Four more murders push the toll to 408

Four more murders
Gyasi Gonzales
Source: Trinidad Express

Thursday, October 1st 2009

PAIN: Avril Dowell, left, is consoled by a relative after her son, Mikhail (inset), was killed on Tuesday night at Priest Hill in St Joseph. -Photo: ABRAHAM DIAZ

FOUR more men have been murdered as the spate of violent crimes continued across the country, pushing the toll to 408 as of last evening.

And although the police have lumped all these killings as "gang related homicides", the relatives of the dead offered other motives.

The first murder occurred in St Joseph.

The victim, Mikhail Dowell, 18, was chopped to death just before 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

According to the police, Dowell was liming with some friends at Priest Hill, which is off King Street in St Joseph, when they were approached by another group of young men.

Police said there was an argument and Dowell was grabbed by a man and chopped on the neck repeatedly.

The man who chopped Dowell and the group he came with then ran off and remained at large up to last night. One of Dowell's friends held the young man's head but his wounds were so severe he quickly bled to death.

The St Joseph police were called, along with Dowell's family.

Yesterday, his mother, Avril Dowell, said that "as far as I know", the men who killed her son came looking for someone else.

"It's a case of mistaken identity," she said.

The police said they did not believe the killer really intended to kill Dowell.

And around 8 p.m. at Mason Street Extension in Diego Martin, Jahkimo Brewster, 28, was liming with friends when a man crept out of a bushy gully and opened fire on the group.

Brewster and another man, 20-year-old Dillon Rodney, were hit. Brewster ran a short distance, collapsed and died. Rodney was taken to hospital where he was treated.

The Express met two female relatives of Brewster yesterday morning at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, but they would only confirm the correct spelling of his name, nothing else.

In another incident, Leandro Baptiste, 24, was killed around 9.30 a.m. in Woodbrook. He was employed with the Port of Spain City Corporation as well as SM Jaleel.

According to eyewitnesses, Baptiste and a group of city corporation employees were on a pavement rebuilding jobsite at Luis Street, when a Nissan Wingroad driven by someone he knew stopped near the site.

A man who spoke to the Express near the scene yesterday said a man came out the vehicle and walked towards Baptiste. Both men spoke and the killer walked off.

Just before getting into his car, however, the man turned around and walked back towards Baptiste. He pulled him close, embraced him and told him something. He then withdrew a pistol and shot Baptiste in the abdomen. As Baptiste fell, the killer fired more shots until the gun was empty. He then cooly walked back to his car, got in and calmly drove off.

When approached by the Express yesterday, workers on the jobsite claimed they knew nothing.

"Apologies rastaman but we eh know nutting," said one man.

Some of Baptiste's relatives later arrived on the scene. They confirmed that Baptiste had been threatened.

When asked why, one of his relatives said, "Jealousy, they was jealous of him."

The fourth murder occurred at 11 a.m. yesterday.

Police said they knew the victim, Duane "Bad Jesus" Joseph, very well. They said Joseph was on Duke Street, Port of Spain, when he was attacked by a gunman. Joseph was still able to run to Nelson Street where he collapsed. He was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital but died before he got there.

Some PNM apologists would say that the PNM does not have a program where they teach criminals to be criminals, therefore the PNM is not responsible. The question I ask is, who is in control of the State's Treasury and all the necessary resources to curb criminal activity? Not the ruling PNM-led Government? Therefore who should be held accountable? You and I? I think not. Wake up and smell the rottening corpses T&T!

15 murdered in four days

Joel Julien jjulien@trinidadexpress.com Wednesday, September 16th 2009

SINCE Saturday some 15 people have been murdered in this country, according to statistics. The murder toll for this year now stands at 380 with more than 100 days left until the end of the year. The murder rate for this same period last year was 379. The year 2008 was the bloodiest year in this country's history with some 550 murders being recorded, according to statistics. And adding to this bloody trend yesterday was the fatal shooting of four men in separate incidents. In the first incident Clint John, 28, from Claxton Bay was fatally shot sometime around 8.30 p.m on Monday at 19th Street Beetham Gardens, police reports said. And then some two hours later, Errol La Borde Junior, 23, was fatally shot in Petit Valley, according to police reports. La Borde Junior, lived at Bakr Trace, Pioneer Drive, Petit Valley, his father Errol La Borde Senior said at the Forensic Science Centre, in Federation Park yesterday. The senior La Borde could not say why anyone would want his son dead but revealed that his son was involved in an altercation on Sunday. And just after midnight Lewis Phillip, 19, was found shot dead at Eden Trace in Laventille, police reports said. Phillip, from Pashley Street, had a single gunshot wound to the back of his head, police said. The bullet exited under his left eye. "Too much bloodshed in this country," Phillip's aunt, who requested anonymity, said at the Forensic Science Centre yesterday. "It is high-class nonsense. The gangs taking over Laventille. If one group see you talking to another group they don't like they will kill you. It is frustrating, it is a whole nastiness, crime is not under control," she said. And in the last of these four killings, Levi Mendoza, 17, was shot dead around 2.30 a.m. while sleeping in a camp at Bagatelle, police reports said. It was the first time Mendoza slept away from his family's home, his sister La Toya said yesterday. Mendoza decided to sleep out after a dispute over dirty dishes, relatives said. So he opted to sleep at a camp in the area, relatives said. Mendoza died on the spot. An unidentified man who was also at the camp at the time of the shooting was listed in critical condition at the hospital up to presstime, police said. A third occupant of the camp escaped on foot, police said. Investigations are continuing. Yup...we really reach...this is PNM country...Patrick....we steppin up with you! Stepping up to the highest murder rate in the country's existence that is.

49 held in pre-dawn Beetham raids

Early-morning raids in Beetham Gardens yesterday resulted in the arrest of 49 residents, several of whom are wanted for questioning in connection with various murders in Port of Spain and environs.

The raids, which began at 3 a.m., were headed by Acting Commissioner of Police, James Philbert, and field operations were coordinated by acting DCP Gilbert Reyes, ACP John Travajo and Insp Sahadeo Singh.

Over 300 police officers from various units, including the Inter Agency Task Force, Guard and Emergency Branch, Special Anti Crime Unit and Divisional Task Force, were involved in the exercise, which ended around 10 a.m. Three women, aged 17, 26 and 42, of Hell Yard, Beetham, were among those held and are expected to appear before a Port of Spain magistrate later this week, charged with possession of four kilogrammes of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Over 500 grammes of cocaine was also found.

Raids were also conducted on 23rd, 24th and 25th Streets in Beetham, and six firearms, including four pistols, one shotgun, one revolver, along with five loaded magazines and 136 rounds of assorted ammunition, were seized.

In a media release, Philbert thanked persons who shared information with the police and pleaded with citizens to continue assisting the police.

Source: Trinidad Express

Saw some Beethamites on the TV today, complaining about how there is no justice for Beetham residents.
What about Vindra Naipaul? Where is the justice for her? What about Naail Ali? Where is the justice for him? Where is the justice for all the citizens who are robbed in traffic on the Beetham Highway? Why the residents don't complain then?

The residents were also complaining that the police used unnecessary force in their search and that their cellular phones stopped working. What else do you expect? The kind of attitude and behaviour that comes out the the Beetham is a far cry from civilised. Robbing people who are stuck in traffic. Is sorry I sorry for the ones who don't have A/C in their car, because once yuh in traffic in the Beetham, yuh have no choice but to roll up your windows, otherwise the chances of you getting robbed is very high. Then we have the issue of all the illegal firearms and ammunition that was found during the raid. You think the police should knock on the door an wait for them to hide everything?

And I must say kudos to the officers involved in this raid. You all did a fine job and handled the situation well. You did what you had to do to get the job done. Bravo!

Homicide rate predictions for 2009-10 - not looking good.

Click image to enlarge

According to this graph, the murder rate went down during the time the UNC was in power and skyrocketed upon the return of the PNM.
Here's an idea, maybe it had something to do with Manning meeting up with the crime lords and hailing them as community leaders. Maybe it had something to do with Manning's criminal infested election campaign. As I recall one Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of the 1990 coup on T&T, said that Manning and the PNM took his help to win the 2002 general elections. I recall Bakr even saying Manning owes him. You all know who you have to blame when someone you know is brutally murdered.

Manning: No regrets over Tecia statements

There would be no apology by Prime Minister Patrick Manning on statements he recently made on the murder of ten-year-old Tecia Henry.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to the San Fernando Girls' Government School at Rushworth Street, San Fernando, yesterday, Manning said he had no regrets.

"I was just responding to commentators' impressions on the incident; whoever said anything else was just trying to be mischievous. And like anyone else, I condemn the death of any ten-year-old child.

"But I have no regrets for anything I do," he said.

Little Tecia, a pupil of St Rose's RC School in Port of Spain, was found strangled under a house at Block Eight, in Laventille, four days after she was reported missing.

At a PNM convention on June 21 at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre, Manning, in his address, referred to the murder of Tecia and told the audience that he wished he could reveal the facts relating to the murder of the child but could not.

He said they too knew the facts surrounding the case and urged them not to take it at face value.

His comments drew wide criticism from members of the public, and residents of John John-where the little girl lived-demanded an apology.

Source: Trinidad Express

Why should Manning apologise if it is the truth? Collateral damage is collateral damage and if there is more to the murder of 10 year old Tecia Henry than meets the eye doh vex!
Maybe Mr. Big had a hand in it...and up to now Manning can't say who Mr. Big is.

Chamber condemns record murders

Friday, June 26th 2009

THE Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce has condemned the murder of Camille Daniel, who was shot dead by carjackers on the compound of the West End Police Station on Wednesday.

Chamber president Angella Persad stated in a media release yesterday that the "barbaric" murder, which occurred in the front yard of the station, coupled with last week's murder of Tecia Henry "has brought our country to an all-time low".

"The murder figure is at an all-time high at 271 in six months, and it is a frightening indication to the public at large that the relevant authorities do not have a handle on the situation, and for the most part, do not inspire any confidence in our helpless population. It is simply not good enough for the Minister of National Security to express outrage at the situation and assure us that things will get better," the release added.

The chamber, once again, appealed to the prime minister to "take direct control and coordinate the approach among all the law enforcement agencies to restore law and order to our country."

I leave you with one question after reading this....Was this Chamber in support of the nationwide shut down that was organised by Inshan Ishmael in protest of the escalating crime rate and the inaction of the Government?

Guard robbed, killed at home

Gyasi Gonzales ggonzales@trinidadexpress.com Source: Trinidad Express Tuesday, June 23rd 2009

CHOPPED TO DEATH: Jameel Ali BANDITS took a DVD player, cellular telephone and a wallet from an off-duty security officer, before almost splitting his head open with a hatchet during what police believe was a robbery at his D'abadie home early yesterday morning. What d hell! During the ordeal, Jameel Ali's wife of the last four years was forced to watch but ordered not to scream, under threat that she would face the same fate. Ali, 45, who lived in a small but ramshackle apartment below his mother's house at Recreation Road, was employed at Pentagon Security. The couple had no children. The horror began shortly before 3 a.m. Ali and his wife were asleep when the three men, two armed with cricket bats and one with a hatchet, forced open a door leading to Ali's one-room apartment. Police sources said Ali was beaten about the body by the men with the bats. As he crouched in a corner, the man with the hatchet attacked him, striking a blow almost to the back of his head. Ali's mother, Rosey Birjoo, yesterday recalled that a few days before the attack, her son spoke of strange men walking on Recreation Road, which has a dead end. Beyond the dead end road is a large tract of unoccupied land. Birjoo said she heard the commotion sometime before 3 a.m. and called the police, but by the time she made the call the killers were already making their escape. Ali's wife however was left physically unharmed. Crying while she spoke to reporters yesterday, she complained that the police "took long" to arrive at the scene. They searched the area for the killers when they got there but to no avail. Emergency Medical Services personnel arrived afterwards. Two of the attendants walked downstairs to the bloodstained apartment, and walked back up grim faced, saying Ali was already dead and there was nothing they could do. Officers from Crime Scene Unit and Homicide Bureau, led by ASP Stanley Ramdeen, visited the scene afterwards. "I eh know what this country coming too nah. He was a good son," Birjoo said, adding that the only thing she wanted was to see was the faces of her son's killers. Homicide Bureau officers are continuing investigations. The murder toll stood at 266 yesterday evening. Yes Trinidad, we finally reach! This is what Vision 20/20 is all about folks. Ministers living large and citizens getting hacked to death. This is what it is all about, this is what you vote for when you vote for the PNM...violent murders, rape, kidnapping, human trafficking, larceny and the list goes on. Notice PM Manning has nothing to say about crime, his major concern is hosting summits, having meetings in his diplomatic centre and spending millions of taxpayer's dollars to do this. This is how the PNM cares for you.

Grieving mother: ‘Somebody kill my child’

Geisha Kowlessar

Published: 20 Jun 2009

Yvonette Joseph, with daughter Shanaya, ten,
and son Aaron, 19, at their home in Cunupia,
yesterday. INSET: AMY JOSEPH..shot dead.

Geisha Kowlessar

Distraught mother, Yvonette Joseph, remains adamant that her daughter Amy, was lured out of a relative’s house by a man whom Amy knew, shot in the head and dumped in a forested area in central Trinidad. Up to late yesterday afternoon a man, said to be son of a senior police officer, was assisting investigators.

I like how they use the term "assisting investigators" when they have a suspect in custody.

It has been reported that the firearm used in the killing was licenced (somebody introduce spell check to the editor please). In an interview at her home in Cunupia, Joseph vehemently denies a newspaper report (not The Guardian) that her 17-year-old daughter got into a heated argument with a man, took the man’s firearm and shot herself in the head in a fit of rage. The teenager had been staying with an aunt at Point Pleasant Park, Enterprise, over a three-week period.

So the firearm used in the killing was licensed eh? This one shouldn't be too hard to solve. Did they say the son of a senior police officer was helping in the investigation? Quite shocking!

Her body, which bore a single gunshot wound to the head and clad in pyjamas, was found in a forested area near Todd’s Road, Caparo, on Thursday afternoon. “It is nothing at all like a suicide. Somebody kill my child,” Joseph said. “My daughter was never a child like that. She was always happy and was setting up her own business. She already had most of her things for her salon.” She said her daughter who had a boyfriend, began talking to a male friend of the family about a month ago.

According to the teenager’s mother, the relationship was not romantic. “It was just casual. That man was not my daughter’s boyfriend, it was nothing like that,” Joseph insisted. She said her daughter was last seen alive by relatives on Wednesday night. Also dispelling reports that her daughter sneaked out of the house to meet someone, Joseph said, “My daughter was in her pyjamas. She would not go off with the person.

“She was probably dragged in the car and then killed.” Joseph said just before her daughter went missing she received a phone call. That call, police believe, lured Amy to her death. The call has since been traced to a man who was said to be known to the teen, investigators said. The teenager’s death has left her mother crying out for justice. “I want justice. Somebody must be responsible for my child death. “My child did not deserve to die like that,” Joseph said. An autopsy is expected to be performed on the teenager on Monday.

Source: Trinidad Guardian

Ok lets review,:

1. The girl was shot with a licensed firearm

2. The last call she received, which police believe caused her death, was traced.

I expect to hear this one being solved pretty soon.

Condolences to the family.

Shame on Martin Joseph and shame on Patrick Manning! They have the resources and look at the situation the country is in.

Tecia Henry found dead

I heard it on the radio today and saw it later on the 7 o' clock news.
Really sad state of affairs.

Now the news report mentioned that the mother of the deceased child is on some pending drug related charges. It's strange how the dead body of the child was found not far from where she lived.

Is this some sort of message that is being sent?

When asked if there will be reprisal killings, the father of the deceased child stated on camera that others will cry just like he and his family are doing now. So basically he said in a technical way that there will be reprisal killings and yet this man is allowed to walk freely.

I was reading some responses to this topic on a Trini Forum and it seems that some people believe that the PNM is to be blamed for this child's death. Others on this forum firmly disagree with this view and are of the belief that no politician can be blamed for the murders and that it is the citizenry that should be blamed. They believe that corporal punishment and other such measures is what will straighten out our society. What baffles me is that some of them firmly believe that the ruling PNM is not to be blamed at all.

Last I checked, the ruling PNM has been in charge of this country and its resources for the past seven years or so. Shouldn't they be held accountable for the sad state of affairs we are in today?

Laventilleans join in search for 10-year-old girl

Heavily-armed soldiers and police, dressed in tactical uniforms, gather at the bottom of John John Road in Laventille, yesterday, as angry residents called for greater efficiency in the search of missing 10-year-old Tecia Henry. Photo: KEITH MATTHEWS

Geisha Kowlessar

Published: 15 Jun 2009

The desperate search for a missing ten-year-old girl turned to near violence in the Laventille community yesterday, when scores of irate residents clashed with heavily-armed police and soldiers. In their bid to locate Tecia Henry, a pupil of St Rose’s Girls’ Primary School, angry residents blocked the major roads with burning debris, demanding swift and more efficient action by law enforcement officials. Tecia went missing after leaving her mother’s home on Essex Street, John John, around 7.30 am on Saturday. The child was sent to K and G Mini-mart, at the lower end of John John, to purchase a phone card and other items. She never made it to the shop.

How exactly does clashing with police and soldiers and blocking roadways with burning debris increase the efficiency of law enforcement officials? Can someone explain this to me?

Sitting in front of the parlour, which was closed yesterday, the child’s mother Diane was visibly distraught. She tried to comfort her 12-year-old twin daughters, Tia and Tamara, who sat at their mother’s feet shedding tears for their missing sister. According to Diane, the walk from her home to the mini-mart is a mere three minutes. “When I saw a certain time I sent one of her sisters to check on her. The owner of the shop said he glimpsed her going up Crook Street,” Diane said.

Believing the mini-mart might have been closed, Diana said she thought her daughter might have gone to another shop on St Paul Street, not too far from where the child’s grandmother lived. “I called the aunt, but they said she not around. I call everybody and they say she not around.” Diane said her daughter never ran away from home. “It was school and home; nothing else.” Tecia Henry was last seen wearing a pink and grey jacket, a denim skirt, a shower cap and slippers.

Rapist on the prowl

Her disappearance has stirred fears that a rapist may be on the prowl in the Laventille district. One resident said last week a girl making her way home from St Phillip’s Primary School was snatched by a man who appeared to be in his 40s. The man dragged the screaming child at the back of the school and attempted to molest her. The child’s screams, however, alerted a teacher and other residents, causing the man to release the child.

Another resident on his way to work the morning Henry disappeared, said he, too, spotted a gunman lurking behind a house. According to the resident, as Henry was making her way to the shop she stopped to fix her slipper. The resident was adamant, however, that no “stranger” could have been responsible for Henry’s disappearance.
“Nobody would come in Laventille so, especially at Crook Street. Is somebody from right in here responsible.”

Well at least some residents are smart enough to realise that the criminals are from within their village so again I ask the question, how does blocking roadways help in finding the child? Are they protecting the alleged kidnapper?

Joint effort

Henry’s disappearance has united the Laventille community, as warring factions have joined in the search. Gangs from Beverly Hills, Picton, Canada and Africa combed the hills up to late yesterday looking for the child. Describing the police response as “sickening,” residents said they had no choice but to take matters in their own hands. “Is a poor, black child from a poor community. That is why the police doing nothing.

HUH? So are these "Lavantilleans" inferring that the police "doing nothing" only because it is a "poor, black child"? Don't they realise that is the normal response of any Government agency, whether police or clerical worker, when the PNM is in power? Then again, these "Lavantilleans" not to smart anyway, because they always vote PNM, even if it means more gang violence and even starvation.

She was part of group of other parents who gathered at the bottom of John John Road expressing their disgust by what they claimed was poor police response. “When we went to Besson Street Station to make the report, a Const Francis was abusing us, cursing us and trying to put us out the station and say he not taking the report,” the resident claimed.

Did Naail Ali get any better treatment when he went to a Police Station, wounded and bleeding, after escaping his kidnappers?

Source: Trinidad Guardian

The Trini Outlaw V2/ Short recap incl.

Well it seems that we have to get this site back up and running again.

First of all let me say that with the recession, I have to spend a lot more time working to pay my bills. One job just isn't enough any more, unless you don't want to live comfortably.

For 2009, we have recorded over 100 murders before the end of February.
It seems that the "children in the container on the port in Port-of-Spain" hoax was just to get attention away from the massive corruption that took place with Calder Hart and UDECOTT.
T&T has fallen into a deficit for the present fiscal year as the budget was based on an oil price that is far greater than what it is currently trading for in the world market.
The PNM has won another general election much to the dismay of the majority of the people that came out to vote. The PNM won the election with a minority vote. Such is the great, archaic British Electoral System that our Banana Republic still uses.
Hundreds (maybe thousands by now) of workers are being retrenched/laid off/put on the bread line but the PNM claims that we have full employment in Trinidad and Tobago.

What can we do?
Not a damn thing...except mobilise and protest, as is our right under a democracy.
Let the voice of the people be heard!

RADAR DOWN AGAIN

Richard Charan South Bureau

Source: Trinidad Express

Wednesday, January 30th 2008

-Photo: TREVOR HACKETT

The radar installation on the San Fernando Hill that forms part of the State's $100 million 360-degree coastal surveillance system went dead again four days ago and has become a roost for corbeaux.

All day yesterday, the birds, which feed on carrion, flew around or nestled on the facility. But the Ministry of National Security has refused to comment on what some believe to be a malfunction of the system that Government considers critical in the fight against drug and gun smugglers.

Another waste of money by the PNM. What's new?
Look like the corbeaux making better use of this glorified bird nest.

Human Rats Strike Again!

'Human rats' blamed again

Cocaine missing from station

Richard Charan South Bureau

Source: Trinidad Express

Saturday, January 26th 2008



SPANKING NEW: Senior Supt of the Central Division Rattan Singh, right, and Police Commissioner Trevor Paul tour the Brasso/ Flanagin Police Post yesterday after it was opened. -Photo: DAVE PERSAD

Police suspect that 33 kilogrammes of cocaine stored in the property room of the Princes Town Police Station, might have been taken by the same "human rats" who stole a similar amount of the drug from the station three years ago.

An inventory has been requested of all evidence in the property room, a place where items lost, seized or stolen are kept pending use in a trial, return to owners, or destruction by the State.

The investigation has been requested by Superintendent Chadrabhan Maharaj, who is based at the station, and who, it was learned, received information that the cocaine had been taken and sold.

The Express was told that hesitation by junior officers to conduct the inventory has led to a complaint being recorded in the police station's log book.

Maharaj could not be contacted yesterday.

His telephone number at the station is out of service.

Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul declined to take questions at yesterday's official opening of the Brasso Police Post in Central Trinidad.

Maharaj is the police officer who two months ago turned down a promotion to the rank of Acting Senior Superintendent Southern Division, because he said there were too many corrupted police officers involved in the guns and drug trade.

Report of narcotics being stolen from the Princes Town Station first surfaced during the 2005 trial of a couple charged with trafficking in more than 73 kilogrammes of cocaine.

During the trial, a police sergeant said the year before he went to check on the cocaine in the property room and found that half was gone.

The couple were freed, and presiding judge Herbert Volney blasted the police, saying that "human rats" had eaten the cocaine. A investigation into the disappearance by Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenroy Woodley, is still to be completed.

The new investigation involves cocaine that was found by a farmer buried in a canefield in Tableland in August 2000, and taken to the Princes Town Station to be kept while the drug dealers were hunted.

No one was ever held.

The cocaine was part of a multi-million dollar shipment apparently lost at sea and which began floating ashore on Trinidad's south and east coasts. There was a race back then between police and thieves trying to get to the cocaine first.

Imagine the police stations not even safe. The police can't even guard evidence in a police station, where the police are for most of the time, so how they expect to protect the citizens who are not even in same building as them? How does the TTPS expect the citizenry to have any faith in them? And to think that this has happened before in the same station, one would have thought that measures would be put in place to prevent a re-occurrence, but then this is the Trinidad & Tobago Police Service we speak of, in other words, a bunch of bungling idiots who can be categorised as having only 3 CXC passes. Lord put ah hand!

GANGING UP

340 per cent increase: 1,700 members in 86 gangs in T&T
Ria Taitt Political Editor
Source: Trinidad Express
Saturday, January 26th 2008


Criminal gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are multiplying and fast, both in terms of the numbers of gangs and the numbers of persons joining gangs. The activity is leaving one with inescapable conclusion that the society is now under greater threat.

Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, National Security Minister Martin Joseph stated that there were now 86 gangs, comprising up to 1,720 members across the country.

He said the average size of each gang varied between 15 to 20 members, which meant that the total membership was between 1,300 to 1,720 persons.

The situation has deteriorated considerably over the past 18 months. The last time Joseph gave a head count, he told the House of Representatives on June 6, 2005, that there were some "500 hardcore members" in the "66 known gangs".

Yesterday's figures therefore represent an over 340 per cent increase in the membership of gangs and a 30 per cent increase in the numbers of gangs.

Joseph said the reason for the proliferation was because "splinter groups were being formed within gangs as a result of some displacement activity".

Asked by Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj whether any of these criminal gangs were brought to justice in the courts, Joseph said his understanding was that a number of them were, but he did not have the specific information.

The minister has repeatedly stated that the record murder toll for last year was the result of gang-related activity, since most of the homicides in Trinidad and Tobago are gang-linked. He also stated that most of the gang-related activity is directly linked to the problem of the illegal drug trade and the prevalence of firearms. (Maybe if the multi-million dollar radar, that the PNM bought with tax payer's money was working, we wouldn't have this problem.)

Yesterday, Joseph said among the initiatives taken since 2006 to arrest gang members were the establishment of the Homicide Prevention Working Group and the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF), which created a presence in Carenage, Diego Martin, Beetham Gardens and Cocorite. This was in addition to the established centres of operation in Quarry Street, Charford Court, Harpe Place and Beverly Hills, he said. (See Page 6) (We need a police presence in the areas of the country where crime against the hard working citizens is prevalent, not where criminals are shooting criminals, who gives a f**k!)

He said because efforts to disrupt the activities of gangs also had to include initiatives to disrupt the drug trade, Government had also restructured the Homicide Bureau of Investigation, established the Repeat Offenders Programme, purchased vehicles, established police posts in the Morvant/Laventille area to deal with rising gang activity; the establishment of the Crime and Problem Analysis Branch; E-999 patrols, roadblocks and other police and joint army and police patrols.

In response to another question, Joseph revealed that the Firearms Interdiction Unit had seized a total of 111 firearms and 2,813 rounds of ammunition between 2003 and 2005, when it was disbanded. The areas from which the arms and ammunition were retrieved included Chatham, Port of Spain, Arima, Tableland, Claxton Bay, San Fernando, Chaguanas, Princes Town, Laventille, Cunupia, Longdenville, Cedros, Sea Lots, Valencia, Morvant, Curepe, Valsayn North, Trincity, Rousillac, Toco, Maracas Bay and Tobago.

He said the FIU was disbanded in July 2005, and since then the Police Service has seized 110 firearms in the last six months of 2005, 266 in 2006 and 220 in 2007.

Fartin Joseph has all this information and yet he can't make any progress in the fight against gang violence. That just goes to show you how completely inept the PNM is. Now as you all may kn0w, I don't have a problem with gang violence. So what if gang members kill one another, it's not like they were productive members of society anyway. In fact these gang member who are still alive are destructive members of society in my book. I say cordon off the area and let them kill one another.

Pregnant mom hit by school boys, foetus in danger

Nikita Braxton South Bureau

Source: Trinidad Express

Wednesday, January 23rd 2008

A 22-year-old woman was last night in fear of losing her unborn child after being attacked by several schoolboys.

Carlene O'Brien said her four-month-old foetus was bruised by the blow. She was transferred to the Mt Hope Medical Sciences Complex in need of three pints of blood. In the attack she was hit on her waist with a stone.

Another woman was also attacked and a car's windows were smashed.

O'Brien of Piarco was taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility after she began bleeding following the incident.

She was with Irma Rodriguez, 42, who went to pick up her daughter from the Chaguanas Senior Comprehensive School.

Rodriguez's daughter was being bullied by a male classmate. On Monday she went to meet her daughter at the school to clear up the situation with the principal. She said her daughter, a Form Five pupil, made several reports to her form teacher who said she would forward the matter to the Dean of the school. Rodriguez said this was not done.

While waiting for a policeman outside the school to accompany her to see the principal, she said, her daughter pointed out the boy who also plays basketball at the school, to her. When he saw them he came up. Rodriguez said she told the boy that they would be handling the situation with school officials and the police.

She said the boy replied "leh we handle this scene now" and allegedly slapped Rodriguez.

She said her nephew who was in the back seat of the car came out and he was covered by about a dozen pupils who began kicking and cuffing him.

"I even took off my shoe and tried to hit them off my nephew, but one of the boys took it and pelt it," she said.

She said she got back into the car and tried getting away which was when a bottle was pelted.

She told her nephew and daughter to hide in the backseat and O'Brien to turn her back so that they would not get hit in the face when the children began pelting stones. One of the stones shattered the back glass in the car and another hit O'Brien in the waist.

Chaguanas CID did not comment on the complaints. The car Rodriquez was driving was parked on the station's compound.

School officials could not be reached.

It seems we are now raising animals instead of children in these schools we have here. Well Hazel did a terrible job in the past 5 years as Minister of Education and I think she should be held responsible for the madness that is now taking place in schools. No respect at all for elders, none whatsoever. I think The Grim Reaper said it best here in the following quote:

A snapshot in time
Well here we have it folks: The future of Trinidad and Tobago playing out right before your very eyes. These people have no respect for themselves, their fellow citizens or for defenceless, unborn lives. The entire country is adrift and leaderless. It is dog eat dog out there, survival of the fittest. The rule of law is meaningless and toothless. The unending nightmare of crime, bloodletting and violence continues to rape and pillage the land. No one is immune. No one is safe. Hide and cower down behind your burglar bars, prisoners in your own homes. This is your future because you failed to act to save yourselves when there was still time to do so. Reap your whirlwind now, people of Trinidad and Tobago. The Grim Reaper.

Bandits attack media at Chutney finals

By CECILY ASSON Monday, January 21 2008
Source: T&T Newsday

NEWSPAPER photographers who covered the Chutney Soca Monarch Finals at Skinner Park, San Fernando, were attacked by a group of bandits outside the venue early yesterday morning.

Newsday photographer Anil Rampersad suffered an injury to his back, while Express photographer Dave Persad was allegedly slapped in the face and hit with a bottle on the head. Photographers Trevor Hackett (Express) and Rishi Ragoonath (Guardian) escaped unhurt.

Five suspects have been detained in connection with the incident which took place as the photographers were headed back to their respective vehicles parked on the “B” ground, Skinner Park, the designated parking area for the media workers on the night.

Rampersad said they were denied parking inside the venue and were shuttled into Skinner Park. However, after the event a shuttle service was unavailable.

The photographers were attacked at about 3.45 am as they were walking along the Rienzi/Kirton Highway, Cross Crossing, near Skinner Park. A gang of about eight men rained bottles on them when they reacted to their alleged attempts to rob them. Rampersad was struck in the back with a bottle as he tried to run for cover.

Plain clothes police officers on their way out of Skinner Park were alerted to the incident.

Five suspects were held and taken to San Fernando CID where up to late yesterday evening they were still detained.

The injured photographers were forced to seek medical attention at the Princes Town District Health Facility after waiting several hours at the San Fernando General Hospital without being attended to. Rampersad yesterday blamed organisers of the annual chutney event for the unfortunate incident. He explained: “If only the media were shown some more respect with parking arrangements this would not have happened.”

Investigations are continuing.

Pictures, pictures of our Health Ministry *cough* .... well look at that picture. Let's hear the names of these members of the media now who were attacked. Anil Rampersad and Dave Persad (Trevor Hackett and Rishi Ragoonath were not assaulted). Where they were attacked? At the Chutney Soca Monarch Finals at Skinner Park. Who attacked them? See above picture. Now it looks to me like those fellows doing the attacking are a bunch of fellows of African Descent and the 2 media men who were attacked, from the names given, seem to be of East Indian Descent. First thing people might bawl is that Trini Views is another racist, but the fact still remains that this attack here can be classified as a racial attack by Afro-Trinis on Indo-Trinis. What could these reporters have possibly done to these men to warrant such a violent attack? They say it was attempted robbery, but what would you expect to get from some cameramen covering an event? Film? Cameras? Come on, call a spade a spade.

PM, Joseph try to defend radar

Anna Ramdass aramdass@trinidadexpress.com

Source: Trinidad Express

Monday, January 21st 2008

Prime Minister Patrick Manning and National Security Minister Martin Joseph were forced to defend the high tech radar system at the weekend saying that it was up and running.

The PNM held its first general council meeting for the year at Balisier House, Port of Spain following which party chairman John Donaldson briefed the media on what was discussed at the meeting.

He did not mention crime, but asked if the pressing situation was discussed, Donaldson said: "The issue of crime was very indirectly touched upon on when someone raised concern about a report of the radar system".

He said both Manning and Joseph put fears to rest saying that the radar was functioning and in fact Manning pointed out that the radar was responsible for one of the largest drug interdictions.

On January 11, the Express in an exclusive report revealed that the radar system atop the San Fernando Hill had not been functioning for three months.

It was also reported that technicians trained by Israelis repaired the radar earlier this month.

The radar is part of the Advanced Coastal Surveillance Radar (ACSR) system bought from Israel's Aircraft Industries Limited, at a cost of more than $130 million.

Manning and Joseph have often spoken about the 360-degree radar coverage being crucial in stopping the flood of illegal guns and drugs fuelling many of the violent crimes in the country.

The radar had helped Coast Guard and Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau officers make several drug busts in the Gulf since it began operating in 2006.The radar is also capable of detecting and tracking boats as small as fishing pirogues, as well as being able to follow the target, provide real-time updates on its location, direction and speed.

All this talk about 360 degree coverage and how great this radar is that it could detect how much prostitutes it have in a dinghy in the water coming from Venezuela and yet so much drugs and guns still entering Trinidad? Like allyuh take the people of T&T for a bunch of retards or something? Another thing, why d hell it take 3 months to fix this blasted radar? Like they discontinued that model in Israel due to the fact that it couldn't detect anything smaller than the Titanic?

Speaker blanks Ramesh on PM issue

I know I've said this before but you know when it's nice they say do it twice so I really want to know.
Why does Manning need so much security if crime is under control? Somebody tell mih why? WHY?
Why is it OK for Manning to use state funds to hire private security to protect himself but it's not OK for the UNC-A to use their own money to hire security to protect citizens who are at risk?
Another thing, does Manning not trust his own police force? Why does he have to hire private security when there are all these special branches of the police force? Apparently the TTPS is not good enough to safeguard Patrick Manning's life but they are just fine for protecting 1.3 million at risk citizens. See article below.

Source: Trinidad Guardian 190108

Lack of confidence

• Maharaj says by hiring additional private security, the Prime Minister has demonstrated a lack of confidence in the Police Service.

By Shaliza Hassanali

Speaker Barendra Sinanan yesterday turned down Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s request to discuss the increase in Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s security detail while citizens remained unprotected. (Well that's what the PNM is paying him for. He is just another puppet in the PNM muppet show.)

Maharaj said while the PNM Government—“within the last 24 hours”—gave Manning additional security, which included contracted private security guards, citizens were losing their lives as they remained without police protection. (When will everybody realise that Patrick Manning doesn't care?)

Sinanan told the House of Representatives that he could not allow the Opposition Chief Whip’s motion because it did not qualify under the Standing Orders. (A matter of public importance such as this and you mean this man won't allow it. He always brings up some Standing Order at his convenience to knock down any motion by the opposition dealing with the very important issue of crime just so the PNM will not look bad.)

Maharaj raised the matter, stating that while the PM had received private security guards, in addition to regular police and defence personnel of the State to protect his life at his residence, office and public places, people throughout the nation were without police protection.

“The Government does not provide police presence in communities to prevent the people from being murdered and from having serious crimes committed against them daily,” Maharaj said. (Keep voting the PNM back in and see how much people will live to see the year 2020.)

He said the Constitution required that the Government provide the people with such security and treat them equally. (The only part of the constitution that the PNM cares about is that part about changing it to make Manning an executive president/ultimate dictator and making T&T into a dictatorship.)

“The Prime Minister has demonstrated a lack of confidence in the Police Service to adequately protect his life,” Maharaj said.

Sinanan said it was not a question of whether he would allow the motion.

“It’s whether he (Manning) would answer it. This motion does not qualify under the Standing Orders.”

Barry probably have his own private security too, so he really doesn't mind if Patrick decide to hire some private security for himself.

Manning gets private guards

So let me get this straight. Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj of the UNC-A hires private security for residents of Macaulay who have been hit by an upsurge of crime in recent times and statements coming out of the PNM call it vigilantism. If that is vigilantism then why the hell did Patrick Manning, the "great" leader of the PNM, hire private security for himself? Is he promoting vigilantism in this country? Or is it OK for him to have private security but not OK for poor people to have security?

From his action in hiring private security, Manning has showed us two things.

1. He has no faith in the protective services of Trinidad and Tobago, who are in charge of protecting the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
2. He only cares about the safety of himself and his family and no one else.

When last was the Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, held up at gun-point? When last was their an attempted kidnapping on any one of his immediate family?
Another thing, why is it not called vigilantism when the rich people from places like West Moorings, Valsayn, Goodwood Park and Lange Park hire private security? Is it because they are rich that it's not vigilantism? So I guess this means that poor people shouldn't be given protection then, according to what's being spewed by the PNM.
I say it's high time we get rid of this nasty regime going by the name of the PNM. They don't care about poor people and they only business with filling their pockets.
When you read the article below you will also notice that sources could not even state whether there was a tendering process or not. More corruption again!

Source: T&T Newsday

By NALINEE SEELAL Thursday, January 17 2008

SEVENTY-FIVE specially trained, armed guards who were previously assigned to the Office of the Attorney General, Legal Affairs and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), have been posted to provide security at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Diplomatic Centre, Whitehall and as personal security detail for Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

The security company which employs the guards is Executive Security Services Limited and the cost is borne by the Office of the Prime Minsiter.

The lowest ranking officer in this security company takes home a monthly salary of between $10,000 and $12,000, while the highest rank receives a salary of $25,000 monthly. (They shoulda hire me. Or wait, I forgot, I don't have a PNM party card and my hair is too straight.)

These highly paid officers, some of whom are retired policemen and former MTS guards, have virtually replaced Police Special Branch which previously carried out these duties. (Kickbacks to somebody friend or family who decided to open a security firm.)

The officers are under the direct control of former Special Branch Head, retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Mervyn Guiseppi, who previously headed a special security unit set up in 2002 to provide special security for the offices of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the DPP.

These guards are trained in policing, anti-terrorist activities and VIP security.

Sources told Newsday that shortly before Prime Minister Manning moved into the official residence at St Ann’s last December, the officers of the Executive Security Services Limited were told they were being reassigned, some to the Office of the Prime Minister, others to the official residence of the Prime Minister, another batch to the Diplomatic Centre and others to the personal security detail of the Prime Minister. By the time the Prime Minister moved into the official residence in late December, the officers were already on duty.

Newsday learned that a security firm from San Fernando East called Innovative Security Technologies Limited is now responsible for security at the office of the Attorney General, Legal Affairs and the Office of the DPP. (More kickbacks.)

Police sources said yesterday that the role of Special Branch in terms of providing security for the Prime Minister has been decreased and will decrease even further.

Disclosure of special private security around the Prime Minister, comes at a time when there has been criticism of the formation of crime watch community groups assisted by private armed guards. (Just what I was saying.)

Yesterday, Opposition Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj who has started using armed guards to patrol and fight crime in his Tabaquite constituency said: “The Prime Minister is concerned only about the personal security of himself and his family and is not concerned about the security of the people of Trinidad and Tobago to have police presence in their communities.

He said that the Government should let the people know about these new security measures. “The fact is that all previous Prime Ministers had the services of the police, army and Special Branch and all of these agencies and manpower were resourced by the State and the taxpayers and the people for greater accountability.”

Sources yesterday could not state whether a tendering process took place before Executive Security secured this contract and what is the value of this contract. (Like I was saying above, they can't even say if there was a tendering process or not. More PNM styled corruption!)

Ramesh merely trying to protect his people

Source: Trinidad Express
Tuesday, January 15th 2008

I have never been a fan or supporter of Ramesh Maharaj. However I must express my support for his initiatives to try to provide a level of security for his constituents.

There is no doubt that the State has failed to protect the law-abiding citizens of this land and the Government and its supporters do not even take responsibility for its failure. Ramesh Maharaj has taken the only logical step in organising a community to look out for itself. Someone needs to advise Mr Imbert that self defence is not vigilantism.

Naushad Khan

Valsayn

Sometimes I wonder why PNMites couldn't have sense too?