Over 30 Venezuelan nationals who were incarcerated at the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) were recently transferred to the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) at Santa Rosa Heights, Arima, because a “high-security risk” was detected.

The T&T Guardian understands there were 94 Spanish-speaking inmates at the MSP currently on gun and drug-related charges.

However, Commissioner of Prisons Gerard Wilson gave instructions to move them and the first batch was taken to ECRC on Saturday.

Ironically, this was the same day some 82 Venezuelan nationals were also repatriated back to their home country, including some who had in their possession asylum/refugee certificates and those who had already initiated the process.

According to prison sources, the integration of the Venezuelans and local inmates “wasn’t viable” and several issues came up, including their negative influences with local inmates and health concerns.

Up to last week there were approximately 69 Venezuelans incarcerated at the MSP. Of this figure, 24 of them have already been convicted and once they serve out their respective sentences they will be transferred to the Immigration Detention Centre for repatriation.

Many more are said to be coming into the system almost on a daily basis, prison sources told the T&T Guardian. Several of the arrested individuals are being charged with guns and ammunition and drug trafficking offences. Just yesterday, nine Venezuelan nationals—five men and four women—were arrested for being in the country illegally. However, that group was handed over to Immigration officers.“They (Venezuelans) coming in the prisons and are forming gangs against the locals, some of them are influencing locals who are in for ‘small criminal offences’ to get themselves involved in bigger criminal offences for ‘big money’,” a prison source said.

The source added that many of the incarcerated Venezuelans are believed to be lacking mandatory vaccinations and are suspected of “getting local inmates sick.”

During the recent refurbishment works carried out at the Immigration Detention Centre, the ECRC housed the illegal immigrants— about 75 of them—but they were all returned to the IDC in early March.

When contacted yesterday for comment, Wilson only confirmed that he sanctioned the transfer of Venezuelan inmates.

“It is a security issue and some of them were transferred because of security concerns,” Wilson told the T&T Guardian.

The State may face a legal challenge from some of the 82 Venezuelan nationals who were deported on Saturday.

Attorney Mervyn Cordner is claiming the Government may be held in contempt of court as it deported 62 of his clients while a legal challenge against it was pending.

Cordner filed a habeas corpus writ on behalf of one of the 62, Wilfer Sandoval, in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Saturday morning and was given until yesterday to serve it on Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Chief Immigration Officer Charmaine Ghandi-Andrews.

Sandoval was expected to be taken before Justice Mira Dean-Armourer when the case comes up before her this week.

Under the writ, detainers are called upon to justify their continued detention of a detainee. It is frequently used by attorneys after their clients spend protracted periods in police custody without being charged.

While Cordner was not required to do so, he attempted to serve it on Saturday afternoon after he received information Sandoval was among 53 men and 29 women who were being repatriated on a flight provided by the Venezuelan government. Cordner is questioning the decision to follow through with their deportation, as several Government agencies would have been aware Sandoval’s case was under challenge at the time. He is expected to raise the issue when the case comes up for hearing, but a date for the hearing was not set up to late yesterday. Sandoval’s case is expected to be used as a test case for other deported detainees.

In the case, Cordner is claiming Sandoval’s detention and eventual deportation was illegal as he was in the process of applying for asylum. His claims seemed corroborated by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), who issued a statement criticising the move.

Stating that 13 of the deportees were registered asylum seekers and 19 others were in the process of applying, the UNHCR claimed the deportation breached article 31 of the convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention), which precludes the imposition of penalties on persons seeking international protection.

The UNHCR had raised the issue with the Immigration Division but its concerns did not hamper the move.

While the Government has claimed the mass deportation was voluntary, the UNHCR claimed this could not be independently verified by its observers.

A mother whose hand was severed by her son in a brutal cutlass attack remains warded in a critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Doctors have managed to stem the bleeding in her brain and have reattached her limb but cannot say if she will ever regain full control of her hand. A source at the hospital said she is making slow progress and it may be weeks before she is able to give a statement to the police.

“She is not out of the woods as yet. She is progressing very slowly and she is not yet out of danger,” a medical source said.

Since the incident, the woman’s husband has been at her side.

The son, who was found with blood on his clothes hours after the attack, remains in police custody. Investigators said once statements are taken and investigations are complete, he could face a charge of malicious wounding.

The boy told police his mother had seized his cellular phone and he was angry. Police later took statements from neighbours, family and friends. He is a student of Presentation College in Chaguanas.

Unable to understand that her home was destroyed by fire, four-year-old Natalia Paul kept crying and begging her mother and father to carry her home.

Natalia, her sister, Jessica, 14, brother Narin, 11, and their parents, Natasha Paul and Johnny Lalloo, were left homeless on Monday when a fire destroyed their two-bedroom concrete and wooden house at St Marie Village, Cedros.

The cause of the fire which took place around 4.10 pm has not yet been ascertained. The family had just left their home to go for an evening drive.

Apart from the clothes they were wearing, the family lost everything as their house and everything in it were burnt to the ground.

With nowhere to go, the family sought refuge at a neighbour’s home and slept on three mattresses donated by Cedros councillor Shankar Teelucksingh on Monday night.

“I thought when I woke up this morning it would just be a dream. But everything burn, we have nothing. I cannot cope with this,” said Natasha, 37.

She said their children were heartbroken.

“My little daughter, she will turn five in June, she only crying because she wants to go home. She crying for her book bag and shoes, everything,” said the mother.

She said a pundit has offered to buy school books for one of her children but she has no clue when her children will be returning to school. Jessica attends Cedros Secondary, Narin goes to Cedros Anglican while Natalia still attends preschool.

Employed as a cook with the Ministry of Education’s school feeding programme, Natasha said she too cannot return to work because she has no clothes or shoes. Her husband is self-employed as a construction worker.

Natasha said apart from the assistance from the councillor, who also gave them two tarpaulins and three blankets, she said people donated some rice, sugar and clothes for the children.

Natasha’s husband estimated their losses to be approximately $175,000. Anyone wishing to assist the family can contact them at 274-2476 or 296-8288.

German-born diarist Anne Frank once said that “No one has ever become poor by giving”.

And it was for this reason several T&T Guardian readers contacted our offices pledging support for 11-month-old Angelica Ramadhin and her mother, Deomatie Baal, 24, who were made homeless by a fire.

Saying that Angelica’s misfortune brought them to tears, several readers have already contacted Baal, offering clothing and other items.

The mother and daughter still need a home as they move from house to house in search of a place to sleep at nights.

Fayed Hamid, who was one of the 700-plus workers laid off when ArcelorMittal closed its door in 2016, said yesterday that while he did not have a lot of money, he would pool resources together to help.

“My wife and I work with children’s homes and when I read Angelica’s story, tears came out my eyes. I have a daughter that will turn two on May 20, the same month with Angelica. I don’t like to see people suffer,” Hamid said.

Baal said she had to return to several Government offices to see if the family can get help. However, she is yet to access any Government grants because she had no title to the land she lived on.

She said while she welcomed calls from people offering assistance, one man called to ask whether she needed a husband as well.

On April 9, Baal and Angelica were visiting relatives when fire officers contacted her and gave her the heartbreaking news that her home along Wilson Road, Penal had been gutted.

Hoping the officers had made a mistake she contacted relatives, who went to check the house and confirmed the bad news.

Baal said she did not return home until the next morning to see that the clothes, furniture and appliances that she had recently purchased were turned to ashes.

Days later, Baal said the twisted metal remains were also stolen from the ruins.

She said that she worked at Prize Band Variety Store in Debe until she got pregnant with Angelica.

However, Angelica’s father left after she was born, leaving her to take care of the baby on her own. Without a job, Baal cannot afford daycare. She said the house she had lived for the past six years was without electricity until last year.

From the money she saved while working, she purchased appliances.

T&T’s Toronto consulate and the homes of two T&T staffers were close to the scene of Monday’s “van attack” by a young Toronto man - but no T&T national was injured, Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses said yesterday.

Moses was asked by reporters in Parliament about the attack which left 10 people dead and 13 others injured.

A driver Alek Minassian, 25, or Richmond Hill, Ontario ploughed a van at high speed into pedestrians in downtown Toronto - on the Yonge Street area. He was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder.

Minassian made a brief appearance in a packed courtroom to learn the charges filed against him. Clad in a white jumpsuit, he looked around and said little other than his name before charges were announced.

His next court appearance is currently slated for May 10. When asked if he had a statement to offer to the victims’ families, the man simply replied: “I’m sorry.”

Moses said there are no reports of any T&T national killed or injured in the situation.

“However, there are one or two T&T consulate staff members who live in the area (where the incident occurred) and the intersection there was blocked off. However, there’s no direct effect on our staff members,” he said.

He said the van attack ended up about one mile from where the T&T consulate is located, but the office and staff were safe.

On driver Minassian’s motive, Canadian media reported his last Facebook post hailed an “Incel rebellion” and overthrow attractive men and women perceived as unavailable to involuntary celibates. The term

“Incel” (involuntary celibate) was said to refer to a now-banned group on an internet message site where young men discussed their lack of sexual activity and attractiveness to women, often blaming women for the problem.

Up to late yesterday the identity of only one of the 10 victims was released, that of Anne Marie D’Amico, an employee of US-based investment management firm Invesco Canada.

The identities of the other fatalities remain unknown, but South Korean officials have confirmed that the country lost two citizens in the attack, and a Jordanian citizen is also among the dead.

Seneca College has also confirmed that it lost an as-yet-unnamed female student in the attack.

Candles and flowers piled up along the stretch of Yonge Street where the suspect drove a rented van down sidewalks Monday, striking pedestrians in his path.

Little is known about Minassian but the Canadian Armed Forces said he served a very brief stint from late August to late October 2017.

“He did not complete his recruit training and requested to be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training,” spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said in a statement, declining to provide further details.

(See Page A17)

A magistrate may find himself in hot water over comments he made while presiding over an assault case in the Arima Magistrates Court.

This after a High Court judge said he found the comments had the potential to affect the public’s confidence in the administration of justice.

The issue arose after 25-year-old university student Giselle Samaroo, of Talparo, accused magistrate Brian Dabideen of making biased statements against her lawyer during her trial last year. Justice Frank Seepersad, in a 12-page ruling, found insufficient evidence to support Samaroo’s case and ordered her to pay the legal costs incurred by the State in defending the lawsuit.

He ruled that Samaroo had misrepresented Dabideen’s statements when she filed the case in November, last year, as the official transcripts revealed that his comments were not directed at her or any particular attorney as she alleged. Samaroo was charged with assaulting a relative and her case was heard in the Arima Magistrates Court.

The transcript was not available when Seepersad approved the lawsuit, late last year.

Dabideen may still face repercussions over the statements.

Seepersad said: “This court is concerned that it may be possible that the said words can be interpreted in such a way so as to suggest, inter alia, that the defendant will consider depriving a litigant of bail or would impose a custodial sentence, if he is of the view that the individual’s lawyer deliberately lies to the court.”

Seepersad also invited the parties to make submissions on any further orders which he could make but the T&T Guardian understands that Samaroo’s lawyers are already planning to refer the transcript of Dabideen’s controversial statements to the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC).

The commission is tasked with appointing judicial officers and investigating misconduct allegations made against them.

In her claim, Samaroo, who is pursuing her Bachelor of Education at the University of T&T (UTT), was claiming that the issue with Dabideen arose on October 6, last year, while he was presiding over her assault and malicious damage case at the Arima Magistrate’s Court.

Dabideen said: “Well, then, you are going to have a very warm time with me. You understand? You are not going to win any cases; your client all going to go to jail; you are not going to get any bail; I am going to keep you waiting in court whole day, you understand? All sorts of things I could employ.”

Samaroo was initially seeking an order compelling Dabideen to recuse himself from her case but Seepersad’s decision means that it can now resume before him.

The attorney-general is perfectly correct. A nice speech and photo-op at a conference and a signature on an international agreement/treaty/convention means absolutely nothing when you get back home. Unless there is statutory compulsion; moral authority and decent behaviour need not be displayed. What an appalling confession to make.

It should not be that we find relief in pointing to other large and small glass houses nor that we are comforted by an absence of enabling statute. Had we to rely on statute alone to govern human and official behaviour here we would have declined into infamy far more quickly than we are currently witnessing.

I have encountered numerous instances in which more journalism could have had the impact of exposing unprincipled behaviour on the part of the state with respect to international commitments. There are about 200 international treaties and agreements we currently take pride in announcing as part of our credentials as a democracy. But, in several instances, T&T would not survive critical scrutiny when it comes to enactment and implementation, both in spirit and at law. The press release, after all, is what really counts.

It also should not be that in 2018 there are cheerleaders to the surrender of our sovereignty and revolting usurpation of trust as obtained on the tarmac of Piarco International Airport on Saturday.

We do not even appear to be mildly and collectively embarrassed by the schooling delivered to us by the UN System in T&T, and others who are familiar with some key principles that ought to guide our conduct as a member of the global community. Back in March, we actually received an unprecedented Guidance Note from the UNHCR on this very matter.

Last year, during an Amnesty International online course on the rights of refugees, participants were asked to cite instances in which countries had breached the principle of non-refoulement—a fancy term to address what should obtain when immigrants face the threat of being returned to home countries where they credibly claim to be under threat of persecution.

Unable to find clear cases in the English-speaking Caribbean, I thought about comparing such a situation to one phenomenon we know well. The times when women, claiming to be the victims of violence at home, are either packed into police cars or turned away from police stations—or worse, have their spouses come pick them up.

In a sense, it should not really matter that Saturday’s deportees had voluntarily sought this form of passage home—though there are trustworthy people who stoutly deny such a claim, including the head of the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Richard Blewitt.

Sunday’s press release by the UN System in T&T asserted that the group flown out of the country on the Venezuelan military aircraft “included several individuals who had been registered as asylum seekers in Trinidad and Tobago as well as others who had initiated asylum requests or had signalled an intention to do so.”

The UNHCR figures show that between 2014 and February 8 this year, there were 1,785 asylum-seekers from Venezuela in this country.

I am also aware of a claim that our authorities had on Saturday played “cat and mouse” with attorneys interested in enforcing a requirement under international law that asylum petitioners should not be repatriated—much less so using transportation provided by the country against whom such petitions are based.

Virtually every day, people who have not met T&T’s immigration requirements for stays of any kind are packed into commercial aircraft and sent back home. This is a largely orderly process and most times there is no huge fuss because our country can exercise a lawful prerogative under such circumstances. But this is not what happened on Saturday.

Foreign policy and immigration law should neither be guided by panicked xenophobia nor be the collateral victim of international business manoeuvres.

Saturday provided us with a worst-case scenario.

A young couple from Penal is giving deserving secondary students across the country the chance to go out in style for their final days in school by offering free graduation dresses and suits on loan.

Karissa Collin and her husband Anjit Rennie Gopiesingh, who heads the Penal/Debe Community Organisation, said they were offering an opportunity to students who wanted to attend their graduation but could not because of the high cost of suits and dresses usually sold for the annual exercises at schools across the country.

They are hoping Good Samaritans will help them spread the love in a major way too.

Gopiesingh, who works as a contractor, said he came from a poor family and could not afford to go to his graduation exercise. His mother Kuntie worked as a market vendor and finding money to buy new clothes for his graduation night was not possible for him.

“Going to graduation prom is very expensive and many people like me ended up not going because we could not afford to buy a suit. I was telling Karissa this and she decided that we could help out and give people dresses and suits for their prom,” an excited Gopiesingh told the T&T Guardian of their endeavour.

Collin said she looked at recent prices of dresses and was amazed to see a basic graduation gown selling no cheaper than $1,000.

“I was fortunate that when I graduated my mother was able to buy a dress for me. I changed my dress four times. There were many people like my husband who could not afford to go and we want to help our deserving students so they can remember their prom night,” Collin said.

With this in mind Collin started the initiative and advertised it on Facebook. So far she has collected 30 dresses, some of which are brand new.

“We are also getting volunteers to do hair and make-up. We are hoping that people will continue to call if they need a makeover for graduation,” Collin said.

She said she hopes to continue the programme next year as well.

“Some designs are timeless. We want the widest variety for our students so they can look just as good as anyone else. Nobody has to know you got your dress for free. Some of my aunts and friends contributed dresses and random people called us. Some neighbours have also helped,” she said.

She also added that the Penal/Debe Community Organisation continually collects clothing for fire victims and will embark on a clothing drive soon.

Collin said their latest project has been well received by members of the public and several teachers have already called asking for assistance for some of their students. She said someone has also requested assistance in outfitting their entire class.

Gopiesingh, who uses his home at Mohess Road as a distribution centre, said he was thankful he was in a position to help.

“I worked hard to get out of poverty and we both try to help the less fortunate. We are teaching our children, Sophie, three and Nathaniel, six months, to help the less fortunate,” Gopiesingh said.

If you know someone who needs a dress or a suit for graduation or want to donate these items you can call Collin at 303-9152.

Those who are needy will benefit on a first come, first served basis, Collin said.

A proposal for interim payment of pensions to public servants who don’t have savings will be studied by the Finance Ministry this year.

The proposal was made by Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee chairman Brigid Annisette-George yesterday.

Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Michelle Durham-Kissoon, who said it was feasible, agreed to examine whether it could be done or not as officials of the Finance Ministry, Comptroller of Accounts and Personnel Departments, Auditor General’s Department, Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Public Administration and Communications appeared before the committee.

The committee began inquiry into processing of payment of pensions and gratuity to retired public servants and contracted employees.

Committee member Wade Mark noted delays on pension payments, including his own case.

Comptroller of Accounts Christine Laban said it could take four to six months to process pensions if all of a worker’s documents were in order and records are received by her division at least three months before employees leave. Three months was considered an urgent process, she said.

Laban confirmed there are currently 884 payments at varying stages of processing which will be paid. Another 934 payments which have complications require outstanding documents from ministries/departments.

With automation and software, processing can be expedited to one to four weeks. A request for benefit calculation software is being examined, she added.

Laban agreed with Annisette-George, who’d asked if some sort of interim payment would help public servants who have no savings. However, Laban said her division needed to engage stakeholders on the legal implications and pros and cons of such payments.

“It would have to be a policy decision from the Finance Ministry,” Laban added.

Finance’s Durham-Kissoon said the ministry has to follow up on this with legal advisers. If not, the ministry will have to develop a policy paper so all implications will be taken into consideration.

Saying the idea sounds feasible, Durham-Kissoon added, “Once interim payment doesn’t result in overpayment - but yes (such payments) will provide a lot of relief to public servants who’ve been waiting long for their pensions.”

Annisette-George asked Finance to try and explore, by the end of June for instance, if some sort of framework to do the initiative or not could be considered.

“Of course,” Durham-Kissoon replied.

Laban said ministries are told to give six months to a year’s notice on retirees, but there’s been dissatisfactory compliance by ministries.

Permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s office, Maurice Suite, said some improvements were made by some ministries in paying pensions, but all have to keep working at it.

Durham-Kissoon said the World Bank, over 2005-2010, worked on public service pension reform but it’s not current policy.

Public Administration Permanent Secretary Claudelle McKellar said KPMG trained 192 officers in 2015-2016, including on pension delivery improvements. While some of the 192 may have left the service or shifted around, he said it’s not hard to find remaining numbers.

“We have plans for roll-out but there’s no time-line,” he said.

Finance’s Durham-Kissoon said a proposal was being done for roll-out.

After spending almost a week in police custody for allegedly chopping off his mother’s hand, a 15-year-old student was released from police custody yesterday.

Police said the Director of Public Prosecutions gave instructions for the boy to be released as there was no evidence to prove he chopped his mother.

The boy’s father picked him up at the police station and took him home.

However, police sources said the teenager will be given professional counselling from the Ministry of Education Student Support Services.

His mother, who has not given a statement to police, is reportedly unwilling to press charges against her son.

Doctors yesterday said the woman is making slow progress and remained warded in a stable condition at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital. The teenager also has not responded to any of the questions posed to him by investigators. A source said he answered “no comment” each time officers asked him a question related to the incident. The boy’s father also has not given a statement to police implicating his son.

Police said based on the lack of evidence they will be unable to charge the boy, although he was picked up by police with his mother’s blood on his shirt.

On April 19, the boy and his mother were at their Waterloo home around 7 am when they got into an argument. Police said the boy was angry because his mother had confiscated his cellular phone the night before.

Following the attack, the boy’s father returned home from work and when he inquired why he had not gone to school, the boy left home. The man later found his wife bleeding on the floor. Freeport police and ambulance responded and the woman was taken to the Couva District Health Facility before she was transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital.

Instructions to release a teenager, who was in police custody after allegedly almost severing his mother’s hand off during an attack at last Thursday, may be setting a dangerous precedent for parents who are subject to abuse by their children.

This was the deep concern expressed yesterday by International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) president Adriana Sandrine-Rattan, after the announcement that the Director of Public Prosecutions had instructed that the 15-year-old boy be released into his father’s care.

Investigations, however, are said to be ongoing.

The boy’s 46-year-old mother, who had her hand reattached during a ten-hour surgery last week, was still said to be hospitalised in a critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday. She was also chopped in the neck, arms and chest.

However, noting that reports indicated both parents have maintained silence on the incident, Sandrine-Rattan said whilst it was understandable that parents would undoubtedly demonstrate unconditional love for their children, “the boundaries between love and discipline must be clear at all times.”

The IWRN said the decision may be setting a dangerous precedent, “as this incident has been lying strongly on the lips of other children as well as parents, who may or may not be experiencing challenges.”

Sandrine-Rattan warned parents that despite the levels of love which they possess for their children, parenting goes a step further in ensuring that children are socialised into becoming respectable adults who must co-exist within other social spaces.

The IWRN also sought to remind the national community that the well-being of children lies in the laps of every one in society and all have a duty of care to connect with parents, teachers and/or caregivers should they observe children exhibiting strange behaviours within their neighbourhood.

Sandrine-Rattan also urged parents to be continuously cognisant of their children’s activities, friends, social media engagement and their mood swings, which are influenced by both internal and external factors.

“Nurturing children based on love only can be damaging, as the true meaning of values and respect can be totally lost,” she said.When contacted yesterday for comment, a source at the boy’s secondary school said the staff remains concerned over the incident, but added that “certain measures will have to be taken before the child can return to the school.”Asked what those measures include the source preferred not to say, but said the school’s principal will meet Ministry of Education officials to discuss it further.When contacted for comment yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said officials will meet with the school principal on the issue. But Garcia also emphasised it is a legal issue involving a police investigation and no criminal charges had been laid against the teenager.

The Venezuelan Parliament, which has an opposition majority, will be sending an official request to the T&T Government for information regarding the circumstances surrounding Saturday’s repatriation of 82 Venezuelan nationals.

According to online news site NTN24 Venezuela, which has over 1.3 million viewers, the decision by the opposition National Assembly was prompted by the criticism put forward by the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) regarding the exercise.Deputy Carlos Valero, in his announcement, said, “We are going to meet with the largest number of people who have been affected, to request a formal meeting to the Embassy here in Caracas from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and if possible we will try to mobilise there to follow up.”

He was speaking during the ordinary session of the Legislative. According to T&T’s National Security Ministry, the deportation was a “voluntary” process in collaboration with Venezuela Ambassador in T&T Coromoto Godoy.But Valero publicly knocked Godoy’s decision “to coordinate and direct” an operation “against Venezuelans…instead of protecting their rights.”“A decision that cannot go unpunished,” Valero added.He reiterated that Venezuelans “are being expelled from their homeland, fleeing the crisis” and made a plea to the international community to extend “a lot of solidarity and consideration” with them. “We request of the international community to have a lot of solidarity and consideration with the Venezuelans who are being expelled from our country due to the terrible humanitarian crisis in which the ‘misrule’ of President Nicolás Maduro has submerged our compatriots,” Valero said.Speaking with the T&T Guardian under strict anonymity yesterday, a Venezuelan attorney said they received information that the 82 Venezuelan deportees, upon reaching Venezuela on Saturday night, had their travel and other respective documents allegedly taken from them by Venezuelan authorities. The attorney added that they were allowed to “go free” onto the streets of Caracas but without any money, food, water or clothes.“All they had was the clothes on their bodies and slippers on their feet…nada…no money,” the Venezuelan attorney said.A woman, who had her close male relative deported, said he had his asylum certificate.

“They still tell him he had to go and the certificate means nothing. He on the streets up to today, Wednesday, cannot go home because he lives 18 hours away from Caracas and he has no money to go home. He cannot even contact his family. He hungry…no food and water,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, said,The woman insisted that given past experiences and knowledge, persons who have been deported back to Venezuela would be “blacklisted.”

“They would have no identities and no passports, nothing to ever leave Venezuela again. Later on you would hear that is either they have died or been jailed for something because they blacklisted.”On Tuesday, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi met with the United Nations Resident Coordinator Richard Blewitt and Protection Officer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruben Barbado on the issue. In a release afterwards, the National Security Ministry said Dillon and Al-Rawi held the meeting to “correct the misinformation in the public domain” over Government’s handling of the voluntary repatriation of the Venezuelans. It also reiterated that the repatriation exercise was carried out on a voluntary basis in collaboration with Ambassador Godoy.

Former British High Commissioner to T&T Arthur Snell’s baby son was initially denied a United Kingdom (UK) passport because he was born in Trinidad and Tobago.

Snell made the revelation in a series of tweets and published in the UK’s The Independent yesterday, even as UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the Home Office continued to be criticised over threats to deport British residents and their descendants who arrived in England as the Windrush generation before 1973.

Snell tweeted he left felt “powerless and nervous” after the Home Office initially refused to grant a passport to his newborn in 2011, who was born in T&T. Snell, who served as High Commissioner to T&T from 2011 to 2014, said this resulted in his child being rendered “stateless” as he was also ineligible for Trinidadian citizenship.While Snell said he was able to “quickly resolve” the issue, he said it illustrated a “cultural priority within the Home Office to reject wherever possible.”

The UK Government recently apologised to children of the Windrush generation and is moving to regularise their status.

The National Self-Help Commission has spent half a billion dollars in the last 10 years and has emptied more than $14 million from the Abercrombie Fund at First Citizens.

Now officials are saying a lack of funding is impacting its work, and there are issues including poor management, lack of accountability, a poorly managed business which is severely impacted by acrimonious relationships among senior managers are all taking their toll on the work of the Commission.

Chairman and members of the Commission appeared before Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on Public Accounts for the second time in under a month, where concerns were raised about the Commission— which was set up 31 years ago to assist the poor, needy and indigent— as it seemed to have lost its way.

Commission chairman Edgar Zephyrine said the Commission approves grants for home maintenance, minor repairs and reconstruction to citizens who apply individually and the Commission also gives emergency grants which arise after disasters or unforeseen circumstances.

Under the concept of self-help, the commission provides the material and the applicant provides the labour.

The Commission also approves grants for community projects — once five or more households are affected and may need bridges, drains or roads. In these instances, some level of expertise is required.

Figures supplied by the Commission to the JSC indicate that in 2016 the Commission issued only 865 grants, in 2017 408 and in the first three months of this year approximately 55 grants were issued.

As at the end of May last year, the Commission had a debt of $13.5 million, an increase of $2 million to the debt it met when the Board chaired by Zephyrine took office in December 2015. The bulk of that money is owed to suppliers and contractors. One contractor is owed $6.5 million. The administrative costs have also climbed from 25 per cent of its budget to 48 per cent.

Finance Manager Nicola Humphrey-Hamilton admitted because of the outstanding debt “our relationship with suppliers is not as we want it. Zephyrine said in the past “if there were a million hardware dealers we dealt with all of them and in a time like this we could not go to anyone because we owed everyone.”

Currently, some suppliers are refusing purchase orders from the Commission “based on mounting debts which we had not serviced to their satisfaction.” But he assured the debts are being repaid. “We paid off all the small debts, those owed $25,000 and below that we paid off, we have moved to another stage but essentially we are now constraining our relationships to a smaller, manageable number of suppliers.”

The JSC heard that the investment unit of the Finance Ministry has been conducting an audit at the Commission. The first draft of the audit is expected to be ready next week and should be available to the JSC within a month and a half.

QUERY ABOUT $20M INVESTMENT

Several Committee members including Mark, Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and David Small raised concerns about the Abercrombie Fund which the Commission invested $20 m at First Citizens.

“How does a company on a tight budget have $20 million to invest?” Small asked. Zephyrine said the investment in the fund “has been a bit of a mystery.”

But Baptiste-Primus noted Zephyrine himself had signed off on two withdrawals from the fund. Baptiste Primus expressed concern that money from the fund was used to pay suppliers without approval from either the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Community Development.

Zephyrine said the board took the decision to use the money “based on the fact that the money in the account was under the Board’s control. We had exigencies, we had a serious situation, and the Board acted.”

Baptiste-Primus said she was “very troubled,” when the Commission’s Corporate Secretary and Legal Advisor Kendra Thomas-Long who had earlier admitted that there was “acrimony” among members of the management and that this had rendered the operations of the Commission dysfunctional, informed the JSC that she recognised “certain breaches of control,” by the Zephyrine-led Board and “sought to raise it via a Board note but I was prevented from doing so.”

That advice she said related to the Board’s decision to create positions, an authority which was not in keeping with the structure of the organisation approved by the Cabinet.

Mark informed Zephyrine that the Board abrogated to itself responsibility which it did not have and directed that it should “reverse those decisions because they are not proper.”

Child sexual abuse is prevalent and common in several communities with many of the offenders going unpunished for their crimes, according to Prof Rhoda Reddock of the University of the West Indies.

Reddock was speaking yesterday at the Break the Silence (BTS): Educators and Child Sexual Abuse symposium at the School of Education Auditorium, UWI in St Augustine campus.

The symposium was held in collaboration with the School of Education Library, the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) and the University of The West Indies (UWI) in St Augustine campus.

She said the project was researched between 2008 and 2011.

“Stakeholders reported that child sexual abuse/incest to be prevalent and common in some communities and prevalent everywhere. It just existed and was never discussed,” she said.

She said research revealed that after the crime the perpetrators continued to live their lives as normal in society.

“We noted the ages of prevalence and they were younger for women than men.”

Reddock said the research was to understand how the act was rationalised and justified.

“I believe there has been a consistent problem of under-reporting and I believe that is still the case,” she said.

Referring to report, carried in 2013, in which Magaret Sampson-Browne, then head of the TTPS’ Victim and Witness Support Unit, stated that there were 200 cases of incest, rape, and sexual abuse in Central Trinidad.

“Now if you take the entire country how much this would be?” she asked.

Reddock said in a 2016 report by the Children’s Authority close to 25 per cent were of sexual abuse to a female.

“One of the key findings is that sexual relations between older men and young under-age girls were common.”

She said the onus was not on men to refuse but women/girls to not be available.

Reddock said several phrases which were reported by men to be: “I not feeding any cow for anyone else to drink milk. After eight is breakfast, after nine is mine and after 12 is lunch.”

She said there were many key findings such as a lack of safe spaces, support systems were non-existent at the time, minors could not report abuse without an adult and psycho-social support was necessary for survivors.

Clinical psychologist Dr Nirvana Maharaj said there were many indicators that would raise red flags of abused children.

“The peak age of vulnerability is between seven and 13 years because grooming is easiest at this stage and accessible for relatives.”

Maharaj said 90 per cent of the attackers are known to the child and it is people that they know.

She said there were many effects the victims would display such as inappropriate emotional experience, heightened levels of anxiety, maintaining the secret, anger and emotional constriction.

“Withdrawal from normal activities, suicidal pre-occupation, self-destructive behaviours and risk-taking behaviour, early substance use and criminal behaviour and modification of sexual thoughts,” she said.

Maharaj said teachers should make a significant impact on the safety of their students.

Barrackpore residents are bracing for floods in the rainy season, just about a month from now, after a land developer backfilled part of the Jingiesingh River to extend his property.

More than 40 residents yesterday signed a petition calling on the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and the Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan to widen the river and take action against the developer Ramasar Mahadeo.

During a protest at Rochard Road, Barrackpore yesterday, the residents of Rochard Road vowed to seek legal redress if the matter was not rectified soon.

When the Guardian Media team visited yesterday, the river appeared to be diverted. Rajesh Samaroo, who headed the protest, said the work began last September and was completed over a weekend before anyone could alert State agencies.

Samaroo said they pleaded with the developer to stop interfering with the river course and he apologised. Samaroo said weeks later, just as they predicted, huge floods affected the area causing damage to livestock and personal property.

The resident said the developer returned to the United States and the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and the Ministry of Works failed to take action to return the river to its normal course.

“We want to know whether the Penal/Debe Corporation will go back to bringing mattresses and water for flood victims like they did last year, or if they will take action now to fix the river like it was to prevent the flooding we faced last year,” Samaroo said.

Rooplal Bissoon, a flood victim, said the project was a danger to farmers.

“When they block up the river here, all the upstream tributaries overflow and we suffer. We want the Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan to visit this area and get a first-hand look at what was done here. This is not right,” Bissoon said.

Pensioner Rookmin Samaroo said she knew the path of the river, having lived in the area for all her life.

“I know when here was a lagoon. People backfilled and built their houses. This one resident does not care that so many people will suffer. All they care about is extending their property,” Rookmin said.

Responding to the complaint yesterday, the land developer admitted that he did not have permission to backfill the river. He said last year another resident backfilled another portion of land and this caused the river water to threaten the residents’ home.

“The water was coming up to the porch. I get dengue twice and the water from upstream was causing a stink. We had to protect our home so we cleaned the river,” Mahadeo said.

Contacted for comment councillor for Rochard/Barrackpore East Kheymwetti Chulan said he had received the residents’ complaints and petition. Chulan said she forwarded the issue to Kumarie Ramjatte from Ministry of Works and Transport Drainage Division.

Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Dr Allen Sammy said the mater was referred to the chief engineer of April 16.

Sammy said the corporation has started moving on people who are building illegal structures.

“We are issuing stop-work notices and we have now started advertising in the newspaper. Because most of our lands are in the Oropouche drainage basin, illegal backfilling has a ripple effect upstream and downstream,” Sammy said.

He added that people were accustomed to breaking the law, adding that most were compliant but a few had been delinquent.

Contacted yesterday, Minister Sinanan said he would look into the matter and have the relevant action taken following investigations.

Scores of school bus drivers yesterday staged a protest outside of the Public Service Transport Corporation in San Fernando over $10m in outstanding debt owed by the Government.

The protest blocked motorists and caused a massive traffic pileup along Lady Hailes Avenue.

They demanded the outstanding salaries be paid immediately and threatened to withhold their services once the Secondary Entrance Assessment examinations are completed on May 3.

President of the Maxi-Taxi Concessionaires Association, Rodney Ramlogan said more than 300 drivers transport an estimated 30,000 students on a daily basis and since December they have not been paid a cent.

“We are usually paid on a fortnightly basis by the Public Service Transport Corporation. People have been struggling to meet demands for even servicing their maxis and paying their loans. It has passed the stage of diesel and tyres and banks. Right now it’s about buying food — these guys have not been able to provide food on their tables at home,” Ramlogan said.

Since the salaries were withheld, Ramlogan said more than 40 drivers have withdrawn their services, opting to ply their vehicles for hire.

“I have asked all the drivers, especially those who transport children to primary schools, to beg, borrow or scrape the bottom of the barrel just to make sure we accomplish this next week and take the children to school to write their SEA exams. After that if we are not paid we will not work,” Ramlogan said.

He said last year there was a similar problem occurred and after the protest outside the Ministry of Education they were paid for two outstanding terms.

Another driver, Harold Codrington, said his maxi taxi insurance, which is $22,000, will come up for renewal next month.

“I don’t have money to pay. I have a daughter in University in Barbados doing law. How do you expect me to feel when she calls for me and I don’t have money to send? When I have a daughter who is at her highest level of her education, what can I tell her, that the Government don’t pay? I have to find money, borrow money, somehow to send her,” Codrington said.

He urged the Minister of Education Anthony Garcia and Minister of Finance to look into the matter.

“This is quite heart wrenching and we are not asking for handouts, we are just asking for the money that we worked for already,” Codrington said.

PTSC’s Operations manager Brian Juanette declined to comment on the protest yesterday and directed questions to general manager Charles Mitchell but he was not in office.

Head of Marketing at PTSC Sherry Ann Lee Hunte also was unavailable. Finance Minister Colm Imbert could not be reached for comment.

PAYMENTS BEING PROCESSED

The Ministry of Education has put measures in place to verify all invoices for payments to maxi taxi operators who are contracted by the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to transport school children, according to a media statement issued yesterday.

This decision follows concerns raised by people from various quarters to carefully review and analyse all requests for payments, in order to ensure quality service and value for money.

Minister of Education Anthony Garcia says the review exercise conducted by the Ministry of Education has so far resulted in the reimbursement of approximately $ 1.7 m to the Ministry.

Garcia said the invoices for payments for January were received from the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) on April 20 and are being processed.

He said the service provide by the maxi taxi operators is valuable and the Ministry of Education will continue to work with them as a valuable stakeholder in the education sector.

An angry Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said he intends to write the United Nations (UN) to complain about this country’s local UN representative’s comments about the recent repatriation of 82 Venezuelans.

The repatriation process, which saw a Venezuelan military aircraft landing at the Piarco International Airport to take the nationals back to their homeland, drew criticism from UN Resident Coordinator Richard Blewitt. T&T also faced an outcry and heavy criticism for the repatriation.

But at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing art the Diplomatic Centre, Rowley said he was very satisfied how Government handled the repatriation. He said T&T was governed by laws, while we are a generous and caring people “and we demonstrated that over and over again” by opening our doors to Venezuela.

Addressing Blewitt’s comments directly, Rowley said he would not allow anyone to paint a different story of our country.

“We will not allow, without protest, public servants from any international agency to misrepresent our circumstances to the world and stay in Trinidad and Tobago. Against that background, I as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago will, under my hand, write a complaint to the United Nations at its headquarters about the conduct of persons who take it upon themselves to speak about Trinidad and Tobago.”

The PM said he intended to defend T&T’s reputation, hence the reason why he would stand his ground on the issue. As a member of the UN, Rowley said T&T has been very careful and responsible in carrying out its affairs. But he said the image painted was that T&T behaved in a unbecoming manner, which was the furthest from the truth.

“If officers of the United Nations are to talk about Trinidad and Tobago, especially those who are in Trinidad and Tobago and know our circumstances, then the least we can expect from them is to stay with the facts.”

He also said he would not allow UN representatives to make T&T into a refugee camp, noting T&T’s relationship with Venezuela was based on mutual friendship. Rowley said he had not spoken to Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro on the heated issue.

As Venezuela faces an economic crisis, Rowley said there are arrangements in place to allow their nationals to come here to obtain food and medical supplies, following which they would leave. However, he said as the crisis worsened there, there was now a proliferation of Venezuelans entering our shores illegally.

He said many Venezuelans had come through the back door and continued to stay illegally. Rowley said people who knew of illegal Venezuelans exploited them for cheap labour, prostitution and all manner of evil. He said there were also those who came with guns and ammunition.

At one point, Rowley said T&T had been accused of being “too caring” by allowing Venezuelans into our shores.

“Let me draw to the attention of those who have a lot to say, the people who were in those detention centres were not put there because they were Venezuelans. They were put there because they ran afoul of the laws of T&T. And it hurts me when people in this country appoint themselves spokespersons for our country that have nothing good to say about this place and seek to put us in the worst possible light where our interest is not defended.”

Promising to guard the country zealously, Rowley said they have been handling the situation carefully because if Government didn’t “it could create serious problems for us. There are people who want us to join them in invading Venezuela, we are not doing that.”

He added that economic migrants do not “easily qualify” for refugee status.

As for Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas, who also criticised the way in which the Venezuela nationals were repatriated, Rowley said that was better left unsaid.

The public will have to wait two more weeks for the findings of a committee set up to find out what “new information” caused former sports minister Darryl Smith to be fired from Government.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

The report from the investigative team was due Tuesday, but Rowley said he received a request for an additional two weeks for the report to be submitted. He said the investigating team needed time to interview some people who were out of the country and he granted the extension.

On April 9, Smith was reassigned as minister in the Ministry of Housing by Rowley, only to be fire the following day Smith was fired. The team is probing the Sport Ministry’s $150,000 settlement of a sexual harassment matter allegedly involving him.

Also asked if he’ received a copy of the report on the circumstances surrounding T&T’s vote against a waiver of fees for Dominica at an OAS meeting recently, Rowley said got it yesterday ad will now have study it.

Pressed for a response, Rowley said he had already divulged so much information he would leave it for another time. However, he promised to make the report, which was compiled career diplomat Christopher Thomas, available in the coming days.