Police were last night investigating the deaths of a Williamsville couple whose bullet riddled bodies were discovered at their home late yesterday.

Farmers Radica Baldeo and her common-law husband Dipchand Heeralal, both 53, were discovered dead around 5 pm at their 126 American Flat, Ecclesville, Williamsville home.

They were last seen alive at 4pm on Wednesday. Police said a relative came to visit them yesterday and discovered the bodies. A motive has not been ascertained. Police suspect they were robbed and killed. Region Three Homicide officers are continuing investigations.

Archbishop Jason Gordon yesterday described the spike in the country’s murder rate as “troubling and painful,” as he called on the Police Service and Judiciary to move expeditiously in bringing the killers of innocent people to justice.

Gordon made the call after he delivered the homily to hundreds of Christians at the 2018 Corpus Christi celebrations at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, which was followed by an hour long procession with the Blessed Sacrament that ended in the courtyard of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Port-of-Spain.

It was Gordon’s first Corpus Christi address to the attendees, many of whom were schoolchildren, as he urged them to renew their devotion to God and his son Jesus Christ.

Fielding questions from the media following the procession, Gordon expressed grave concerns with the climbing murder rate, which had crossed 200 for the year, stating it was very troubling.

“And it is sad, that it is really, we are part of this problem because we have lost the sense of respecting each other. Life has become so fragile, but also so cheap, that we do not see the dignity in each human being.”

Society, he said, has to do more by teaching children in schools and at homes how to respect one another.

“We have to start over in this whole society helping people to understand that each human person has dignity.”

He admitted that he had to offer a silent prayer during the procession for those who traverse, work and live in the capital city.

There has been no end to gang violence, shootings and killings in and on the outskirts of Port-of-Spain.

“To see the level of carnage on our streets…to see the way that murders have become now…the easiest option... when there is a dispute…to see that this lack of life and respect for life, reach to this stage…this is painful. This is simply painful.”

It pains, Gordon said because “we we can do better.”

“This is not the best of who we are. We are sinking into a low. Yes, I know is a handful of people who are doing the foolishness but we’re still better than this.”

He said the real challenge was apprehending the killers who continue to roam our streets without being caught.

“We are not catching the killers. We are not bringing them to justice. We are not getting them to the place where…if a killer knew that if you did a crime you will be caught, you will be put in jail, you will be tried and convicted, then I think we will see the murder rate drop again.”

Gordon said there were many things the police and protective services needed to do while society can also play a major role in curtailing the murder rate. See Page A5

radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Urging Christians not to be hypocrites but to live their lives in service to others, Roman Catholic episcopal vicar and parish priest Fr David Khan yesterday called on citizens to be more productive.

His call came as hundreds of Roman Catholics took to the streets of San Fernando to celebrate the annual Corpus Christi march. With the Corpus Christi banner and the national and papal flags on either side, the parishioners from Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church marched along Harris Promenade, Independence Avenue, Keate Street, Coffee Street, Lord Street and then back to the Promenade as they sang hymns and a medley of choruses.

Khan, in his sermon, said pleasing God was more important than pleasing men.

“Roman Catholic Christians are conscious that we need to plant goodness and weed out what is evil. Many times we spend our time winning the admiration and the favour of the people but we end up losing the favour of Almighty God,” Khan said.

He added, “Corpus Christi brings us right back, a full circle so that we need to recognise the need to win the favour of God.”

Khan also said people must spend their lives serving others.

“How many Christians in places of power and authority can bring about transformation, can truly become a person of service to build the kingdom of God and even simply do what is good?”

Making an indirect reference to former prime minister Basdeo Panday, Khan said, “We had one Prime Minister in the past who said politics has an immorality of itself. Notice I said immorality and not morality because many times it is immoral. We need to recognise that what we are to be as a people of God is to be a people that do what is right and good and pleasing in the eyes of Almighty God. It may not always be right and pleasing in the eyes of men and women.”

He urged people to emulate Christ saying, “If we not becoming more like Jesus is it hypocrisy? Are we being hypocrites? Thank God the church always has room for hypocrites so we can truly become who we are meant to be in this world.”

In an interview after the sermon, Khan defended the decision to have Corpus Christi continue as a holiday saying it was rooted in T&T’s history.

“When the Spaniards ruled the land and handed over to British it was in our constitution to remember Corpus Christi,” he said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with productivity levels, Khan said there was room for improvement. He also said there was a decline in the traditional custom of planting because it was not promoted as it should.

“We need to return to basics because it is out of the planting with the land that production takes place,” Khan added.

A suspected paedophile remains warded in a critical condition at hospital, after being attacked by residents of Oropune Gardens in an alleged case of vigilante justice.

According to reports, around 9 pm Wednesday officers of the Arouca Police Station received a report of a wounded man lying on a road in the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) community in Piarco.

Police arrived on the scene shortly after and the man was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope for treatment.

While speaking to residents, investigators learned that hours before they arrived the man was involved in an incident with a six-year-old girl from the community.

The child was reportedly walking with a group of her friends when the man attempted to lure her towards him.

“Come baby come. You are my cousin,” he reportedly said.

The girl ran home and reported the incident to her mother, who later found the man and confronted him.

The man then ran into a bushy area to hide. The mother notified neighbours, who came to her assistance and lit a fire in the bushy area in an attempt to “smoke out” the man from his hiding place.

The plan worked and the man reportedly ran straight towards the mob of residents. He was severely beaten and left at the side of the road until residents decided to contact police.

Investigators interviewed several residents who witnessed what transpired and participated in apprehending the man.

A photograph depicting the wounded man was later posted on social media websites and applications yesterday, along with a brief summary of the incident.

But police sources yesterday said they may not be able to charge the man as it did not appear that he committed any offence.

Investigators may also have to consult with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to decide whether charges should be laid against the residents for their overzealous citizens’ arrest.

Cpl Abraham and PC Charles are continuing investigations.

It was only last month that Woman’s activist and former Coalition Against Domestic Violence head Diana Mahabir-Wyatt warned citizens that it is against the law for communities to beat child predators and molesters when they are caught.

In that interview with the T&T Guardian, she said while the beatings would be a reaction against the sexual molester’s actions against the child, society should not take the law into their hands.

The comments she made came after it was reported that the Child Protection Unit had launched an investigation into the alleged sexual touching of a three-year-old child by a man believed to be in his late 20’s.

That suspect was reportedly held by Arouca villagers and badly beaten before being handed over to the police. The child was taken to the Arima District Hospital where she was medically examined, but there was no evidence of sexual penetration.

A video of that incident, reportedly secretly shot by a relative, was leaked on social media.

Mahabir-Wyatt said in so far as the law is concerned, sexual abuse includes sexual touching, which can be part of a sexual grooming procedure that can lead to more serious aspects.

Although she had not seen the video, she said the punishment by the community “to me… that is a good example of how people in Trinidad deplore the kind of sexual molestation of children that has been taking place in T&T.”

She said what the villagers did in that matter “was very understandable because what they are saying is that they abhor this kind of abuse and they want to make it quite clear that if he (suspect) does that again he would be in more trouble.”

Mahabir-Wyatt said such beatings are usually not reported to the police either, but noted that in most cases the police accept the beating of the molester as a form of retribution for the act.

“Breaking the law is wrong and taking the law into your own hands is wrong. But in some cases of child sexual molestation, it is understandable that the public would heap scorn on an act like that and can lead to that sort of response. It’s a reaction.”

If a man is convicted of sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced to jail, Mahabir-Wyatt said they are also beaten by inmates who are fathers, grandfathers and uncles to show their disapproval.

A 39-year-old taxi driver from Arima has been freed of raping his cousin in 2009.

The man, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of his alleged victim, was found not guilty of the crime in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Tuesday afternoon.

It took a nine-member jury before Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo almost three hours to return with a unanimous verdict for the man, who maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual.

According to the State’s case, the attack occurred on March 21, 2009, near to the Santa Rosa Race Track in Carapo.

The two were allegedly parked at the side of the road, when the man allegedly attacked the 20-year-old victim. She claimed that he choked her until she became unconscious and then raped her.

Although the man did not testify in his defence, his defence attorneys Randall Raphael and Kirby Joseph raised issues with the alleged victim’s account of what transpired in cross-examination.

They questioned her claims of being choked by her cousin as they pointed out that a medical report, prepared after she reported the incident to police, did not mention injuries to her neck.

They also took issue with the fact that it was only raised by the victim during the brief trail before Waterman-Latchoo and not in her witness statement to police and during her testimony in the preliminary inquiry into the case several years ago.

They also alleged that she had initiated the sexual activity after they consumed a sexual stimulant together.

The case was prosecuted by Hema Sundarsingh and Danielle Thompson.

Keegan Roopchand, who was detained in Jordan since January— allegedly concerning Carnival terror threat information—has returned home.

And another T&T family, who had also been detained in Jordan since January—and had experienced travel issues due to being “red flagged—has also returned home.

Attorney Nafeesa Mohammed confirmed Roopchand, of Sangre Grande, returned home on Tuesday after four months of detention.

She said the second family— from Central Trinidad—also returned home on Monday.

Roopchand and the second family have returned within days of last Sunday’s story regarding their detention in Jordan, and Mohammed’s continued appeals for assistance with their return.

Roopchand, his wife Zaida Mohammed and their two children—both under age ten—were halted in Jordan in January when his wife was going to study nursing. Roopchand was going to do Islamic studies.

Other reports stated foreign agencies detained them in collaboration with TT agencies and they’d given information” on the February Carnival threat alert.

The alert spawned a week of police searches and detentions all over T&T.

Fifteen people were detained. All but two were released without charge. The two were charged with gun possession. Security and Government agencies maintained there had been a credible threat to disrupt the Carnival.

Three months after the detention of Roopchand and his family, his wife and two children—who had been cared for in a children’s facility—were deported to T&T via Germany in April. Roopchand did not return.

While detained in Jordan, Roopchand had been subjected to questioning at various locations. When his wife and children were deported in April, he was shifted to another location, sources said.

In subsequent weeks since then he was informed that he should make travel plans to return home. He was allowed an opportunity to send a message to his family in the last two weeks and requested a ticket to travel. He finally arrived home Tuesday via Panama.

Security sources confirmed that immediately as he arrived, he was detained by local police and subjected to a rigorous questioning process. He was eventually released Wednesday evening and left for home with his father and brother who went to meet him.

Attorney Mohammed, who represented the family said: “He has a large beard and is very drawn looking and obviously lost weight. My information is that while detained in Jordan he was interviewed several times including being kept in solitary confinement for several weeks, and subjected to intensive questioning by Jordanian authorities, the FBI and on one occasion a T&T law enforcement officer.”

National Security officials said last night Roopchand was detained overseas “central to the Carnival terror threat alert” and on arrival in T&T on Tuesday was “properly interviewed and will be carefully managed.”

One of the reasons why it took the police five days to charge three robbery suspects is because they threw faeces at the police from the police cell.

This was told to San Fernando Magistrate Alicia Chankar when brothers Josiah, 25, and Rutendo Duttin, 33, and David Lewis, 33, appeared in court charged with a total of six robberies.

They were all denied bail. Josiah faced a separate charge of rape. They were not called upon to plead to any of the indictable charges.

The first charge alleged on May 18 at Borde Narve, near Princes Town, they robbed a man of keys, two cellphones worth $3,000, $560 cash and also beat him.

They are also accused of beating and robbing a woman of her jewelry valued $26,000, keys worth $300, a $2,000 cellphone and $300 cash.

Josiah is also charged with raping the woman. The accused are also charged with robbing Verna Seerattan, 78, and her husband Walter, 79, on May 23 at Duncan Village, San Fernando.

It is alleged that they stole a pair of eye glasses valued at $3,000, a $200 bag, a $500 cellphone, two sets of keys and $250 cash.

Duttin alone was charged that between May 2 and May 5, he broke into a woman’s house at St Croix Road, Princes Town and stole $182,020 worth of jewelry, alcohol, keys, boots, laptops and other items.

He faced another charged of stealing a $70,000 X-Trail from the same compound. Their attorney Bernadette Arneaud complained that a habeas corpus was filed in the High Court around 11.55 pm on Monday to get the police to bring the accused to court.

The court heard from the prosecution that the suspects contributed to the delay. The prosecution said Josiah threw faeces at the police from the station cell when the police attempted to take them to the identification parade room.

The magistrate was told that Josiah refused to give his fingerprints, but Josiah claimed he gave his prints on Sunday.

Arneaud said the judge found that was an insufficient reason not to charge them. She said the accused were supposed to appear in court at 10 am, but the police only charged them at 8.30 am. In her bail application, Arneaud said Josiah and Duttin lived in Moruga. She said Josiah, a fabricator, had matters in the Princes Town court but they were all dismissed, except for one for which he was convicted.

However, he failed to pay the fine since 2014 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. She said Duttin, a father of two, who runs a private taxi service and works construction, had no pending matters as all the previous charges against him have been dismissed.

She said Lewis, a farmer and father of one from Sangre Grande, has no previous convictions or pending matters.

The prosecutor said he had no tracing for the men. The magistrate remanded them into custody and adjourned the Princes Town offences to the Princes Town Magistrates Court for today. The other matters, which will remain in the Second Court, will be next heard on June 26.

One of the three fishermen reported missing since Monday has turned up in Venezuela claiming that they were attacked and shot at sea.

Fishermen Adrian Guy of Bonasse Village, Cedros, Ronald Seethe, 27, of Teemul Trace, Clarke Road, Penal and Vishnu Ramkissoon, 30, of Coromandel Village, Cedros, left in a boat from the Otaheite Fishing Facility around midday on Monday and went out to sea.

People claimed to have seen them on land in Bonasse Village, Cedros around 2 pm that day. Their worried relatives reported them missing after they failed to return home.

The T&T Coast Guard went in search of the fishermen and their vessel, but found neither of them.

However, police received unconfirmed reports from the T&T Coast Guard that the men were attacked at sea and Guy swam to Venezuela.

According to a report, a vessel with five crew members crashed into the fishermens’ boat and they jumped overboard.

Guy, according to police, claimed he is a strong swimmer and was swimming ahead of his friends when he heard two gunshots.

When he reached ashore in Venezuela and looked for his friends they were no where in sight. Up to late yesterday there was no information about the whereabouts of the other two fishermen.

Guy was said to have been treated at a health facility in Venezuela and staying with relatives in that country.

This comes two months after Cedros fishermen Awardnath Hajarie, 52, his son Nicholas, 26 and friend Shami Seepersad, 35, were fishing in the Soldado Main Field located in Trinidad waters when they were chased and arrested by La Guardia Nacional.

After a video of the arrest on April 5 began circulating the Ministry of National Security contacted Venezuelan counterparts.

They were told that the men were fishing illegally in Venezuelan waters. The men were eventually released and safely returned home 16 days later.

When contacted about the latest incident, Icacos Fishing Association Esook Ali said fishermen from the south western peninsula will assist if called upon.

He could not give details of the incident but said the owner of the boat, which went missing, is a police officer.

“He told me about it on Monday. Right now fishing in the high seas is extremely dangerous. It is a risk we take every day but this is our livelihood.”

Dow Village South Oropouche Fishing Association president Suresh Seepersad said he was not aware of the incident.

Attempts to reach Lieutenant Sherron Manswell of the T&T Coast Guard were unsuccessful late yesterday

Golconda hairdresser Vidya Tambie returned home yesterday, after being reported missing for the previous three days. However, she claims to have been drugged after going to lime with friends on Tuesday evening.

In an interview yesterday, Tambie, 20, said she was frustrated and decided to go liming with friends on Tuesday after work. She said she had an argument with her boyfriend and wanted to relieve her stress.

But she said one of the men who was with her and a female friend gave her two pills - one orange and the other blue. Tambie said she then began feeling listless and high.

"I ended up staying the night with them. It took a long time for the feeling to go away. I don't know about these things. I never experimented with it before and I still don't know what happened," Tambie confessed.

She said around midday yesterday she took a taxi and returned home. Tambie said she wanted to get counselling as she was very frustrated.

Tambie's uncle said yesterday that he was glad she had returned home.

"It is really hard for us. She could have called and let us know she was okay so that we would not have had to go through so much stress. As elders we try to guide her," he said.

Her boyfriend also said yesterday that he was disturbed by the incident. The 35-year-old man, who has a four-year-old son, said despite the incident he wanted to have a family with Tambie.

"I want things to work out in spite of everything. When she was missing people were thinking the worse. The entire CID and Homicide went to the back of the house to look for her. I want her to get help and I am willing to still be with her," the boyfriend said.

Officers of the Victim Support Unit have been contacted and said they will visit Tambie to offer assistance.

The common-law husband of murdered Gasparillo resident Kavita Lisa Jokhan is upset that the police not only released the suspect but failed to inform him.

“The police did not inform me about nothing. Nobody come and tell me nothing,” Sharaz Sinanan, who lives about 200 feet from the suspect’s home at Coco Piece Road, said yesterday.

Homicide detectives confirmed the suspect was released on Wednesday. The suspect, who was seen with blood spattered on his feet and clothes, was arrested by police on May 23, shortly after Jokhan was found with her head was bashed in. Investigators later submitted the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who instructed them to release the 58-year-old suspect pending further inquiries, T&T Guardian was told.

Sinanan, a 44-year-old welder, has not seen the suspect since his release, but he was told he returned home, packed a bag and left. He said he called the Gasparillo Police Station on Thursday night after a neighbour informed him the suspect was released.

“I call the police last night and they did not even know. They want to know how I know that? I had to call a family because they have some connection inside and them tell me the police did not have enough evidence and they let him go. The law system is very poor,” Sinanan complained.

Sinanan said he could not understand why the suspect was not charged.

“I want to know why they don’t have enough evidence because they get blood in his jersey, they found a knife, fingerprints on the Altis and slippers print in the blood? I want to know why that is not enough evidence?”

Sinanan also denied reports that his wife used to drink with the suspect.

“We (he and the suspect) are not friends. She (Jokhan) would ask him to buy papers and coke and thing but he used to harass and curse she,” he said.

In fact, he said Jokhan told him she was afraid of the suspect. He said Jokhan made numerous reports at the Gasparillo Police Station, including as recent as a month ago.

“She have about seven reports because he always harassing and cursing she. The police come and warn him,” he said.

He said Jokhan was also going to take out a restraining order against the suspect. |

“The police was supposed to arrest him. If they had arrest him I feel this would ah be prevented,” he said.

Jokhan was bludgeoned about the head while standing in the garage of her home around 3.30 pm on May 23. Sinanan was at work when the murder took place.

Villagers, who described the suspect as a drunkard, said they were concerned the man was released.

“I find it strange because he had blood on him. We are concerned because if he did that what if he does it again?” said a villager, who did not want to be named.

No one was at the galvanise shack where the suspect lived when the T&T Guardian visited yesterday. Jokhan was cremated on Saturday at the Waterloo cremation site following a service at her father’s Talparo home.

Schools throughout the country saw a 50 per cent attendance by students yesterday, the day after two consecutive public holidays.

Confirmation came from president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai who attributed the “poor” turnout to the back-to-back Indian Arrival and Corpus Christi public holidays on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

“The preliminary information I have is that the students’ attendance today is lower than normal. In some instances at least half of the students’ population is absent from schools. The attendance has to be related to the two holidays in the middle of the week.”

Even though there were classes yesterday, Doodhai some parents opted not to send their children to school so they could enjoy the extended weekend.

Doodhai said the 50 per cent attendance was not surprising, stating that it was more acute in the rural areas.

“Parents should be more responsible in ensuring that their children are sent to school.”

Doodhai said students also fail to attend classes on Ash Wednesday, after being given two days off on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

In spite of calls by Education Minister Anthony Garcia for parents to send their children to school following the 2018 Carnival, the attendance was low.

“This issue was discussed previously with the ministry but there has been no solution to the problem. I think the problem is a cultural one. We have to change the way we think when there is Carnival or a long weekend. Some parents do not see the daily attendance of school as fundamentally important to the development of the child.”

There are 125 secondary and 425 primary schools in T&T.

With the 2017/2018 academic year coming to a close, Doodhai said in the next three weeks all students will write their end of term exams. He said keeping a child home for one school day disrupts their studies.

He said by and large the ministry’s 14,000 teachers showed up for work.

“The attendance of teachers today was far better than the students.”

Education Minister Anthony Garcia, who was attending a meeting in Barbados, said he had no idea what the students’ attendance rate was.

Businessman Gerald Aboud has issued a formal apology over comments he made on his Facebook page referring to this week’s back-to-back holidays— Indian Arrival Day and Corpus Christi.

In his apology, Aboud said he feels “hurt” but promised to “lick my wounds and recover because I am not one to stay down.”

Aboud’s comment of: “Two stupid holidays in the middle of the week” was screen shot and posted to a group page accompanied by the comment “1% disrespecting the 99%,” which quickly went viral on social media. The comment caused a lot of backlash and racist comments. Aboud is the chief executive officer of Starlite Group Limited.

Aboud, in a subsequent post, clarified that his initial comment was not “an attack on the public.”He further explained that his comment was based on the lack of productivity and challenges faced by most businesses due to the share number of public holidays in T&T, especially when they occur in close proximity to each other.

“There was absolutely no disrespect meant to undermine celebration of our East Indian heritage yesterday (Wednesday) or of Corpus Christi today (Thursday), (I myself am a Roman Catholic), I am and have always been a huge supporter of the equal treatment of every creed, race, gender and religion,” Aboud said.“Saying this I am reminded of and always mindful of our watchwords of Discipline, Production and Tolerance, my remarks were a reflection of the impact of so many public holidays on the first two. I humbly apologise if anyone was offended it was not my intention,” he added.

In another post, Aboud again apologised and added that he was plunged into deeper hurt by the matter in which it was handled by the public.

“Of course they were never intended against any race because I would be insulting myself. Honestly, I am quite hurt by the way this matter was handled. In highlighting with what I think is broken in society the matter was turned against me. Many asked why I didn’t respond earlier, that is because I did not feel it was necessary to defend a comment that was not against any group,” Aboud said.

In a release issued yesterday by the Starlite Group Limited, it condemned the “malicious attack” made against Aboud.

It even added that the group is not affiliated “with any political agenda,” “We at Starlite do all we can to promote good business practices and actively support our local entrepreneurs irrespective of the colour of your skin or the religion you may choose.

“We work with community leaders and local vendors to do the very best that we can to improve our country, but we are not perfect. We will continue to strive towards excellence, setting ourselves as an example of how we would like to see other areas of our community,” the release added.

In June 2017, chairman of the Global Brands Group of Companies, Mario Sabga-Aboud had also issued a statement apologising for statements he made in the CNN production, ‘Parts Unknown’ that featured T&T.

Sabga-Aboud received much criticism after he said that while people of Syrian descent represented one per cent of the population, they were the ‘most powerful’.

In the conversation that followed during a family dinner with ‘Parts Unknown’ host Anthony Bourdain, another family member made reference to the diminishing middle-class and expressed fear that it would no longer serve as a buffer between the “haves” and the “have nots”, leading to possible civil commotion.Sabga-Aboud did apologise and admitted that his words were “careless” and misrepresented himself and his values.

Parents of children attending the Princes Town Presbyterian School No One say they will keep their children away from attending classes until they get a new school.

President of the Parent/Teacher Association Nola Ramjohn-Karim said some 900 pupils share a compound and attend classes in shifts during the day.

Karim said this yesterday during a protest action held outside the Ministry of Education’s office , St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain.

Parents marched and carried placards which read: Our classroom is in the stockroom, Build Pres 1 now.. Help us...We want our promise school now.

The school, which was originally housed at Edward Street, was relocated to Tasker Road.

Karim said parents have protested many times in the past few years with no results from the ministry.

“We are here this morning and we still have not gotten any answers as to when our school will be built. It is an ongoing story for the past three years. We have been relocated to Tasker Road for the three years and that was suppose to be a temporary basis,” she said.

Karim said Education Minister Anthony Garcia promised the parents a school since 2017.

“We are still here now waiting for this school. We understand in March this year he said it was no longer a priority and it could not be built.”

She said the Presbyterian Board gave permission in 2016 for a school to be built and the old school was demolished last year.

“We want a new school come September. Our children are on a shift system. This is only primary school on a shift system,” she said.

Karim said the parents met with Garcia twice but nothing has resulted.

“We want to know what is the problem and we know it is not money,” she said.

She said parents were not looking for a temporary location for the students but a new school.

Officials at the Education Ministry said Garcia spoke about the issue many times in the Parliament and was aware of the situation.

Attempts made to contact Garcia and members of the Presbyterian Primary School Board proved futile. Garcia is said to be out of the country.

A Morvant mother staged a one-man protest outside the Tranquillity Government Primary School at Stanmore Avenue in Port-of-Spain, yesterday hoping that she will get justice for her son.

The mother claims her nine-year-old son was assaulted by a teacher who beat her son with a whip, put him in a headlock and cuffed him in the head last week Friday.

The also brought a petition for other parents to sign as they visited the compound yesterday in a show of support.

Several parents continued to keep their children away from attending classes.

On Monday morning, members of the school staff met with the child’s parents and with parents of other students who saw the alleged incident.

In an interview yesterday, the disgruntled mother said: “It was a short work week I won’t stop until I get justice for my son. I have a petition and 11 parents signed.”

Her placards said: Stop the abuse of children we won’t stand for it and Have the teacher removed until investigations completed.

She said the teacher remains in classes since the incident and several children were staying in the auditorium.

“They need to remove the from the school so the children can operate in some normalcy. My son afraid to even come by the gate and is still at home. He does not want to come to school I told them I need counselling from my son and I have not gotten a response from the ministry and I don’t think I waiting on them it is that bad.

The irate parent was later joined by another parent whose daughter was an eyewitness to the event. That parent said his daughter will not attend classes until the teacher is removed.

“My daughter with me right now sitting down outside the school. She won’t attend until the teacher leaves or the principal place her (my daughter) in a different class. She still has to attend school but not with the fear of this teacher. To say she fear this teacher more than me upsetting,” he said.

When contacted, officials at the Ministry of Education said they were aware of the incident.

“The school supervision personnel visited the school and are conducting an investigation into the matter. A report was submitted already,” the official said.

Attempts made to contact T&T Unified Teachers’ Association president Lynsley Doodhai proved futile.

Darcy Hosein always expected her common-law husband Dipchand Heeralal to die from a heart attack. But when she saw him and his lover Radha Baldeo lying dead together in his Williamsville ranch on Thursday, Hosein said it was she who almost suffered the heart attack.

Wiping away tears yesterday, Hosein said she never knew Heeralal, 53, was living with Baldeo.

She said he returned to their Williamsville home every morning and collected food, market goods and a charged battery which powered the little shack he built on a two-acre agricultural plot he received from Caroni (1975) Limited five years ago. Hosein said he enjoyed being on the land where planted crops and reared livestock, so he had eventually stopped living home.

However, she never knew that Baldeo, also 53, had moved in with Heeralal at the ranch. “I met her (Baldeo) 10 years ago when she run away with him (Heeralal) but I thought that done.

She had gone back to her husband.

When I heard someone kill him I went down there to see and I could have fall down and died from a heart attack when I realise she died with him. It really hurting me,” a tearful Hosein told the T&T Guardian yesterday.

She said she did not know who killed the couple, adding there was no malice on either side of the family. She said Baldeo’s husband was Heeralal’s good friend.

Hosein admitted she often worried about her husband and told him to come back home.

“He was suffering from heart disease and I used to worry about if he taking his tablets. He used to go there and drink alcohol. They used to all drink together. I could not handle that,” Hosein recalled.

“I stayed here with my children and I never went to see where he lives. He always told me to call him before I come down there. Now I know why.”

The ranch where the couple was murdered is situated off a gravel track along American Flat Road, Ecclesville, Williamsville. The closest neighbour is about half a mile away and the area has no electricity.

Brother-in-law Kamaludin Mohammed said Heeralal was happy living on the land. He later started to work at a duck farm located opposite his ranch.

“It quiet and nice. He could do as he please. We knew he had the other woman here but what could we say? It was not our business,” Mohammed said.

“Radha children used to come here and lime too. They worked together on the duck farm. Her husband used to visit. That was how they lived.” Mohammed described Heeralal as a nice man who loved to work hard.

Romullus Madho, who is married to Heeralal’s sister, said he was called Kumar Sanu (Indian playback singer) in the community because he loved to sing.

Police said yesterday that they were unclear about the motive for the murders. Heeralal was still wearing his jewellery when he was found dead but the house had been ransacked. Heeralal and Baldeo were last seen alive around 5 pm on Wednesday. On Corpus Christ when a relative went to check on them, they found the couple lying dead from gunshot wounds. The double murders took the murder toll to 232 for this year.

Meanwhile, several farmers in the Williamsville area expressed concern about the double homicide.

Duck farmer Harripersad Dhanpath said, “Right now I am afraid to stay here but what can I do? I worked hard to built my livelihood.

We are just praying that things will get better in this country when it comes to crime.”

He said there had been an increase in praedial larceny in the Williamsville district.

“They even steal the coconuts from my front tree. They stealing crops and anything they could find,” Harripersad said, calling on the authorities to give proper resources to the Praedial Larceny Squad.

Gangadaye Mahadeo also said the murders had left farmers scared to work in the fields.

“Williamsville and Gasparillo are prime agricultural areas and we produce food for the nation but when people are not safe to work in their fields how can we produce? We want more patrols,” mMahadeo said.

The T&T Police Service (TTPS) yesterday condemned the excessive use of force by citizens against a suspected paedophile in Oropune Gardens on Wednesday.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian, public affairs officer, ASP Michael Jackman said vigilante justice is a serious matter.

“The Police Service does not condone any use of force beyond that which is reasonably necessary in apprehending and detaining a person suspected of having committed, or being in the act of committing an arrestable/serious offence,” Jackman said.

“The same standard of accountability exists for law enforcement personnel as it pertains to our Use of Force Policy.”

His comment came even as the suspect remained hospitalised in critical condition last night following a severe beating at the hands of the residents.

Investigators are also calling on Oropune residents to go to the Arouca Police Station to record official statements on what may have transpired.

It was reported that at about 9 pm on Wednesday, officers of the Arouca station received a report of a wounded man lying on a road in the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) community in Piarco.

Police said hours before they arrived the man was involved in an incident with a six-year-old girl from the community. The child was reportedly walking with a group of her friends when the man attempted to lure her towards him.

“Come baby come. You are my cousin,” he reportedly said.

The girl instead ran home and reported the incident to her mother, who later found the man and confronted him.

The man is said to have run into a bushy area to hide. But the mother notified neighbours, who came to her assistance and lit a fire in the bushy area in an attempt to “smoke out” the man from his hiding place.

The plan worked and the man reportedly ran straight towards the mob of residents. He was then severely beaten and left at the side of the road until residents decided to contact police.

Yesterday, however, someone who claimed to know the suspect “very well” denied the suspect was making any sexual advances at the little girl.

The man also defended the suspect’s decision to take to social media to comment on the images of him following the beating that were released.

“It is so funny how people that know the least tend to always talk the most. This is an innocent man, his only crime is being too friendly to adults or children.

“This man was just at my house, a house full of children and took my baby for a walk a minute before this happened,” the man wrote on social media in response to the chain of comments connected to the images.

“And I am sure a lot of people would of seen him. All he told this child was am your big cuz (cousin) laughing, he always makes jokes nothing more.

“ So because nobody knew him from the area and he talk to a child he must be a rapist smh.”

Investigations are continuing.

The Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) is being taken to task for its stance in the ongoing controversy over a hijab ban at the Lakshmi Girls’ High School.

Lawyers representing the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), which operates the school, yesterday wrote to EOC chairman Lynette Seebaran-Suite raising issues with her organisation’s press release on Monday addressing the issue.

In the nine-page letter, attorney Kiel Taklalsingh claimed the EOC sought to improperly solicit a complaint from on-the-job-trainee (OJT) Nafisah Nakhid, who raised the issue, two weeks ago. He also pointed out that such an invitation was unprecedented, as such a move has never been undertaken by the High Court, Industrial Court or other superior courts of record in the past.

“Elementary principles of fairness dictate that the commission cannot be “investigator, judge, jury and executioner”. Any fair-minded observer would view your “media release” as an invitation to the OJT to loge a complaint with the commission, whether you agree with us or not.”

He accused the EOC of being biased against his client based on the fact that it (EOC) had highlighted one of its recent cases, in which a security officer won her challenge over the right to wear the traditional Islamic headscarf on her job. He also noted that the EOC unfairly commented and made findings on the Concordat of 1960 - the agreement which established the denominational school system.

In the release, the EOC stated that the agreement allowed schools to have the religion of their domination taught by teachers belonging to that denomination, but does not give school boards the authority to deny employment to people based on their religious beliefs or their outward manifestation of them.

“We are of the respectful view that the EOC has not only invited a complaint from the OJT but is also courting an investigation into the OJT’s complaint with predetermined notions of the applicable law/principles and/or the outcome. This is a clear case of bias by predetermination and/or actual and/or apparent bias on the part of the EOC,” Taklalsingh said.

He described the situation as irredeemable and suggested the EOC be disqualified from entertaining the issue any further.

Taklalsingh reiterated the SDMS’s previous public complaint that the hijab issue was part of a larger plot to destabilise it and the institution. However, he was careful to note that his client was not alleging any wrongdoing by the EOC in relation to the alleged conspiracy.

“Our client is in no way insinuating that the EOC is involved in that plot, but it has the distinct and well-grounded fear that the commission has wittingly or unwittingly fallen trap to the prejudicial publicity which that plot was meant to create,” he said.

As part of his letter, Taklalsingh sought disclosure from the EOC on how the release was prepared and disseminated. The requested information includes who was responsible for preparing it and who took the decision to comment on the controversial issue before it had received a complaint.

He also noted that the issue has already been considered by the Government, which has decided to file an Interpretation lawsuit to determine it.

The SDMS is also being represented by Seenath Jairam, SC, Dinesh Rambally, Karina Singh, Desiree Sankar and Stefan Ramkissoon.

ABOUT THE ISSUE

The controversy over the use of the hijab at the school arose almost two weeks ago as OJT Nafisah Nakhid claimed she barred from an opportunity to train there unless she was willing to remove her hijab.

Her posts on social media caused a massive furore and led to the proposed intervention by the Government. The issue also caused friction between the SDMS and Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who had called on the school to reverse its position.

While outspoken SDMS secretary general Sat Maharaj has repeatedly commented on the issue, its lawyers responded to the complaint in a letter to the Office of the Attorney General sent last week.

The SDMS denied that Nakhid was blocked from entering the compound, but claimed she was informed of the school’s policy towards the hijab during the interview. It claimed that the policy did not infringe the constitutional rights of citizens and that the school does not discriminate against Muslims.

It also alleged that the Government’s intended lawsuit is discriminatory, as other religious bodies impose similar rules at their educational institutions. The SDMS also pointed out two international cases over the barring of the hijab at education institutions which were decided by the European Court of Human Rights and the United Kingdom’s House of Lords. In essence, both courts ruled that that freedom to practice religion does not equate to the right to display religious symbols, garments and paraphernalia openly without restriction.

Last week, the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprises Development reassigned Nakhid, a qualified mechanical engineer, to the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government. Nakhid is also said to be considering her legal options.

A patient at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) jumped to his death from the second floor of the hospital yesterday.

The patient’s identity was not revealed up to late yesterday. The North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) said it was “deeply saddened” over the death.

“Initial reports indicated that, at approximately 3:40 am a patient leapt from a patient care area, fell to the ground and subsequently died,” the NCRHA release stated.

“The authority is working closely with the Police Service to locate a next of kin, and thus is unable to release any further details of the incident at this time,” the release stated. The NCRHA said its Quality Department was conducting an investigation into the incident.

“As the facts of the investigation is gathered, further information will be shared with the media. Please be assured that our first priority is the safety of our patients and staff,” the NCRHA stated.

KEVON FELMINE

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

"Jealousy" and "denial" is how Rachel Baldeo describes the labelling of her mother Radica Rhada Baldeo as an outside woman after she was murdered alongside her lover Dipchand (Kumar Sanu) Heeralal on Thursday.

At her Eccles Village, Williamsville home yesterday, Rachel said she did not want to get embroiled in any bacchanal, but needed to clear her mother's name and for police to find the killer.

Tragedy unfolded on Thursday when a relative went to Heeralal's ranch along American Flat Road, Williamsville, and found the couple, both 53, dead with gunshot wounds to the body. In an interview with Heeralal's wife, Darcy Hosein, on Friday, she said that she never knew Heeralal and Baldeo were living together. Hosein said that Heeralal built on a two-acre agricultural plot he received from Caroni (1975) Ltd five years ago. Because he enjoyed being on the land where he planted crops and reared livestock, he eventually stopped living home. She said she met Baldeo ten years ago when she ran away with Heeralal but thought that relationship ended and she went back to her husband.

"I stayed here with my children and I never went to see where he lives. He always told me to call him before I come down there. Now I know why," Hosein said.

But yesterday, Rachel said it was five years since Baldeo and Heeralal began living together. She said her mother, a domestic worker, would go to her place of employment in Couva and return home every evening to Heeralal. She said she and her siblings also visited them at the ranch.

"As far as I know, my mother and Sanu came to a decision that they wanted to make a life together down in the back there. That was five years ago. Our father accepted it and we as children accepted it so we had considered Dipchand as our stepfather," Rachel said.

Baldeo's estranged husband, Peter, said that he and his wife separated years before she started to live with Heeralal. He said amends were made and they had a healthy relationship because they had children together. As time went along, they all became good friends.

"She should not put those things in the papers. Look at how they died. The whole village knew they were living together and you're here and you don't know that?"

Baldeo's relatives said they had no idea why someone murdered them and up to yesterday, police had arrested no suspect. An autopsy is expected on Monday and Rachel said they will then plan her funeral. She said that they wanted to host the funerals together but Heeralal's family had objected. She is hoping that the funerals fall on the same day and both bodies will be cremated at the Shore of Peace, South Oropouche. When the Sunday Guardian visited Hosein's home yesterday, a male relative, who was cleaning the yard, said that she was inside with family and was not feeling to talk.

There has been further setbacks for the Galleons Passage ahead of its arrival to T&T.

The National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco) confirmed the vessel arrived as scheduled in Cuba yesterday where retrofitting works are set to commence.

Prior to the arrival of the vessel, a team representing both the buyer and the seller arrived in Cuba in order to expedite the shipyard works.

Setbacks were reported as it related to the commencement of work which has been attributed to delays in the completion of

designs and the issue of approved drawings by the seller. The shipyard was also said to be experiencing delays in the procurement of the requisite materials for these works.

Nidco said "In light of the aforementioned, a full schedule for the completion of all retrofitting works is currently being finalized."