A love triangle is being blamed for the leak of suggestive photos of a female Special Reserve Police officer online.

The SRP is now under investigation after photos of her lying on a couch in a seductive position clad in her police uniform managed to make its way on social media and went viral.

Fellow colleagues yesterday claimed the SRP was involved with a senior male police officer who is currently in a relationship with another female senior officer, who was alleged to have leaked the photos online.

Up until late yesterday, other photos of the SRP continued to be posted online blaming her for the love triangle and warning her to “leave” the man.

Colleagues of the SRP, who is assigned to the Transit Police, are attempting to be discreet with the investigation because they realise it was a “revenge porn” scenario.

In an interview yesterday, president of the Police Social and Welfare Association Insp Michael Seales described it is an unfortunate incident and a “leave of the senses,” as he also called for speedy hearing into the matter.

“It is not a simple issue of bringing the service into disrepute but bringing the national uniform of T&T (into disrepute) and this now gone viral and worldwide and is bringing T&T into disrepute,” he said.

He said the association was very concerned but believes the officer should not be fired.

“The general consensus was that she should be disciplined and severely punished but not dismissed. The association wants a speedy fair hearing for her,” Seales said.

A senior officer told the T&T Guardian what the SRP did was not criminal but noted it was the “disrespect to the uniform.”

“The Transit Police don’t fall under the Police Service and most likely she will get dismissed. She did nothing criminal, but it is based on an indictment and she was in the uniform and it is a departmental charge,” the officer said, noting the SRP was fully dressed but he had seen officers doing “worse.”

When contacted yesterday, a senior Transit officer who did not want to be named confirmed the SRP was still on duty. He said the matter was being investigated by the unit and would be sent to Security Minister Edmund Dillon.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is being urged to introduce legislation to protect citizens from the backlash of personal information and compromising photos being leaked on social media platforms.

The call comes from Public Services Association president and Tobago House of Assembly Minority leader Watson Duke, who said it was grossly unfair what members of the public had to endure after such incidents.

“I am hereby calling upon the executive of the Government of T&T, led by Dr. Keith Christopher Rowley, to do the honourable thing and enact law to protect citizens against abuse on social media.

“Too much private information on persons’ personal lives is being leaked on social media and creating havoc in the home. Social media should not be used to shame people, but rather for building social relationships.”

Duke’s call came hours after compromising photos of a woman clad in a police uniform was circulated via social media on Sunday.

Following the release of the photos, thousands of comments were posted about the officer’s conduct, with some calling for her dismissal from the profession while also speculating about the effect it would have on the woman’s personal and family relations. The T&T Police Service has since launched a probe into that matter.

Duke said while there were limitless possibilities that social media could be used for, such as education, maintaining relationships and keeping informed of the latest news, “embarrassing people and trying to put people out of work is not the purpose of social media, so therefore I am calling on the government to act with great haste before we have a country of wounded people.”

Contacted on the matter, Public Administration and Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie assured that Government was working on several pieces of legislation to address the issue. In a release yesterday, he said the Data Protection Act and the Cybercrime Bill would effectively address the appropriate management and dissemination of content in the era of new media.

The Data Protection Act seeks to protect the personal privacy and information that is held by public bodies and the private sector. Cuffie said this act contained, “built in safeguards.”

On Friday Yvonne Alleyne will celebrate her 77th birthday. However, there may be little to no celebrations as she now has to plan the funeral for her son, Terrence “Breezy” Alleyne, who was killed along with wrecker driver Shazard Khan in an accident on Sunday.

Yesterday, Alleyne said her son, a 53-year-old Customs and Excise officer with nine children ranging in ages from five to 31, was a quiet man who loved smiling.

Speaking with the media at the Forensic Sciences Centre, St James, Alleyne, flanked by her granddaughters Afi and Nakita Alleyne, said she saw her son two days before he died, as he regularly visited her at her Trnicity home.

“The last thing I told him was God go with you,” Alleyne said, adding, “I have a message to send to T&T. Something is definitely wrong; I cannot pinpoint what is wrong. Every day there is blood, we cannot continue this way. Everyone is praying, and we should not stop praying because God is listening and one day he will hear our prayers and they will bring back this blessed land. I am 76 and will turn 77 on Friday, what a birthday gift! What a birthday gift!”

Nakita Alleyene said her father always made his children smile and they will miss everything about him. She wept as she thought of him not being able to lift the family spirits any more, saying he was the one who always encouraged his children to better themselves.

Alleyne, who lived at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas, died after he and Khan were rammed by a Nissan Wingroad while they were changing the tyre of Alleyne’s vehicle along the shoulder of the northbound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway near Charlieville. Alleyne died at hospital and Khan died at the scene.

Also at the FSC yesterday, Khan’s brother Zainool Khan said the death of Sharaz was the second tragedy to hit the family following the murder of his brother-in-law in January.

On January 28 Ramesh Jacob, 42, the owner of Raj Wrecking Service in Barrackpore, was standing next to his doubles stand near the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, when a man walked up to him and shot him.

Khan said they could take solace in the fact that his brother died doing a good deed. Khan was married with two children aged 10 and seven.

“The children no longer have a father you know and they are relatively young. He is only 36 and would have been 37 on August 31. My message to drivers on the road is please, take allyuh time, today is our turn tomorrow it might be you or your family,” Khan said.

Keston Knights was a hero. In 2011 when his apartment building at Trou Macaque, Laventille, was set ablaze he alerted his neighbours and ensured that most made it out alive. On Saturday, he allegedly stopped a man from beating his girlfriend and was shot six times in return.

Having survived the fire which left four dead including two children, Knights and his family moved to Oropune Gardens where his relatives said he continued his helpful attributes, which ultimately lead to his death.

Speaking with the media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Knights’ father, Anthony, said his son was doing a good deed when he was killed but would not discourage anyone from doing such. He said his son was a landscaper who helped many in his community and was the father of one child not yet a year old.

According to reports, Knights, 24, was in the company of some friends when a woman he knew got into an argument with another man. Knights is said to have intervened in the domestic dispute and a short while later, a gunman approached Knights and opened fire. He was gunned down near his home on First Avenue in Oropune Gardens, Piarco.

Knights’ grandfather, Renwick Campbell, who was there supporting his son Anthony, said his grandchild was a helpful young man because he was raised in a family that supported and instilled in him good values.

“He was a real nice boy and for this thing to come and happen when he was so good to everybody, is sad. It feels good to know he died trying to help somebody that is good because that is how we live, trying to help people. The death come on we doorstep. We try to help and this happening. Now you have to leave them, what else you could do? You try to help and you getting killed. This is how the life is in the country” Campbell said.

Unlike his father, Knights said although his son was killed for seeking to help someone, he still hoped that others would intervene and render assistance when needed.

He said: “It sad for something like this to happen for people who like to help people. He was doing something good and it is always good to do something good. For that to happen while doing a good deed is sad, I will not discourage it I would not like this kind of thing to happen but it is always good to help.”

In an unrelated killing, police say they suspect that a hit may have been placed on the head of Terron Lett, 31, who was stabbed to death at his Never Dirty Morvant home yesterday morning. According to police reports Lett was heard screaming by his wife who later saw three masked men attacking him. After the men left she found Lett bleeding from stab wounds and took him to hospital where he died.

Police said the stabbing took place around 1.45 am.

Lett was not known to be involved in criminal activity. They suspect someone may have hired hit men to kill him.

Three months after Kervin Williams sought help at a retired policeman’s house after being shot, he was murdered on Sunday night in Gasparillo while his brother-in-law was also shot several times.

Williams, 26, a mason, of Golconda, was found dead on the roadway at Caratal Road while a distance away the police found his brother-in-law Quacy Straker, 32, with several multiple gunshot wounds, in Williams’ car.

Straker, a chef/nurse is warded in a critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.

According to a police report, around 11.30 pm on Sunday, PC Funrose and PC Joseph responded to an anonymous call that a vehicle crashed into a wall at Lightbourne Trace, Gasparillo.

When they got there the officers noticed a silver Lancer crashed into a chain link fence and found Straker, of Housa Trace, Lightbourne Trace, in the car with multiple gunshot wounds.

He was taken to the hospital. Subsequent to that, the officers received information which led them to Caratal Road where they found Williams bleeding from gunshot wounds on the roadway.

It is believed that the men were shot during an altercation on Caratal Road and Straker drove off to get help. Williams’ sister Keitha, who is pregnant, and also has a one-year-old son, said her husband and brother left in her brother’s car on Sunday morning to go to the beach.

She said she tried without success to call them during the day. Keitha believes the incident had something to do with the first time her brother was shot.

In that incident in May, Williams went to the Gasparillo home of former senior policeman Cecil Santana after he was shot by someone who knew him. The suspect was subsequently arrested and charged.

She said following that incident her home in Lightbourne Trace was shot up and her brother had received threats. She said doctors were supposed to have operated on her husband last evening.

ASP Pardasie, Cpl Bridgemohan, Cpl Sulliman and other officers visited the scene. Investigations are continuing.

Andre E Baptiste 
From London, England

With the Caribbean still recovering from the “blues” of the weekend after its hero sprint Usain Bolt and Elaine Thompson relinquished of both men’s and women’s 100 metres titles. It’s now time for everyone to turn their attention to the Men’s 200 metres preliminaries, and T&T’s Jereem Richards did not disappoint during yesterday’s programme at the World Championships in London, England.

T&T had three athletes on a cool night in London, Kyle Greaux, Sparkle McKnight and Richards.

First on the track Richards has arrived with a huge reputation from the times he has achieved on the NCAA circuit in 2017 including a season best and personal best of 19.97 in the 200 metres.

Richards walked out looking relatively comfortable and took to the starting blocks in Heat 2, starting from Lane 2, with not much pressure, the 23-year-old set alight the crowd with a dazzling 20.05 run, which was the fastest time recorded heading into tomorrow’s semi-finals.

“I feel really good in the heat, he told Guardian Media Sports. He continued: “I did not expect that time, but I did what my coach asked of me. I want to thank God for coming out of the race injury free and being able to execute my race, it was just about coming out and delivering on the day.”

With South Africa’s Wade Van Niekerk (who won heat 3 in 20.16) also running the 400 metres finals today, the 200 metres runners have an extra day rest.

“Tomorrow, I am going to rest, make sure my body get a shake out, get some treatment and just prepare for the next round. This is about taking one race at a time, I am feeling good, and looking forward to the semi finals and giving of my best,” added Richards

Richards, with a calm but reassuring smile noted,“The mood in the camp is good, we had two already in a finals, and hopefully we can all continue as one to excel where we can, everyone is encouraging each other.”

Meanwhile, Kyle Greaux was in Heat 5, running from Lane 6, and at 29-year-old needed to start to show some of the ability, he has promised over the last five years. He did not disappoint, running on after a slow start to place second in a time of 20.48, and finish with the overall 18th fastest time going into the semis.

Greaux said after: “I felt a little rusty which is strange because this year I’m in the best shape of my life coming into the championships. I’m injury free, I am pleased.”

Sparkle Mcknight was T&T’s only participant in the women’s 400 metres hurdles and challenged from Heat 1 in Lane 4. She finished fourth in a time of 55.46 to secure an automatic spot into the semi-final rounds.

Speaking after her performance the 25-year-old said: “I feel awesome today, I am really glad to be here, and to qualify for the semi-finals. It’s a good feeling. Normally I have problem either going out too fast, but today I hit the nail on the head, as I stayed with them and finished strong, I felt good, ready for next round.”

Mcknight will be T&T’s lone representative in today’s 400 metres Hurdles semi finals from 3.35pm(TT time).

Police Service Social and Welfare Association president Insp Michael Seales has called for his immediate reinstatement after he was freed of the criminal charge of sedition yesterday.

Acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle discharged Seales after upholding a no case submission by his attorneys in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court.

Following the decision, Seales, who was suspended after being charged two years ago, called to be immediately reinstated and to be paid the salaries that were withheld from him since being charged.

“I would have had a loss of earnings over the past two years, so now it is a question of getting myself back on my feet as quickly as possible. The association is representing that I need my immediate reinstatement and the outstanding moneys owed,” Seales said as he gave acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams one week to address the situation.

He went on: “It is not about me but more for my family because they have suffered by me not having a salary,” Seales said.

However, when contacted yesterday by television station CNC3, Williams said he had not been officially informed of the decision and that Seales’ reinstatement was not automatic on his discharge.

“He would know that there is a process for the suspension of a officer and a process for reinstatement,” Williams said as he explained that reinstatement was dependent on whether the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was planning to appeal.

He explained: “The department has an obligation to officially submit the results of the court matter and address the issue of whether it is being reviewed or not. It is only then the commissioner will deal with the matter.”

In their no case submission, Seales’ attorneys Pamela Elder, SC, and Owen Hinds Jr claimed that prosecutors failed to prove that their client had intended to incite members of his organisation to rebel against the State when he made a controversial statement in the midst of wage negotiations in June 2015.

In her decision given moments after the submission was made, Busby-Earle-Caddle agreed with their analysis and also noted that the charge against Seales could not stand as his comments were not directed at anyone in particular as required to prove the offence of sedition.

Seales was alleged to have made the seditious statement on June 24, 2015, during a live interview on TV6 Morning Edition.

The man shot and killed during a shootout with police officers and bandits in a robbery at Pharry Hardware at Pharry Village, Toco Main Road on Saturday, has been identified as Wendell Jeremey also called “Ratty” of Pinto Road, Arima.

Police said he was one of the suspects detained for the murders of Haffiza Rose Mohammed, 56, and 13-year-old Videsh Subar, at Ajim Baksh Trace, Malabar, Arima on June 27.

The other two bandits in the robbery— ages 26 and 28 who surrendered to police by kneeling down with their hands upraised— are from Maturita, Arima.

They remained in police custody up to late yesterday.

They are to be charged with possession of firearm and ammunition, shooting with intent, shooting to endanger lives, discharging a firearm within 100 metres of a roadway, several counts of robbery with violence ,and larceny of cellphones.

Police officers said Jeremey was well known by them as he had several court cases pending for gun related offences.

On Saturday, police officers attached to Sangre Grande Task Force were returning from duty at Toco in a black unmarked vehicle when they observed three men placing bandanna on their heads and heading towards the hardware.

The police responded to the hardware but were reportedly shot at by the bandits who had already robbed the owner of the establishment of an undisclosed amount of cash which represented the day’s sale. Employees were also robbed of cellphones and cash. The police returned fire and in the process one of the bandits was found dead on Seecharan Trace with gunshots wounds.

The two other bandits ran into the Pharry Village. They eventually surrendered.

Police are searching for four bandits who preyed on elderly parishioners at the St Francis RC Church in Sangre Grande last week.

According to a police report, around 6.30 am last Friday, four women were sitting in the church waiting for the morning mass when they were approached by four young men.

The bandits, believed to teenagers, robbed the women of cash and valuables, police said.

The robbery is just the latest in a series of robberies at various churches across the East/West corridor in the past few months.

In an interview yesterday, Pastor Clive Dottin public affairs and religious liberty director for the Caribbean Union Conference of Seventh Days Adventist said he has heard of numerous robberies involving the elderly.

“This is a very dangerous trend in our society and senior citizens are robbed left, right and centre and not only in churches, homes, cars, prayers group, group meetings.

“The whole society must rise up against this. It is a trend towards total indiscipline in this society. Trinidad is an essential indisciplined nation. In fact, it has reached to a place where we encouraged indisciplined and failed to take necessary action,” he said.

Dottin said young men have no respect when it comes to temples, mosques and churches.

“We must establish a boundary here. These young men have absolutely no respect for God and religious institutions.”

He referred to the robbery in Gonzales where RC priest Father Clyde Harvey was robbed at the St Martin de Porres church in June.

“This must give us cause for alarm but it reflects on the decadence taking over our society.

“There is a loss of the sense of the sacred and it means essentially that families are failing to instruct children in terms of the moral and spiritual dimensions of our children.

“We have to intensify our efforts as a church in terms of spiritual but to the wider community and draw a wider circle,” he said.

The two hours it took for four-year-old Natalia Samuel to be taken from the Cedros Health Centre to the Point Fortin Area Hospital may have been one of the major factors leading to her death, her mother Basdaye Lall-Ragoo said yesterday.

Weeping under the tent they erected to host Natalia’s wake last night, Lall-Ragoo said it was the police who rushed her daughter from Columbus Bay to the Cedros Health Centre after several calls for an ambulance were unsuccessful. She said there was no ambulance at the health centre and it took 45 minutes for one to arrive and another hour for it to reach the Point Fortin Hospital. Adding to their woes, she said, was the fact that there is no doctor on duty at the Cedros Health Centre on weekends.

“If they had things to help my child, my daughter would have been alive today,” Lall-Ragoo said between tears.

According to a report, Lall-Ragoo, 32, of Fullerton, Cedros, took Natalia, her twin brother Nathan and two other children to Columbus Bay on Sunday. While bathing near the shoreline around 5.30 pm, she said she looked away for a few seconds and when she turned back Natalia was missing.

“I came out the water because I thought she came out the water. I started to look for her but I did not see her. A guy that went with us started to walk the water’s edge and he got her. He brought her to the shore,” Lall-Ragoo said.

Doctors Ramsubhag, Ramdass and Khan, who were liming on the beach, rushed over and performed CPR on Natalia and were able to pump some of the seawater out. Although she was breathing when she left Cedros Health Centre, she was pronounced dead five minutes after reaching the Point Fortin Hospital. Lall-Ragoo was told by doctors that the child had a lot of water in her lungs.

Recalling Sunday’s ordeal, Lall-Ragoo said the tide was high and the water clear at Columbus Bay. She said the incident happened “in the wink of an eye” and no one saw how Natalia got into difficulty and became unconscious. She said her children were accustomed to the beach, as they usually go to Fullerton Bay every three days.

What was an especially tear-jerking moment for relatives yesterday was when as Lall-Ragoo was speaking about Natalia, who Nathan had shared a womb with for nine months, Nathan said in a solemn voice, “She dead.”

An autopsy was supposed to be done at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday, but Lall-Ragoo said she was given the wrong information and instead went to the Forensic Science Centre, St James. The autopsy was rescheduled to today at the San Fernando Mortuary.

SWRAH CEO RESPONDS

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh last evening said he could not comment on the unavailability of the ambulance service to pick up the child at the beach unless he knew who the family contacted on Sunday. Deyalsingh said the 811 number reaches GMRTT, who is charged with responding to medical emergencies. He said ambulances attached to a regional health authority only transport patients between facilities, but based on the condition of the patient, GMRTT may also transfer patients between facilities. He said RHA ambulances are not usually positioned at health centres. As for the non-availability of a doctor at the health centre, he said some open Monday to Friday. He directed further questions on the opening times of the Cedros Health Centre to the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA).

Also contacted last night, SWRHA CEO Gail Miller-Meade said there is usually an ambulance stationed at the Cedros Health Centre and said she would have to make checks to see why it was not present at the time. She said the health centre operates 24-7, but on weekends they have a district health visitor and after 7 pm they have emergency medical technicians. She said, however, that if a patient’s case becomes serious they are transferred to the Point Fortin Hospital. She said Lall-Ragoo’s claims will be investigated.

 “Run baby, run!” Yvette Wilson screamed yesterday as her last child, Jereem Richards, sprinted his way to the bronze medal in the men’s 200 metres final at the IAAF World Championships in London.

Wilson and other family members had gathered at her sister Janice Wilson-Phoenix’s home in Point Fortin to view the race as Richards lined up with the possibility of earning a gold medal, having cruised into the final the day before.

And Jereem, 23, did not disappoint his family as he took the bronze medal, just fractionally behind Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev, who took home the gold and South African Wayde van Niekerk, who beat him by fractions of a second. In fact, Guliyev won in 20.09 seconds, while both Nierkerk and Jereem clocked 20.11.  (See pages A48 & A48)

Only one T&T athlete - Ato Boldon in 1997 in Athens - has won a gold medal in the World Championships in the 200 metres event.

Moments before Jereem knelt at the starting blocks, his family, most of whom were clad in T-shirts with his face printed on the front, held hands and sent up a fervent prayer for his success.  

As the race started, Yvette sat on the edge of her seat, clutching a Trinidad and Tobago flag and screaming Jereem’s name.

The excitement may have been a little too much for Jereem’s sister Brittney who jumped a bit too high and landed on this reporter before falling to the ground. The end result was a split lip and a million-dollar smile for her baby brother.

When Yvette could catch her breath, she sent out this message for her son: “Jereem, I am so proud, Mommy loves you, we all love you!”

“Oh my God! I am ecstatic, right now. I am so elated, words can’t express,” she added.

Yvette said she was her son’s number one fan and does not miss any of his races.

“I am his number 1 supporter, I never miss a race, today he has raised my pores, I feel like my heart is beating out of my chest. I am really happy and thankful because God has kept him.”

She jokingly credited his success to her breadfruit.

“He loves oildown, it is always the first thing he asks for when he comes home ... That is what have him fast so!”

Brittney, who had to pause her celebrations to clean up her busted lip, added, “He worked really hard for this and I am happy to see he can reap the rewards of his hard work, we love you Jereem!”

Grandmother Beatrice Wilson said Jereem had made the nation proud with his efforts.

“He have the country celebrating today! Well done son!” 

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan yesterday denied he owns or has shares in Canadian-based firm Bridgemans Services Group LP.

His comments came after several posts surfaced yesterday on Facebook accusing Sinanan of being the owner of Bridgemans Services - the company that leased the Port Authority of T&T (PATT) the controversial passenger vessel Ocean Flower 2 for one year before its contract was terminated because it had failed to arrive here by the July 15 deadline.

The contract was terminated by PATT on Tuesday and Sinanan made the announcement of the decision yesterday, triggered a plethora of calls for him and the PATT board to resign after more information challenging Bridgemans’ track record and the vessel’s history was unearthed by the media.

Sinanan admitted that he was “fed up” of hearing his “name calling in all kinds of things.” He said people had “been advertising on Facebook” that he owns Bridgemans Services.

“What stupidness is that? If I am the owner the Integrity Commission must have that on file. I declared all my assets up front,” he said.

“I don’t have to hide anything. I will go to jail by hiding a company that I own worth millions of dollars. I own Bridgemans Services?… so then all those people working for me then? And then I fooling the Integrity Commission? Once that is so I have to go to jail then, because it means that I lying to the Integrity Commission.”

Sinanan said apart from claims he was the owner, he also heard his wife and nephew were co-owners of the foreign company.

He said if people have evidence that he owns the vessels they can bring it forward.

“But you can’t bring nothing forward. You cannot prove anything but you are tarnishing people’s name. Anybody call me I willing to talk to them. I took that decision to stop that boat because I am not satisfied with what I am hearing and seeing. I could only terminate that on the grounds that they missed the deadline date.”

Sinanan said the first time he met officials from Bridgemans Services was when the Cabo Star arrived in Trinidad last month and they toured the vessel.

“I never saw those people after that,” he said.

Apart from him facing attack, Sinanan said Port Authority chairman Alison Lewis’ name was also being dragged through the mud.

“I only known her (Lewis) for three months and I can’t describe how straight that lady is.”

The minister said he also did not make the final decision for the Ocean Flower 2 to be leased.

“All these decisions go to Cabinet. Cabinet would look at it and they would make a decision.”

The Port Authority of T&T and the vice president and partner of Bridgemans Services Group LP, Andrew Purdey, held a secret two-hour long meeting to discuss the cancellation of the controversial Ocean Flower 2 contract.

Purdey travelled from his Vancouver company and arrived here hours after Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan announced the termination of the contract due to its late arrival yesterday.

The vessel was leased in July by PATT for one year at a daily charter rate of US$26,500 (TT$185,500), but the port terminated the deal on Tuesday because was yet to arrive here despite agreeing to getting here by July 15.

Purdey met with deputy PATT chairman Adrian Beharry and port officials, as well as a legal team from the Ministry of Works at 11 am at the Port of Port-of- Spain administrative building for the talks.

GML understands Purdey attempted to salvage the deal by offering the PATT a month-long free trial of the Ocean Flower II to prove the vessel’s worth on the sea bridge.

Contacted yesterday by CNC3 via text message, PATT Alison Lewis, who did not attend the meeting as she is currently on vacation, admitted there was a meeting between both parties “out of courtesy to advise them of the cancellation and that we intend to go back out to tender for a ferry.”

Lewis reminded that PATT still had a contract with Bridgemans for the Cabo Star “and we are managing the relationship and evaluation its performance.”

However, when Lewis was asked in a text message by T&T Guardian if she could confirm or deny Purdey’s visit was hinged on him offering the PATT a one-month free trial of the Ocean Flower on the sea bridge, she wrote “I cannot.”

Purdey had very little to say to a GML team following the meeting. Asked if Bridgemans Services intended to take legal action against the port for terminating the contract, Purdey’s curt response was, “You can speak to the port, they have all the information. Thank you.”

Purdey steered clear of questions on the company’s history, but asked if they has a proven track record, he said: “Absolutely.”

Purdey also said the accusations levelled against his company in the local media “was not accurate.”

However, less than three hours after the meeting, a report by marine website Equasis suggested issues were raised during an inspection of the vessel on July 14. Equasis claimed the US Coast Guard conducted the inspection on the 21-year-old vessel at the Dutch Harbor, Alaska, USA. While the type of inspection was listed as “standard” there was no detention of the vessel.

Asked about possible issues with the vessel arising out of that inspection, Purdey said the information was not factual.

“I think the media down here is crazy. They have so little bearing on the truth. It is interesting how it all evolves,” Purdey said in defence of the vessel.

Also contacted yesterday, Sinanan said he knew the port had a meeting with a representative of the Canadian company but did not get an update.

“I understand that a representative from Bridgemans came down, but I cannot tell you what was the outcome.”

Sinanan also said he had no knowledge Bridgemans had offered to provide service for a month without cost.

“I don’t know anything about that.”

Sinanan said there was talk around that he called the meeting with Purdey, but he vehemently denied this.

“The port called me this morning and told me they have a meeting with Bridgemans Services. These people asked for a meeting with the port, not me. I had nothing to do with that. As a matter of fact, I told them to make sure and carry in their lawyers (from the Ministry of Works) and everybody so they don’t prejudice the Government’s position and our interest is protected.”

He said at no time did he try to or micro manage the PATT, noting it is managed by a board.

Lewis did not response to a text message about the deficiencies outlined, while several calls to Sinanan phone went unanswered. —SH

Former Petrotrin executive chairman Dr Malcolm Jones was an icon who possessed values yearned to  see emulated by young people in this country, said his close friend Winston Rudder yesterday during his funeral service. 

   Rudder delivered the eulogy at the Pro Cathedral of the Lady of Perpetual Help in San Fernando which was packed with people from all walks of life, including Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, members of his cabinet, San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello, prominent businessmen and former politicians. 

Describing Jones as his brother, Rudder said Jones was more than an  outstanding professional chemical engineer or energy bureaucrat. “He was an educator, an inspirer, a mentor,” Rudder said.

 He added, “By the way he lived his life with dignity, humility and integrity, his selfless and outstanding contribution to national development not seduced by the trappings of office, Malcolm symbolised those values we yearn to see emulated by young men and women of T&T, especially today. In my view that makes him as icon.”

He continued, “My dear friend and brother I commend  you for the considerable forbearance and exemplary forgiveness you displayed in the face of shocking adversity and indignity meted out to you in your last days. We do not ask history to be kind to you, rather we ask that the truth be told.” 

However, he said, “I have no doubt that when the history of the energy sector of T&T comes to be written, the significance of the role played by Malcolm Anthony Jones  will be duly recognised.” Also paying tribute to the father of five and grandfather of three, was his sister- in- law, Alison Wong, who described him as humble man, a caring and protective father and a playful and  inquisitive grandfather.

 Wong however, said, “This humble intellect encountered detractors along his life’s journey. Detractors who were always reaching for his jugular trying to shake his sense of purpose.

He felt hurt and betrayed but he didn’t stop loving, he didn’t stop giving as if to say Christ was also betrayed. He was peaceful man, living a peaceful life, making a peaceful exit.” Following the service for Jones who died at Petrotrin’s  Augustus Long Hospital last Friday, the family held a private cremation. 

Relatives of Lorenzo Mc Leod, who police shot and killed moments after he stole a car Wednesday morning, say they had been expecting his death for almost five years,

Speaking with the T&T Guardian at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Mc Leod’s siblings, Rohan and Gita said their brother’s lawlessness began nine years ago after he stole his first car. Since then he has been in and out of prison for the same offence— larceny of cars.

According to reports, a man parked his car in the garage of his home on St Michael’s Road, Tacarigua at 8.15 pm on Tuesday and went to bed. When he got up around 1.40 am the following day he saw two men pushing his Nissan B15 out of the garage before driving off with it. Moments later the police intercepted the car along St Michael’s Road and a shoot-out ensued. McLeod, 31, was shot and taken to the Arima District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 3.20 am. A revolver was recovered and his accomplice escaped.

Gita said after her brother’s first offence with the law in 2009 where he stole a car in order to earn cash to purchase his US Visa, the whole family came together to bail him out and offered support. She said when he was arrested a second time she said washed her hands of his lawless behaviour.

The siblings said Mc Leod was an excellent mechanic with the ability to do a diagnostic testing on any vehicle just by listening to it. They said of their parents six children, Mc Leod was the third child and the only involved in a life of crime.

Asked what others may learn from their family’s grief, Gita said: “My advice to parents is to keep talking to their children because it is six of us we are all doing well except for him. To the children I want to say there are always consequences for your actions. If you choose a life of crime then you should expect to die very young, sadly.”

Gita began crying as she said the actions of her brother were very selfish. She said the stress caused by jail visits and court appearance due to the actions of siblings could have a devastating effect on families.

She added that her brother spent so much time locked up that she referred to the Port- of- Spain Prison as “the hotel on Frederick Street” as he would spend almost half the year, every year since 2009 locked up for one offence or the other or sometimes on a warrant for missing a court date while he was locked up.

Gita added that the older siblings had to drop out of school to help support the family and Lorenzo wanted to study mechanics, so he did with his father, a straightener and painter and it was there his love for cars began and evolved. His Facebook page has photographs of several cars as well as himself posing by a Nissan Almera repeatedly. She added that the only thing that she could think of that may have deterred him from a life of crime was to give him her salary each month.

Four more illegal guns have been taken off the streets by police and three men are in custody for the latest seizures.

Police said two men were arrested after officers of the Western Division Task Force seized a revolver in Belmont yesterday. According to a release from the Police Service, officers stopped a Nissan Primera car along the Lady Young Road, during an anti-crime exercise which took place between 11.40 pm on Wednesday and 2.30 am yesterday.

Two occupants, a 32-year-old man and a 42-year-old man, both of Upper Big Yard, Carenage, were arrested after officers discovered a revolver in the vehicle.

Officers of Carenage CID and E999 Rapid Response Unit were also involved in the exercise.

In a separate raid, one man was arrested and a Kel-Tec semi-automatic rifle, a Rossi revolver, a Glock pistol and a quantity of assorted ammunition, were seized in Diego Martin on Wednesday.

Police said they executed a search warrant at the home of the suspect at Tomato Drive, Diego Martin, and detained the 29-year-old suspect.

Investigators said they found the firearms and ammunition behind a refrigerator in the house.

Three years after the death of her mother, Cherisse Lambkin is still trying to get the San Fernando General Hospital to release her mother’s medical records.

Frustrated at a lack of action at the hospital, Lambkin, 29, visited the T&T Guardian’s South Bureau yesterday.

She said on December 4, 2014, she received a call from a nurse at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, informing her of her mother’s death.

“They said she suffered from cardiac arrest…when my mother was alive she always said she didn’t want anyone cutting her open to do an autopsy, so I carried through with that and did not have one done,” Lambkin said. 

The death certificate given to Lambkin also cited cardiac arrest as the cause of death. But after applying for Nestfield’s medical records to take to the family’s insurance provider in 2014, Lambkin said she began to get a run-around.

“I was told to apply to the hospital for the records. When I went there, they said I needed to pay $37 to a bank account and bring back the receipt. I did all of those things and then they said I would have to wait between four to eight weeks for the records to be processed.”

But it’s been three years, countless trips to the hospital and a lot of heartache for Lambkin.

“I have been trying to move on. Since I left high school, I spent all of my time looking after my mother and I just want an end to this. I need some closure. I never doubted what the doctors said about how my mother died but now I have to wonder.”

Lambkin said she is unemployed as she takes care of her three-year-old son who was born with cerebral palsy. 

“I never worked anywhere, I have my five children and with a son with cerebral palsy, I can’t afford a caretaker so I take care of him myself. I would have used up my money looking after my mother’s funeral arrangements and also looking after my sister’s funeral rites last year. Right now I need that money.”

She claimed there are many other people going through the same ordeal in seeking to access medical records. 

Lambkin made a complaint to the hospital’s Quality Control Department yesterday and was told she would be contacted. 

“I don’t know how much longer this complaint will take to process but I am fed up right now. They need to have some kind of proper system in place to deal with medical records so people can get their documents on time, that department is in a very poor state right now.”

Efforts to contact South West Regional Health Authority Acting chief executive officer, Gail Miller-Meade for comment were unsuccessful.

The Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer whose photographs went viral on social media is now faces possible eviction from her apartment, according to the Police Service Social and Welfare Association.

The association is now calling on acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams to reconsider his decision with respect to the suspension of the officer.

The association said the officer’s landlord is now threatening to evict her.

The photos of the SRP lying on a couch in her police uniform, in what appears to be a seductive position, managed to make its way onto social media last weekend.

The SRP, who was assigned to the Transit Unit, was suspended without pay on Tuesday and has sought legal advice from attorney Christophe Rodriquez.

Yesterday, members of the association confirmed that they have been in discussion with the officer.

After the pictures were published, the association said they would challenge any decision to dismiss her.

President of the association, Insp Michael Seales, said the association would be asking the commissioner to reconsider his decision based on the welfare of the officer.

“She (SRP) is pregnant and is the single mother of a seven-year-old. She has already been threatened with eviction from the landlord and how she would pay the rent and those factors we must consider as an association in our representation of her,” he said.

Seales said the letter, given to the SRP from the acting Commissioner of Police, could only be a constructive dismissal.

“As an organisation the Police Service can do much better than that with the practice of hiring SRPs,” Seales said.

He said the association strongly advocated for the absorption of the SRPs into the permanent staff.

“So when situations like this arise they would be suspended with half pay. She will have no money now and she is a young mother without money and a daughter and in her first trimester.”

Seales said the association is not saying that she should not be punished but not suspended.

He said the person who published the photos should also be punished.

Several attempts made to contact acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams proved futile.

A San Fernando man, who was discharged from the Coast Guard three years ago, was arrested by police after he was caught in possession of a firearm and an estimated $10,000 worth of marijuana yesterday.

Police said the 32-year-old suspect was under surveillance for some weeks. Around 5 am, officers from the Marabella and Mon Repos’ Criminal Investigation Departments, led by Cpl Burke and Cpl Mohammed, swooped down at a house along Robinson Street, Mon Repos, where the suspect was staying.

They found a Glock 19 pistol with 23 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and 297 grammes of high-grade marijuana.

He was arrested and taken to the Mon Repos Police Station where he was being questioned. Checks on his criminal record showed that he had previous convictions for marijuana possession in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The seizure of the gun brought the tally of firearms recovered by Southern Division police to 103 along with over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. In 2016, the Southern Division recovered 170 firearms.

During the same exercise, the officers held a 26-year-old Marabella man, who was wanted on outstanding warrants for firearm-related offences.

The suspect, who was held at his home around 5 am, was being questioned in relation to recent shootings in the Marabella area. The seizure came a day after police recovered nine firearms, including a Russian made assault rifle, a Remington rifle, an Uzi sub-machine gun, six pistols and over 800 rounds of assorted ammunition in Milton Village, Couva.

The cache was found in a bushy area and one suspect was detained.

SAN JUAN—Puerto Rico's education secretary says enrollment at the US territory's public schools this year has dropped by 11 per cent so far compared with the previous year.

Julia Keleher said yesterday that some 317,000 students have enrolled for the new school year, roughly 40,000 less than those registered in May.

Classes are scheduled to start on Monday, and officials expect to have formal enrollment numbers by August 21.

Puerto Rico closed 167 schools over the summer as families continue to migrate to the U.S. mainland to flee a deepening economic crisis. Overall school enrollment has dropped 42 per cent in the past three decades.

Keleher also said she plans to serve as principal of three schools to implement new programmes that she might extend to other schools. (AP)

Puerto Rico's governor says he has signed the first of several deals to renovate some of the 167 schools that closed across the island this year amid an economic crisis.

Gov Ricardo Rossello said Wednesday that several municipalities and nonprofit groups as well as a university are among those that will rent 10 former schools for other purposes. He says some will become Head Start centers while others will serve people with autism and victims of domestic violence.

The organisations will pay $1 in rent.

Nearly 400 schools in Puerto Rico have closed in the past decade as families move to the US mainland to flee the crisis. The vast majority of the buildings remain abandoned.

School enrollment in Puerto Rico has dropped 42 per cent in the past three decades.