There are 15,042 people in T&T illegally—the majority of them being 1,015 Venezuelans, acting National Security Minister Dennis Moses confirmed yesterday.

He gave the figure in Parliament while replying to Opposition queries.

Moses said T&T had granted permanent residency to some 30,200 people up to May 2017.

However, between January 1 and May 1, 2017, he added there were 15,042 illegals. This comprised 1,015 Venezuelans, 326 Colombians, 217 from the Dominican Republic, 183 Chinese, 65 Guyanese, 39 Nigerians and 20 Jamaicans.

Moses also said heads of security have said no problem exists regarding the return of DNA results by foreign labs.

A newspaper had reported several probes were “hampered by delays” with this.

On another report, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said he’s asked the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) for a report on claims that over $100,000 was paid last year for security “sweeps” and personnel for the NLCB chairman after he got death threats.

Imbert said he found it to be a matter of concern.

Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe said she didn’t have figures to say how much revenue the Tobago Jazz Experience yielded from its $12 million budget.

She said it attracted mostly domestic tourism, with a total of 20,867 arrivals to Tobago.

Security levels at the Scarborough Port were raised to level two yesterday after a threat of a bomb came in at 7.19 am.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian under strict anonymity, a security officer said they received information that two men of East Indian descent, both heavily tattooed, were seen in a vehicle on the compound acting in a suspicious manner around that time. It was alleged these two men were in possession of an explosive device and were about to drive a vehicle onto the T&T Express with it inside.

Security officers immediately sprung into action, but the men were nowhere to be seen. Several vehicles were subsequently searched.

The Fire Service and Police Service’s Special Branch were called in and security was moved to level two, which meant no personnel or vehicles were allowed on the vessel until it is declared safe. A search exercise, spearheaded and conducted by FSO Anselm Williams, was conducted by no devices were found. The compound was declared safe at 8.25, the boarding of passengers restarted and the vessel departed Scarborough at 10.30 am.

However, the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Fusion Centre (SSAFC) is said to be monitoring the situation at the port up to last evening.

The security officer raised concerns about security measures at the port, noting, “This is a frightening time and we have to always be one step ahead in safety and security.”

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is contemplating putting an investigative team into the Port Authority of T&T to understand “exactly what is going on” concerning the port’s ferry service and to review the situation.

Rowley said so in Parliament yesterday in response to questions from United National Congress MP Ganga Singh on the PM’s ferry trip to Tobago last weekend.

Rowley said the trip was on the “T&T Express” ferry which has four engines. He said if all four are working the trip can be three and a half hours. But if three work it can be four hours and if it’s on two engines the trip is five and a half hours, he noted.

On the day he went, Rowley said the vessel was working on two engines. “That was understood before leaving. We left at 4 pm and arrived at 9.20 pm,” the PM said.

He said the situation wasn’t entirely news to him, since it was public knowledge Government has been having considerable difficulty with the ferry service lately due to breakdowns, an indication of poor maintenance and the skipping of dry docking maintenance.

Rowley added, “Most shockingly, I discovered—in conversations with port management—that for the last 11 years we’d hired operators of the ferry service and at the end of the 11 years, when that arrangement was changed to local management, one difficulty we face now with breakdowns is that the port doesn’t have control or access to the ferries’ maintenance record for the last 11 years.”

He said while the port hired help to run the service, no arrangement was made to bring the maintenance up to date or put in port archives.

“So now we’re in situation where we have to build a record of maintenance 0f service. That’s an unacceptable state of affairs. We had to return to the manufacturers for technical expertise to handle the situation when the ferries are dry-docked,” he said.

“I read a report showing a series of operational difficulties with the ferries, some quite serious—regarding steering gear and introduction of water into the system that shouldn’t be there.”

He said both ferries require urgent, extensive overhaul and the port has been told to find an interim vessel for the sea bridge which should be in place by month-end

He added, “It’s clear the relevant information required for proper port operation and some of the systems in the port, including management and other kinds of systems, require serious overhaul and there’s some significant difficulty getting relevant information on the port.

“As a result of that, I’m contemplating asking the Minister of Transport to put into the port an investigative team to understand exactly what’s going on at the port with respect to the ferry service.”

He said it is Government’s intention to get the Tobago House of Assembly involved in the exercise as well, but added that Works Minister Rohan Sinanan will say soon what action will be taken .

On another note, asked whether he was satisfied with Sports Minister Darryl Smith’s explanations for expenditure incurred on the recent Tobago trip, Rowley said he has very high standards which very difficult to be satisfied.

He added it may very well be, given the high standards he maintained and expected, that this may not be the only matter that “hasn’t met my satisfaction.”

Admitting the age or experience of a minister isn’t an excuse for non-performance, he said, “However, having accepted portfolio responsibilities, and that requirement is being met from time to time, we’ll review what’s being done internally and if external help is required, that’s brought in. But with cabinet responsibilities, you’re always exposed to learning as you go forward in dispensing public service.

Former regiment officer turned criminal, Eddie Phillip, begged for help before being murdered in Chaguanas yesterday.

Residents of Gail Trace, off Caparo Valley Road, Palmiste, Chaguanas, said they heard a voice screaming, “Oh God help meh! They go kill meh” before they heard gunshots around 10 am.

Eyewitnesses told the T&T Guardian that Phillip screamed for help as he dragged himself along the roadway on his buttocks as his hands and feet were bound with tie straps.

Phillip, who was locked in the trunk of a red Opel sedan, managed to jump out as his abductors were driving along the Caparo Valley Road, residents said.

Residents described the killers saying one of the men was bald headed, skinny and wore a shirt and pants while his accomplice was a stocky built man.

After shooting Phillip the killers abandoned the car and ran in the direction of Cashew Gardens. One resident said the area is usually a quiet area.

A senior police officer said Phillip was an informant in the past.

In 2011, Phillip popularised the phrases “strength and powers” and “one is one” during an interview with Crime Watch host Ian Alleyne on his way to surrender to police.

He was being sought by police then in connection with armed robbery and possession of a machine gun at his Diamond Village, Claxton Bay, home.

The video of the surrender amassed 88,000 views on YouTube.

The tape spawned a Facebook page in Phillip’s name, a skit by Jason JW Williams playing Alleyne and Kevaughn “Lurbz” Savory playing Phillip. A song was also recorded with the hook being the “one is one” catch-phrase.

Phillip was also charged with kidnapping, robbery, common assault, possession of military uniforms and possession of a prohibited weapon—an Italian-made machine gun.

Those matters are still pending and Phillip was out on bail.

Prison officials had also launched an investigation after a photograph of Phillip taken in jail was circulated on Facebook after his arrest.

Prison officials could not say what, if anything, came out of the investigation.

Phillip became the 224th person to be killed for the year.

A week after an ammonia gas cylinder exploded at Massy Gas Products (Trinidad) Ltd one of two workers injured died at the Southern Medical Clinic in San Fernando yesterday.

Gary Mohammed, 32, of Mon Desir in South Oropouche was on duty around midday at the company’s facility in Savonetta, Couva on May 31, when the cylinder exploded, striking him and his co-worker. He suffered massive internal injuries. The other worker, who has not been identified, remains warded in a serious but stable condition at the clinic.

In a statement Massy’s corporate communications manager Candace Ali said the cylinder contained anhydrous ammonia. She said that the cylinder was previously filled and was being held in storage for sale.

Both employees were taken to the Augustus Long Hospital in Pointe-a-Pierre for emergency treatment. They were subsequently transferred to the Southern Medical Clinic where they were treated by a specialist team of doctors.

Ali said Mohammed developed complications whilst being warded and he succumbed to his injuries around 11 am yesterday.

Mohammed said employees of the Massy Group was deeply saddened by Mohammed’s death and the company will continue to lend support to the families of the two workers. She said both the Occupational Safety and Health Authority and the police were informed of the incident and investigations were ongoing.

During an interview, Mohammed’s father, Kelvin Mohammed, said the death of his son was unexpected.

“I thought my son would get better. He was trying to move around and talk. He was not burnt. He got some lash and inside his body was inflamed,” Kelvin said.

His brother Richard called for a detailed investigation into the death.

The Office of President Anthony Carmona says the vacancy of deputy director at the Police Complaints Authority has not yet been filled because neither the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley or Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar submitted any recommendations for the post.

In a statement sent yesterday by communications adviser to the President, Theron Boodan noted that the director and deputy director of the PCA are not appointed on the sole discretion of the President but instead are appointed as a result of joint advice from the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in accordance with section 6(1) of the Police Complaints Authority Act.

It’s been exactly one month since the deputy director Andrew Stroude resigned to pick up a post as a member of the Industrial Court but so far the Office of the President has been unable to fill the vacancy.

Boodan said Stroude’s letter of resignation took effect from May 8 and on the same day of his resignation, the Office of the President sent a dispatch to Rowley and Persad-Bissessar informing them of the vacancy.

“President Anthony Carmona dispatched a letter to both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition informing them of Mr Stroude’s resignation and the requirement of section 6(1) of the Police Complaints Authority Act, for joint consultation. We did what was necessary and we now await recommendations from both parties,” Boodan said.

According to the PCA Act Section 6:1, the deputy director to be appointed by the President on the joint advice of the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition. The person appointed as a deputy director must have at least 10 years experience as an attorney-at-law and can be appointed from within the Commonwealth.

“Both parties are required to submit recommendations to the President and following consultation, the appointment is finalised,” Boodan said.

In the meantime, all PCA investigations about police corruption and malpractice have been put on hold.

On Wednesday, Director of the PCA David West said that the three recent police killings of Daniel Paul, 28, of Ste Madeleine, Raymond Joseph, 51, of Mahaica Road, Point Fortin on April 1 and Paul Marchan on March 16 in Diego Martin, cannot be investigated unless a deputy director was appointed.

Paul was shot dead for throwing stones last Monday. On April 1, Joseph was shot after he allegedly attempted to grab the gun of a municipal police officer who had assisted in taking him to the Area Hospital. On March 16, Marchan, 30, was shot dead by officers of the Western Division Task Force who responded to reports he was acting in a deranged manner.

West said while the PCA is continuing to receive complaints, no investigations can be done.

Stroude, a former magistrate, was appointed for a five year term as deputy director of the PCA in March last year. However, ten months after he accepted the appointment, Stroude was appointed as a member of the Industrial Court, following a Cabinet decision in December.

Retired Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim has died in London. He was 82.

Ibrahim migrated to Birmingham to live with his daughter Karima, following the passing of his wife two years ago. He died on Thursday night.

Sources close to Ibrahim told the T&T Guardian that he had been ailing for some time and recently underwent a surgical procedure, from which he never recovered.

In extending condolences to the relatives of Ibrahim, former Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide recalled that his first interaction with Ibrahim was “when I appeared before him when I was in private practice.”

He said “it was always a pleasure to do a case before him. He had a very quick mind and a pleasant personality.”

De la Bastide would go on to become Chief Justice, and the two would sit together at the Court of Appeal.

The former Chief Justice said “those qualities which I saw when I was a lawyer appearing before him, served him in good stead in the Court of Appeal.”

He said Ibrahim “wrote or contributed too many important judgments.”

Although the two did not keep in touch after Ibrahim retired in the year 2000, de la Bastide said, “he will be remembered by many in the legal profession with affection and respect.”

Another retired judge who worked with Ibrahim said, “he was a very nice man. We shared a lot of judicial camaraderie. He was a first class criminal judge.”

Ibrahim served as a High Court judge in T&T for 10 years before he was elevated to the Court of Appeal where he served for another decade.

He left the T&T Judiciary in the year 2000 just short of his retirement and took up a five-year stint in the Bahamas Court of Appeal, following which he returned to Trinidad.

His retirement was short-lived as he was approached by then Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma shortly after his return from the Bahamas to sit as a temporary judge to clear up the backlog in the civil courts.

His service as a temporary Judge ended after three years.

But his retirement was again delayed when he was approached to sit on a Commission of Inquiry to investigate a series of matters associated with the former St Lucia Party Government of Dr Kenny Anthony.

In January 2015 he was appointed as Chairman of the Las Alturas Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the entire process which led to the construction of the Las Alturas Towers at Lady Young Gardens, Morvant.

Two multi-storey units of the housing project began falling apart after construction and the $26 million towers were earmarked for demolition.

Its findings were laid in Parliament and became the subject of a legal challenge from former UDeCOTT chairman Calder Hart who the report found should be held responsible for the failed $26 million towers.

Hart labelled the report as “procedurally flawed” and “defective in substance.”

Justice Ibrahim also headed the investigative team to probe the death of baby Simeon Cottle, whose head was slashed from ear to ear at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

The former High Court and Appeal Court Judge leaves to mourn his two children—Karima and Khalil—and six grand children.

Former LifeSport coordinator Rajaee Ali claims that moments before the deadly Port-of-Spain prison break in 2015, he tried to warn prison authorities about the incident with the hope of stopping it. Ali was an inmate at the Port-of-Spain prison at the time of the incident.

Ali claimed that he told the Port-of-Spain prison supervisor, acting Superintendent of Prisons Wilbert Lovell that he knew something “dangerous and foolish” was being planned.

However, 15 minutes after his warning, Ali claimed prisoners Allan ‘Scanny’ Martin, Hassan Atwell, and Christopher ‘Monster’ Selby, shot their way out of the Port-of-Spain prison.

Ali’s claims are made in a statement he submitted on August 19, 2015, to acting Assistant Commissioner of Prison Operations Dennis Pulchan who was appointed to the investigate the deadly prison break.

In 2007 Ali himself had been involved in an escape from the Golden Grove prison in Arouca, when he and two others reportedly used hacksaw blades to cut through the bars of their cells. Ali claimed he tried to warn the prison authorities of the 2015 escape.

On July 24, 2015, Martin, Atwell, and Selby broke out of the Port-of-Spain prison. Police officer Sherman Maynard was killed during the incident while prison officer Leon Rouse was shot and wounded.

Martin was killed during a shoot-out with law enforcement, and Atwell was murdered after hiding out in Port-of-Spain. Selby eventually surrendered to officers at the Barataria Police Station.

Lovell, and Prison Officer IIs Lancelot Duntin and Mervyn Pierre are currently on suspension for their alleged roles in the prison break.

A disciplinary tribunal has been appointed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to probe the conduct of the three officers suspended as a result of the deadly prison break in Port-of-Spain.

Statements by Ali and other prison officers on duty at the time of the incident have been submitted as part of the evidence in the ongoing tribunal. The Sunday Guardian has obtained copies of these statements.

Ali a remand inmate at time of jail break

At the time of the prison break Ali was a remand inmate at the Port-of-Spain prison in the “F1 Division” in solitary confinement.

He was in prison charged with conspiring to murder radio DJ Kevaughn “Lurbz” Savory on November 27, 2014.

According to his statement, Ali claimed that on July 24, 2015 around 12.08 pm, “based on certain information” he had he requested to see the Superintendent at the Port-of-Spain prison. Ali’s request was made through Prison Officer I Barclay Toussaint at the F1 division.

“I told him I need to see someone in charge ASAP (as soon as possible).

He made a call to the chief and said the chief said when he is making rounds, he will check me,” Ali said in his statement. “The chief” Toussaint called was Acting Prison Supervisor Francis Fournillier.

Fournillier was doing a bail document for a prisoner at the time that Toussaint called him. Ali claimed that after “deliberating” for five minutes, he called Toussaint back and said the information he had “was really important”.

Toussaint left and returned with Fournillier. According to Fournillier’s statement, Ali told him “Boss, I am not an informer but something will happen by the visit room with Scanny and Hassan. Ali said, “I told (Fournillier) that something dangerous is about to take place and I need to see someone in charge to stop it.” Ali was taken to Lovell’s office.

“I told (Lovell) what is about to happen has something to do with the visits and if there was a list with Hassan or Scanny or other Muslims on the list he should stop it or bring them out separate,” Ali said.

Lovell then made a telephone call to Duntin, Ali said. Duntin was said to be in charge of visits that day.

Ali claimed Lovell asked Duntin which Muslims had visits scheduled.

Ali claimed he did not hear Duntin’s response but heard Lovell repeat the names Martin and Atwell. Lovell told Duntin to “split them up and don’t bring them out together,” Ali claimed.

“When he hang up I told him based on things I heard and conversations with Hassan and my little brother Ishmael Ali I believed that they were planning something dangerous and foolish,” he claimed.

Lovell asked him if he had any more information, Ali claimed.

Ali said he was “not sure” exactly what was going to take place but he knew it was going to be related to the prison visits of that day.

New padlocks received and replaced

Ali claimed that he spoke with Lovell for “about five minutes” before Duntin came to take him for his planned visit.

When Ali went to the visit area he saw “Scanny standing there as if his visit had already finished”.

“I didn’t see Hassan so I assumed he stayed inside,” Ali said. Ali’s brother Ishmael refused his visit that day, Prisons Officer I Jerard Dayal said in his statement.

Ali said he “went straight to the barrister room” where he had a visit with his wife.

“After about ten minutes into the visit I started to hear gunshots, and an officer came into the room and said look Hassan and Scanny escaping,” Ali said. Fournillier said while in the process of doing a handing over to acting supervisor Samuel Ramudit, he heard loud explosions coming from the prison’s main gate.

“I looked and saw smoke coming through the inner gate. I did not see any inmate in the courtyard apart from Ali who was still seated in the barrister room,” Fournillier said.

“I heard some more loud explosions and thought that people were shooting their way into the prison,” he said. According to Prisons Service Driver George Herbert statement, he saw Scanny with a firearm in his hand while Atwell pulled a pistol from his visit bag.

Ramudit grabbed his firearm and ran to the gate, Fournillier said. Acting Prison Officer II Owen Diamond escorted Ali’s wife to the visit area where “all civilians were being housed after the incident”.

Ali claimed that after sitting in the room for “about five minutes an officer came and instructed them to put me in my cell”. When Ali was escorted back to his cell, he turned to Toussaint and claimed, “I try to warn them but they don’t want to listen”.

Fournillier said he saw “spent shells within the inner and outer gates and within the gate lodge.

Immediately the entire prison was locked down and I issued firearms to officers to work by the gate.

“All firearms and ammunition was accounted for and all keys, except the padlock keys for the inner and outer gates. New padlocks were received and replaced those for which the keys were taken.”

Days after the prison break on July 27, Ali was charged with the ten others for the May 2014 killing of former senior counsel Dana Seetahal.

Amid the controversy last week involving High Court judge Justice Frank Seepersad, senior legal members of the Judiciary who are close to him said he has a broad back and has done his job to the best of his ability.

However, they said like most professionals in the judicial system, they strongly believed that the Judiciary is the only institution in the country that is working despite its many flaws. “From the time public confidence is lost, it’s best we start killing each other in the streets. That’s where we are heading...on the brink of anarchy,” one senior officer said.

Another member said there was a level of irresponsibility by the media which could further erode the public’s confidence in the Judiciary as an institution. “People are not thinking and not looking at the facts. The media should not be legitimising comments off of social media. That type of discussion is so irresponsible.”

Concerns were raised last week after a third case against the State appeared before Seepersad and his ability to speedily deliver a judgment in a late-night hearing. Two of the cases in which he ruled were overturned in the Court of Appeal. In December 2014, Seepersad granted an emergency injunction to freeze SIS’s assets.

He also delivered a landmark judgment against the People’s Partnership in the Invaders Bay matter brought by Afra Raymond. It was upheld by the Court of Appeal. Another officer said nobody should tell a judge how to engage his professional obligations in a way that is effective and efficient. Each judge is assigned a judicial research officer and judicial support officer to assist in preparing judgments.

“Justice Seepersad has a strong work ethic and is able to deliver written judgments in no time. Just look at the case involving calypsonian Fya Empress (Lornette Nedd-Reid) during Carnival. That was a late-night judgment but there were no questions on how he did it then?” Another senior officer said before jumping to conclusions, the public needed to understand that there were processes for the manner in which things are done. “Disagree with the judgment, say you don’t understand the logic of the judgment, but don’t criticise the judge. Social media is getting to the stage where people feel they could say a judge is biased...that is criminally actionable by way of contempt.”

Another officer who said he knew Seepersad as a young attorney said he has always been fearless. “Since he became a judge he has done his job to the best of his ability. He doesn’t have a closet filled with skeletons for him to be fearful nor is he prepared to have his reputation tarnished and more importantly the Judiciary, as a body, tarnished.”

Marcia Ayers-Caesar says her removal as a High Court Judge is “unlawful and unconstitutional” as she was put under pressure to resign. Because of this, Ayers-Caesar says her resignation letter is “of no legal effect”.

Ayers-Caesar made the statements in a tell-all letter to President Anthony Carmona dated May 19. The Sunday Guardian was able to obtain a copy of the letter to Carmona (see full letter on pages A6, A7 & A12) and another one sent to the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC).

It is the first time Ayers-Caesar’s side of the story is being heard by the public.

In her letter, Ayers-Caesar said it was with a “deep sense of regret and personal disquiet” that she had to tell Carmona the circumstances surrounding her resignation letter to him.

Ayers-Caesar was this country’s former chief magistrate.

On April 10, two days before she was set to be appointed as a High Court judge, Chief Justice Ivor Archie called her and asked her if she had any part-heard matters, Ayers-Caesar said. Ayers-Caesar said she was “surprised” by Archie’s request “as I assumed that he would know that an office holder at the level of Chief Magistrate would have part-heard matters”.

She also said it was not a “straightforward task to respond quickly to” the amount of part-heard matters before her.

On April 11 Ayers-Caesar said she went to the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court’s Note Taking Unit and discovered she had 28 part-heard matters there. She compiled a list and sent it to Archie.

On April 12 she was sworn in as a High Court judge by Carmona.

Ayers-Caesar said on April 25 she was called into a meeting with Archie where acting Chief Magistrate Maria Earle Busby-Caddle produced a list showing that she had 52 part-heard matters.

Ayers-Caesar met with Archie the following day, April 26, and “at no point did the Chief Justice ask me any questions about the matters on the revised list of 52 cases” she said.

She met with Archie again on April 27 where he informed her that the JLSC held an emergency meeting and decided that she should resign as a judge or have her appointment revoked.

“I understood the Chief Justice to be informing me that a decision was made and that I had no choice but to resign,” she said.

Her resignation letter was already prepared and a meeting with Carmona for her to present that letter was already planned, she said.

Ayers-Caesar said she was “inconsolable” when she heard this.

She, however, signed the resignation letter. However, she said she was unable to get legal advice before she did that.

“I was distraught and I felt that I had no real choice but to sign the letter and accede to the resignation,” she said.

“By now, it had been made clear to me that my resignation had already been orchestrated, and that this was a done deal,” Ayers-Caesar said.

Ayers-Caesar said under the circumstance her resignation was a “constructive dismissal, or rather, constructive removal from office”.

She said she was not given a chance to respond to the JLSC’s allegations against her.

One of those allegations levelled against Ayers-Caesar by the JLSC is that she dismissed 16 cases at the Couva Magistrates’ Court on March 22.

Ayers-Caesar said she “wholly refuted” the accusation that this was “unusual” or the suggestion that there was some impropriety involved in doing this.

She asked Carmona to acknowledge that her “removal from office was unlawful and unconstitutional and can have no legal effect”.

She said according to Section 137 of the Constitution of the Republic of T&T a judge can only be removed from office for misbehaviour and an inability to perform the function of office.

Ayers-Caesar said she was “not guilty of anything that could sensibly be said to amount to misbehaviour”.

“I dispute the charges against me, and I deny that I have acted in breach of my professional duties or in a way that calls into question my competence to be appointed as a judge,” she said.

She claimed that the JLSC acted in breach of the rules of natural justice in putting her under pressure to resign and without giving her a chance to respond to their accusations.

Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence-Maharaj last week said he was in consultation with Ayers-Caesar and he believes that she is in law still a High Court judge.

He did not say whether she would be taking legal action.

Ayers-Caesar’s letter was also forwarded to Archie and the JLSC.

Meanwhile, in the letter to the JLSC on May 25, Ayers-Caesar stated, “I am not aware of anything that prohibits a High Court judge from sitting as a magistrate, if this is appropriate. It is on that basis that I would be prepared, whilst sitting and performing my duties as a puisne judge of the High Court, to sit, in addition, as a magistrate, for the purpose of completing the part-heard matters.

“I would expect that within the next few days, if the Judicial and Legal Services Commission agrees with this position, that I will be informed in writing of that agreement.”

CJ ARCHIE AND THE JLSC’S STATEMENTS

On April 27, 2017, a statement from Chief Justice Ivor Archie said Marcia Ayers-Caesar “failed to manage the transition from the magistracy to the High Court in a way which ensured that undue hardship was not placed on stakeholders”.

Archie also noted that Ayers-Caesar “departed from established practice whereby successful candidates ensured they have fulfilled all outstanding professional obligations before advising the commission of their availability for appointment to the High Court”.

“The Chief Justice and the JLSC were not made aware of the full extent of her obligation before the Lower Court before his Excellency fixed the date for the swearing-in of Mrs Ayers-Caesar,” Archie said.

On May 9 the JLSC issued a statement saying it felt obligated to put on record the “factual matrix” surrounding the appointment and eventual resignation of Ayers-Caesar

“It should be reiterated that Mrs Ayers-Caesar had a professional duty to conclude matters as far as reasonably possible before taking up office,” the JLSC stated.

In its statement the JLSC highlighted the 16 cases Ayers-Caesar dismissed in the Couva Magistrate and the “unusual nature of this action”.

The JLSC said that Ayers-Caesar would “not be presiding on the magisterial bench while the JLSC gives further consideration to the several issue raised”.

Archie did not respond to calls and text messages to his cell phone yesterday evening.

His Excellency

Mr Anthony Thomas

Carmona, ORTT, SC

President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Office of the President,

St Ann’s

Port-of-Spain.

19th May, 2017

Your Excellency,

RE: Resignation

as Puisne Judge of

the High Court

With utmost respect, please allow me to refer to the matter at caption.

It is with a deep sense of regret and personal disquiet, that the time has come for me to place on record the circumstances under which I was made to tender my resignation, to Your Excellency, as a Puisne Judge of the High Court. I also wish to respond to allegations made against me in public statements made by the Chief Justice and by the JLSC. I am sending a copy of this letter to the Chief Justice and the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (“JLSC”).

1. In a statement made on the day of my resignation on 27 April, 2017, the Chief Justice said: that I failed to manage the transition from the Magistracy to the High Court in a way which ensured that undue hardship was not placed on stakeholders; I had departed from established practice whereby successful candidates ensured they have fulfilled all outstanding professional obligations before advising the JLSC of their availability for appointment; and that the Chief Justice and the JLSC were not made aware of the full extent of my outstanding obligations before His Excellency fixed the date for my swearing in.

2. In a media release published on 9 May, 2017, the JLSC made a statement on the circumstances surrounding my resignation and elaborated on the charges made against me. If I may paraphrase, the JLSC’s case against me was put as follows:

1) As part of the recruitment process I would have been asked when I would be free to take up a position as a judge, given my existing professional commitments.

2) At some point during the recruitment process (it is not clear when this is said to have taken place, but it seems before the date for my swearing-in was fixed) the Chief Justice sought and received from me an assurance that I was not leaving behind a body of work that would negatively impact the Judiciary or my colleagues.

3) On 10 April, 2017, the Chief Justice contacted me to ask me about my caseload. In a conversation and in the form of a list compiled of outstanding matters part heard by me, I gave the Chief Justice an account of my existing caseload, omitting any mention of how serious each case was, listing 28 cases.

4) This account was at odds with a fuller list produced for the Chief Justice after an audit by the Acting Chief Magistrate, which suggested that I had materially and misleadingly understated the number and complexity of the cases outstanding.

5) The Chief Justice convened an emergency meeting of the JLSC on 28 April, 2017, which agree that if this was correct, it called into question my competence to assume the post of High Court Judge (and, it appears, would have been a breach of my professional duties).

6) The JLSC determined that this was sufficiently grave to warrant disciplinary proceedings, but decided to give me the option of returning to the Magistrate’s bench.

7) The Chief Justice on 28 April, 2017, asked me to consider my options and I resigned, “as a means of acknowledging my default”.

3. I wish to set out my position on these matters. In summary, there are four main points I wish to make.

4. First, my ‘resignation’ was in effect my dismissal by the JLSC. I was presented with no option but to resign, in light of what I was told the JLSC had already decided what to do about my conduct.

5. Second, at no stage before that decision was I given an opportunity to answer the charges now made publicly against me. They were not put to me before I was informed of the decision to require my resignation.

6. Third, I dispute the charges against me, and I deny that I have acted in breach of my professional duties or in a way that calls into question my competence to be appointed as a judge.

7. Fourth, I believe that the termination of my appointment as a High Court judge was unlawful.

My recruitment as a High Court judge

8. I responded to an advertisement for new applicants in April 2016 and sat an examination on 12 January, 2017. I attended an interview before the interviewing panel of the JLSC on 17 January, 2017. I attended psychometric testing on 7 February, 2017.

9. On 17 March, 2017, I was informed by the JLSC by email that I had been selected for appointment and that my swearing-in would take place in mid April. This was then changed (by email of 29 March) to 18 April 2017, and then yet again (by email on 6 April) to 12 April. At no stage in this process was I asked about my part-heard matters or existing caseload.

10. On 22 March, 2017, I dismissed 16 outstanding cases at Couva Magistrates’ Court. In the JLSC’s press statement it is said that this was unusual, with a suggestion that there was some impropriety involved. I wholly refute this. In two of the matters which were listed before me, I exercised my discretion pursuant to Section 71 (1) (a) of the Summary Courts Act, Chapter 4:20, not to impose fines on the respective defendants, however they were ordered to pay compensation to the victims in the matter. In two matters, in which there was no appearance of complainants, witnesses or state attorneys, and no reasonable explanation proffered to me for their absence, I exercised my discretion pursuant to Section 59 of the Summary Courts Act to dismiss these matters for want of prosecution. In two other matters, namely Police-v-Nizam Ali

and Police-v-Shandell Noel, in which there was no appearance of the complainants, witnesses or state attorneys, I again exercised my discretion pursuant to Section 59 and dismissed the matters. The defendants then withdrew their respective cross charges. There was also listed for hearing on that day an inquest. This matter was adjourned to another date and subsequently dismissed.

My caseload

11. On 10 April, 2017, the Chief Justice contacted me by telephone and for the first time enquired whether or not I had any part-heard matters. I indicated to him that I did and His Lordship for the first time asked me to tell him how many. I undertook to have that information available to him the next day.

12. There are two things I would say about this. First, I was surprised by the Chief Justice’s question as I assumed that he would know that an office holder at the level of Chief Magistrate would have part-heard matters. In addition, there is a Court Statistical Unit which collates monthly reports on each judicial officer and then submits them to the Chief Justice.

13. Second, it was not a straightforward task to respond quickly to the request for information. On 11 April, 2017, upon my arrival for duty at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, I asked the Note Taking Unit there to provide me with a list of all of my matters. (The files in respect of any matter heard by any magistrate, including the Chief Magistrate, are kept in the Note Taking Section of the respective court). The unit provided me with a list of 28 matters which simply stated the number and names of the parties. I reviewed the list and identified the status of each matter from my memory, and compiled a list which I sent that afternoon to the Chief Justice.

14. The Chief Justice called me that evening and asked me if I had sent the list. I said that I had, and he found it among his papers. He then asked me about a matter, Police v Ramchand Lutchmedial, which did not appear on my list, and I told him about the status of that matter, from my recollection. I infer from that question that he had a further source of information about my outstanding case work.

15. The next day, 12 April, 2017, I was sworn in as a High Court judge.

The circumstances of my dismissal

16. On 25 April, 2017, I attended a meeting with the Chief Justice and the Acting Chief Magistrate. The Chief Justice informed me that the Acting Chief Magistrate was in the process of compiling a list which showed that there were more outstanding matters than I had indicated in my list compiled on 11 April, 2017. The Acting Chief Magistrate said that she had spoken to some of the other magistrates who had agreed to deal collectively with the part-heard matters. The Chief Justice indicated that he was trying to find a solution to the problem of outstanding part-heard matters.

17. We agreed to meet the next day. The Acting Chief Magistrate indicated that she would continue her enquiries into any other part-heard matters outstanding and the Chief Justice advised her to forward to me the list so that I could comment on it. That night I received a list of part heard matters prepared by the Acting Chief Magistrate. There were 52 matters on the list. This was more than had been on the list I had previously sent, but because of the short notice I had been given, and the volume of my workload, I had not been able to remember all the matters when I compiled that list.

18. On 26 April, 2017, I met the Chief Justice and we were joined by Ms Pierre, his administrative secretary. Ms Pierre suggested that it was possible that I could return to the Magistracy to complete the part-heard matters. The Acting Chief Magistrate then joined us and the Chief Justice enquired as to her position. She said that she was of the view that whoever has started an enquiry must finish it. She also said that she had verified from the Arima and Couva Courts that I had no outstanding part-heard matters there. At no point did the Chief Justice ask me any questions about the matters on the revised list of 52 cases.

19. It was agreed that the parties would meet again on the following day, 27 April, 2017, at 3.30 pm. I left the meeting under the impression that the Chief Justice was interested in finding a workable solution to the matter.

20. On 27 April, 2017, I met the Chief Justice in a private audience at my request a few minutes before the scheduled meeting, to show him some legal authorities which I hoped would provide some assistance. Ms Pierre then joined us. At that point the Chief Justice informed me that the JLSC had met in an emergency meeting earlier on the day and had decided that either I tender my resignation as a judge or the JLSC would be advising the President to revoke my appointment and that I return to the Magistracy in order to complete my part-heard matters.

21. I understood the Chief Justice to be informing me that a decision was made and that I had no choice but to resign. He told me that an appointment was already sought for me to go to President’s House to deliver my resignation, a media statement announcing my resignation was already prepared for me to sign, and a separate media statement would also be released by him.

22. The Chief Justice left the meeting and went to an inner room to take a phone call. In his absence Ms Pierre came to my side and tried to console me but I was inconsolable. She said that His Lordship had told her that when I completed my part-heard matters I would be reappointed to the bench as a High Court judge.

23. The Chief Justice returned to tell me that the phone call he had just taken was from the President, who was expecting me at 5.30 pm for the purpose of submitting my resignation. He told me to accompany Ms Pierre to her office to sign the letter of resignation and media release which had been prepared for me to sign.

24. At Ms Pierre’s office she prepared for me a resignation letter and gave it to me. She also gave me a media release under my name which had already been prepared. I read both documents and when asked by Ms Pierre as to whether I was satisfied, I replied “whatever”. I then signed the resignation letter. I was distraught and I felt that I had no real choice but to sign the letter and accede to my resignation. By now it had been made clear to me that my resignation had already been orchestrated, and that this was a done deal.

25. I did not have any legal advice before I signed the resignation letter and I was not given the option to have any legal advice.

26. In the circumstances, it is clear to me my ‘resignation’ was a constructive dismissal, or rather, constructive removal from office. I was told that if I did not resign the JLSC would recommend to the President that my appointment be revoked. In the law of Trinidad and Tobago, if an employee is given the choice of resigning or being dismissed, then she is treated as having been dismissed. The same applies to office holders. The effect of the JLSC’s actions was to dismiss me from my post.

27. Further, none of the allegations justifying my removal set out in the statements of the Chief Justice and the JLSC were put to me for a response before my dismissal, and I was given no opportunity to say anything in my defence. In particular it was not put to me that I had acted unprofessionally in failing to maintain or to provide a full record of my outstanding matters, or that I had (whether intentionally or not) misled the Chief Justice and the JLSC, or that these matters would disqualify me from sitting as a High Court judge.

28. These failings are compounded now by the fact that they are presented after the event as the justification for my removal from office. The effect is that I am now publicly condemned by the JLSC for the alleged breaches without a hearing, and I am said to have acknowledged them.

My complaint

29. In the circumstances, it is my belief that my purported removal was unlawful and unconstitutional, and my resignation letter is of no legal effect.

30. By s.137 (1) of the Constitution, a judge can be removed from office only for inability to perform the functions of office, or for misbehaviour, and further, she cannot be removed except in accordance with the remaining subsections of s.137. Just focussing on this point alone, I do maintain, with great respect, that I was not guilty of anything that could sensibly be said to amount to misbehaviour (there is no question of inability to perform the functions of office), and so for this reason alone my effective removal from office was unlawful.

31. Further, by s.137(2) the President is empowered to remove a judge from office only where the question of removal for inability to perform, or misbehaviour, has been referred to the Judicial Committee, and the Judicial Committee has advised the President that she should be removed. Clearly, this has not happened here.

32. Further, by s.137(3) of the Constitution, the President cannot even refer the question of removal to the Judicial Committee unless (a) the JLSC represents to him that the matter should be investigated, (b) he then sets up a tribunal to look into it, and (c) the tribunal recommends that he should refer the question of removal to the Judicial Committee.

33. However, self-evidently none of these steps in s.137(2) and (3) were taken, and so for this further reason my removal is unlawful.

34. Finally, at all stages of the process, the requirements of the laws of natural justice must be followed. In particular, even before making a representation to the President that the question of removal be investigated, the JLSC must treat the judge fairly by informing her of the proposed representation and the matters giving rise to it, and giving her a chance to rebut them: see the famous case of Rees v Crane [1994] 2 AC 173.

35. I believe it follows that:

1) The JLSC made a decision to recommend my removal to your Excellency the President, which decision was unlawful and outside its constitutional powers, because I was not guilty of misbehaviour, and further, it set at nought the fundamental protections in s.137 of the Constitution.

2) In any event, for the same reasons, the consequent pressure put upon me by the JLSC to resign was unlawful and unconstitutional, as was the apparent orchestration of my removal by the Chief Justice on behalf of the JLSC (ie, by arranging the appointment with your Excellency for me to take to you the letter of resignation).

3) The JLSC acted in breach of the rules of natural justice in making a decision to seek my resignation, or putting me under pressure to resign, without putting the case against me or even warning me of it, and without giving me any proper opportunity to respond.

4) Your Excellency’s subsequent acceptance of my “resignation” was likewise unconstitutional, for all the same reasons.

36. Accordingly, I do respectfully ask you to consider these matters and respond to me as a matter of urgency. I ask you to acknowledge that my removal from office was unlawful and unconstitutional and can have no legal effect.

Respectfully,

Marcia Ayers-Caesar

​

St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar says it is a shame that there could not have been a more mature approach towards the implementation of the property tax.

“I think it is a shame that we could not have had a more mature approach, especially from the Minister of Finance where it was obvious they were acting illegally when they threatened the population where they could be prosecuted if they did not file these forms. The court has clearly stated that there is no legal basis upon which you could have threatened or indeed prosecute anyone and that is what that effort was about.”

He said there was much talk about who won and who didn’t “but I think the people of T&T won in that no state, no government should ever threaten prosecution without lawful basis and the court ruled on that”.

Ramadhar was speaking at yesterday’s launch of a new initiative called Food For All: God’s Own, at Helping Hands Recreation Ground, St Augustine.

He said T&T has been “over taxed” and moves to tax homes where people were already fearful having lost their jobs or where their disposable income was minimal was putting them in a more fearful state.

“To put that fear factor in the one place that they’re supposed to be comfortable...I do not believe we should pursue property taxation.”

Meanwhile, on the tree-planting initiative, Ramadhar said T&T was a paradise that was being destroyed daily.

He said fruit trees will be planted in public spaces throughout St Augustine and the country.

The fruits trees—cashew, pomegranate, moringa, pommerac, African peanut and others were donated by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ramadhar said it was important for the country to become self-sufficient. He said there must be a change in attitude towards agriculture.

When you start undermining a member of the Judiciary, you undermine all of the Judiciary.

According to Ramadhar, also an attorney, T&T’s democracy is very fragile.

He said, “We have seen the attacks on all sides in relation to the JLSC and the Chief Justice. We cannot afford, at this time for the country to lose faith even further in our judicial arm. If we lose faith, then we truly will have mayhem and anarchy.”

On the matter of Justice Frank Seepersad and the allocation of cases, Ramadhar said it was important not to demonise because of disagreement.

“I am not speaking on his (Seepersad) behalf but read that judge’s judgments in almost all of the decisions he has given. He has shown himself to be very robust, where the rights of the people are always protected by him. He leans, if there is anything at all, in favour of the people’s rights. That is his job and duty as a judge and you can’t hold on because the ruling is unhappy for you and start demonising him because it is an attack on all of the Judiciary.”

He said the country needed to pause as it was heading down a terrible path.

After an agonising 12-year wait for justice for the murder of her son, Colin Ruiz, on Mother’s Day 2005, Grace Ruiz was left angry, hurt and disappointed at the sentencing of his killers on Friday, refusing their courtroom pleas to forgive them.

Shadeed Dalia, Jason Surujlal and Ishmael Khan were sentenced by Port-of-Spain High Court Judge Devan Rampersad to 20 years in prison for kidnapping Ruiz, robbing him of $18,000 and burying him in a shallow grave in Waterloo. Ruiz was around 28 at the time and married with two children, aged seven and nine. His killers were in their 20s, too.

The men of Friendship Village were reportedly close friends of Ruiz, a car alarm businessman of San Fernando.

What had Grace devastated over their sentencing was that they have already served 12 of the 20 years in remand waiting for a hearing, With that deducted from their sentences it means in eight years time they will be free men.

The trio received the sentence after they were allowed to plead guilty to the felony murder of Ruiz.

Under the felony murder rule judges are permitted to waive the mandatory death penalty in circumstances where death occurs during the commission of a lesser criminal offence, in this case robbery.

Rampersad initially considered a 30-year sentence for the men but applied a one-third discount afforded to accused people who plead guilty to crimes.

A distruaght Grace told the T&T Guardian she waited in the court from 9 am to 2.30 pm for the sentencing, looking forward to getting justice for her only son’s death.

She said after the sentence she began weeping and had to be assisted out of the court by the prosecutor, Joy Balkaran.

Grace said during the proceedings, her son’s killers asked for a chance to tell her sorry. “They said Miss, Colin mom, sorry for what we did. We know this can’t bring him back but we sorry from the bottom of we heart.”

Grace said she did not respond since she was still unable to forgive them. “How can you brutally murder your own friend? He was no gangster, no limer. He trusted his friends.”

She said the hearing left her emotionally drained and she cried out at one point in time and ran out the court in horror. “The lawyers for each of the men were reading their statements giving all the details of what they did to my son. I relived that ordeal of 12 years ago.”

Grace recalled on the day her son was killed, she felt stabbing pains in her belly, a nervousness and a feeling something was happening. “Every stab they gave Colin (reportedly 18) I felt it. I did not know he was killed as yet and tried calling him but could not get through to him on his phone.”

She said there was nothing she can do now about what she felt was an unfair sentencing. “If they had heard that case right after it happened, those men would have been sentenced to hang. But 12 years after, the police photographer and the Justice of the Peace involved in the case died.”

Grace said while waiting for the hearing of the case, which was constantly postponed over the years, she got all kinds of sicknesses, including high blood pressure and diabetes. She said she stopped working at her sewing shop/boutique, Bold and Beautiful in Cocoyea, San Fernando.

“I never came to terms with Colin’s death.”

She admitted, however, yesterday’s final sentencing of the men brought her some kind of closure. “I said, yes boy Colin, like you really gone.”

Grace said for the last 12 years she always felt she made some kind of mistake in thinking her son had died. “I would be driving and see a man who resemble Colin and say he was still alive. Or I would see a little boy in his school khaki pants and blue shirt and remember my child.”

Delores Robinson has a passion for helping others, especially women.

“My roots are within the bowels of the women’s movement,” she said.

A victim of domestic abuse, Robinson, who came to T&T in 1986 from Jamaica, said as soon as she married her husband, “it was a licence” for abuse.

“It meant you are now mine,” she added.

She believes if she can rise out of an abusive relationship, any woman could.

“I am telling you. If I can do it, so can you. I was a young woman starting off but I was conscious enough to know that this was not right in a relationship.”

On Friday, Robinson, 57, officially launched the T&T local chapter of Groots International at its Niles Street, Tunapuna office. She is the executive director.

“It’s not about the dollar sign. It is about helping and reaching out to that sister out there who needs help.”

Groots T&T operates with 18 members; five volunteers; two regional consultants; a five-member board; and four smaller organisations within this group.

Groots represents Grassroots Organisations Operating Together in Sisterhood. Its global vision is to develop, over time, a movement giving voice and power to grassroots women’s local visions and initiatives attracting long-term partners and creating new policies to expand and strengthen their leadership.

Robinson has been affiliated with Advocates for Safe Parenthood: Improving Reproductive Equity (Aspire) for a number of years, is a council member of Women Working for Social Progress and worked alongside Diana Mahabir-Wyatt when she formed the T&T Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

In an interview with the Sunday Guardian, Robinson said it was important for abused women to understand that they needed to put themselves first and make a concerted effort to leave the abuser.

Recounting her own experiences, she said she had to find safety at a shelter with her then ten-month-old son.

“I spoke to a friend about what was happening and I ended up going to a shelter. I stayed there on and off.”

As her son grew older, she had to explain to him that despite his parents being separated, they loved him. She said her son asked her to not divorce his father. She obliged. Her husband, now deceased, was an alcoholic.

Help is just a call away

Since she was a teenager, Robinson tried to raise awareness and champion causes. However, she said domestic violence was an issue that was “near and dear to my heart”.

She said, “I would advise any woman in an abusive relationship—do not stay. It is not worth it. You might stay and stay because of your children but there will come a day when there will be no you for the child or children you are staying in the relationship to protect. Help is sometimes just a phone call away. You just need to tap into the right resources.”

And Groots T&T can be the answer to many vulnerable women’s calls. Robinson hopes to start a hotline number in the near future so women can have “a listening ear”.

“I think that would help, especially when you see statistics that show that domestic violence takes place mostly on the weekends. I think GROOTS T&T is blessed with a core group of women who is willing to go the distance...to take your hand and guide you.”

She said it was not just another women’s group and was formed because of the high cases of abuse against women.

“People just talk but they need to walk the walk,” she said.

Even though Groots T&T was incorporated on June 9, 2016, it has been working silently throughout the country making inroads in rural communities.

Among Groots T&T services are counselling, empowerment sessions, sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health awareness and HIV/Aids.

She said the organisation wants to have support group meetings, lecturers and seminars on mental health and at the same time provide a hot meal for its attendees.

Robinson said, “A significant project we did was in Guayaguayare to commemorate International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. We partnered with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Toco Foundation. We took a bus load and went down there.”

She visited the police and questioned them about domestic violence cases and was alarmed when told there was an average of three reports a day.

“There seems to be a disconnect... they (victims) go to report it but the police can’t do the follow up.”

Robinson said she realised an intervention was needed and subsequently held discussions with a social worker, Justice of the Peace and a nearby school.

“That’s where you start to hear the horror stories,” she said.

She said women needed to start thinking about themselves, not be selfish, but to simply focus on them.

“There are people out there willing to help, just make the right connection.”

More about Groots

International:

Groots operates as a flexible network linking leaders and groups in poor rural and urban areas in the South and the North. To nurture relationships of mutual support and solidarity among women engaged in re-developing their communities, the network is open to grassroots groups and their partners who share a commitment to four basic goals:

1. To strengthen women’s participation in the development of communities and the approaches to problem solving.

2. To help urban and rural grassroots women’s groups identify and share their successful development approaches and methods globally.

3. To focus international attention on grassroots women’s needs and capabilities.

4. To increase the opportunities for local womens’ groups and leaders to network directly across national boundaries.

To contact Groots T&T:

Call: 289-3431

A man was knocked down and killed on Friday night while attempting to cross the road just a short distance from the walkover near the Pasea, Tunapuna intersection.

Reports are that 33-year-old Fyard Ahmed, from Freeport, was attempting to cross the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway around 10.30 pm.

The driver of the white Ford Ranger was heading east.

Ahmad was thrown several feet into the air and landed on the side of the road. He died on the scene.

The driver is assisting police with investigations.

The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence will launch an exhibition at the National Library (Nalis) in Portof- Spain from June 13 to 23.

It will be located in the News and Media room, which is on the ground floor, just to the right of the rotunda-staircase.

The exhibition will feature displays of the laureates’ video biographies, interviews, historical ephemera, magazines, and literature on the Caribbean Awards, including the tenth anniversary book, The Excellent Decade.

The public is invited as the exhibition will run during normal opening hours of the library.

They can also accommodate requests for groups and talks by laureates for the benefit of school children.

Laureates available will include: Dr Kim Johnson, steelpan researcher and filmmaker; Mr Kwame Ryan, conductor and head of the Academy for Performing Arts at the University of T&T, and Prof Surujpal Teelucksingh, medical doctor and researcher at the University of the West Indies, Mt Hope.

More inof

Please email: anscafe@ansamcal.com for further information. Visit the web at ansacaribbeanawards. com, or on Facebook.

Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Sat Maharaj is continuing his fight against The Miscellaneous Provisions (Marriage) Bill, 2016 which increases the legal age for marriage in T&T to 18. Two days after legislation was unanimously passed in the House of Representatives outlawing child marriages, he said he is exploring his legal actions.

Maharaj described the new law as a travesty which destroys family life. He claims politicians are inviting themselves into citizens’ bedrooms by deciding at what age to get married and have sex.

On Friday, 35 Government and Opposition MPs voted in favour of the legislation which first went to Parliament last December and has been the focus of extensive debate.

Maharaj said the right way for a Hindu child to be raised is with the support of its parents, teachers and religious organisations.

“We also believe that the worst role models in the world are the politicians.

“You study the history of the world and you notice that some of the most immoral people across the world are politicians,” he told the T&T Guardian in an interview at Maha Sabha’s headquarters in St Augustine yesterday.

Maharaj said he is totally opposed to increasing the legal age of marriage to 18.

Previously, under the Hindu Marriage Act, girls could marry at age 14 and boys at 18. He said that law, which had existed for almost 100 years, was adequate for the Hindu community.

“I do not support any interference by any politician in how we raise our family and the values we teach because many of them have no values of their own,” he said.

He said the Maha Sabha had a team following developments with the legislation and is awaiting their advice.

“If they tell us to go forward with legal remedies we will go forward because we believe that under the Constitution the right to practice your religion is guaranteed,” he said.

“Once we start at the initial stage remember we are going to go straight up to the Privy Council.”

Maharaj said the Maha Sabha’s position is that Government is interfering with its religious affairs.

“And we resist that from any politician. At this stage in the development of the Hindu community we cannot find a Hindu girl that is getting marriage under the age of 18.”

These girls, Maharaj said, are now interested in pursuing secondary and tertiary level education.

“Society is correcting itself...the families are correcting themselves. We don’t need the politician to tell us how to conduct our family life.”

Maharaj said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, who successfully piloted the Bill through both house of Parliament, “believes that it is all right for a 16-year-old girl to hold a big gun to shoot, but not to get married with parental consent. That is his belief. My belief is different.”

Maharaj said in 49 states in the United States, a child can get married at age 11.

A day after the birth of his son, a 33-year-old man who moved to Barataria after being chased from his Laventille home, was shot and killed.

Matthew Nigel Fraser was found dead around 10 am yesterday in a track off Sawmill Avenue, Barataria. Police said no one witnessed the shooting. They said they responded to a call at around 9 am and found the body about an hour later.

Neighbours said they knew Fraser only as Tall-Oh and that he lived “on the other side”. They said his son was born at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital on Saturday and he did not get a chance to see the infant before a bullet to the head ended his life.

At the scene, Fraser’s body was identified by the mother of his two other children, Atisha Worrel. She said his death was no surprise to her given his criminal past. Worrel said after Fraser left prison a year ago he was forced out of the Trou Macaque area where he had lived with her but he refused to stay away from a life of crime.

“He wasn’t a bad fella initially eh, but when the system gets hold of some of them it does be hard to let go and that’s what happen with him. He was a fella like this, if he come through here and he see all these children he will give all of them money,” she said.

“If he see all the children going to school and two not going he will go to the parents and ask them what they need. That is the type ah fella he was.”

Fraser was one of three men murdered between Saturday morning and yesterday and the second killed in the Barataria area. On Saturday night, 19-year-old Terrance “DJ Pop Skull” Ramdin, of Tunapuna, was murdered when he and two friends went to Seventh Avenue, Malick.

Police said Ramdin was standing on Seventh Avenue and his two friends were in a vehicle parked nearby when gunshots were heard and all three men were hit. Police said the shooting took place around 10 am and Ramdin later died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. His friends are warded in stable condition.

In the third killing, Arima resident Christopher Walker, 47, died yesterday morning hours after he was shot in the neck while at a friend’s home at Mc Nair Trace, Chin Chin Road, Cunupia. Police said Walker, originally of O’Meara Road, Arima, was shot at around 7 pm Saturday night when occupants of a purple car opened fire at the house. Police said they have no motive for the shooting which they described as a drive-by.

A mother of one, who was among three women found guilty of stealing several bottles of honey from a supermarket, was on Friday sentenced to four months in jail.

Tiffany Turton, 33, a URP worker, asked to pay a fine rather than jail time but a trace of her record revealed that she had previous convictions for larceny.

The other accused, Alisha Scott, 30, a mother of four, was fined $2,500 while Dana Conell, 36, a mother of one, was granted bail to reappear in court today for sentencing.

When the trio appeared before a San Fernando magistrate on Friday, prosecutor Sgt Denzil Alexander said 35 bottles of honey valued at $3,575, were discovered missing from MS Food City Supermarket in Debe on June 5. The following day, three women seen in camera footage stealing the honey the previous day returned to the supermarket. They were arrested and charges were laid by PC Trevor Rampersad.

Their attorney, Annalee Girwar, asked Magistrate Indira Missir-Gosine not to send the women to jail. She said they were willing to pay compensation.

The women said they split up the honey, and Scott, who is unemployed, said she tried to sell the honey to get money to buy groceries to feed her children. Turton said she also tried to sell the honey without success so she gave it to a church.

Turton had two convictions for larceny as well as pending matters. Scott, who had been placed on a bond previously for marijuana possession, was given one month to pay the fine or serve three months in jail.

Conell, who had two convictions for larceny and receiving stolen goods, was granted $25,000 bail with a cash bail alternative of $10,000. The magistrate delayed her sentencing to allow her to provide the court with proof that she suffered from a certain ailment.

A drug trafficking suspect who attempted to grab a policeman’s gun was shot in his hand and foot.

Police said the incident occurred at around 10 am Saturday when Cpl Reid and a team of Gasparillo police officers were on patrol along Sancho Road in Poonah Village, Whiteland. They saw the 43-year-old man walking through a garden with a white plastic bag in his hand. When he saw the officers, the suspect dropped the bag and ran off. The officers chased him to a makeshift camp and when they attempted to arrest him the suspect grabbed at one of the officers’ pistol which was holstered.

During the struggle, two shots were fired and the suspect was struck in his wrist and left ankle. He was taken to the Gasparillo Police Station and handed over to paramedics who took him to the San Fernando General Hospital where he is warded in stable condition.

When officers searched the suspect’s bag, they found 1050 grammes of marijuana. A fully grown marijuana tree was also found near the camp where he was arrested.

The suspect is expected to be charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, resisting arrest and assault.

Police said they detained a murder suspect during an exercise carried out by the Southern Division operational units co-ordinated by Snr Supt Zamsheed Mohammed, ASP Ali Mohammed, Insp Don Gajadhar and Insp Steve Persad. The exercise involved raids and roadblocks in the Marabella, Embacadere and Debe communities.

At around 1 am Saturday, highway patrol officers set up a roadblock in Gandhi Village, Debe, and intercepted a car occupied by three men. They searched the vehlcle and found a .9 mm Beretta pistol. One of the men was being sought by the CID and all three were in custody up to last night.

In Embacadere at around midnight, Sgt Ramroop, PC George and PC Crawford searched several homes and arrested several people in connection with recent shootings. One suspect was held with a .9 mm Beretta pistol. He is a suspect in a shooting that occurred two weeks ago near a San Fernando magistrate’s home.