Government must say if it sought views on the Bail Amendment Bill from those opposed to the bill in 2015 including the Law Association whose vice president Gerry Brooks is now in Government, says former PP attorney general Garvin Nicholas 

Government and Opposition meet tomorrow on the bill which lapses in August. Government wants to extend it for another two years due to cases in the courts. The Attorney General said he’d written the Opposition since June 2 seeking a meeting on the bill which requires Opposition support for passage. Debate was shelved two weeks ago when the Opposition then sought a meeting on it.

Nicholas, in an interview, said, “In analysis for the way forward, research has to be done into the effect of the law and it’s also important to ascertain the views of those vehemently opposed to the bill before (in PP’s tenure) such as Mr Brooks who was part of the LATT executive which opposed it and who signed a release to that effect in 2015.”

“He’s now in Government as a State board chairman of NGC and a number of other boards - has his view changed as a result, will he and LATT support extension of something which he’d opposed when he was out of Government? 

LATT president Reginald Armour and Brooks didn’t immediately reply to calls on LATT’s position on the bill.

Nicholas added,“The timing of such legislation comes at a period when government finds crime and murder rates unacceptable. 

“The escalation indicates more elements at play so it’s important to curb causes as well as gun violence and ownership, and strengthen laws on illegal firearms.”

Tomorrow’s talks will be between a five-member Government team led by the Attorney General and an Opposition team lead by the Whip, UNC officials indicated.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has called on the nation to pray for former prime minister Patrick Manning who was hospitalised after falling ill.

He made the call at the official opening yesterday of the Ministry of Education Tower, one of the buildings Manning had envisioned as part of a new city landscape, on lower St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain.

“I want to recognise former prime minister Patrick Manning who at this moment is not doing as well as he would like to and let us send him our best wishes for having the vision and fortitude.

“I would like you, in your thoughts and prayers, to keep him in mind,” Rowley said.

The tower was opened a decade after the Government campus was constructed under the Patrick Manning-regime.

Approximately 800 employees are expected to move into the building today. (See Page A5)

Three years after he suffered a stroke and a subsequent seizure, Manning was warded again at the San Fernando General Hospital on Monday night after falling weak from a low blood count.

He arrived at the Accident and Emergency Department at around 7 pm and was kept overnight in a private room at the new wing of the hospital and was not allowed any visitors except immediate family. 

Chief Executive Officer of the South West Regional Health Authority, Anil Gosine, confirmed that Manning was hospitalised but could offer no details about his condition.

A post on his Facebook page by his wife, former education minister Hazel Manning, stated that he was admitted to hospital for investigation concerning “an aberration in his blood count.” 

She also wrote: “He is resting comfortably and is in good spirits. We continue to pray for him.” 

The post was shared 86 times and was viewed by 600-plus people who offered prayers to Manning and his family at that time.

One of his relatives at his San Fernando home explained yesterday that Manning, 69, had started running a fever following the removal of a wisdom tooth last Friday.

“He is conscious and resting comfortably. He is in good spirits but we are very concerned. He is being watched constantly by the doctors and medical staff. We continue to pray for him,” the relative added.

A close friend of Manning said when he was taken to the hospital he had breathing difficulties. 

Another source added he underwent dental surgery recently and lost a good deal of blood. 

“We are not sure whether his condition is related to that surgery but we are taking no chances,” the source said.

Manning, who was T&T’s fourth prime minister and served three times and has been recognised as the longest serving MP in T&T’s history, lost his ability to speak fluently and walk briskly after suffering a stroke in January 2012.

In February of that year, former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar approved US$91,000 (TT$585,130) to pay for an air ambulance to transport him to the prestigious Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC, for additional medical treatment. 

In February 2013, Manning suffered a seizure and collapsed at his office. He has been doing physiotherapy since then and has regained his ability to walk and speak.

He retired from politics in February 2015 when the PNM, then led by Rowley, was screening general election nominees for his former San Fernando East seat. He had represented San Fernando East from 1971 to 2015 and was prime minister from 1991-95 and 2001-10.

Gonsalves in late visit 

St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves paid a late visit to Manning last evening and reported that he was in “good spirits.”

Speaking to media camped outside the hospital after his visit, Gonsalves, who was on a stop over in T&T, said he felt obligated to visit Manning since he was his brethren and they were “very tight” from way back.

Gonsalves said he and Manning had a long conversation about national and international events including the UK Brexit issue as well as on their respective health issues. He said he found Manning to be in good spirits and they also shared a few laughs, prompting medical staff to wonder what all the laughter was about. 

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, via a statement yesterday, said the Opposition’s prayers and thoughts were with Manning and his family.

“As a former prime minister and longstanding public servant, we have no doubt that the nation will join us in sending prayers and heartfelt wishes to the Manning family.”

Regional Health Authority (RHA) workers will be getting $500 million in arrears owed by the Government within a “day or two,” Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday.

He confirmed that in the Senate while replying to Opposition questions on what steps would be taken to address the issue of money owed to health workers.

A large number of workers demonstrated outside the Parliament last week, demanding back pay owed from completion of negotiations for a new collective agreement in 2015. 

The former PP government had promised to pay it but was defeated at the polls and the PNM Government had projected payment by month-end. However, workers had threatened a work-to-rule last week and further action this week if they were not paid.

But yesterday, Imbert said he had asked ministries’ accounting units to do calculations of how much was owed to workers in the various ministries and Health’s calculations were completed for all RHA workers entitled to get back pay. 

He said audits of the Health calculations were also done and documents were sent to Finance concerning the 50 per cent of arrears owed to health workers.

Imbert said Government expected to get proceeds of a $2 billion bond raised locally by today so workers could be paid immediately after, “which should be within a day or two.” He said the amount involved for health workers’ arrears was $500 million.

On Opposition questions regarding completion of the Point Fortin Highway after OAS Constructora is terminated from the project, Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said Nidco would ensure it was completed and was doing a determination of the remaining works to be completed. 

He said that would be divided into smaller projects, to be handled by open tender process, for local contractors and they would continue it. 

Hinds said the work would be done in two phases, one involving three contracts for 12 months and a second involving two longer-term contracts to come in 30 months.

He said a notice of termination to OAS was issued recently and once termination processes were completed, Nidco would go to tender.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has sent a stern warning to real estate owners that the State will no longer be forking out millions of taxpayers’ money to rent dilapidated buildings.

In fact, Rowley told owners the Government had reached the end of the line and urged businessmen to instead build proper buildings and affordable homes to encourage people to live in the city. 

“The people who may find that they have lost the opportunity to rent to State...if your building is substandard then tear it down because the government ain’t coming back there,” Rowley said.

He made the comments after the Ministry of Education Tower was opened yesterday at St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, one decade after the Government campus was constructed under the former Patrick Manning regime.

Approximately 800 ministry employees were expected to move out of the old St Clair facility and into the tower today.

The staff, Rowley said, was forced to scatter throughout Port-of-Spain, much in “substandard privately owned properties” of which significant rent was dished out. He said as the country progressed so too was the need for more public servants in more locations but public facilities were limited.

“In the city and elsewhere, Government rented from the private sector and generated a business in the private sector where people built largely with an eye on renting to the Government but eventually a decision had to be taken...,” Rowley said.

The PM also called on the business community to provide “reasonable housing” within Port-of-Spain as there was a population depletion in the city. A rethinking of real estate was urgently needed to address that problem, he said, as he the capital must be viewed as a “growing, living economic organism.

“One of the reasons why there is chronic traffic jamming into and out of the city is because there is not enough housing accommodation within the city that is affordable. This has led to people reaching to work late and leaving early to avoid traffic to reach home, resulting in a tremendous loss of productivity.

“But if the city is operating as a city should, having enough or almost enough housing within the city, many of those people who are in those traffic jams in the morning can be in their beds, waking up later, more rested and going off to work feeling most satisfied,” Rowley added.

Instead, he said the city was allowed to become rundown and in some instances there was deliberate action aimed at reducing the functions of the city.

“Because of general neglect or lack of care and other agendas the city has been losing population consistently,” the PM said, adding this was an indication Port-of-Spain was not being properly operated.

Manning lauded 

Rowley also lauded former prime minister Patrick Manning’s efforts to make the campus part of a wider scheme to improve the city.

Describing yesterday’s opening as symbolic, Rowley said “100 per cent public support” was not guaranteed for any venture embarked upon by any government.

He drew the example of public criticism levelled against the then government when the Twin Towers was being constructed many years ago, adding that there were some members of the public who had called for it to be abandoned amid claims that one of the towers was leaning.

Many years later, with construction of the Government Campus, Rowley said such buildings like the Twin Towers would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in rent.

The properties, with its unique tall feature, symbolised the maximum use of land space with several stories, Rowley added.

“The only way you can build on a property like this is up and that is why the buildings are tall....you know it was like, Manning like tall buildings,’ and some people would actually argue that tall buildings have a psychological effect on you,” Rowley said.

He said a new building for the ministry was long overdue as employees housed at the St Clair facility faced the risk of contracting leptospirosis because the building was overrun with rats.

But Rowley warned the management of the new facility to ensure it was properly maintained and that workers give their best to the public. The old building was expected to be torn down but Rowley said no decision has been made as to a replacement.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia, meanwhile, said yesterday’s occasion was one of celebration and joy.

“For sometime now we have been operating in substandard conditions at the head office. Staff worked from truncated hours, some from 8 to 12 and some from 9 to 1,” Garcia said.

More info:

The tower comprises two buildings, including a 16-storey office tower and five-storey secondary building. The combination of glass and steel allows an immense amount of natural light to flow into the tower. The cost of construction of the tower was approximately TT$320 million, VAT exclusive.

Fit-Out, outstanding base building construction works, repairs to mechanical, engineering, plumbing, elevators and escalators cost $175,512,405.91, VAT exclusive.

The total cost of the tower: TT$495,512,405.91, VAT exclusive. 

The United National Congress (UNC) will know the fate of its election petitions challenging the Elections and Boundaries Commission’s (EBC) decision to extend last year’s general elections by one hour one month before the one-year anniversary of the controversial poll. 

High Court judge, Mira Dean-Armorer, who is presiding over the Opposition’s party’s petitions for five marginal constituencies, yesterday promised its attorneys and those for the EBC and the People’s National Movement (PNM) that she would deliver her judgment in August, less than two months after the trial of the petitions is set to be completed. 

Presenting submissions on behalf of the UNC at the start of the trial in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday, British Queen’s Counsel Timothy Straker repeatedly said the EBC acted illegally and beyond its legislative remit when it decided to extend the September 7 poll by one hour in Trinidad only, due to heavy rainfall. 

Straker claimed that election legislation did not confer an explicit power on the EBC to extend the polls, only to suspend or postpone it to the following day in instances of riots and violence. He said any such change would have to be done by Parliament. 

Straker also claimed that by following the directive, its returning officers and other staff committed “corrupt offences” under the Representation of the People Act by allowing persons to vote outside of the 6 am to 6 pm traditional voting hours. 

“It may be that they had been duped to perform these corrupt practices but nevertheless they were corrupt practices,” Straker said as he described the EBC’s decision as “shocking, ill-judged and ill-conceived.”

He added that by admitting to allowing votes to be cast past 6 pm in their witness statements, the EBC staff technically admitted guilt for the offences. 

In addition to strict timelines for the polls, Straker noted that Parliament had also been “time-specific” about election-related offences and regulations, including the sale of alcohol on election day, conduct in and around polling stations and the time period alloted for voters to use poll booths. 

He claimed that the EBC’s decision would have had a negative impact on citizens who would have been confused as to the impact of extension on election day regulations.

Straker also complained of the method used by the EBC to communicate the extension, which was done via press release as opposed to advance publication in newspapers as required by the legislation. 

Straker said his clients would bring witnesses to show that voters in the contested constituencies were unable to take advantage of the extension as they only learned of it after it had expired and others who were preventing from casting their ballots during the extended hours by EBC officials who had not received communication of the decision. 

Dealing briefly with the impact of the decision on outcome of the election, Straker claimed there could be no dispute that breaches of the election rules “materially and substantially affected the poll.”

He added: “It is obviously the case that an election can be voided wotton considering how many voted or didn’t. It had been conducted corruptly whatever the circumstances of the numbers.” 

Straker will continue his submissions before Dean-Armorer this morning. 

ABOUT THE CASE

Following its 23 to 18 defeat in the election, the UNC initially filed petitions for six marginal constituencies—La Horquetta/Talparo, Toco/Sangre Grande, Tunapuna, St Joseph, San Fernando West and Moruga/Tableland. 

In March, however, the petition for La Horquetta/Talparo was struck out by Dean-Armorer due to an administrative error by the UNC in filing it. Besides the petitions, Dean-Armorer has also been assigned two cases in which three private citizens are challenging the EBC’s decision. 

Social activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj has filed a judicial review seeking the court’s clarification on whether the EBC had the constitutional power to make the decision and Irwin Lyne and Melissa Sylvan are claiming that the EBC breached the constitutional rights of Tobagonians by not allowing them an extension. 

Both cases have been deferred as they would be directly affected by the outcome of Dean-Armorer’s decision on the petitions. 

The UNC is also being represented by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, Kent Samlal and Douglas Bayley. 

The PNM is being represented by Douglas Mendes, SC, Kerwyn Garcia and Celeste Jules. Senior Counsel Russel Martineau and Deborah Peake and attorney Ravi Heffes-Doon are representing the EBC. 

The first things that newly-elected president of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association, Insp Micheal Seales, will address are houses for police officers, job evaluations and absorption of Special Reserved Police (SRP) officers.

Seales told the T&T Guardian that in a telephone interview hours after he and his slate— Police Empowerment Party (PEP)—won each seat they contested. 

Seales, who was charged with making a seditious statement mere days before Monday’s elections, said he now has a greater faith in God and will lead the association with that new found strength in the Lord.

“It has been mixed emotions, a roller coaster ride from low last week to high this week. It has also re-enforced my faith in the Lord. I want to show my gratitude to the membership. They stayed with me through a lot. It was a troubling time,” Seales said.

While Seales will be focusing on securing homes for his members and fellow officers, the top two losing slates are still questioning his validity to run the police association while as a suspended police officer with a criminal charge against him. 

In a telephone interview, runner-up for the post of president, Insp Richard Taylor, from the slate Vanguards, said Seales’ predicament could have a negative impact on the Police Service. 

“He is before the court for a criminal matter and is representing a law body. The public will view us in a particular way. It will not augur too well with us in terms of how the public will view us.

“We want to ask the public with regards to Seales on suspension and leading the organisation, we know the public will have a particular perception of us. We are hoping that they will not paint us with the same broad brush,” Richards said. 

Second runner-up for the top post, Cpl Darlington Francis, of Police For Police, after congratulating Seales on his victory also raised the issue that he was a suspended police officer leading a police association. 

Francis said: “I am very concerned that he may not be able to serve his third term because the Police Commissioner can only second an officer to the Police Association if he is an active member of the service. It was okay while he was an active member and then suspended. 

“The commissioner, as far as I am aware does not have any power to second a suspended member of the Police Service. There is a legal problem there. I don't know how to fix it but I don't see how Seales will serve as president. We have a governance crisis.” He added he would be seeking legal advice on the matter. 

In response to the claims, Seales said it was clear there was some misconception regarding the rules of the association and it was unfortunate that some did not know that.

He said the association was separate from the service and once you were a paying member of the association you could ascend to any position available.

Seales legitimacy to challenge for the top post was sanctioned after president of the election committee, Sgt Toolah Julien, sought legal advice from a labour attorney and was given the go ahead.

Julien told the T&T Guardian he first raised the issue with acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams who advised him to seek legal advice, which allowed Seales to contest the elections.

Julien added that the issue raised concerning Seales being a suspended police officer in charge of the police association was another matter that would need further legal advise. 

He admitted that it was one of the highest voter turnouts with team PEP winning every post it contested. (JLV)

The results

Team Pep

President: Insp Michael Seales: 785 votes.

Vice-president: Superintendent Richard Corbette: 716 votes.

General secretary: Insp Anand Ramesar: 787 votes.

Team Vanguards

President: Insp Richard Taylor: 616 votes.

Vice-president: Insp Shawn Sookram: 445 votes.

General secretary: Insp Wendell Lucas: 578.

Team Police for Police 

President: Cpl Darlington Francis: 194.

Vice-president: Cpl Ricardo Nicome: 173.

General secretary: Cpl Sheldon Narine: 188.

Team Reformers

President: Sgt Junior Marcel: 186.

Vice-president: Insp Roger Alexander: 301.

General secretary: Cpl Ramoutar: 207.

Opposition Senator Wade Mark says Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran’s sacking last December was one of the most evil things to happen in T&T.

Mark said Rambarran was fired to satisfy the interests of the “conglomerate cabal” in T&T.

He said so while completing debate on a private motion he brought in the Senate yesterday “to condemn the actions of the Government” in its dismissal of Rambarran on December 23, 2015. The motion was defeated. 

Mark said it was clear that Rambarran, who was appointed for a five-year term in July 2012, was removed prematurely because of the interests of the conglomerate cabal who were the benefits of the largest amount of foreign exchange.

He said those business groups were allowed millions of US dollars while the average citizen was only able to get hundreds.

According to Mark, Rambarran’s dismissal was part of a “systematic conspiracy,” adding that answers must be provided to citizens.

He said the Government was always opposed to Rambarran’s appointment as Central Bank Governor, with many questioning his qualification for the job.

Temporary Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen said the Government must also tell the nation who provided the legal advice it received before the governor’s dismissal and what was the cost of the exercise. 

Temporary Independent Senator, Pastor Clive Dottin, said Rambarran was unfairly treated and also spoke about the influence of big business on politicians.

He said the Attorney General and the Central Bank Governor were two office holders who should be insulated from political interference.

Later, Mark presented another private motion calling for the establishment of a Joint Select Committee to consider and report within three months on a legislative agenda for parliamentary autonomy in T&T.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is questioning whether any due process was followed by Finance Minister Colm Imbert to give approval to Petrotrin to sell its failed World Gas To Liquid (GTL) plant to NiQuan Energy Limited.

Speaking during the UNC’s Monday Night Forum in Rio Claro, Persad-Bissessar said NiQuan was set up only to acquire the plant and was not involved in any other business ventures. 

She is alleging that the deal was brokered by four officials linked to the PNM.

In March, an announcement was made that the GTL plant would be sold to NiQuan Energy for US$35m, with US$10m being paid in cash and the remaining US$25 million in preferential shares in NiQuan.

“So tonight I have some questions for the Finance Minister Colm Imbert. Did you seek the guidance of the standing committee on energy before you approved the sale of the GTL plant to NiQuan?” And who is on that standing committee? The same people from way back when,” Persad-Bissessar asked.

“It has been reported the company (NiQuan) does not have a GTL plant or a track record to anything, farless relating to a GTL plant. So the question I am asking is what due diligence has been conducted in making a decision to sell this plant to this company?” 

She claims NiQuan was set up only to acquire the GTL plant.

She added: “And there are more reasons for us to be worried because our research shows us that although the parent company, NiQuan Energy LLC, was incorporated in March, 2008, its website tells us that the parent company is not involved in any other activity other than buying this failed GTL plant in Trinidad.

“In fact, NiQuan Energy Trinidad director and CEO has noted in interviews that the company was created here in Trinidad in July 2012, sounds familiar with their modus operandi? 

“Set up ghost companies and come for taxpayers benefits, the company was created in July 2012 and what was it created for? As a vehicle to buy the GTL plant, that’s it, nothing else, they created the company for that purpose.”

Persad-Bissessar said the deal between NiQuan and Petrotrin was tied up. “You have these four energy czars (officials) and the story continues because you know what they have now sold the failed GTL plant to a company called NiQuan. 

“They've sold it for a song and a dance when it cost you and our country $3.3billion they sold it for $10 million to NiQuan Energy.

Quoting from a 2014 High Court ruling which stated NiQuan has no assets other than its ‘goodwill and reputation,’ Persad-Bissessar said there was no guarantee T&T would benefit at all from the NiQuan/Petrotrin deal. 

“The court also noted and I quote: “Save for it’s right under the exclusivity agreement, NiQuan has no assets other than the goodwill and the reputation of punitive namesake and its own goodwill and reputation.

“You know what that means in my understanding? It means NiQuan is broke. They have no money. And it goes further, it means if we do business with NiQuan, who as disclosed seem to have no money, that will be a very grave financial risk to T&T and to Petrotrin and there is no guarantee the country would benefit from this project and it is a gold mine.”

She also questioned the conditions of the sale, saying it is cloaked in a cloud of PNM secrecy.

“The company is not expected to pay for anything for the plant until the year 2018, they don’t have to pay nothing, it is you the taxpayer that has to continue to pay to the tune of $3.3 billion. We don’t know the terms and conditions and based on the track record of the Rowley administration, we will never know until it is too late, just like with the GTL plant.” 

The Colonial Life Insurance Company (Clico) was being used as a cash cow by government, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence said yesterday as he lost a case in the Privy Council filed on behalf of the United Policyholders Group.

The judgment, which was handed down by law lords, dismissed the appeal and upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeal that government had no money to pay 1,500 policyholders who are owed in excess of $1 billion.

Speaking at a press conference at his San Fernando law chambers, Maharaj said: “I do not respectfully agree with the judgment given by the courts. The learned Judges have determined the issues of law and facts in the case as they see it but I say with the greatest respect to the courts, these are heart breaking facts and the judgment is a heart breaking judgment.” 

Maharaj said many of the policyholders were pensioners, retirees and widows who invested all their savings on policies of insurance, hoping to have money to live over the years. 

Saying some of the policyholders died from heart attacks and suffered because they could not pay medical bills, Maharaj noted: “The damage was irreparable. Many of them were not able to pay for their medicine and many of them lost their homes.”

Even though they are no longer entitled to interest on their capital savings, Maharaj said there was $24.5 billion in Clico’s Statutory Fund that could be used to pay the policyholders.

Saying the sale of Clico’s assets should have benefitted the policyholders, Maharaj explained: 

“It appears as if Clico was used as a cash cow for government to do its work as a government. The monies that was obtained from the sale of assets of Clico should have been used as a first priority to pay the policyholders.” 

He added that the Central Bank has already indicated there was enough in the Clico Fund to pay the policyholders.

“Reports also show that the total assets of Clico in 2012 was valued at $22.4 billion and in 2013, the total assets was valued at $28.52 billion and in 2014 the total assets was valued at $29.32 billion,” Maharaj noted.

He also said if there was a financial meltdown following the decision by Britain to leave the European Union, then people would be unwilling to trust the government.

“Having regard to the fallout of Brexit, if a financial crisis arises in England, T&T or anywhere in the Commonwealth, the government would have to depend upon the people to trust its word and not to move their monies from the banks, insurances and financial institutions,” Maharaj said.

He also called for policyholders to be paid the remaining 15 per cent of their monies by the Central Bank.

“I have a deep-seated passion to continue the battle to ensure that the Central Bank pays to these policyholders who did not assent to take government’s offer to accept a 30 per cent reduction in the value of their policies. The Statutory Fund has the monies to pay them,” he said.

He noted that a private meeting would be held at Gaston Court, Chaguanas, on Sunday to discuss the impact of the Privy Council ruling on policyholders.

Flashback

In 2014, the Court of Appeal reversed a High Court ruling that policyholders were entitled to be paid the full sum due under their policies of insurance with the accrued interest. 

The High Court had found that the then Patrick Manning government in 2009 had made a clear promise to guarantee payment of the sums but the Court of Appeal subsequently ruled that no such clear promise was made. 

It ruled there was no legitimate expectation of a benefit and that the government was not liable as the issues involved macro-economic matters which were not an issue for the courts. This ruling was upheld by the Privy Council.

Gail Alexander and Joel Julien

T&T national Sherlin Stewart, who travelled through Turkey’s Ataturk airport on Tuesday, escaped unhurt in the terrorist attack which occurred at that airport that day, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has confirmed.

A traumatised Stewart, who was in Turkey up to yesterday, told relatives in T&T, via Facebook, that she had to run when she heard explosions at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport and she had recounted a scene of “utter chaos” that day.

The Islamic State (ISIS) is believed to be responsible for Tuesday’s attack at the main international terminal at Ataturk, which left 41 dead—mainly Turkish citizens—and 239 injured after three suicide bombers struck in tandem.

Thirteen foreigners, from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine, were killed in the attack. The attackers first fired shots at people in the terminal before detonating suicide vests. 

Dramatic video footage from one part of the airport showed one terrorist falling to the floor after being shot and detonating what appeared to be explosives he was wearing or carrying. 

The immediate blast which followed made surveillance camera images erupt into bright blinding light, then blankness.

International media reports described blood-streaked floors, body parts, panic, chaos and hordes of fleeing people during the attack, in which the three young men fired shots and set off explosives at three points.

One was reported in the international departures hall and the other two near the arrivals hall.

Escape

Stewart, a Royal Caribbean International employee from Chaguanas, was reported to be enroute to an unknown destination in the Mediterranean, to start a job on board a cruise ship.

It is understood Stewart has been sending messages to her family in T&T and was reported to be very traumatised by the experience, though unhurt physically. She was lodged at the Turkey hotel up to yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses, who confirmed Stewart’s presence at the scene of the attack, told the T&T Guardian contact had been made with her and his understanding was that she had been at the airport at the actual time of the attack and had witnessed it. He also confirmed how shaken up she was by it. 

Moses said: “The Honorary Consul has informed that to date there has been no report of death or injury to T&T nationals in Turkey. 

“However, a T&T national of Trinidad and Tobago (Stewart) who was at the (Ataturk) airport at the time of the attack has been located. Arrangements have been made for her to continue her onward journey. The passenger has since been contacted by the ministry.” He confirmed Stewart was safely accommodated at a hotel in Turkey.

“The Honorary Consul has also been in direct communication with the passenger,” he said. Moses said Stewart would be leaving Turkey to continue her “onward journey... the safety of all our citizens are of paramount importance.”

‘Not a scratch’
A relative of Sherlin Stewart’s yesterday told the T&T Guardian she was able to get away “without a scratch.” They said she had relayed to them that when she heard the explosion she had to run. During the melee that ensued, she dropped her cellphone and as she turned around, she saw it being trampled by the onrushing crowd.

They added she had managed to contact them using Facebook Messenger and told them the situation was “utter chaos,” describing the ordeal as traumatic. Her relatives, in response, contacted official sources to see how Stewart could be assisted. Her relatives said yesterday: “All is well... she’s safe and we are grateful to God and everyone who helped.” 

A Royal Caribbean International spokesman in Miami told T&T Guardian yesterday the company had four or five ships in the Mediterranean area, but had no immediate information on Stewart and was checking to see to which ship she was going to.

When T&T Guardian called Honorary Consul General Nusret Comert in Turkey yesterday, he deferred to the Foreign Ministry’s statement, declining further comment.

Honorary Consul to Turkey in T&T, Michael LLanos, meanwhile, said he would also continue to monitor any issues with T&T nationals in Turkey, via the Turkish ambassador accredited to T&T, who is based in Caracas.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has asked people with information on nationals who might have been in the affected area during the Turkey attack to call the Ministry, 1-868-623-6894; or Honorary Consul of T&T to Turkey: +90 532 303 2223.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she was happy to hear the T&T national in Turkey was safe. 

However, she said the Turkey attack had brought the threat of terrorism closer to T&T. 

Government yesterday failed to supply information on the Bail Bill and Anti-Gang Amendment law which the Opposition had requested to finalise its position on the bill, Opposition whip Ganga Singh said.

As a result, the Opposition’s position in debate on the bill tomorrow in Parliament will be based “on T&T’s best interests,” Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said at a media briefing.

Both spoke following a two-hour meeting with a five-member Government team, headed by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, on the legislation. Government’s team included MPs Camille Robinson-Regis, Marlene McDonald, Fitzgerald Hinds and Glenda Jennings-Smith. 
UNC’s team was headed by Singh and included Senators Gerald Ramdeen, Wayne Sturge and MPs Roodal Moonilal, Ramona Ramdial, David Lee and Rodney Charles.

Singh said the Opposition sought information on the efficacy of the legislation for the UNC’s caucus to base its considerations on. He said the AG said he had sought the information from the Judiciary, police, prisons and Director of Public Prosecutions but that was not obtained.

Persad-Bissessar said the Opposition would, therefore, act in T&T’s best interests in the debate and what would inform its position would be the data sought. 

She said the main reason for seeking the information was to review the effectiveness of the legislation. She said the People’s Partnership had in 2015 instituted the bill for one year, requiring that it be reviewed after that time since it involved draconian power.

If information provided showed, for instance, only ten people were imprisoned under the bill, she asked if it would be worth continuing, adding she also was not convinced it was an anti-crime tool. 

Certain clauses in the bills will become null and void should the bills lapse. Speaking to CNC3 last evening, however, Al-Rawi said he hoped it would not come to that.

“One can only hope that there will not be an inconsistent position in supporting it one day as a government and in not supporting it as the opposition. So I’m hopeful that the logical analysis of this will yield positive results,” he added. 

Persad-Bissessar also yesterday challenged Government to provide information on the effect the recent UK “Brexit” referendum would have on T&T since no answers were coming from Finance and other ministers.

She sought answers on international currency fluctuations, how the situation would affect T&T’s Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, which is in US dollars, whether it might affect Government’s upcoming “roadshow” to obtain a (US)$1 billion bond and how “Brexit” might affect the British BP oil company and by extension its local business. 

Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds is “seriously contemplating” increasing the fines for motorists caught speeding. In fact, Hinds said, he was actively considering the “substantial” increase as there were still a few motorists speeding “beyond the permissible legal limits.”

Speaking at the 2015 Road Safety Awards Recognition Ceremony, Ministry of Works and Transport, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Hinds said that was only one of the counter-measures his ministry was looking at to rein in drivers who continued to flout road safety regulations and disregarded the law.

Delivering the feature address during the ceremony which saw 20 persons, including acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, being honoured for their contributions to enhancing road safety in T&T, Hinds said he was heartened to witness a general “slowdown” in the madness on the roads which signaled the beginning of a new driving culture.

However, he said there were a persistent few who refused to observe the new regulations and ignored good advice. “It is with them in mind that I want to increase the fine. It is with them in mind that I want to broaden the net for detecting those offenders,” he added.

The countermeasures being considered include the introduction of more speed detection devices for law enforcement officers; the establishment of a Demerit Points System, where points will be scored against a person’s licence and a repeat offender could end up being disqualified from driving for stipulated periods; stricter and increased drink driving tests and a ramping up of operations in the general enforcement of laws that would render the roads safe for both drivers and other road-users.

Hinds said once society kept on demanding stronger action and an urgent response from politicians, they would have no choice but to react and that another possible measure could include “jail sentencing.” He said driving recklessly was a criminal offence and he compared the effects of it to that of a man with a gun firing it wantonly in public.  “We may very well have to improve the law to deal with it,” he added.

Hinds believes it is not necessary if the net of detection is broadened and more police officers are posted on the streets.

“With some improved detection capacity and greater presence, I think the extreme behaviour will be curtailed,” Hinds said.

Elaborating on the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Bill which will be re-introduced into the Parliament soon, Hinds said it was before the Legislative Review Committee which was chaired by the Attorney General. He said when that was complete, the amendments would be brought to the Cabinet before being laid in the Parliament.

Declaring that process was in “an advanced stage of pregnancy,” Hinds said he had requested that terms, such as licensing, registration and road traffic management regime, be “revolutionised.” Another amendment is the proposal to issue tickets to vehicles that fail inspection tests. He also flatly rejected claims there was a technical glitch in the speed guns.

Asked about claims that a refund was coming to motorists after alleged admissions of a problem with the equipment, Hinds said he was not aware of any such reports and that the experts had not identified any such issues. See Page A11. 

Two men were murdered and their female friend injured as they were liming in Santa Cruz yesterday in what police believe was a reprisal for the murder of a man last week. 

According to police reports, Dwayne Gopaul, 35, Leonard Perez, 41 and Natasha Hutchinson were liming near Perez’s home at Robert Street, La Canoa, Lower Santa Cruz, around 1.15 am when gunshots rang out. 

Residents later found Perez and Gopaul dead and Hutchinson injured. Hutchinson, of Saddle Road, Santa Cruz, was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she was listed in a serious condition. 

At the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Perez’s brother, Stephen, told the media his younger brother was a very jovial man who made everyone laugh. 

Saying the gunshots had awakened him from sleep but he thought nothing of it at the time, Stephen added: “He was a man don’t be in nothing. When our parents died we made sure and take care of each other. He would mind my children and I would mind his. How am I supposed to face them and tell them that their father is dead?”

Police said Gopaul, of First Corner, La Canoa, Santa Cruz, was a suspect in the murder of Eddison Sitney, 28, who died at hospital last week after being shot. Relatives of Gopaul were not at the Forensic Science Centre when the media visited. 

The double murder was one of three in north Trinidad between Tuesday and yesterday. In the other incident, police said Richard “Juice” Prince, 34, was walking along Balthazar Street, Tunapuna, around 4.45 pm on Tuesday when he was shot. Relatives refused to speak to the media at the centre yesterday.

In a telephone interview yesterday, head of the Homicide Bureau, Supt Zamsheed Mohammed, said the detection rate for murders had increased by ten per cent in the last three months and with the promise of 40 new officers, he expected that to increase. 

“In March the detection rate was 7.2 per cent, now it is 17.3. Within the last few months we have solved three to five murders weekly, we are doing a lot and with the 40 new officers we expect to do more,” Mohammed said in a telephone interview.

He admitted while the detection rate was not where they wanted it to be, with the limited resources available a lot was being done. He called for the implementation of a DNA database, which, he said, would greatly assist them as they sought to use technology to aid in the detection rate. 

Mohammed said the 40 new officers, taken from varying stations, would have to be trained before they were put out in the field. That training, he said, would take some time, adding that the officers are expected to be transferred within a couple weeks.

He also said some of the officers who would be assigned to his office would also be assisting with cold cases. Mohammed said the current murder toll is 227 while for the same period last year there were 196 murders. 

Nine-year-old Emmanuel Edwards, bareback and with no shoes on his feet, ran out his home through the mud screaming, “Uncle Dyer, Uncle Dyer,” only to find his uncle covered in blood on the roadway along Teelucksingh Street, California, Couva, on Tuesday night.

Emmanuel’s uncle, Junior Greenidge, 43, was shot several times by two gunmen who also wounded two other men during their attack around 8.30 pm at a parlour a stone’s throw away from Greenidge’s home. 

Kernell Neptune, 21, and his friend, Allon Parris, 30, who live on the street, remained warded at the San Fernando General Hospital nursing gunshot wounds to the legs yesterday.

Greenidge, a labourer at the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC), was taken in a police vehicle to the Couva District Hospital but succumbed to his injuries. Police have detained two suspects in connection with the incident. 

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, an eyewitness, who didn’t want to be identified, said Greenidge was in the parlour with Neptune and Parris when the gunmen, dressed in hoodies, ran in.

They shot Neptune and Parris, then turned their guns on Greenidge. As they opened fire on Greenidge, one of the gunmen said: “We have to shoot you because you saw us.” The gunmen then ran off. It is believed a getaway car was waiting on a nearby street.

The eyewitness got a full view of the gunmen as the ran off.

“They were young and they had the hoods over their heads. I saw one of them, after the shooting, run to a neighbour’s yard and pull back his hoodie over his head as it had fallen off during the shooting.”

Greenidge’s sister-in-law, Bernadine Edwards, said three years ago he came to live with her after separating with his wife.

“He lived in Morvant and left his wife and their two children and came here to start over his life. I did not mind because he was the coolest, calmest and sweetest person I have ever met,” Edwards said. She said it was sad to see her brother-in-law die in that manner.

“He didn’t deserve to die like that. About eight days ago he started working at the corporation and he adored my children and was really close to them. My son is really traumatised, as we all are, over this. We are yet to tell his (Greenidge’s) children that their father is dead.”

Edwards said she was home with her husband, who is Greenidge’s brother, when they heard gunshots.

“When we hear the shots, my husband said ‘Oh God. I hope that is not Dyer (Greenidge’s nickname).’ We knew that he was not home and had gone to the parlour. When we run out of the house and ran to the parlour we saw him lying on the ground,” she said, wiping away tears.

“He was just at the wrong place and at the wrong time,” she added. 

Neptune’s mother, Joanna Bonaparte, admitted her son and his friend were threatened before but they never took it seriously. She, however, did not say where the threats would have come from.

“It was just talks but I didn’t know it would have come to this,” Bonaparte said, adding all three men were close friends.

She called on police to get serious in clamping down on spiralling crime and to get rid of all the illegal guns on the streets.

People’s National Movement (PNM) councillor Sherrie Ali yesterday pleaded not guilty to three traffic offences arising out of an incident last year. Ali, of Palmiste, appeared before San Fernando Traffic Court Magistrate Natalie Diop, who fixed the matters for trial in January.

Ali, who serves in the San Fernando City Corporation as councillor for Les Effort East/Cipero and also served as a temporary Opposition Senator in 2012, was issued with a summons to appear in court to answer the charges.

PC Mathura charged Ali for all the offences which allegedly took place on November 18, 2015. It is alleged that on Harris Promenade, San Fernando, she failed to produce a certificate of insurance when so required by a police officer while driving a vehicle.

The second charge alleged that at Narinesingh Court, Palmiste, Ali drove without due care and attention. The third charge alleged that at the same place she drove without there being a policy of insurance in relation to the vehicle.

Ali’s attorney, Chris Ramlal, asked for disclosure and was presented with station diary extracts and a summary of evidence. Prosecutor Kassiram Lutchman said those items represented complete disclosure and indicated that the prosecution was ready to proceed.

Lutchman said the prosecution would be leading evidence from three witnesses, including the charging officer. Ramlal said the defence had no witnesses at this time but they were also ready to proceed.

The matters were adjourned to January 13, 2017 for all the matters to be heard together.

A former employee of a construction company has successfully sued his former boss who attempted to avoid paying him over $1 million in compensation for being injured on the job by closing the company and transfering its business to one that was incorporated recently.

Delivering judgment in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Tuesday, Justice Frank Seepersad “pierced the corporate veil” to hold businessman, Ashram Persad, personally liable for the debt his company—A & R General Contractors—owed to former employee Yunus Meighoo.

Meighoo initiated a lawsuit against the company after he was seriously injured in 2006 and could not return to work. In 2013, judgment was entered against the company, which was ordered to pay Meighoo compensation, including fees for medical treatment and loss of earnings. 

After making an initial payment, the company claimed it was insolvent and could not honour the remaining debt. 

In his case before Seepersad, Meighoo’s lawyers presented evidence that after their client’s legal victory, Persad formed another company—Aspher Contracting Limited—which effectively replaced A & R’s operations. 

Seepersad ruled it was possible that Persad formed Aspher as a “sham company” to “carry out or take over” A & R’s business interests. As he criticised Persad’s actions, Seepersad said the legal protection provided by incorporation was not designed to be used as a shield to escape liability.

Seepersad said: “The intention of incorporation was never to shield “smart men” or to enable shareholders to manipulate the corporate structure to ensure that profits generated from commercial activity could be put out of the reach of creditors by ensuring that same is withdrawn from the company and placed in the hands of the shareholders, thereby leaving the company without any tangible assets. 

“The protection of incorporation should be afforded only when the company complies with the provisions of the Company’s Act and its actions are undertaken in the best interest of the company and the shareholders or owners act as agents for the company and not vice versa.  

“There seemingly is a regrettable tendency in this jurisdiction for persons to believe that they can form companies for their unilateral benefit, solely enjoy the profits generated by the company and leave the said company cash stripped so that judgments cannot be enforced.  

Such a circumstance has to be condemned and will not be condoned by this court,” he added. Meighoo was represented by Yasin Ahmed and Tara Lutchman, while Michael Rooplal and Saira Lakhan represented Persad and the companies.

Almost every day citizens in this country, like everywhere in the world, are bombarded by reports of child abuse. The perpetrators are often those known to the child and even people who hold influential offices and every effort must be made to protect children.

So said Minister of State Ayanna Webster-Roy at the launch  yesterday of UNICEF’s 2016 report, titled A Fair Chance For Every Child, at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, Port-of-Spain. 

Describing children as society’s most vulnerable she said an emphasis must also be placed on equity. She drew the example of a child who had equal access to education but due to financial constraints within the home was unable to take full advantage of that access.

Webster-Roy said for a sustainable society to be properly built investment in children must take place especially as education went beyond a place of learning. Regarding foster care she said the Children’s Authority was expanding the number of foster care providers throughout the country.

UNICEF’s representative for the Eastern Caribbean area, Khin-Sandi Lwin, who also spoke, said the decision to launch the report in T&T was based on the fact that T&T had taken a leadership role in the Caribbean. She added the fact that children’s issues were elevated to the Office of the Prime Minister “really showed where the heart is in children.”

She said the promise of equity could be fulfilled if decision-makers chose to “walk the talk.” She added: “Millions of children’s lives around the world are blighted on no reason other than the place, gender or circumstances into which they are born.

“Failure to reach them now will keep fuelling into generational cycles of disadvantage that will imperial their future and the future of their societies and this increasingly interconnected world.” 

Lwin said, however, there had been tremendous progress in T&T and in the Eastern Caribbean region as more children were living longer, healthier lives than ever before.

It was predicted that by 2030 167 million children would be living in extreme poverty, 69 million children under age five would die between now and 2030 with 3.6 million children predicted to die in one year alone from mostly preventable causes and there would be three-quarters of a billion child brides.

“But with the efforts being initiated by the ministry we are confident that none of that number would be from T&T,” Lwin added.

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams will be reporting to the office as normal tomorrow. Dispelling rumours circulating yesterday that he would be proceeding on vacation from July 1, after his contract as head of the Police Service had not been renewed, Williams stated: “That information is totally incorrect.”

Approached to address the claims during his attendance at the Traffic Safety Awards at the Ministry of Works and Transport, Port-of-Spain, Williams said: “I don’t know anything about going on vacation on Friday or any issue with any contract.

“On Friday, I will be here. I have no contract. I am a police officer employed on what we can call an indeterminate period of employment.”

Williams further explained: “As a public officer, I can work until 60 and beyond 60, there can be extensions by way of the law. I am on no fixed-term contract.” He said the only police commissioner to have been offered a fixed term contract was former head of the T&T Police Service, Dwayne Gibbs.

The Canadian-born Gibbs and his compatriot, Jacl Ewatski, who held the post of Deputy Commissioner during the same period, resigned with more than a year of their three-year contracts remaining. Their resignation letters were dated July 26, 2012 and took effect on August 7, 2012.

Former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Prof Ramesh Deosaran, last month labelled the acting appointments of the nation’s top cop “an undue embarrassment and quite likely a record heading for the Guinness World Book of Records.”

He said Williams’ acting appointments, along with his string of deputies, had spanned a period of close to three years, having been renewed every six months since 2013.

Honour the will of the people. 

This was the statement by the PNM’s attorney, Douglas Mendes, SC, as he called for five election petitions brought by the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) to be dismissed yesterday.

Presenting submissions in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday Mendes repeatedly told presiding judge, Mira Dean-Armorer, to reject the petitions in which the UNC is seeking by-elections.

Mendes said while the UNC was claiming that the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) was not permitted to grant the one-hour extension of the poll on September 7, last year, it had failed to prove the extension materially affected the outcome of the election.

Stating his client’s candidates would have still won the election even if all votes cast during the extension were subtracted from their totals, Mendes challenged the UNC’s contention that a numerical analysis of the election results was not vital in the case.

“They can not say that time is sufficient to invalidate the election without asking what happened next,” Mendes said, as he called on Dean-Armorer to use “common sense” when deliberating on the case.

Mendes also said elections were only invalidated in circumstances where persons intentionally attempt to pervert their outcome.

“The presiding officers were acting on the directions they received. The UNC did not show that they knew what they were doing was illegal,” Mendes said.

He also claimed that by-elections suggested by the UNC would “almost certainly” have a negative effect on the PNM and voters who supported it in elections.

“There may be a situation where the party in power and who now faces a by-election met a bare cupboard when it entered office and people are unhappy because it cannot pay back pay and contractors,” Mendes said.

In its petitions the UNC is seeking by-elections in five marginal constituencies—Tunapuna, St Joseph, Moruga/Tableland, Toco/Sangre Grande and San Fernando West. 

A sixth petition was filed for La Horquetta/Talparo but it was dismissed at a preliminary stage due to an administrative error in filing it.

Mendes is expected to complete his submissions tomorrow and will be followed by the EBC’s legal team. Dean-Armorer is expected to deliver her judgment in the case next month.

The decomposing bodies of Anika Gabriel and her baby were found on a bed at their South Oropouche home by the baby’s father yesterday morning. Three and a half month old Sydney was embraced in her mother’s arm as they lay on the bed in what police suspect was a murder/suicide.

“Why, she do this,” cried Wayne Phillander, 42, the baby’s father, who made the horrible discovery after a foul stench and the buzzing sound of flies coming from inside the family’s small wooden house caused him to peep through a window.

When the police arrived at the Ralph Narine Trace house they had to break open the front door because it was locked. Police said there appeared to be no signs of forced entry. The house, a ten by ten structure, has no electricity or running water.

Gabriel, 30, who has six other children from previous relationships, left Phillander’s home in Rousillac shortly after the baby was born on March 22 and moved into the house at South Oropouche. 

As tears ran down his checks at his Rumstill Avenue home yesterday, a barely audible Phillander said he initially thought the stench was an animal carcass under a tarpaulin near the house.

Saying it never crossed his mind that the smell was the decaying bodies of his baby girl and her mother, he said, “I don’t know why she do this. She could ah leave the child with me.”  

Phillander, who has a 21-year-old son from a previous relationship, said he had been in a rocky relationship with Gabriel for about five to eight years, during which time they had broken up several times. Three weeks ago, he claimed Gabriel made a false report to the police that he had kicked and choked her. He said he was charged and granted $100,000 bail by a Siparia magistrate. He said Gabriel also took out a restraining order against him.  

Phillander said he would send his brother with milk and pampers for the baby, since the order prevented him from seeing his daughter. He claimed Gabriel, who was not working, subsequently apologised to him for making the false report against him. Recalling his last conversation with Gabriel on Thursday, he said she asked him for a $10 phone card which he sent for her. He said he was missing his daughter, so he asked Gabriel to spend the entire day with Sydney yesterday and she agreed.

Recalling the gruesome discovery, Phillander, a labourer at the Siparia Regional Corporation, said after work he passed by the house. 

“When I gone I smelling some thing stink and it had sour flies. Well I say is a dog drag something under the tarpaulin. The house was lock up, I don’t have a key for there.”  

Phillander said he also thought Gabriel, who was not answering her phone, was not home.  

“I find it funny I hearing one set of flies in the house.” He said he went to the back of the house, climbed up on a brick, peeped through a louvre and pulled the curtain. 

“All I see is she (Gabriel) swell up. I could not see the child. When I see that I know is death. I come to spend the day with my child, not to see death.” He said the police told him Gabriel was lying on her right side and hugging Sydney against her body with the other hand. A mosquito net was over them.

Phillander said Gabriel was quiet person, but she had a bad temper. He recalled that while she was pregnant she picked up a cutlass and begged him to kill the baby inside her. However, after the baby was born he said she never exhibited any kind of hostility or violence towards the baby. 

“I never think she would ah do something like this. I don’t know why she do this and the child innocent. Better she did call me and say come and take the child. I real love my daughter.”

Phillander said he had planned to christen his daughter later this month. He said three of Gabriel’s children live with their father and the three others live with Gabriel’s adopted sister. He said built he the house Gabriel was living in, but the structure was incomplete. Despite this, he said Gabriel moved into the house with his daughter and refused to leave.

Also expressing shock over the incident was Phillander’s father Rudolph, who said Gabriel could have left the baby with them to care.

Rudolph, a father of 15 and grandfather of 20, said he had only seen Sydney twice since she was born. Last August, the decomposing body of Gabriel’s mother, Jenelle, 43, was found in a shack at Agard Road, Point Fortin. An autopsy found she died from natural causes. Some of Gabriel’s relatives in Rousillac said they were not close to her and could provide no information about her.

When T&T Guardian visited the scene yesterday, the closest neighbour to Gabriel said he did not know her because she kept to herself.

Investigators from Oropouche Police Station and Homicide Bureau visited the area and the house was cordoned off. A district medical officer viewed the bodies and ordered their removal. The autopsies are expected to be performed today at the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James, to determine the cause of death. Investigations are continuing.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, an autopsy is expected to be conducted today on the body of two-year-old Diana Maraj.

Baby Diana was last seen alive on Monday around 11 pm when she was put to sleep by relatives at her Guaico Tamana, Sangre Grande home. However, she was discovered unresponsive in her bed on Tuesday around 5 am. Relatives immediately notified the EHS, who arrived and took her to the Sangre Grande Hospital.

Sangre Grande police are continuing investigations.