Dead Heat

The headlines on today's Trinidad Express Newspaper. You might think it were a horse race of some sort that caught today's headlines, but in fact it's actually the murder count they are speaking of. It's no longer a dead heat any more as there have been at least 3 more murders since this article was printed. See directly below for the article.

DEAD HEAT

Source: Trinidad Express

Murders same as 2005

Denyse Renne drenne@trinidadexpress.com

Monday, December 31st 2007

The country's homicide figure is now on par with the record 2005 toll, following the shooting deaths of three men at the weekend,

The murders of businessman Derrick Gilbert, vendor Brian Ramnath and Kevon Andrews have now pushed the toll to 386 for the year, so far.

This means the figure is now-once again-the highest in Trinidad and Tobago's history, having surpassed last year's total by 15.

At several weekly press conferences held during the year, acting Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations Gilbert Reyes said the upsurge in murders was gang related. Murders resulting from domestic situations were also blamed.

However, in March, both Reyes and Minister of National Security Martin Joseph were quick to point out that murders were on a decline, having dropped by 41 per cent.

Both Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul and Reyes said measures will be taken to safeguard the public and the criminals will be bought to justice.

For this month, with less than 24 hours left in the year, 40 murders have been recorded, 13 more than December's figure for 2006.

In the first killing at the weekend, around 7:25 p.m. on Saturday, Gilbert, 40, the owner of Conquerat Transport Services, was sitting on a chair in his yard chatting with two of his employees when a man walked up behind him and shot him. He died on the spot. Speaking with the Express yesterday at Gilbert's Chandy Lane, El Socorro, home his eight -year -old son Dishon said: "My daddy was a nice guy. He stood up strong for us and all I want to say is that I love him."

Gilbert, a father three, was described by his aunt-in-law Ann-Marie Stephen as "a hard worker."

"I was in my living room looking at the news when I heard three loud noises. I told my husband the noises sounding like gunshots and soon after I got a call telling me Derrick get shoot.

"I rushed out the house and into Derrick's yard. He was slouched in a chair with blood in his eyes," Stephen said.

Gilbert had been shot three times in the head.

Stephen said relatives were baffled as to the reason behind Gilbert's death, she said, prior to the murder, Gilbert confided to his mother, "things were tough at the port and he was getting a lot of fightdown."

Adding Gilbert's children - two boys, ages eight and 13, and his 16-year-old daughter were now fatherless, Stephen said: "Our family is small but strongly knitted, he (Gilbert) was a very nice guy, good father, friend, husband and businessman."

Also visiting relatives yesterday was karate expert Prof Don Jacobs.

Investigators said they had not established a motive for Gilbert's killing.

Four hours later, residents of Production Drive, Sea Lots, heard gunshots and when they investigated saw the body of Brian Ramnath lying at the foot of some stairs.

Ramnath, 37, also called "Ramsey", became a father for the fourth time last Wednesday.

His daughter Kehenna said Ramnath was shot in his yard after he parked his car. "We (relatives) heard the shots and ran outside cause we knew he had come home. When we ran downstairs we saw him on the steps bleeding,"

She said relatives were told by eyewitnesses that a man ran from behind a tree and shot Ramnath.

Kehenna said her father's death might have been an act of jealously.

And around 4.30 a.m. yesterday,Kevon Andrews was shot dead while walking with his girlfriend.

Andrews, 20, of Laventille Road, Laventille, was walking along Block 22, Laventille, when three masked men approached them and shot Andrews. His girlfriend was robbed of a cell phone and jewelry.

The men then ran off.

No motive has yet been established for Andrews's killing.

As you can probably tell from the above article, crime has gotten out of control since the November 5th elections which saw a PNM victory once again at the polls. Now I'm not saying that it wasn't out of control before, what I am saying is that it was under control for the small window that would be considered the run up to the general elections of 2007. Crime was kept at bay long enough to guarantee the incumbent PNM that they wouldn't have to suffer an election defeat due to high levels of murders and other extremely violent crimes. What bothers me is the fact that the PNM is able to control the criminals of T&T for their own political gain but are unable to control the criminals so as to save innocent lives of T&T citizens. What also bothers me was the fact that the PNM had arranged a dinner meeting at a very posh hotel in P.O.S to discuss crime with so called "community leaders" who are in fact known gang leaders in East P.O.S. When are the citizens going to wake up and realise that the PNM doesn't care about their safety and well-being?

I think a couple quotes may be in order for this piece.

Poor Math

I don't know where the minister and Mr. Reyes studied math; in my score card they get an "F". How can they claim murders dropped 41% when the rate increased from last year? Who knows how many more may die before 2008. I am not proud to say that we have a per capita rate of 0.03% which is higher than New York city with a population of over 8 million. I hope these two gentlemen have a happy new year. Trini. from Malaysia.

Remarkable

Outlaws would confront face to face, pip-squeaks shoot in the back. Police have blimps and helicopters to admire sceneries. Government indicates that crime is 41% down and the headline is promoting a record to be broken soon for murders. Give us some stats for the past 5 years: monies budgeted for each of those years, number of murders, rapes and deaths by motor accidents and the number of case solved annually.