A 33-year-old New Grant welder who stopped at a bar for a drink with friends was fatally shot during a robbery yesterday afternoon. Sunil Jaisarie was shot in the right eye by a gunman during the robbery at the Rainbow Recreation Club at Garth Road, Princes Town.

Last year during another robbery at the same bar in March, the owner shot and killed one of three gunmen. The other two escaped.

Yesterday’s robbery took place around 1.35 pm. Police said Jaisarie and six other patrons were in the bar when a man ran in and announced a hold up. The gunman ordered the patrons to put their valuables, including cash, cellphones and jewelry, on the tables. He then picked up the valuables and ordered the patrons to stand against a wall.

As the gunman ran out of the bar, he turned around at the front door and fired a shot. Jaisarie slumped to the ground and died at the scene. His body remained there until it was examined by a district medical officer who ordered its removal to the mortuary at San Fernando General Hospital.

Yesterday Jaisarie’s father, four sisters and other relatives were among scores of people who gathered outside the bar as word spread about the murder. Ramdeo Jaisarie said his only, who son lived at Torib Tabaquite Trace, was not married and had no children. 

“You cannot lime nowhere again. He stop to have a drink and that is it. Madness,” he said. Abby-Ann Jaisarie said her brother had stopped at the bar for a drink with friends “not knowing that it would be the end of his life.” She said Jaisarie had planned to propose to his girlfriend. 

Officers from San Fernando and Princes Town CID, including ASP Samaroo, Insp Ramdeo, Sgt Julien, Sgt Ramoutar, Cpl Roopnarine, PC Chinapoo and other officers, visited the scene. Investigations are continuing.

An autopsy is expected to be performed at the Forensic Sciences Centre, Port-of-Spain, today. 

One of two teenagers who robbed a PH driver of his vehicle using a fake gun then crashed into a light pole during a high speed chase with police on Saturday has died.

 Kemroy Alexander, 18, sucumbed to his injuries around 5 pm on Saturday at the San Fernando General Hospital. A 17-year-old suspect, of La Brea, remains warded in a serious condition.

According to a police report, at around 3 pm the teens got into a Nissan Almera  plying the “round-d-town” route in San Fernando. Upon reaching Cipero Street, the teens pointed the fake gun at the 50-year-old driver and ordered him out of  the vehicle. The police spotted the car along the northbound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway and gave chase which ended when the car crashed into a lightpole and flipped several trimes near the Indian Trail Flyover. 

The teens were taken to hospital for treatment and the police found the fake firearm in the car’s glove compartment. 

PC Ali of the San Fernando Police Station is investigating.

Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah has criticised the Government for failing to hold public consultation before Friday’s mid year budget review. At a press conference yesterday at MSJ’s headquarters at St Joseph Village, San Fernando, Abdulah expressed particular concern about the 15 per cent increase in the price of fuel and the sale of Clico’s Republic Bank shares.

“There has been no significant—if any at all—consultation or engagement of citizens, or of stakeholders with respect to the state of the economy and proposals going forward,” he said.

“We do not count individual conversations a minister or prime minister may have had with a businessman or representatives of a firm as representing proper consultation or stakeholder engagement.”

Abdulah said it was wrong for Finance Minister Colm Imbert to “make statements from on high that this is what we are going to do.” He said with the increase in prices of diesel and super unleaded fuel, transportation costs are likely to increase by as much as 15 percent.

“The Minister of Finance has put at risk working people, senior citizens, the poor and the vulnerable in terms of significantly rising prices,” he warned. The MSJ leader said Government failed to try to increase taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations.

He added: “And the question is why weren’t corporation taxes increased to 40 per cent or even more and then encourage corporations to shift consuming foreign exchange by buying cheap and selling dear into the market place? They could earn a tax credit by employing people, keeping workers employed, engaging in research and development  and investing in new productive activity that would earn foreign exchange.”

Abdulah said MSJ also rejects Imbert’s proposal to sell Republic Bank shares held by Clico and CL Financial and also to sell Clico as an insurance company. 

“Everything is wrong with the sale of Clico and with the sale of Republic Bank shares and therefore we are opposing it and the MSJ will campaign strenuously against that sale.

“What they are going to do is open the door to foreign financial institutions to buy out Republic and to buy out Clico, and what that would mean is we are going to return to the pre-1970 period where the entire financial private sector, or a very significant part of the financial sector, is owned by foreign capital.”

He said Government had missed an opportunity to build on the political capital it may have gained by winning the September 7 general election, by taking the population fully into its confidence to engage, as it said it would do, with all sectors.

However, he expressed support for the seven per cent levy on online shopping. Many people don’t realise when they shop online they are spending foreign exchange because the credit card payments are made in T&T dollars, he said.

“We have a real problem in Trinidad and Tobago—and it’s not limited to online shopping, it is related to the whole culture in this country—we have to shift the culture of consumption very rapidly and drastically,” Abdulah said.

“It is our consumption in the mall, for food out of foreign restaurant chains, motor US(US) $5 dollar MMBTU gas. We are not earning that, we are earning US)$30 oil and US$2 dollar MMBTU gas. He said people need to buy local and suggested all school feeding should be on the basis of local foods from local farmers.

Abdulah also suggested a prices council to ensure merchants sell at a fair price, without price gouging and distortion of the market. 

On the issue of borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) he said: “We are not at the IMF’s doorstep now. Countries only go to the IMF for balance of payment support when you have no more foreign exchange to buy your basic needs for your citizens and for your economy. You go when you have no US dollars, no hard currency in the Central Bank, and because you are borrowing from the IMF, it imposes conditions upon your borrowing.”

He said what Imbert has done is to begin implement  measures which the IMF would recommend as being good fiscal management of the government resources and of the economy, said Abdulah. However, Abdulah said, the MSJ and economists will challenge some of those recommendations. 

Two brothers yesterday pleaded guilty to the 2001 murder of Daniel Lester Aberdeen.

Ancil and Leo Poulette, of Egypt Village, Point Fortin, were convicted and sentenced to hang in 2007 for Aberdeen’s murder, but the Court of Appeal quashed the sentence and ordered a retrial.

Last week a jury was empanelled to hear the murder trial in the San Fernando First Assizes, but yesterday the brothers opted to plead guilty.

State attorney Shabana Shah said the State accepted their plea based on the murder felony rule that applies when someone is killed during the commission of an arrestable offence involving violence.

In this case, she said, the arrestable offences were kidnapping and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The state’s case is that on June 5, 2001, Leo Poulette was with another person (referred to as M) when he hired PH driver Clevon Brown. They picked up Ancil at his Point Fortin home and then stopped by a track leading to Aberdeen’s home.

The brothers sent M to call Aberdeen from his home at New Village, Point Fortin, while they walked up the road.

Aberdeen entered the back seat while M sat in the front seat.

The car drove for a short distance and was then flagged down by the brothers.

The brothers entered and sat on either side of Aberdeen.

They bound Aberdeen’s hands and ordered the driver to head to Chatham in an area with pipelines and bamboo. The brothers took Aberdeen into the bushes.

Brown told his brother what had happened and his brother made an anonymous report to the police. Following investigations by Insp Donald Denoon, Aberdeen’s decomposing body was found three days later. The brothers gave statements to the police. 

An autopsy revealed Aberdeen died from multiple sharp traumatic injuries, including a slash to the neck and multiple stab wounds. 

Before discharging the jury, the judge directed them to find the brothers guilty on the basis of the murder felony rule. The judge ordered a bio-social report from the prison. The brothers were represented by attorney Daniel Khan. 

The attorneys are to file written submissions which will be heard on April 26.

Fifteen years after being charged with assaulting a prisoner and stealing his money, two police officers yesterday went on trial in the San Fernando Third Criminal Court.

Police officers Bertrand Ramsumair and Ronnie Sahadeo pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were arraigned before Justice Maria Wilson.

The offences committed against taxi driver Rajesh Jadoonanan allegedly happened on March 1, 2001. The officers were suspended from active duty after they were charged.

Opening the State’s case yesterday prosecutor Hema Soondarsingh said Jadoonanan was in a car with his wife at Wilson Road, Barrackpore, when the officers signaled for the car to stop.

Ramsumair asked Jadoonanan for his driver’s permit, insurance and taxi badge. 

Ramsumair also told Jadoonanan his tint was too dark and asked him if he had a bin in his car.

Ramsumair, who was accompanied by Sahadeo, told him his vehicle had to be impounded. 

Soondarsingh said Jadoonanan was shoved, put into the police vehicle and beaten at an isolated location and at the Barrackpore Police Station. It’s the State case, that at the station, the officers stole $700 from Jadoonanan.

Woman Police Constable Magferr Pierre who was the first witness to testify said she was on sentry duty at the station when she heard noises coming from the back of the corridor. 

Upon checking she saw the two officers with a man who was bareback and blood was coming out of his mouth. 

She said she reported it to Cpl Hazelwood, the officer who was in charge of the shift, and he spoke to them.

Ramsumair is being represented by attorneys Prakash Ramadhar and Michael Rooplal while attorneys Rajiv Persad and Faraz Mohammed are representing Sahadeo. 

The trial continues on Tuesday.

Two men pleaded guilty yesterday to murdering Nigel Allen who was choked, stabbed with a fork and buried in a shallow grave in Claxton Bay almost 11 years ago.

Nigel Roderique, 40, aka Ryan and Cat, and Wendell Simmons, 34, aka Piper, both of Claxton Bay, pleaded guilty before justice Maria Wilson in the San Fernando Third Criminal Court to felony murder.

Allen, 32, a mechanic of Simpson Brown Terrace, Cocoyea Village, San Fernando, went missing on December 7, 2005 after leaving home to meet someone. 

Police found Allen’s black B-13 Nissan Sentra abandoned in Claxton Bay the following day while his decomposing body was discovered by police in a shallow grave in Diamond Village, Claxton Bay, 12 days later.

The two accused were charged with Allen’s murder a few days later.

In a brief outline of the case, State prosecutor Hema Soondarsingh said both Roderique and Simmons gave police statements indicating their role in his murder.

The men claimed they were hired by someone to kidnap Allen but they killed him after he began struggling.

Outlining what transpired, Soondarsingh said the accused took Allen to an abandon house where they tied him up. 

When they put him in the car he began “fighting up” so they choked and killed him. 

They then dug a hole in a canefield but before burying him they stabbed him with a fork in the belly. 

An autopsy revealed he died from asphyxiation and pulmonary aspiration.

The judge ordered bio-social and probation officer’s reports as requested by defence attorneys and adjourned the matter to May 9 for mitigation pleas.

Temporary work to address the pigeon infestation and roof repairs at the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court is expected to begin today.

This was confirmed by the Judiciary in a statement yesterday, following complaints by court users and workers about the current situation at the court building. 

Last week, reporters were forced to abandon the press table in the First Magistrates’ Court after pigeon droppings fell on them from a gaping hole in the roof above their heads. And earlier this week, pigeon poop fell on the clothes of another reporter and on a clerical worker.

Pigeons flying through the court rooms while court is in session and intense heat have become a “normal thing” in the courthouse. There is also a large yellow tarpaulin covering the dilapidated roof of the building. 

“We are so fed up complaining. We don’t know what to do again,” an employee told the T&T Guardian.

The release stated that the Judiciary, having recognised the age of and the adverse conditions plaguing the court, has over the past years undertaken a number of short-term measures and embarked upon plans for longer-term solutions to provide a safe and comfortable working environment for its staff and for court users. 

It stated that a structural survey of the court’s roof was undertaken in 2014 and a consulting engineer recommended work on its structural framework, as well as the replacement of the roof sheets. 

The Central Tenders Board has been engaged to tender for design, engineering, cost consultancies and project management/supervision for this project, the release stated.

However, the Judiciary said the work will only be undertaken when the building is vacated.

Court operations are expected to be relocated to a property at 1-3 Court Street, San Fernando, which is currently being prepared. It is expected to be ready for occupation by year’s end, the Judiciary confirmed.

“In the interim, the issues at the current court location, such as the pigeon infestation and the need to undertake temporary roof repairs, are being addressed.” 

The Judiciary further stated that work was expected to begin today and would include the installation of louvered windows to prevent the entry of pigeons to the courtrooms.

The Judiciary also said yesterday that progress had been made in the upgrade of several courts, including at Mayaro, Siparia and Princes Town. 

The Chaguanas Magistrates Court, on which extensive work has been done, is expected to be completed and re-opened within the next six weeks, it said.

One man was killed and another critically injured in a shooting incident in San Fernando yesterday.

The dead man was identified as Guyanese national Kemraj Persad, 30, a construction worker, of Hummingbird Avenue, Duncan Village.

Eyewitnesses said Persad, another man identified as Sean Boodoo, and the shooter were having drinks and liming at an apartment when an argument broke out and the suspect shot the two men.

Boodoo, who also lived at the same apartment, was shot in the chest and was listed in critical condition in San Fernando General Hospital last night.

A villager said he heard three explosions and thought it was fire crackers. He said he saw a man running up the road with blood on his chest.

Police said the shooter escaped in a car.

Residents said the men have been renting the apartment for over a year. Another tenant, Kumar Shivprashad, pleaded for financial help to send Persad’s body back to Guyana as he came from a poor family.

ASP Rawle Ramdeo, Insp Don Gajadhar, PC Doray and other officers of the San Fernando CID Task Force and Homicide Bureau visited the scene.

So far 149 people have been killed for this year.

A Petrotrin worker with over 40 years service died yesterday after he was crushed while dismantling a pump jack near a well site in Penal.

Charles Mitchell, 59, a technical craftsman attached to Petrotrin’s production operations, was pronounced dead at the company’s medical facility in Penal.

The company, in a press release yesterday, said an investigation had been launched into the incident which took place around 11.30 pm.

A police report stated Mitchell was working with a crew dismantling the jack when the crank arm gave way and pinned him between the jack and the gear box. 

He was taken to the company’s Penal medical facility by the company’s emergency responders where he was pronounced dead, the release stated.

The company has since lodged a report with its security department, Police Service and the Occupational Safety and Health Authority. The Ministry of Energy and OWTU has also been informed.

Extending condolences to Mitchell’s family, friends and co-workers, the company said Employee Assistance Programme services were being provided for the family and co-workers. A party of police from the Penal Police Station visited the scene. Cpl Ramsaran is investigating.

Also extending condolences yesterday was Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union second vice-president Peter Burke, who said he only heard about the incident on the news and had no details.

He said Petrotrin president general Ancel Roget would issue a formal statement on the matter today.

Police believe the suspect who shot and killed Guyanese national Khemraj Persaud and injured another man has fled to Venezuela.

T&T Guardian was told that local police have sent out an advisory to the Venezuelan authorities to be on the lookout for the 51-year-old man who last resided at Duncan Village, San Fernando.

The suspect may have used his own boat to escape to Venezuela, police sources said.

The murder took place around 5.15 pm on Monday.

Persaud, 30, also known as “Leaf,” was renting a downstairs apartment with Sean Boodhoo, 28, and Kumar Shivprashad, at Hummingbird Avenue, Duncan Village, for over three years.

The construction worker was working in T&T for several years and sending money to help his impoverished family in Guyana. 

According to a police report, the suspect went to visit another family member in the building. Reports stated that the suspect came downstairs and urinated on a washing machine used by Persaud and his friends. 

Boodhoo told the suspect about it and they began to argue and fight. Persaud who was inside came out and intervened.

 The suspect went to his car, took out a gun and opened fire, hitting both men.

Persaud was shot twice in the head while Boodhoo was shot in the chest.

He died on the spot while Boodhoo ran to the road and collapsed. Police took him to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and remains warded in a stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital. Detectives interviewed him yesterday at the hospital.

 Shivprashad, also a Guyanese national, said a group of friends have been trying to raise funds to send Persaud’s back to his homeland. It is costing about $15,000. 

“We trying to get assistance for the family to carry the body back to Guyana. Friends and business people trying to help. His family is not coming down here because it makes no sense that they waste that passage.” 

He said Persaud came from an impoverished family, was an avid cricketer and well known.

The common-law wife of former Centrin worker David Francis broke down in tears yesterday after she was given the go ahead to cremate her husband after a High Court judge discharged an injunction filed by Francis’ estranged wife.

Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh, presiding in the San Fernando High Court, lifted the injunction which prevented Chandrawatee Nandlal from disposing of his body after attorney Gerald Ramdeen, representing Francis’ wife Donna James, decided not to pursue the matter.

Donna Francis also did not pursue the claim for possession of Francis’ body.

When the matter was first called, the judge stood the matter down for the results of the second autopsy done by pathologist Hubert Daisley to be produced in court. 

However, the judge asked both parties to have discussions to ensure Francis’ final respects took place in a dignified manner. 

“I think those who would like to pay respects to Mr Francis ought to be able to do so and probably does not matter too much where or who makes the arrangement, once everyone gets an opportunity to pay respects.”

He said it was important that Francis be able to have his final rites with dignity and decorum where his wife, common-law wife, children, father, brother and other relatives could all take part.

When the matter was recalled, Daisley’s post mortem produced to the court concurred with forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov that death was due to hanging. 

Other findings of Daisley autopsy were laceration to the scalp, contusions to the abdominal wall and left ribs and abrasions to the chin.

The second autopsy was done on Friday after Donna Francis and other relatives questioned the results of the first finding. 

Francis, who shared a common-law relationship with Nandlal for 19 years and has two children with her, was found hanging from a rope at their home on April 21. 

Relatives believed Francis, who was among 200 Centrin workers laid off in February, hung himself because of financial problems.

His funeral was carded to take place last Saturday but on Friday night Ramdeen went to Nandlal’s home at Carli Bay, Couva, and served her with the injunction order.

Ramdeen told the judge he had spoken to the investigating officer, Dexter Duncan, who indicated that there was sufficient evidence to conduct an investigation. 

In the circumstances, he said he had no difficulty in the order being discharged and the proceedings being brought to a conclusion.

Barely able to speak an emotional Nandlal, who was accompanied by Francis’ father Francis Belidam, 71, her children and other relatives, said she was happy the matter was over and she could put her husband to rest. 

Twelve years after four people were charged with kidnapping four-year-old Saada Singh from her Vistabella school, the matter has not yet been set for trial.

Yesterday, the matter came up on the cause list before Justice Maria Wilson in the San Fernando High Court but was adjourned to next month.

The child’s former schoolteacher, Kimberly Moonsammy, her cousin Jonathon, Colleen Osbourne and Keston Franklyn are charged with kidnapping the child on June 3, 2009.

Seven years ago they were committed to stand trial in the High Court by Senior Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan at the conclusion of a preliminary inquiry.

It is alleged that the four accused abducted Singh from her kindergarten school and took her to an unknown destination. 

She was found wandering two days later along a isolated dirt road off Murray Trace, Siparia. She was unharmed.

Moonsammy and Franklyn were represented by attorney Keith Beckles while Jonathon and Osbourne were represented by attorney Ian Brooks.

There are still some issues to be sorted out so the matter was adjourned to June 14.

Seventeen-year-old Amy Babwah grabbed her sleeping baby and hid behind a wardrobe as gunmen pumped multiple bullets into her husband’s body after storming their Marabella home on Monday night.

The teenage mom and her seven-month-old baby girl escaped injury but her 35-year-old husband, Selwyn John, died in the living room of their Bayshore home. 

John was killed one day after his neighbour, Dixon Richards, 22, who lived a few houses away from him, was shot dead in front his home. 

Richards was found by his mother bleeding from gunshot wounds at their doorsteps on Sunday. 

The murders have left residents, who believe the two shootings could be linked to a turf war, fearful for their lives.

Police reports said two gunmen accosted John shortly after 11 pm. 

John’s father, Kelvin Ramcharan, 57, who lives close by said he heard about 12 shots. 

In an interview yesterday, Ramcharan said: “He (John) now bath and gone inside. He hear the door kick and he come out the bedroom and they offload shots in he. 

“I hear it was three men. I now done bathe and change meh clothes and I sit down eating. I hear about 12 shots. I came outside and I see his wife running coming. She was crying and bawling.”

She left the baby inside the house and came for help, he added.

When he got to the house, Ramcharan said he saw John lying on his stomach. “They did not ask him nothing they just buss it on him,” said Ramcharan. 

Babwah grabbed the baby who was asleep on the bed just five feet away from the living room. “The mother tell me when he (John) come out and she hear the gunshot she gone behind the wardrobe with the baby,” said the father.

Babwah’s two-year-old son who also lives with them was by his grandmother at the time of the shooting. Ramcharan did not know Babwah’s whereabouts since she left with the police after the shooting.

John also has two other children—a nine-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl —from a previous relationship.

Admitting his son had a criminal past and previously sold drugs, Ramcharan said he did not know whether he was still involved in illegal activities. 

Ramcharan did not share a close relationship with his son but he said he did not deserve the way he met his death.

He said John was also charged for being involved with Babwah because she was a minor. In November 2014 John claimed he was kidnapped and taken to Venezuela when he appeared in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court for missing his court date, burning Babwah’s clothes and assaulting three police officers. 

Concerned about the crime situation, Ramcharan asked: “A killing Sunday and Monday. Who next? What next?

Also expressing his concern, another resident said: “We believe is the same people who do the shooting Sunday do this. Somebody wants to control the scene. The man (John) was just trying to survive.”

John’s sister-in-law, Shadah John, called for frequent police patrols in the area. 

She claimed the police only patrol one area of the community. An autopsy said John was shot seven times. San Fernando police are investigating. 

The owner of the Claxton Bay bar where a teen bandit was beaten so badly by his “victims” that he never regained consciousess after he was hospitalised feels no joy he is dead.

However, Phoolmatie John has defended the patrons who came to her assistance when Curtis Pierre came for her after robbing them, saying she disagrees excessive force was used against him.

Responding to comments by Pierre’s mother, Kndra Commissiong, that patrons went too far when they severely beat Pierre after he tried to attack her, an emotional John said yesterday that as a mother she felt sorry he died. However, she said the 16-year-old boy was wrong to have engaged in the criminal act of armed robbery in the first place.

“I have one son and one daughter. If my son should go and do things like that and they beat him and kill him, ent I have to bury him?” she asked.

“You have no right to be there! If you was in school you would be alive today.”

Wiping away her tears, John said her son Niben Beepat, 28, was just defending her and his infant son when Pierre came at her in their house at the back of the compound, after leaving his accomplice in the club at the front when he realised there were other people on the property.

Suspecting that the police may now possibly seek to charge those involved in the beating connected with Pierre’s death, John said, “I don’t think they should charge anybody because the man come in meh house. It is not like they run in he mother house and beat him up or drag him out a car.

“This law could never be right. Let them lock up my son and see if I would take that so? I will never take that so because that is boldfacedness.”

Recalling the incident last Thursday, John said she saw Pierre and another man walk into the bar.

“I say they come to buy, is when the man crack the gun then I realise was bandit. Well, my lil grandson was there, I just grab his hand and drag him inside.” 

She said she closed the gate by the bar counter and went through a door leading to her house. At that point, Beepat, who was asleep, woke up, she said. 

“He (Pierre) come inside my house and kicking down meh door.”

John confronted Pierre and they began to scramble. But her son Beepat was then joined by a dozen patrons who came to her aid. Pierre was beaten into a state of unconsciousness. 

Pierre’s accomplice, who had robbed Chinese national Lui Luo, who operated a gaming machine at the club, and other patrons of their cash and other valuables, ran when he realised what was happening and later escaped in a car.

And while John is not advocating for vigilante justice, John yesterday encouraged other citizens to stand up and fight back against the criminal element because the authorities seem unable to arrest the crime situation.

“More people have to stand up against criminals, crime too out of hand,” she said.

She also called on the lawmakers to “bring back the hangman.” 

John, who survived a heart attack three years ago, said it was the first time she had been robbed, but noted that her Chinese tenant had been robbed several times. 

Admitting she was stressed out and disturbed since the incident, John said she was now thinking about retiring and renting her business.

John’s sentiment was also supported by other residents in the community, including some who were victims of the bandits.

Requesting anonymity, a resident, who has been living in the community for 22 years, said she was fed up with the crime situation. 

“The bandits too out of hand and it getting worse everyday. When they come they come to rob and kill you.” 

Complaining that in the last five years crime had escalated in the area, another resident said people must stand up for their rights. 

But a senior police officer is urging citizens not to take the law into their hands. 

“The population’s already under pressure with crimes being committed against them. We don’t want any vigilante group operating in this country. We have a law enforcement agency to deal with that. We’re asking people not to engage any criminals, especially if they are armed,” the officer, who did not want to be named, said.

The officer said citizens would be putting themselves in further danger and advised citizens to call the police or take photographs of the suspect if they could, instead of engaging them. Referring to Pierre’s incident, he said the beating caused the teen’s death and the matter was now under inquiry.

Also contacted yesterday, retired senior superintendent Johnny Abraham said when he was in charge of Central Division he and his colleagues held meetings with residents encouraging them to organise neighbourhood watch groups instead of vigilante groups.

“We would tell them they must not take the law into their own hands. But people are desperate about what is going on in this country. They feel that is one way of fighting back.”

He added, “Nothing wrong with subduing the suspect and handing him over to the police.” 

Commenting on Pierre’s beating, he said, “I think excessive force was used, more than necessary. The man was unarmed and they had already subdued him.”

Pierre died at the San Fernando General Hospital on Tuesday night. An autopsy revealed he died from blunt force trauma to the head. 

State-owned oil and gas company Petrotrin said it remains conscious of its responsibility to retired workers who protested outside its Pointe-a-Pierre administration office on Thursday, for an increase in their pension fund.

The company said it also wants to ensure the long-term sustainability of the pension plan given the current economic challenges now being faced in this lower oil price environment.

In a statement issued on Thursday, following the protest, Petrotrin explained that the Petrotrin Employees Pension Plan is an independent fund operated by a trustee with oversight by a management committee. The committee includes company personnel and representatives of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU).

The statement noted that Petrotrin approved a payment to retirees based on the triennial actuarial valuation for the period 2010- 2013. It said this was communicated to the OWTU but met with dissatisfaction.

On Thursday, members of the Petrotrin Retirees Association (PRA) protested in the scorching sun, calling on the company to pay them their 36-month pension increase.

Activist Frankie McGuire, 61, said over 4,000 pensioners are affected, but the majority could not participate in the protest because of failing health. 

McGuire said: “There was an agreement with the union to get four per cent (increase) every three years but it depends on the actuaries. There was a meeting with the retirees, the actuaries, the union and company, they said no growth.”

He said there was a three per cent offer, which the retirees did not agree with, but accepted it because of the present situation. Now he said the company is unwilling to honour that commitment.

“We understand that the company don’t want to pay the three per cent that they agreed on from 2010 to 2013. They want to pay from 2011 to 2013 but the retirees are saying they rather dead than to accept no increase for 18 months. That is why we are here today, we understand the company is going ahead to make payments from 2011 to 2013 and we are telling Petrotrin rescind from doing that.”

He said their last increase was 2004 to 2007 which was paid in 2011. 

Police have opened an investigation into who was responsible for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl who recently gave birth to a baby boy at the San Fernando General Hospital. 

The probe is, however, being complicated by the fact that the police now have two different reports of how the Form One student came to be impregnated. One of them is that she became pregnant by one of two family members who were sexually abusing her. The other is that she was raped by a man who had gone to their home to conduct repairs.

The incident has been confirmed by hospital officials and officers from the Children’s Protection Unit of T&T Police Service.

The T&T Guardian was told that when the girl became impregnanted she was living with her mother, who is nursing a medical condition, and father. But after giving birth to a baby boy at the hospital on April 23, she and her baby moved in with other relatives.

The police were tipped off that the child had for several months been a victim of sexual abuse by two male relatives, but her family tried to cover it up. She was reportedly taken out of school and arrangements were made for her to have a home delivery. However, the child developed complications at home and had to be rushed to the hospital, officers were told. In keeping with hospital’s policy, officials contacted the police because the girl is a minor.

But when the child was interviewed last week by Children Protection Unit officers she related a totally different story about her pregnancy, one which involved sexual assault.

The child told them that sometime ago, a stranger pulled up in front their house with a car. She was alone at home. The man, she said, told her he came to check the meter box. However, he soon dragged her inside the house and raped her. She told the investigators he threatened to kill her if she said anything. The girl said she told no one she was pregnant until she was in her third trimester.

Detectives are investigating all angles, including the veracity of her second story, as they continue their investigations. Contacted yesterday TTPS Victim and Witness Support Unit head Margaret Sampson-Brown said she was aware of the report, having been informed via the media a few days ago. 

“I did seek to have a conversation with the Victim Support officer and the matter has been referred to the Children’s Protection Unit and the Children’s Authority.” She said she was not aware of the details, but she said her organisation was standing by and ready to provide any assistance requested.

Meanwhile, the T&T Guardian was also told another investigation has been launched into a report that a 14-year-old girl gave birth at the same hospital three weeks ago. 

Last week the Children’s Protection Unit head, Supt Odette Lewis, said there had been 358 cases before the courts arising out of 1,709 reports of child abuse between May last year to February. Although the required staff for the unit is 216, inclusive of ten civilians, she said the current staff was 99 with one civilian.

Complaining further about staff shortage, a police officer said: “The units are seriously understaffed and it is affecting our ability to do our work efficiently. They passed a cabinet note so long for us to get 35 SRPs to assist throughout the country, but so far nothing doing with that.

“Additionally, SRPs don’t investigate serious crimes so they won’t be doing investigations and they work 40 hours a month so when they complete their hours they will be staying home and the shifts will still be short.”

The officer appealed to the powers to urgently address the situation.

Convinced that Palo Seco missing farmer Vijay Ramoutar was abducted, his worried relatives yesterday appealed to his abductors to release him.

Issuing a heartfelt appeal, his cousin Linda Ramoutar-Jaggernauth appealed: “We are begging that if you have taken him and you want money or something, we’re willing to give you a ransome to get him back.

“We hope he is alive. Even if he is dead or alive we want some closure, we have reached this stage now. We don’t want to go through the rest of our lives not knowing what happen to him. We don’t care about the vehicle we just want to get back our loved one.” The Anti-Kidnapping Squad is investigating the disappearance of Ramoutar, who was last seen Tuesday night at his grandmother’s Penal home. 

His gold-coloured Nissan Navara, licensed TCF 3322, is also missing. Ramoutar, who does crop farming on a large scale, lives with his father and three brothers in Palo Seco.

Ramoutar-Jaggernauth explained that her cousin would spend every night with their 90-year-old grandmother because she lives alone and return to his Palo Seco home on mornings. She said her grandmother told them she last spoke to him before she went to bed around 7 pm.

“When he did not come back home on Wednesday morning they thought he was tired and he stayed with our grandmother. When Thursday reach they called me to find out if I heard or saw him, that is when we realised he was missing,” she said.

When they went to the area at the back of the grandmother’s house where Ramoutar stayed, she said the backdoor was open, the burglar proofing on the same door was broken, the driveway gate was open and the locks were missing. 

She said two bags which he travelled around with were still there with his clothes and toiletries. The house was not ransacked, but his car was missing. She said Ramoutar’s brother was told his car was seen at Fraser Street on Thursday. She said they spent Mother’s Day worrying about him.

“Usually we would go by my the grandmother and have lunch and dinner, we would lime, but we did nothing. We have been searching for him, but no word,” a worried Ramoutar-Jaggernauth said. She said her cousin had no problems with anyone and it was unlike him to leave home for any extended periods without letting anyone know his whereabouts. 

“He don’t drink, smoke, lime, gamble, he have no children, he not married,” said Ramoutar-Jaggernauth.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Penal Police Station, Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Crime Stoppers 800-TIPS (8477), 555, or his relatives at 383 2781.

Holding their bundle of joy after months of anticipation was the best Mother’s Day gift six mothers at the San Fernando General Hospital could have asked for yesterday.

While they were hoping to spend the special day with other loved ones at their respective homes, nothing could overshadow the happiness they felt on welcoming the newest addition to their families into this world.

Zalina Khan, 22, Nkese Griffith, 29, and another mother, who did not want to be named, were among scores of women who either gave birth and were recuperating or had already given birth at the hospital yesterday.

Paying a surprise visit to the proud mothers was San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein, who presented them with floral arrangements.

Baby Karishma, weighing 2.85 kilos, was the first to be born around 12.47 am to her mummy Zalina. The San Francique mother, who was admitted to the ward Saturday morning, was elated her daughter was born on Mother’s Day. 

“It is the best Mother’s Day present I could ask for,” said Khan, who was with her other daughter Kaitlin, seven, and husband Radesh Paltoo.

The second baby, a boy, was delivered around 2 am via caesarian section. However, his mother did not want to be interviewed. Proud mother Nkese Griffith gave birth to her fourth child and third son Messiah around 4.37 am. Baby Messiah, who was smiling in his sleep, came as a surprise to his mother and father Merrick Ram, since her due date was May 25.  

“We were not expecting him for quite a few days again. I came on Friday night after my water bag burst,” said Griffith. 

She has three other children—two boys ages 12 and three, and a 10-year-old girl.

A Siparia man was sentenced yesterday to 22 years for raping a schoolgirl in 1997 but his victim left the court disappointed. The victim, now 34 years old and a mother of three children, said she felt her attacker, David Baptiste, deserved a longer jail sentence and strokes for the pain he put her through.

She spoke with reporters shortly after Baptiste, 43, was sentenced by San Fernando Second Assizes Judge Hayden St Clair-Douglas.

“I feel that he could have gotten more than 22 years and he should have gotten strokes. Not just for me but for the other girl (the 2000 victim). He did more to her and worse than I got.” She said the other woman also left the court disappointed.

Saying she would not wish what she went through on anyone, she said men who raped should feel the full penalty. “To deal with this was really hard for me. I don’t talk about it with anybody.” She said she lives for her children, one of whom is a girl. “I am always there for her,” she added.

Baptiste was charged with raping two other women but he absconded while on bail to the United States for eight years, resulting in the collapse of those cases.

He was returned by United States Marshals to face trial here for the 1997 rape of the schoolgirl. Baptiste had pleaded not guilty when the trial began before St Clair-Douglas on March 1. 

In passing sentence the judge said Baptiste showed no remorse and women needed to be protected from him. Saying there were no mitigating factors, the judge said his sentence had to be on the higher scale of sentencing. 

He said the maximum sentence was life imprisonment and it ranges from about 25 years. The judge said the aggravating factors were the girl’s age, she was dressed in her school uniform, she was a virgin and he offered to give the girl a drop home.

The jury heard that in June 1997 the victim, then 15-years-old, was walking home after school along Quinam Road, Siparia, when the accused picked her up in his car and offered to drop her home. Instead he took her to a dirt road where he raped her.

During the trial as part of the bad character evidence, State attorney Trevor Jones called one of Baptiste’s other rape victims who recalled how she was raped and stabbed by Baptiste. That incident took place in 2000.

Baptiste’s defence was that the women had mistaken him for another person with his name.

Former chief executive officer of the Estate Management Business Development Company Ltd (EMBDC), Seebalack Singh, has been awarded more than $.5 million in compensation in a libel lawsuit brought against the Trinidad Express.

In delivering the 51-page judgment in the San Fernando High Court yesterday, Justice Frank Seepersad was critical of the standard of journalism in T&T.

Singh, through his attorney Prakash Deonarine, filed the lawsuit in relation to two investigative stories published on April 22, 2013 and June 30, 2013 which suggested some wrongdoing on his part which resulted in his resignation. 

Singh, who subsequently lost his job at the First Citizens Bank where he began working after resigning from EMBDC, sued the newspaper, an editor and two senior journalists who wrote the articles. The defendants argued the matters in the articles were of significant public interest and they met the standards of responsible journalism. 

Describing the actions of one of the reporters as reckless, the judge found the journalists “failed to discharge the onerous obligation that rested on their shoulders as investigative journalists and their focus was on character assassination and scandal.”

Seepersad said: “Character assassination should never be the focal point of any investigative piece of journalism.” 

In awarding $450,000 plus interest in aggravated and general damages, the judge said he considered the allegations against Singh were grave and impacted in a material way on his integrity, honour, professional competence and his reputation. Saying “more likely than not,” the first article was the reason why he lost his job at the bank, the judge also awarded $100,000 in exemplary damages. Singh was also awarded costs.

Attorney Faarees Hosein, who represented the defendants, asked for a 21-day stay of execution which was granted.