The Inspector was also responding to claims by relatives of the murdered young woman that the police failed to respond to information that the wanted man was hiding in Caroni.

In fact, Alexander said persons who are making these allegations are simply not telling the truth and instead he turned the heat on all the persons who assisted and harboured the fugitive.

Alexander said the police have received information that the man stayed at Salma’s home for the past three months and both the young woman and members of her family knew he was hiding from the police.

According to Alexander the police also received information that a doctor and nurse would visit the suspect at Chadee’s home to administer medication and attend to his broken limbs regularly.

He also added that one of Salma’s relatives had even recommended to the suspect that he eat a lot of garlic. That relative also cooked “soft food” for the suspect, because he was unable to eat food which was hard to chew.

“The man loved tomato choka with hot sada roti with little salt and no pepper,” Alexander said, adding, the wanted man used to be dipping the roti in the choka and eating heartily. “Those persons knew they were housing and feeding a killer, yet they continued to do so and we also understand they switched their surveillance camera at the house conveniently to conceal the faces of visitors to the man, I want to say, we have the information and are working towards finding the killer with or without their ssistance.”

Alexander revealed that on Saturday when Salma was shot and killed at about 9 pm, her relatives contacted EHS and not the police. He said there was hope that Salma would survive the shooting and everything could be concealed. The Inspector said in their haste to do so, persons in the house forgot to conceal the surveillance camera which captured the killer crawling down the stairs and being assisted by a relative to escape in a waiting car.

Contacted for comment, Chief of Staff at the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) and chairman designate at this RHA Dr Andy Bhagwandass said all persons seeking medical assistance for gunshot and knife wounds at health institutions must be reported to the police.

“If we are aware that it is a wanted person, obviously we will inform the police at that point. That is a well recognised procedure.

If we suspect any sinister activity we are also duty bound to inform the police,” he said.

Regarding the police’s claim that a doctor and nurse visited and treated the wanted man at home, Dr Bhagwandass this would only be possible if the medics were doing private work for the killer.

Asked whether they could have known the man is wanted by the police, Bhagwandass said, “Well, I didn’t know. He could give a story that he fell from a mango tree and broke his two legs. We won’t expect a patient to lie about how or what has happened, unless of course we think he is hiding something,” he said.

[Brownsugar]

This story about this wheelchair bound man wrecking havoc all over the place has the potential to be funny.......but alas I can't or shouldn't laugh.......we in a mess.....

[Deeks]

This is real incredible. A man on wheelchair creating havoc. And police can't find him. He is being helped.

[Bakes]

This is real incredible. A man on wheelchair creating havoc. And police can't find him. He is being helped.

...yeah, by police ineptitude.  Police know everything about him, including how he like he tomato choka... everything except where to find him.

[fishs]

This is real incredible. A man on wheelchair creating havoc. And police can't find him. He is being helped.

...yeah, by police ineptitude.  Police know everything about him, including how he like he tomato choka... everything except where to find him.

Lately the police is mantra is that they cannot do anything without the public coming forward.
So the population who is at risk is also at fault.

[weary1969]

This is real incredible. A man on wheelchair creating havoc. And police can't find him. He is being helped.

It has been said he change his MO he now in a wheelchair or a stretcher.