Reputed gang leader and criminal mastermind Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis was assassinated at his Enterprise, Chaguanas business yesterday. 

Alexis, customer Kevin Escayg, of San Juan and Escayg’s four-year-old son, Kirchard Scott, were shot several times as a group of gunmen ambushed them at Alexis’ carwash at Freedom Street around 4.30 pm. 

Central Division Police were bracing for reprisal killings last night, as one of the gunmen shot dead by Alexis as he returned fire before being killed himself, was identified as a member of a rival gang in the community. 

According to reports, Alexis, Scott and Escayg were standing in the yard of the carwash when a man came onto the compound talking to Alexis. The man was wearing a black wig and at some stage Alexis realised he knew him and said so. At this stage, however, two cars stopped near them.

The occupants of the cars, who were reportedly carrying assault rifles and handguns, got out and began shooting in their direction. The man talking to Alexis also drew a gun and both men got into as tussle.

Alexis, Scott and Escayg were shot several times before Alexis managed to draw a gun and shoot his initial attacker before also getting off some shots at his attackers. The other gunmen eventually shot the trio several more times before they returned to their vehicles and drove away, leaving their wounded accomplice. 

The T&T Guardian was told Alexis had his four-year-old granddaughter with him, but managed to put her in a vehicle when he realised they were being ambushed. Up to last night the child kept asking her mother for “papa” and kept repeating that she was scared after seeing “her papa beat the man.” Escayg was shot as he shielded his own son from the bullets, the T&T Guardian was told. 

Alexis, Escayg and the gunman, who was later identified as Thomas “Hamza” Sharpe, of Walter Lane, Bhagallo Trace, Enterprise, died on the scene and were pronounced dead by a District Medical Officer (DMO). 

Scott, who was said to be critically injured, was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences, Mt Hope, where he underwent emergency surgery, last night. The T&T Guardian could not confirm if police recovered any firearms from the scene when they arrived.

The T&T Guardian was told that Alexis had had a confrontation with members of a rival gang three months ago and was beaten. Alexis reportedly retaliated and threats had been passing between the parties since then, but before then had been attempting to make peace with the warring parties.

Yesterday’s shooting was the second attempt on Alexis’ life at the location, which also houses Alexis’ supermarket at the front. In April 2009, Alexis and his three-year-old daughter, Simia, were shot at as they drove into the carwash. Alexis escaped unscathed while the toddler was wounded.

Minutes after the shooting, scores of heavily armed police and Defence Force soliders responded to the scene and began combing the community for the suspects and interviewing residents as their colleagues processed the crime scene. They continued to patrol the community up to late yesterday, in an attempt to dissuade any reprisal attacks. 

While dozens of residents lined the perimeter of caution tape which cordoned off the scene, most declined to comment on Alexis’ character as they only spoke on their knowledge of the incident hours earlier. There also appeared to be hostility between the dead men’s relatives and police as they were being interviewed at the scene. 

“I not telling you anything. Police too corrupt. He come to you before and you did nothing,” an unidentified female relative of one of the deceased told a police officer after he asked her if she could provide a photograph of her relative. 

Police said the men who carried out the ambush had hours before held up a man and robbed him of his Almera car near the Super Quality supermarket in Endeavour, Chaguanas. They used the stolen vehicle to carry out the attack. Police found the stolen car abandoned at Montrose Street around 7.45 pm.

Alexis, 52, became infamous nationally for his alleged criminal exploits over the past decade. Although he had been charged for extortion and several kidnappings in the past, he had never been convicted. 

Most recently, Alexis, his 25-year-old son Kerron and another man were charged with participating in a riot at Crown Trace in Enterprise in April, which was said to be part of an ongoing war between rival gangs which had claimed several lives over the past year. 

Post mortems on the victims’ bodies will be performed at the Forensic Science Centre in St James this morning. Security measures at the centre are expected to be increased as Alexis’ family and relatives of one of his attackers could be there simultaneously. 

Detectives of the Region Three Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations. 

Despite his mother’s heartfelt pleas to stay away from Charles Street, La Romaine, teenager Mickel Thomas’ persistence in liming with his friends there ended in tragedy when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on Saturday.

Thomas, 19, of Nice Street, died while undergoing emergency treatment at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday, leaving behind to mourn his pregnant girlfriend.

According to Thomas’ older brother Ryan, the teen went to watch movies at his God-brother’s home along Charles Street around 4 pm. While there, he got a phone call from someone telling him to come pick up a barbecue chicken meal.

As he rode his bike out to a junction however, a white Nissan AD Wagon pulled in front him and three men with automatic arms jumped out and shot him. The men then got back into the car and left. Neighbours immediately took him to the hospital, but he died within minutes.

Struggling to fight the tears yesterday, Thomas’ mother, Dionne, said for days people had been warning her that a drug dealer in the area had put out a hit on her son. She said a friend even advised her to get Thomas out of La Romaine. But she said despite warning him, he remained adamant that he had done nothing to anyone. She admitted that his friends sold drugs for the dealer and Thomas had an exchange of “small talk” with the dealer’s stepson.

“It is not now they have been threatening to kill my son, but I never had the thought they would have done such a thing like this,” Dionne said.

She said neighbours told her the same car used in the murder was seen driving around Nice Street and slowing down at their house on Friday night and that there were men hiding in a track between Nice Street and Charles Street, and they were asking for Thomas.

“My son was a loving son, not disrespectful to anyone and he was a hard working child. He just used to lime in Charles Street with his friends, his God-brother and that was just Mickel right through. He loved to lime all the time.”

She said Thomas had recently completed a welding course at a Servol Life Centre and was job hunting. Police had not held anyone for the murder up to last night. 

And in what police believe was a reprisal for Thomas’ killing, Gary McLaren was shot along George Street, La Romaine, around 4 pm yesterday. He was hospitalised last night undergoing treatment for a gunshot to the chest. 

Police are also trying to determine whether the shooting of Stephon Gonzales on Saturday night was linked to Thomas’ murder.

A report stated that around 11.30 pm Saturday, Gonzales, 39, was liming with some friends along the George Street when a Nissan AD Wagon slowed down from a distance and its occupants opened fire. He was later found lying on the ground bleeding from gunshot wounds. He was taken to the hospital where he remained warded in a stable condition yesterday.

A team of officers led by Sgt Dale Ramroop responded and found several .40 calibre shells at the scene.

Panic. There could be a high drop out rate of university students come the start of the new semester in September.

This was the response yesterday of secretary of the Students’ Guild of the University of the West Indies’s St Augustine campus, Nicolai Edwards, to recommendations of a Cabinet-appointed task force mandated to investigate the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme.

“Thousands of tertiary level students have now entered panic mode, and rightfully so, due to the recommendations of the GATE task force,” Edwards said in a release after a media report highlighted the task force’s recommendations.

“The general feeling is that while the GATE programme has been due for a re-evaluation for some time now, the approach taken has been less than fair. The recommendations put forth by the task force, if implemented, will lead to a high dropout rate come September 2016, as students would not have been given sufficient time to prepare for the changes.”

Conceding there was undeniable wastage and breaches in the programme, Edwards said hardworking, dedicated and vulnerable students should not be disenfranchised as a result. He said any decision made by Cabinet concerning GATE should become effective September 2017 and students already enrolled in a GATE-funded programme should be able to complete their course of study “without the fear of having to pay their way.” 

Edwards, who is currently attending a Commonwealth Youth Leadership Workshop in London, said he posted his response on social media and it was being widely accepted by young people.

“While we understand these are mere recommendations from the task force which can be accepted or denied by the Cabinet, it would be remiss of us as young people benefitting from GATE not to share our thoughts for the Government to also consider,” he said.

He claimed tertiary level students were not adequately represented on the task force and there was insufficient consultation with them. He said only one place on the 16-member task force was allocated a student representative, guild president Makesi Peters, who could not provide adequate representation since there was not enough consultation with the student body in T&T and across the region.

Guild president Peters could not be reached for a comment yesterday. But on the Students Guild Facebook page, there were mixed responses. Rosanna Lewis, commenting on the GATE affair, said some mitigation of senseless funding has to be done.

“Every campus now has a medical faculty and its own law faculty. Why would a country continue to fund your studies overseas when it is now being offered in Trinidad?” Lewis asked. 

“Also, it is difficult to provide funding for students who cannot maintain a standard Grade Point Average and who continue to fail. Some mitigation has to be done to prevent this from happening and some repayment system has to be implemented.”

According to te media report, which carried part of the leaked task force report, undergraduates who previously got 100 per cent funding from the government, will now have to pay one-third of their tuition fees for their tertiary education, students over 50 will no longer qualify for assistance while those who want to pursue post graduate studies will get no funding this year. Further, tertiary education institutions that are non-credited will no longer be receiving funding and there will be a reintroduction of a means test from August 16 for only students 25 and under.

Garcia’s response

Education Minister Anthony Garcia said yesterday that he was very concerned about the leaking of the confidential report from the task force mandated to investigate the GATE programme. However, he called on tertiary level students not to panic, saying the recommendations are still under deliberation by Cabinet.

Contacted for a response to recommendations of major cuts in the programme, Garcia said he could not comment until Cabinet pronounces on them within the next two weeks.

However, he said, “This is supposed to be a document in the hands of Cabinet alone. I am becoming more and more concerned about leaks. I don’t know how it was leaked and who was behind it, but I will launch my own investigation when I go to my office Monday morning.”

Reminded of the Government’s earlier pronouncements about a review of GATE, he said, “Yes, we said we would review the programme. We recognised there was a lot of wastage in it.”

He said it was based on this and the declining state of the economy that Government decided to appoint a task force with a mandate to conduct a comprehensive review of the programme. 

An early morning accident claimed the lives of two people and left one hospitalised in critical condition here yesterday. 

Police said Obinna Daniel, 16 and Aaron George 20, died after the vehicle they were travelling in was involved in a collision with another vehicle near the Shade Night Club in Bon Accord around 3 am.

Jonathan Caraballo, 20, was fighting for his life at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital last night. Daniel was a student of the Mason Hall High School.

The T&T Guardian understands that two vehicles were travelling east along the Milford Road when one of them overtook and ran into a vehicle heading in the opposite direction, in which Daniel, George and Caraballo were occupants. Daniel and George died immediately, while Caraballo was later airlifted to Trinidad for further treatment.Investigations are continuing.

A mentally challenged teenager has given birth for her grandfather, who has now been charged for buggery and incest after hiding from police for over a year.

The 65-year-old grandfather was remanded in custody by a Chaguanas magistrate after appearing on the charges last Thursday. He will appear before a magistrate in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court today.

The charges stemmed from an incident where the man allegedly had sex with his then 15-year-old female relative on numerous occasions at her south home. The girl is also said to be mentally challenged.

After the teenager got pregnant her parents questioned her and she told them her grandfather had had sex with her. She also told them he buggered her. The girl’s parents made a report to the police in January 2015 and she gave birth one month after, in February.

Police said the incidents took place during the period 2013 and 2014. After the report was made to the police, the grandfather went into hiding.

Last week Monday, however, officers from the Central Division Task Force received information on where he was living. The officers went to an apartment located at Duncan Street, Port-of-Spain, where they arrested the man. He was taken to the Task Force office at the Chaguanas Police Station where he was interrogated and eventually admitted to the crimes. He was charged by WPC Singh.

The grandfather appeared before Chaguanas First Court Magistrate Sharon Gibson, who read the charges before transferring the matter.

First Citizens Bank customers in Princes Town will have to conduct business at other branches for some time, after a fire razed the first floor of the building early yesterday.

According to a report, a passersby contacted the Princes Town Fire Station around 4.30 am, alerting them that smoke was seen coming from the eastern side of the building along High Street. Within minutes, firefighters arrived, broke through the front door and were able to extinguish the blaze before it could spread to other parts of the building.

The fire prevention team, led by FSO Arjune and FF Hackett, determined that the blaze began in one of the cubicles on the first floor, but up until yesterday morning they were unable to say what caused it. The Crime Scene Unit was also on the scene dusting for fingerprints to determine whether foul play was involved.

FCB’s general manager of retail and commercial banking, Robin Lewis, said the bank is monitored remotely and their internal security contacted had them around 4.30 am to alert them of the fire. He said the damage was limited to the operations area. 

Lewis noted that IT technicians did minor work on some computers on Saturday, but in an area away from where the fire began.

“There is significant damage on the inside, a lot of smoke and soot on the top floor. There was no damage or significant fire on the top floor. The operational side of the bank is essentially where we had the major issue, which is where we do transactions. Lending services and managers’ offices upstairs are intact,” Lewis told the T&T Guardian.

An estimated cost of the damage is yet to be determined, but Lewis said a lot of internal fittings will have to be replaced. Fire officers said the building remained structurally sound.

While the bank will be closed until repairs are done, their 30-plus employees will be redeployed to other branches in South Trinidad, Lewis said. He said the bank will issue a statement to customers shortly, but advised that they can visit other branches in Penal, Marabella, Gulf View and San Fernando.

Islamic organisation Umaah T&T wants to know why over 30 Islamic organisations were blanked government funding to hold their Eid-ul-Fitr functions.

The question was raised by Umaah T&T chairman Rasheed Karim yesterday, as the organisation held its annual Eid-ul-Fitr function at the Masjid ul Furquaan at Greenidge Street, Felicity, Chaguanas.

Karim said masjids were told they had to apply on a five-page-document for funding after money had already been distributed by government authorities. He said in the past five years none of the independent masjids had to make applications for such grants, which he said went to assist needy Muslims.

Karim called on the relevant authorities to address this issue without the bureaucracy.

“We have seen approximately 15 organisations granted that gift and the majority who are independent organisations that are not aligned with those 15 organisations, they are on the wayside,” he said.

“We are saying that this is a factor for discrimination. We are saying that should not be. In the past we have seen different strategies and different ways that were used that incorporated all the organisations—both affiliated and non-affiliated—and we are saying here today that is something that has to be addressed.”

In making the announcement of government funding for Muslim organisations at a post-Cabinet press briefing ahead of the July 6 Eid celebrations, Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, explained that the money would be shared among the same organisations who received funding last year. But she also invited other organisations seeking funding to apply.

“There are other requests for grants which have been received by the ministry and those will also be considered for support and funding for the celebration of Eid for 2016. 

“The Government can only do as much as it is able to and I am certain the monies that we are distributing will be used for the purposes for which they were assigned. I don’t anticipate there should be any fallout,” she said.

However, Karim said yesterday the process was not only being made cumbersome to independent organisations, there was also no guarantee of success.

“They are saying that independent organisations should re-apply. The application for that grant is approximately four to five pages long and applying does not guarantee that we are going to get any,” he said. 

Karim said under the People’s Partnership government the grant was given without the red tape and started at a figure of $5,000 for the first two years and then went up to $25,000 annually in the last three years. He said when the figures were added up, the monies granted came up to under $2 million.  

“Now this Government has given $3.075 million and it would not reach many organisations and members.” 

Karim said those who benefited were the Anjuman Sunnat ul Jamaat Association (ASJA), Trinidad Muslim League (TML), Tackveeyatul Islamic Association (TIA) and groups he described as “political newcomers.” 

Karim said Umaah will keep lobbying the Government until an amicable solution was reached.

JOEL JULIEN

Although she is yet to complete half the time on her three-year employment contract at the San Fernando General Hospital, Dr Malini Gosine, the daughter of the chief executive officer (CEO) of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Anil Gosine, was granted a year off from work with full pay to pursue graduate studies in London.

The SWRHA “approved the grant of full-pay study leave for one year to Dr Malini Gosine in the amount of $217,440” on June 23 last year, months before the general election, according to documents obtained by the T&T Guardian. Gosine is currently studying at King’s College in London.

But the CEO has denied there was any preferential treatment shown towards his daughter. 

Gosine, who has been the SWRHA’s CEO since 2011, said all the proper procedures were followed with respect to his daughter and an investigation by the Dr Alexander Sinanan-led SWRHA board did not find anything improper.

Sinanan was named the chairman of the SWRHA board last November, replacing Dr Lackram Bodoe.

Bodoe became the Member of Parliament for Fyzabad following the general election. He was the SWRHA’s chairman when Gosine’s request was approved. The SWRHA is responsible for the administration and management of the San Fernando General Hospital. Attempts to contact Bodoe on the situation with Gosine proved futile.

Dr Malini Gosine, 29, began working at the San Fernando General Hospital on February 24, 2014. She was hired as a house officer at the dermatology department at the hospital in 2014 for a period of three years.

On May 8 last year, Gosine informed the SWRHA that she was accepted to pursue a master of science in clinical dermatology at King’s College in London on a full-time basis for a period of one year, commencing in September 2015. She requested either a scholarship or full-pay leave to be able to pursue her studies on a full-time basis.

Gosine provided a request for $566,472, including tuition and housing funding for the year.

Approval process
According to the documents received by the T&T Guardian, Dr Anand Chattergoon, the medical director at the San Fernando General Hospital, “highly” recommended Gosine’s request for full-pay study leave. Dr Shevanand Gopeesingh, the Director of Health, approved Gosine’s request and noted that “there is a critical need for dermatologists.”

Dr Morgan Basanta, a consultant dermatologist, and Dr Kanterpersad Ramcharan, head of the Dermatology Department, both also “strongly” recommended Gosine’s application.

“According to our records there are no performance issues or disciplinary matters pending against Dr Malini Gosine, as this is her first contracted period of employment with the authority,” the note submitted to the SWRHA’s human resources committee stated.

A Point Fortin woman and her two babies are now homeless after their home was burnt to the ground in a suspected arson attack on Friday morning. Nacayah Jeffrey, who suffers with sickle cell disease and survives on public assistance, is now seeking any kind of help to get her life back together.

Jeffrey, 25, told the T&T Guardian that she and her daughters Jahquader, five and Destiny two, were spending the night at her father’s Vance River home when the house was torched. She said she lost everything in the fire. 

“All we have is the clothes on our backs,” she said, estimating damages to be in the vicinity of $75,000. She said she is also indebted to a financial institution, having recently borrowed a loan to renovate her home and wire the house for electricity. 

“I lost my fridge, two beds, a television set which I am still paying for, a microwave, stove, four water tanks, several citrus trees, my daughter’s bicycle, all my groceries, toiletries, clothes, dishes, all our birth certificates.

“All my children clothes, my daughter’s school clothes, books, shoes, everything gone,” she said, pointing out that Jahquader is a second-year student at Vance River Primary School.

Jeffrey believes she knows who set her house on fire, adding neighbours saw the man running from the burning building. His vehicle was also spotted parked a short distance away. She said this was a double blow for the family as the children’s father, Jerry George, drowned in January 2014, when Destiny was just two months old. 

At present, she and her children are staying with her father, but Jeffrey said she cannot stay there indefinitely.

“I am sleeping on a bed with my brother and two children. That is not comfortable. I have nothing and if anyone can help me to rebuild or get a new home, I would be grateful,” Jeffrey said. She said she went to the office of her member of parliament, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, for help, but his assistant offered her a food card. 

Both the Point Fortin fire and police are continuing investigations. 

Anyone willing to assist Jeffrey can contact the T&T Guardian on 225 5551 on her behalf.

Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, 51, was murdered because he had pledged to expose the operations of the Unruly Isis gang, their affiliation and close networking with some members of two of the country’s major law enforcement agencies, the T&T Police Service and the T&T Defence Force.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, near to where Alexis and two others were killed at Freedom Street, Chaguanas, on Sunday, a close affiliate of Alexis said that just before he was ambushed and killed, he had told a few people of his frustration with the threats and senseless criminal acts carried out by members of the gang.

“‘Robo’ (as Alexis was called) tried many times to promote peace again in the community but he was fed up with the constant disrespect he got from those unruly youths, the associate claimed. “Them show up to be real characters and Robo was ready to put his foot down and talk,” the affiliate said.

Alexis, a father of nine, and Kevin Escayg were killed after a group of men, believed to be Unruly Isis members, ambushed them outside Alexis’ carwash. Escayg was killed as he shielded his son, Kirchard Scott, from the bullets. 

But Alexis managed to kill one of his attackers, Thomas “Hamza” Sharpe, a known Unruly Isis member who had initially attempted to distract Alexis before the other gang members launched their attack out of a vehicle they had earlier stolen. 

Unruly Isis

Yesterday, the affiliate said Alexis had first-hand information on how the Unruly Isis operated, who were the “influencers” in the gang and which law enforcement officers for whom they allegedly conducted “petty crimes”.

“Alexis had strongly believed that even some members of the media were being manipulated when they only ran what was given to them from some police officers. He found that they weren’t coming into the area to conduct unbiased and independent investigations to get to the bottom of what really was happening here in Enterprise,” the affiliate said.

The affiliate was speaking about the spate of murders which occurred in the community earlier this year, forcing police and soldiers to lock down the area for weeks.

It is alleged that the influence of some members of the gang was so far-reaching, that one of Alexis’ close male relatives allegedly abandoned his care and guidance to join the Unruly Isis.

“Robo felt sorry for the youths and how they were being led astray but they were being encouraged by some police officers and soldiers when they were only (allegedly) receiving high-powered assault rifles, high-tech hand guns and ammunition,” the affiliate said.

“Robo’s heart went out to them, especially knowing that most of them came from single parent homes also and that was the kind of person that Robo had become.”

The T&T Guardian was told that just recently was the first time in all his years of being a Muslim that Alexis observed i’tikaaf during the last ten days of Ramadan, where he stayed in the Enterprise Community Masjid keeping the fast and offering fervent prayers for his family, community and peace in the community.

A member of the mosque, who wished not to be identified, said that for some strange reason, Alexis knew that after Eid things were going to get worse in the community.

“I feel he knew that he was going to die but I know that he would not have gone down without a fight,” the mosque member said.

Cops detain Imam 

Helen Lynch, the wife of Alexis’ close friend, Imam Morland Muakyil Abdullah, said yesterday that she knew Alexis was working along with her husband to attempt to restore peace in the community.

Ironically, Imam Abdullah, of the Enterprise Mosque in Crown Trace, was taken into police custody at 6 am yesterday. Asked for what reason, Lynch said she was mostly in the dark about it.

“Firstly, the police did not come in any hostile way. They came and spoke to him quietly and nicely and he left with them. I was told that he was needed by Intelligence but then I got a call saying that another set of police officers wanted to talk to him because they think that his life may be in danger somehow as well, following Robo’s murder,” Lynch said.

She and her husband were in the process of planning a one-year anniversary prayer event for her son, Ackmal Lynch, 22, who was also gunned down. Ackmal and his brother were at a construction site in Charlieville last July 22 when gunmen entered and shot them. Aqyil was shot in the leg.

“Robo’s killing in this time and my husband’s detention in police custody for the next 72 hours is a setback for us. I am satisfied though, how both of them worked together to try to bring back peace in the community. It’s a cause both of them fought for and I am sure, willing to die for,” Lynch said.

Asked if she was scared for her life and that of her husband, Lynch said she was not.

“I used to be very much afraid but after my son got killed I got the strength and I realised that we have to do something to protect others. Brothers are being killed and getting hurt and we need to do something because what they are doing is not right,” she said.

Plea for peace

In a tribute to his father yesterday, Alexis’ son, Kerron, said he learned a lot from his father over the years and saw him do everything to try to bring the youths together and for peace.

Alexis’ wife, Bernadette, said to comment on her husband would show her bias and dared the T&T Guardian to go to the older heads in the community to hear their views and opinions about Alexis.

“He was the kind of person that helped people in need, especially those who could not have afforded milk and pampers for their babies,” Bernadette said.

Alexis had had several brushes with the law in the past and was reputed to be the leader of a criminal gang himself.

But Freedom Street resident, Assraph Ali, 74, described Alexis as a good man.

“I knew him for the past 15 years when I moved into the area and I have never known him to be a bad man. I never asked him to do anything for me but he showed me the respect and I knew of people who he helped in one way or the other. It is sad he had to go that way but we need someone now to take over his legacy,” he added.

Since 2010 the All Trinidad General Workers’ Trade Union (ATGWTU ) was trying to negotiate with the UNC over rent issues of the Rienzi Complex in Couva but the party had ignored the union over the years.

So said the union's president, Nirvan Maharaj, to members of the media during a protest at the Ministry of Agriculture, St Clair, yesterday.

Saying there was “a lot of misconception” taking place Maharaj added: “Since 2010 the union would have been writing to the UNC to engage with us for a lease arrangement.

“The party so far has failed to so do. In fact the party has treated the union with utter disdain and contempt and has never once sat down or responded to any correspondence the union would have sent them concerning a lease arrangement.” 

Since 2010 the party has been on a month-to-month contract with the union.

“The party had never corresponded with us officially by documentation. I could provide all the documentation to the media that the union would have written to the UNC since 2010. I don’t think the UNC could provide any documentation to the media concerning that issue,” Maharaj said.

He added he was shocked when the UNC’s chairman, David Lee, said he had approached the union to negotiate a lease arrangement.

The party is now looking for a new headquarters after being served notice to leave the place it has called home for the past 27 years. 

The UNC had said the monthly rental fee of $25,000 as proposed was too much.

However, Maharaj said he was baffled by that.

“I don’t understand why they could be saying this at all. As an incumbent political party in Government, at the end of the day people fail to understand that before 2010 the UNC enjoyed the use of Rienzi Complex free of charge.

“They were actually paying a stipend of $2,500. When we raised the rent to $12,000 they refused to negotiate with us but they paid the rent and out of the historical dynamics of the past we allowed a certain leeway because we hoped that the matter would come to some sort of resolution,” Maharaj added.

He said he attended a meeting last month which lasted 15 minutes with Lee. Maharaj said the party said it was not prepared to pay the increase and that it would be looking for another place.

“Having no correspondence from them I had no choice but to issue that eviction notice,” Maharaj added.

Rienzi Complex was named after former labour leader Adrian Cola Rienzi. He was the founder of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union and the then All Trinidad Sugar Estates and Factory Workers Union. 

Lee, in a release, had said the union was reluctant to provide the UNC with a long-term lease and subsequently indicated its wish for the party to leave the premises without cause.

Government has not made any final decision regarding the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme.

Advising that final recommendations will be made public within the next week- and-a-half, Education Minister Anthony Garcia is again urging potential university entrants to move ahead with plans to apply as normal.

Contacted for an update following yesterday’s meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee (FNGP), Garcia confirmed that GATE was “among the issues discussed.”

Pressed to speak about the meeting, Garcia added: “Cabinet is reviewing the recommendations with a view to deciding whether we are going to accept them or if we are going to reject the recommendations or vary or modify any of them.”

Last Thursday, Garcia presented a copy of the 70-page task force report to all members of the Cabinet, following which it was leaked to the media.

Adding he was pursuing an investigation into the leak, Garcia said: “I have now returned from the sub-committee meeting where it was looked at. Again, there are somethings we have to have further discussions on. It is not yet ready to be released to the general public, probably in the next week-and-a-half.”

In a release yesterday, Garcia stressed that they were awaiting Cabinet’s decision on the recommendations put forward by the GATE Task Force.

Concerned and vexed over the leak, Garcia said the report was presented in two parts to Cabinet on July 14 but despite that, he has sought to reassure the student population that the recommendations put forward by the task force were not yet final.

He added: “It is common knowledge that there are inefficiencies in the GATE programme and the ministry saw it fit to embark on an exercise to review the process. 

“We needed to be presented with feasible solutions, hence, the production of a report was commissioned. The report has been submitted and is yet to be considered by the ministry’s higher authority. 

“As it stands at present, any views on the issue are solely those of the report makers and not the ministry as no final decision has been made.”

Relatives of the man who police say donned a woman’s wig in order to ambush and kill reputed gang leader Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis are not fearful of any reprisals that may come from his murder.

Speaking at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday Paul Sharpe, the older brother of Thomas “Hamza” Sharpe, 32, said he was a straight-forward guy. 

Sharpe, police said, was killed by Alexis during a shootout at Alexis’ business on Sunday afternoon. Sharpe, a father of two, was originally from Naimool Street, Caroni, but was residing at Crown Trace, Chaguanas.

Yesterday, even as police increased patrols in the Enterprise area as they braced for reprisal killings, the older Sharpe said: “My brother was a very good fella, is just that he did not like advantage. He is a straightforward guy. I don’t know exactly what caused the rift between himself and Mr Alexis. I really don’t know what really happened this time. 

“We don’t fear. We come from a community that doesn’t fear. We are a Muslim family so we will leave all things in the hands of Allah. But we will not fear.”

Sharpe added that his brother and Alexis once had an altercation and his brother hit Alexis with a shovel, but outside of that he had no idea how their relationship had reached to such a violent point.

“I was shocked and sad too because I used to talk to him. I know he was the kind of person that did not like advantage so I used to talk to him,” Sharpe said.

“I understand that Robocop had interfered with him before, but in self-defence he hit Robocop with a shovel. But that was a long time ago.”

He said in the time they spent at the Forensic Science Centre (FSC) yesterday, there was no animosity between his relatives and those of Alexis. Both families were told to return to the FSC today for the autopsies, as none of the three pathologists was available to conduct the autopsies yesterday. 

According to police reports, around 4.30 pm on Sunday, Alexis, a self-employed businessman of Corner Railway Road and Southern Main Road, Enterprise, Chaguanas, was at his business on Freedom Street, Chaguanas, when he was ambushed and killed. Kevin Escayg, 43, a project manager of Saldenah Terrace, Macoya, was killed while his son, Kirchard Scott, five, was shot in the abdomen while at Alexis’ carwash.

Sharpe, dressed in a black wig, had initially walked onto the compound to talk to Alexis, who recognised him. But soon after, a number of reputed Unruly Isis members pulled up in a silver Nissan Almera and opened fire. Alexis shoved his granddaughter into a nearby vehicle and it was then he realised Sharpe was one of the attackers. The two men struggled and Alexis was shot but he also managed to shoot Sharpe. Escayg, who was also close friends with Alexis, was shot trying to shield his son from the bullets of the other men. 

Police said yesterday that Scott was shot in the left side of his abdomen and the bullet exited the right side, damaging his intestines. Scott remained at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, in a serious condition yesterday. The killing of the three men took the murder toll to 246 for the year compared to 221 last year.

Attempts to speak with relatives of Escayg yesterday were unsuccessful.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she is deeply concerned about the recommendations presented to the Government by a special task force to review the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme.

She described it as frightening to contemplate the negative effects that cuts to GATE will have on the youth and the future development of the country.

“It is disastrous to implement such cuts before the start of the next academic year,” Persad-Bissessar said in a press release yesterday evening.

One of the suggestions of the task force report is that students enrolled at university would have to pay one third of their fees, while postgraduate students would lose all financial assistance to continue their studies. 

“I call on the Government to reject these recommendations,” she said.

Combined with the government’s recent moves to cut scholarships by 15 per cent, end the laptop programme for secondary school students and halt the development of the UWI South Campus, Persad-Bissessar said it appears that the Dr Keith Rowley administration was waging an all-out war against students.

“Now, more than ever, is the time we must invest in students who will become the future leaders of our nation. The students of today will lead the diversification efforts of tomorrow and the Rowley administration seems intent on restricting access to higher education,” Persad-Bissessar said.

“That is why I am calling on the Rowley administration to act as a responsible Government by rejecting the task force recommendations and by focusing instead on expanding GATE as they promised during the 2015 election campaign.”

Rhondor Dowlat

In the aftermath of the murder of Central businessman Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, 51, there are now heightened police and army patrols throughout Enterprise, Chaguanas, and environs in a bid to keep the peace and prevent feared reprisal killings.

The T&T Guardian was told that police patrols were scheduled for every street, track and lane in the Enterprise area—from Crown Trace, to Walter Lane, to Bhagalloo, to Freedom and Enterprise Streets.

Several houses were also searched and about eight people taken into police custody for questioning yesterday. The imam of the Crown Trace Mosque was also detained by police, but it was unclear on what grounds he was taken into police custody.

Investigating officers admitted yesterday that no arms or ammunition were found during the searches of homes and compounds.

It was also confirmed yesterday that no “foreign” arms and ammunition were recovered from the scene of the crime, despite the fact that three people were killed by more than one type of gun. It is said that Alexis was killed from the bullet of an AR15, which is a high-powered assault rifle.

On Sunday night, at the scene where Alexis was ambushed and killed along with his customer Kevin Escayg, of San Juan, and an assailant later identified as Thomas “Hamza” Sharpe, there were several teams of police officers from the Central Division, including the Task Force Unit, keeping a close watch on the activity.

Scores of relatives, residents and curious onlookers were seen standing along the main road and in front of Alexis' supermarket, 5K Mini Mart, for over eight hours, looking on as police officers from the Crime Scene Investigations Unit processed the scene.

The bodies were also only removed at about 12.40 am, which relatives described as “total disrespect.” Some felt as though the officers were callous to keep the bodies on the ground for over eight hours. After the bodies were removed, family and close friends dispersed.

The only vehicles seen throughout the rest of the night were unmarked and marked police vehicles that were conducting patrols in the area. No one was seen walking the streets and/or liming on the blocks, not even along some of the busiest streets in the area, including Freedom, Crown Trace, Walter Lane and Bhagalloo Streets.

As the day broke yesterday, the police patrols continued. In the morning period there was also aerial surveillance done by the National Operations Centre.

During a drive through Crown Trace yesterday, there were very few people seen out and about.

According to reports, Alexis, Scott and Escayg were standing in the yard of the carwash when a man, later identified as Sharpe, came onto the compound talking to Alexis. Sharpe was wearing a black wig and at some stage Alexis realised he knew him and said so. At this stage, however, a silver grey Almera stopped near them and its occupants opened fire.

Alexis, Scott and Escayg were shot several times before Alexis managed to draw a gun and shoot Sharpe before also getting off some shots at his attackers. The other gunmen eventually shot the trio several more times before they returned to the vehicle and drove away, leaving behind their wounded accomplice.

General manager of State-owned Magdalena Grand, Christopher Forbes, has vowed to remove several balisier flowers — the emblem of the People’s National Movement (PNM) — from a tent outside the Lowlands hotel after it became a political issue on Facebook over the weekend.

Yesterday, Forbes said he was “taken aback that this (balisier) has become an issue with anyone.”

The flowers were placed on a “window tent” Forbes said that shields employees and guests from the sunlight that enters the lobby of the four-star hotel. 

“It (flowers) have always been there since the hotel opened in June 2012. It’s a very popular plant or flower that grows in the entire Caribbean,” Forbes said, in defence of displaying it in the hotel.

“What happened they (employees) took it as a colourful flower like an anthurium because of its hue. If anybody is using this as a political agenda item then that is their problem. It was set up to block out the sun and give sufficient light to the area for our guests.”

The balisier which has been the emblem of the PNM since its inception was chosen by the party’s founder the late Dr Eric Williams for its ability to survive under any condition, rainy or dry season, and its long life.

Photographs of the red flowers in the hotel’s lobby, which were posted on Facebook on Sunday have generated mixed views from the public, with calls being made for it to be taken down, since its symbol represents the ruling PNM Government at a State enterprise.

Forbes was unaware of the Facebook post and admitted the hotel would not intentionally “do something like that. We at the Magdalena Grand represent all the people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Magdalena is nestled in Lowlands Tobago.

He said the flower which adds colour and beauty to the resort would have to be replaced with another exotic or ornamental plant.

“We are going to take it down when we have a replacement for it. We are going to look for another flower that is non-political and once we have that we will remove it,” he added.

Forbes could not say what flower they would chose as its replacement and within what time frame they would do so. “It would be done in a timely fashion,” he assured.

He said the flowers have been on display since the hotel was opened four years ago by then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

“The flowers have been there four years now. It was there for quite some time. It was never a problem before,” he added.

Yesterday, environmentalist and director of the Papa Bois Conservation, Stephen Broadbridge, said it was sad how politics dominates citizens in T&T.

“That very same politics refuses to release it stranglehold on the public and allow anything to function. There is always political interference on anything that you try to do with any party,” he added. Broadbridge said the day the result of an election was announced politics was supposed to end. He described the balisier as a specie of the heliconia and not a flower.

“They are called modified leaves. I even heard the PNM calling it a flower,” he said.

Political analyst Maukesh Basdeo described Forbes’ moves as politically sensitive.

“People probably see it as politically offensive in that context. I would take that the manager was just being politically sensitive, if he took the decision to remove it,” Basdeo said.

Basdeo said the balisier could be found throughout T&T and in some countries in the region.

“Because of the nature of the flower and its association to a political party the manager decided to remove it to avoid further controversy,” he said.

If the balisier was part of a floral arrangement, Basdeo said people might have overlooked the issue.

“But the fact that it stands on its own in a State enterprise hotel... funded by taxpayers money would cause people to talk and raise issues about it,” he said.

As mourners prepared to say farewell to Point Fortin gardener Kadeem Mark, who was shot dead a week ago, one of the men believed to be responsible for his murder was gunned down by police.

According to reports, Point Fortin CID and South Western Division Task Force went to arrest two men in a marijuana field in New Village, Point Fortin, around 6.45 am. One of the suspects ran but the other, who was identified as Ato Bailey, drew a shotgun and aimed it at the officers.

Taking action, the officers shot Bailey several times in the chest and neck. He was taken to the Point Fortin Area Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. His body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre where an autopsy was expected to be done. A shotgun with six rounds of 12-gauge ammunition was recovered from the scene. Police said Bailey, of Point Ligoure, Point Fortin, had several arrest warrants in his name for rape, robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm. 

Police sources said Bailey, who belonged to a drug gang, was a person of interest in Mark’s murder and several others in the Point Fortin and La Brea area. They said several other gang members are believed to be hiding out in the forest in Cap-de-Ville. 

Mark, 24, of Reid Road, Point Fortin, was believed to be a drug seller and owed money and a firearm to the gang, who threatened to kill him if he did not pay up. A passerby found his body at Spring Trace, Warden Road, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Police said Mark left home around 6 pm on Monday to feed his two pitbulls which were tied in a shed in Spring Trace garden. It was believed that while standing near the shed a lone gunman approached and shot him in the head as he tried to run. He was still wearing his father’s gold chain around his neck, causing police to rule out robbery as a motive.

His grandmother Melena Rauseo told the T&T Guardian that days before his death, he told his family someone wanted him dead and he was afraid to go into the garden alone. Mark told relatives he could not get anybody to go with him to the garden so he was taking a chance to go alone. She said he had planted ochro, peppers, pumpkin and bananas on the land. 

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard yesterday ordered police to release the 33-year-old woman who stabbed her common-law husband to death in an alcohol-fuelled argument last week. 

Gaspard gave the instructions after he reviewed the police file on the death of 46-year-old Neal Sharma, of Bamboo Settlement No 1, and decided that a coroner’s inquest should be conducted into his death. She was released by detectives of the Region Two Homicide Bureau, yesterday evening. 

In the inquest, a magistrate will be appointed as coroner, and will then review the circumstances surrounding Sharma’s death and determine if there is sufficient evidence to warrant the 33-year-old woman being charged with an offence. A date for the start of the inquest is yet to be set. 

Sharma died at his home last Tuesday night after he was stabbed in his chest by the woman. The couple were reportedly seen drinking at a bar in the community before Sharma was killed. 

During a three-hour interview at the Arouca Police Station last Friday, she reportedly claimed that she shared a turbulent relationship with Sharma and they would usually engage in violent arguments whenever they consumed alcohol. 

The suspect was represented by attorney Fareed Ali. 

Rosemarie Sant

GML Enterprise Desk

Former House Speaker Occah Seapaul is contemplating legal action against Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for allegations made by him that she was placed under house arrest in 1995 because she had publicly declared she was going to suspend other government members of Parliament following the suspension of Diego Martin Central MP Ken Valley, thereby reducing the government’s majority in the Parliament.

Rowley told the media last Thursday “we were not going to allow Speaker Seapaul to remove the mandate of a government that we earned from an election.” 

He explained that “she took it on herself to reduce the government majority so that the Government would fall. She suspended Ken Valley and said the next time the Parliament reopens, she would suspend, me (Rowley), (Wendell) Motley and (Keith) Sobion. 

“We took action as a government to protect ourselves from being suspended from Parliament by a Speaker who had gone rogue,” he added. 

But Seapaul is denying she ever indicated to anyone she had planned further suspensions following the suspension of Valley. 

She told the GML Enterprise Desk: “Dr Rowley is going to be very hard pressed to find any evidence of such an indication or declaration because I never made any such declaration and I never intended to put anybody out of the House.” 

She said it was only when Dr Rowley spoke last week that “I realised what motivated then, this untruth that I was going to move these men out.”

She laughed heartily when she reflected on Rowley saying she planned to remove Wendell Mottley. She asked: “How his name come up here? I can’t imagine how Dr Rowley came up with these names. I don’t know... somebody, somewhere concocted a story. I had absolutely no quarrel with these four people. Why would I have put them out of the House?” 

Seapaul recalled that prior to the state of emergency and her house arrest Sobion and then education Minister Augustus Ramrekersingh had come to her and told her the Prime Minister wanted her to vacate the chair.

She said: “I had very good relationships with both of them. I told them I am sorry I am not stepping down because I did nothing wrong.”

Seapaul is of the view that the then prime minister Patrick Manning who went to the acting President Emmanuel Carter to declare a limited state of emergency acted on the basis of hearsay. 

She said: “You don’t willy-nilly put people out of the House. It is now abundantly clear to me that whatever they went and presented to the President for the issue of the warrant were false allegations based on false premises.”

She said she had never been able to defend herself because everything that was said about her back then was under the cloak of parliamentary privilege “but 20 years later he is still perpetuating these falsehoods against me again. These are lies. A complete fabrication by person or persons for whatever means.”

Seapaul said she was now weighing her legal options because “20 years ago I could not have taken action because everything was said in Parliament and there was parliamentary privilege but 20 years later they still perpetuating these falsehoods against me. I now have to determine what to do. So I ask for legal redress or leave it to the higher universe for redress?” 

Seapaul said she had been left to wonder why the then President did not ask the relevant questions before agreeing to impose a limited state or emergency.

She believes if the substantive president Noor Hassanali was there he would have informed the Prime Minister that one could not act on hearsay evidence.

“As a former judge he would have asked if there was sworn testimony. Is there any affidavit sworn by people saying yes I heard her say she is going to remove them by virtue of this,” she added.

The moves to have her removed, she believed, also stemmed from a court matter involving Victor Jattan.

She said if the then government “had lost confidence in me because of what the magistrate said then they could have moved a motion of no confidence against me. That would have been in order and appropriate,” she added.

AUGUST 11, 1995 REVISITED (HANSARD)

In August 1995 days after the state of emergency the Parliament met to debate the President’s statement on the state of emergency.

Hansard quotes then AG Keith Sobion as saying “the member for St Joseph (Ramrekersingh) and the member for Ortoire/Mayaro (Sobion) were both warned, in no uncertain terms, that the question of their contempt of the Chair was deferred for further consideration. 

That was on the occasion when prepared scripts and extensive notes were used in relation to the speaker’s particular problem. 

What is clear is that there was a course of action taking place in this Parliament over a period of weeks which led one to the reasonable conclusion that action was being contemplated by the presiding officer against Members of this House and particularly against members sitting on the Government benches.

Sobion said he had no doubt that the President was concerned by what was taking place in the Parliament and had by Section 8(2)(c) of the Constitution, analysed the facts and circumstances which existed and had come to a reasonable conclusion and expressed his view in clear and unambiguous language saying: “As a consequence of these events I was satisfied that the public safety was endangered to an extent that warranted the declaration of a state of public emergency.”

But there was no indication from the Prime Minister or the then AG as to what evidence would have been put to the President to proclaim the state of emergency.

Then opposition leader Basdeo Panday took issue with this, telling the Parliament: 

“The President accepts that he is going to act on a possible aberration of the Prime Minister; something that he had a dream about, not evidence. 

“Where is the hard, cold evidence that the Speaker intended similarly to apply contempt charges against other Government ministers? Not a shred of evidence has come out in this Parliament today.“

A member of the Unruly ISIS Gang attempted to stop the burial of reputed gang leader Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis yesterday when he stormed into the Muslim cemetery at Monroe Road and pulled a gun on the gravediggers and ordered them to cover back the grave.

Gravediggers Imtiaz Mohammed, 58, and Omar Douglas, 54, described their experience as “horrifying.”

“We were digging the grave and the man just came up on us and pulled out a gun and pointed to us. He also knew where one of us lived and asked us if we wanted to live. He then told us to cover back up the grave which we did,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed said the gunman waited until the grave was covered and then left. A vehicle was waiting for him at the cemetery’s entrance.

Mohammed said as soon as the car drove off he called the police and told them what had just happened.

“The police came and stood guard while we dig back up the grave. The police stayed with us right through. We were real frightened but then okay when the police came with their guns,” Mohammed said.

Alexis’ body was subsequently brought to the Enterprise Community Masjid at Boodram Street, Chaguanas, under heavily-guarded police escort.

As the hearse pulled up near the gate of the mosque, members of the Unruly ISIS gang, simultaneously, were reportedly shooting up the air, ringing out “joy fire” in celebration of Alexis’ demise.

Back at the mosque there was a heavy police presence, including officers from the T&T Police Service’s Riot Squad, Special Branch and Guard and Emergency Branch. Also, keeping a watchful eye on the evening’s proceedings were members of the T&T Defence Force. Hovering overhead was a helicopter attached to the Ministry of National Security.

Several minutes after Alexis’ body was carried onto the compound of the mosque, Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, and his entourage of security walked in for the viewing of Alexis’ body.

When Abu Bakr reached up to the coffin he placed his hands together up to the chest and whispered a Dua (Islamic prayer) for his dear friend, Alexis.

Alexis, 51, was killed on Sunday while at his business place at Freedom Street, Enterprise. His hit was ordered by the Unruly ISIS gang and carried out by a senior member, Thomas “Hamza” Sharpe, who was himself killed by Alexis during the attack.

The T&T Guardian was told yesterday that after Alexis was killed, a senior member of the rival gang wrote on his Facebook wall: “Dead or alive mission accomplished.”

Speaking with the T&T Guardian, an unidentified member of the Unruly ISIS gang claimed that Alexis was an “oppressor” and they were left with no choice but to get rid of him.

“Robo served us injustice and oppressed us. Also, Abu Bakr and his men. All of them are oppressors that we intend to get rid of. It’s our goal. We, the youths, are being oppressed for too long,” the Unruly ISIS gang member said.

When asked about the claims of the gang later during Alexis’ funeral, Abu Bakr told the T&T Guardian that those claims were unheard of.

“We are not oppressors. My men in the red hats and boots are not oppressing you (directing to the T&T Guardian). No one is afraid of us,” Abu Bakr said.

Speaking with members of the media just before he left, Abu Bakr, referring to calls made to lock down the Enterprise community, said there was no need for the police to do so.

“Why would they want to cause discomfort to the residents in the area? It is grossly unfair,” Abu Bakr said.

A member close to Alexis told the T&T Guardian on Monday that he was killed because he was about to expose the gang and its links with members of the protective services in criminal enterprise.

Imam Taulib Searles, who officiated the funeral service, called on the community to understand the reality of what had happened and strive to do better for themselves and the community.