Anna-Lisa Paul

The greatest wish of an individual who has been wronged is to have justice and fairness meted out to him/her.

This was the sentiment expressed by Archbishop Jason Gordon yesterday, as he articulated the Catholic perspective on Restorative Justice and what role it could play in society.

Participating in a panel discussion themed "Understanding and Promoting Restorative Justice in T&T" at the Faculty of Law, UWI, St Augustine, the Archbishop acknowledged that when an individual is denied fairness and justice "The society cannot work and cannot work well."

Hosted by the Catholic Commission for Social Justice in collaboration with the UWI Faculty of Law, the symposium focused on how restorative justice could help to make incarcerated people become better individuals who could contribute positively to society once released.

As the first speaker, the Archbishop challenged the audience to ask themselves, "What kind of society do we want to become?"

He said "Until we can answer that question, I think it is going to be really, really hard to settle all the many social challenges we are facing because the social challenges we face have come about because we do not have the traditions, the customs, the laws, the sensitivity to settle the things we are negotiating now, things we didn't have to negotiate before because they were refereed for us by our parents who would set whatever they thought the law was or the justice was."

Gordon said as master of our own houses, people had to explore new ways of doing things and setting new traditions.

Referring to the current penal system, he said it was one which was not about justice but retribution in some form or fashion.

He said in T&T, teenagers who entered the penal system often ended up graduating from a petty criminal after going into the remand section where they would earn tertiary-level qualifications but not before gaining a "circle of friends" who would have taught him how to do real criminal activity.

Gordon said "Therefore, it has not helped society by putting this person in remand."

Joel Julien

A schoolboy who was playing a video game at his home, a man who was celebrating a friend's birthday, and another man who took a chance to urinate in a track, were all shot dead when gunmen opened fire in Laventille on Friday night.

Dead are 16-year-old Joshua James, 38-year-old Carlos Abraham, and 49-year-old Curtis Hepburn. This brings to 244 the number of the people murdered so far for the year.

The trio are believed to be collateral damage in an ongoing gang war in the area.

Residents of Erica Street, Laventille, were emotionally distraught by the triple murder yesterday, describing the death of the "innocent" trio as "senseless and unnecessary."

"Alllyuh in a war and allyuh don’t know who allyuh fighting against? Allyuh in a war and don't know who are the targets?" questioned an Erica Street resident who preferred to remain anonymous.

According to reports, around 10.45 pm on Friday a car pulled up at the corner of Erica Street and the Old St Joseph Road, gunmen exited and opened fire.

James was in the yard of his family's home playing a video game when he was shot.

He died on the spot.

The 16-year-old was a student of the nearby Success Laventille Secondary School and an aspiring martial artist.

Minister in the Education Ministry Lovell Francis yesterday tweeted his condolences.

"Condolences to the students and staff of Success Laventille Secondary on the loss of another young life. This must end," he stated.

Abraham, on the other hand, decided to spend some time liming near the Liberty Bar to celebrate the birthday of a friend from the area.

He was shot when he tried to run when the gunfire started.

He died on the spot.

Abraham was a taxi-driver in the area who used to transport school children.

A neighbour who said Abraham was a son to her lamented his death.

"Carlos is a community person, he was a youth officer in our community. He didn't deserve to die like this," Alana Eddy said.

Abraham is the father of a five-year-old daughter named Destiny.

Destiny is scheduled to start primary school in the upcoming school year.

"Oh God, we have to stop this," Eddy cried.

The third victim was Hepburn.

Hepburn was shot while urinating in a track between James' home and the Liberty Bar.

He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but eventually succumbed to his injuries.

His father-in-law, Charles Small Maynard, said Hepburn did not deserve this death.

"He had no right to die like this, he was a good, hard-working man," Maynard said.

"My daughter in a mess because he was supposed to come back and meet her to go down to We Beat and the next thing she heard is he get shot. Why is it that we have to be suffering this way?

"I don’t get emotional but you see right now, I have to take care of my daughter because she is in a mess."

When the Sunday Guardian visited the area yesterday, residents were seen consoling each other.

Investigations are continuing into the deaths.

See Pages A6, A7, A12

The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) needs to do much better in getting rid of illegal guns off the streets, Minister in the Ministry of Legal Affairs Fitzgerald Hinds has said.

Hinds said he was not satisfied the police are doing enough to deal with the problem.

He made the statement yesterday as he visited the scene of a triple murder in his constituency of Laventille West.

Around 10.45 pm on Friday, 16-year-old Joshua James, 38-year-old Carlos Abraham, and 49-year-old Curtis Hepburn were shot dead when gunmen opened fire on the corner of Erica Street and the Old St Joseph Road in Laventille.

Hinds had one month ago arranged a "spiritual walk" throughout his constituency because of the ongoing crime spate. The walk was held yesterday and Hinds decided to end it at the scene of the triple murder to pay homage to the victims.

Hinds arrived with a contingent and a music truck playing gospel.

"I am very genuinely saddened and troubled by these state of affairs," Hinds said.

Hinds said according to information he received from the police, the trio were killed while going about "their normal community affairs."

He said the issue of crime in his constituency was a "community problem, a sociological problem where individuals have taken it upon themselves to get illegal firearms and to shoot wantonly around the place causing the mayhem, the trauma, the pain, the tears that you have witnessed here this morning".

"There is a national security perspective on this which puts a responsibility on the Government, on the national security platform, and the police in particular to arrest this situation, to deal with this because this thing has been going on and on and on and on...there are a whole lot of illegal firearms around the place and it is the duty of the police to get them out of those hands and get them to safer places and I must say truthfully, I am not satisfied that I am seeing sufficient action in that regard," Hinds said.

"But there is also a responsibility on the community because in all cases, not most, all cases people in communities will know who is who and what is what but there is a lot of silence based on fear, based on deceit and as a result, the criminals are able to hide inside of the darkness of that silence and continue to hurt and harm innocent people who have nothing to do with them and their affairs."

Hinds said all hands are needed on deck to address the crime situation.

Last year the TTPS seized over 1,000 illegal firearms.

In 2016, 765 were seized.

BOBIE-LEE DIXON

(bobie-lee.dixon@guardian.co.tt)

“We need to buck up in Trinidad and Tobago and stop making excuses for wrong doing.”

This was the advice given by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as he delivered the feature address yesterday at the official opening of the newly built Carenage Fishing Centre on the Western Main Road.

Before residents of Carenage and a large group of his cabinet ministers in attendance, Rowley said if the people of Carenage had not voted the PNM back into office in 2015, the centre would not have been completed.

Rowley was making reference to the lengthy nine years the PNM-initiated project took to complete. In chronicling the events that consistently stalled work on the centre, he pointed out it was a deliberate move by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led administration to neglect the project and the people of the Carenage community. He further noted that the Udecott-built fishing centre was a prime example of the misuse, abuse, and misconduct of public office.

“As I talk about the conduct of people who act in trust and ought to act in trust, this facility represents the worst of public misbehaviour where trust is concerned,” said Rowley.

“During the five-year period 2010-2015, when this project had already been almost two years old, nothing that I or we in our side could do, could get the government of the day to come to this site and to conclude this project for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, particularly, the people of Carenage.”

He accused the then government of having a pattern of deliberate neglect, which he says; no government in T&T should be accused of.

“It was this facility, the community centre in Bagatelle, the sporting complex in Diego Martin and the school on the hill.”

Trust issues and the cancer of hate is predominant among the people of T&T. And it is believed that this was the perfect example which led to the circumstances leading to the death of “vigilante” victim Ashdale Mc Hutchinson. Officiating priest at the Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Tunapuna, Archdeacon North, The Venerable Kenley Baldeo, in his homily during Mc Hutchinson’s funeral service yesterday said citizens of T&T are “living in a society that is on the edge” and “where the innocent pays for the guilty and the guilty seems to walk free.” He said, “A society that is on edge where it is difficult to seem to be able to trust anyone. We are living in a society today where the cancer of hate stands too predominant within our people and it is to a large extent that that incident would have happened to Ashdale,” Baldeo said. Baldeo said the truth may never be told in Mc Hutchinson’s case but re-assured the grieving family and friends that “there is one who dies not sleep and whose eyes run to and fro, who understands what we do not understand, one who knows what we do not know and one whose judgment is on time.”“Our society today is falling apart faster than morning turns from night…we need to get back to the ole time days where value and morals existed,” he added. Mc Hutchinson’s sister, Anika who delivered a very emotional eulogy, defending her brother’s good name lamented that “not one resident at Oropune stood up for my brother while he was being robbed and beaten.” An unidentified woman, who gave her contribution during the “open floor” segment, said she knew Mc Hutchinson from a baby growing up and knew about his genuine love for children and everyone around him.

“I asked him one time since you love children so much why don’t you have as your own…he said to me ‘I don’t need too I have lots of children around and everybody is my family... That was the type of person Ashdale was! He loved all and gave all he had to all.” On May 30, Mc Hutchinson, 47, was accused of attempting to lure a five-year-old girl away from a nearby playground.

He was chased after by Oropune residents and attempted to hide in some bushes, but the residents lit the bushes on fire causing him to run out. He was then held, badly beaten and hog-tied. Parts of the incident were recorded via cell phones and shared on social media. Mc Hutchinson, 49, died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, at about 11 am on Sunday, having never regained consciousness. Following his death, residents expressed regret, remorse and sadness over his death and the circumstances.Investigations are continuing.

June 17 is the deadline for voter registration of next month’s by-election by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC).

Registration, according to EBC’s communications manager Dominic Hinds, began last Friday at the commission’s two offices—125 Eastern Main Road in Barataria and Scott House, Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain.

Until Thursday of this week, the EBC will accept registration from 8 am to 6 pm.

The EBC will be closed in observance of the Eid Holiday (Friday).

Hinds said the EBC will be opened on June 16 (Saturday) from 9 am until 3 pm.

On June 17 (Sunday), registration will begin at 9 am and conclude at 2 pm.

Yesterday, Hinds admitted that voter registration was slow, stating that he expects things to pick up by the end of this week.

Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced July 16 as the by-election date for the Barataria and Belmont East electoral districts.

The seats in the San Juan Laventille Regional Corporation and Port-of-Spain City Corporation became vacant following the death of councillor Pernell Bruno on July 8, 2017 and councillor Darrly Rajpaul on November 18, 2017.

So far, the PNM has announced Nicole Young as the Belmont candidate and Kimberly Rae-Ann Small for Barataria.

The UNC on Sunday named Sharon Maraj-Dharam as their Barataria candidate while Lianna Babb-Gonzales will contest Belmont.

“Voter registration is slow. Right now things are relatively calm,” Hinds said.

Nomination day for candidates is June 25, while a preliminary examination of nomination papers will take place on June 18, Hinds said.

With regards to electoral ink, voting booths and resources being put in place for voting day, Hinds said the EBC has been feverishly working on that.

“We will have everything in place come elections day,” Hinds assured.

Belmont East, Hinds said, has 3,257 registered voters while Barataria has 10,217.

There are 17 polling divisions in Barataria with seven in Belmont.

Following registration, Hinds said the EBC would know if the voting population for the two districts would have increased or decreased.

“Then we will have a revised list of electors which we will announce to the public soon.”

A former Strategic Services Agency (SSA) security officer has been given the green light to sue his former employer for taking disciplinary action against him after he sought compensation from the State over an injury he suffered in his previous job.

High Court judge Margaret Mohammed granted retired police Cpl Fazal Ghany leave to pursue his judicial view claim against the SSA in which he is claiming that it acted unfairly and illegally in taking the action against him.

She ruled that he had raised a valid claim which had a realistic prospect of success at trial.

According to his lawsuit, Ghany worked as a police officer before he applied for a job with the SSA in 2012.

In December 2006, Ghany suffered serious injuries after he slipped and fell down a flight of stairs at the Anti-Kidnapping Squad’s Couva office. He was left partially paralysed and was forced to retire early in 2011.

Ghany sued the State after his compensation claim under the Protective Services (Compensation) Act was denied as his injury was not one listed under the legislation.

Ghany claimed that he informed the interview panel of the lawsuit, when he was eventually interviewed for the post in the SSA, in January 2015.

Three months later, the Privy Council ruled in Ghany’s favour as it stated that Parliament made an error when it failed to include a provision, which takes into account injuries which were not contemplated at the time of the drafting of the legislation. The Privy Council referred the issue to the Compensation Committee under the legislation to calculate compensation for Ghany.

However, in August, last year, Ghany was forced to file another lawsuit as the committee was not appointed by Government, since 2015. High Court judge Joan Charles ruled in Ghany’s favour and ordered the Government to immediately make the appointments and that the committee urgently consider Ghany’s case.

Ghany is claiming that days after his second legal victory, he was informed by SSA management that he was suspended with pay, pending an investigation into four disciplinary charges arising out of the lawsuits.

Ghany was accused of providing misleading information on his lawsuit during his recruitment interview and for alleged giving false evidence in his subsequent lawsuit before Charles.

In February, Ghany was informed that he was found guilty of the four disciplinary offences. However, he was not dismissed by the agency as his three-year contract was due to come to an end that month.

Ghany is now challenging that process used by the SSA in bringing and determining the charges.

“These allegations are of a fraudulent nature and can stay on my record. If I allow this to remain there, this will hinder my future employment prospects,” Ghany said in his affidavit.

He is calling on the court to declare that the decision is null and void as he claims that he was not properly informed of the nature of the charges and was not given a fair opportunity to respond.

Ghany is being represented by Jagdeo Singh, Dinesh Rambally, Stefan Ramkissoon and Kiel Taklalsingh.

A case management conference for Ghany’s case against the SSA will take place on July 23.

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

As the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) begins an investigation into how a police SUV became trapped on the shore of a Cedros beach last Saturday, sources say that the incident is bigger than what is being reported.

Corporate communications managers of the Police Service Ellen Lewis confirmed yesterday that the PSB has launched an investigation into the vehicle being stuck on the beach.

“There is an investigating by Professional Standards Bureaus into the incident that happened last Saturday at 9.30 in the morning. I can’t tell you the state of the investigation, but someone has to account for their presence there so an investigation was launched and it will reveal the answers,” Lewis said.

The T&T Guardian understands two police constables from the Santa Flora CID and Point Fortin Police Station were questioned by South Western Division seniors over the weekend and yesterday.

It was alleged that the officers were conducting surveillance on either drug or contraband smuggling on the shoreline of one of the country’s known drug ports.

However, sources said one of the officers was off duty and someone from the Point Fortin Police Station must have given the police constable instructions to leave the station, especially with a marked police vehicle to venture into another policing district.

Sources also said that after the vehicle became stuck, there were attempts to use a wrecker and a truck to pull the vehicle out and it was only when those efforts failed, it was reported to senior officers.

Just last month, an acting Corporal attached to the South Western Division was under investigation for allegedly assisting in the escape of four smugglers and removing goods believed to be guns and marijuana from the smugglers’ vehicle after it was abandoned as the police chased the smugglers.

Two years ago, there was an investigation at the Santa Flora Police Station into how drugs that were seized in a raid went missing.

An undisclosed amount of money donated to the Hare Krishna temple— Sri Sri Radha Gopienath Mandir in Longdenville and to the construction of its Sunday school building for the children of the devotees were stolen during an early morning robbery yesterday. Several devotees, including two women, who are residents at the temple, which stands on a three-acre of land were fortunately not hurt

One of the male devotees, however, who was found sleeping on the temple’s steps, was tied up and taken around by the three thieves— two armed with cutlasses and the other with a gun.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian, resident devotee Devendra Anuja, 65, said he was outside walking in the yard chanting to Lord Krishna until about 2 am before retiring to bed in the upstairs of the temple.

The incident took place at about 2.30 am. It is believed that the men were hiding in an old abandoned cow shed located at the back of the temple.

“The men came through an unlocked door to the back and they came through the main worship area where they broke the padlock to the donation box and took hundreds of dollars that were given by devotees when they attended our Sunday morning service. Then they made their way to the altar where we have all our deities. They looked around and touched nothing,” Anuja said. “Then they made their way to a back office where they took the money we had raised for the school building and the renovation of the washroom area.” he added. Devotee Patrick Henry Drakes, who suffers from chronic back pains, said he was sleeping on the steps as he normally do when he was awakened by the men. “They asked me what I doing here. I told them that I am homeless and I come here to sleep. They tied my hands and we exchanged a few words to them. They brought me to the front of the deity of the founder of the temple and put me stand up asking me where they keep the money. I told them it didn’t have any here that they usually do not keep money here,” Drakes said. Anuja said that while Drakes stood there one of the men attempted to strike the founder’s deity, “They ended up not doing it.” He added that the men went upstairs to the women’s quarters and had just opened the door when something distracted them and they went back downstairs, “there were two women in there and luckily the thieves didn’t go in.” Anuja, however, sent a warning to the three men, saying that “they have a price to pay for what they did.”“They may break the laws of the land but they cannot break the laws of God and we are confident that they will be punished,” Anuja said. Pundit Satyanand Maharaj, of the Satya Anand Ashram, said the recent spate of attacks show that criminal elements view religious institutions as “soft targets.”

“It appears that the criminal elements view religious intuitions as soft targets. This, coupled with the fact that the police appear to be impotent to deal with increasing criminality, augments the vulnerability of religious institutions.”

Last Tuesday, thieves broke into the Las Lomas #2 temple since its opening in February for the second time. Last month armed men entered the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Freeport where they robbed the spiritual leader Pundit Gajendra Kumar and his family of cash and jewelry.In December 2017, Father Clyde Harvey was robbed by armed men at St Martin’s RC Church in Gonzales, Belmont, and several other religious buildings were robbed in separate incidents last year.

The country’s leading religious leaders yesterday called on Government not to amend the Equal Opportunities Act to accommodate the LGBTQIA community, while they want an amendment to the Marriage Act to entrench marriage as a union between a male and female when Parliament meets in September.

The call was made at a press conference attended by Archbishop Jason Gordon, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha secretary general Sat Maharaj, Anjuman Sunnat Ul Jamaat Association president Yacoob Ali, Council of Evangelical Churches president Rev Desmond Austin, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Caribbean Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Dr Clive Dottin and Faith-Based Ministries president pastor Winston Mansingh at Archbishop House, Port-of-Spain, as they shared one position on the two acts they are asking Government to put into the law books.

The religious bodies, which represent 90 per cent of the Chrstians, Muslims, Hindus and Seventh-day Adventist population is pushing for the Marriage Act to be passed by a special majority. The leaders say they will soon draft a statement on both acts which they will forward to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.

At the historic meeting, Gordon said they joined forces because they believed the fabric of society was “at risk” and they see a clear and present danger in our midst.

“The notion of a fluid gender is something that has no biological foundation and is a series of ideas …and the further along it goes is more genders keep getting thrown up into the equation,” Gordon said.

Gordon said male and female were created for marriage, which hold up society. He said when America sneezes the whole Caribbean catches pneumonia. However, he said as a nation we have to think through these issues and see the challenges it has brought to other countries while understanding what kind of society we want to become.

“That is why we are asking together for the two proposals we have put on the table… that there be no amendment to the Equal Opportunity Act and that Parliament redefines marriage to include the words biological male and biological female.”

In going forward, Gordon said hard decisions would have to be made.

Questioned why the churches would advocate for discrimination to persist, Gordon said marriage between a man and woman cannot be discrimination. He said they are not asking for anyone to be treated less than a human being or without dignity.

“To talk about gender being fluid…and you see how it proliferates from it was LGBT, now it is A, Q, I, plus, plus. Because once you open it to fluidity there is no longer an objective nature or objective measure any more for what constitutes gender.”

The leaders were asked to give one example of same-sex marriage leading to degradation of society. Gordon said marriage has been the heart of many scriptures, adding civilisation has moved away from its moral foundations into “more murky waters where it no longer understands what truth is.”

Asked if people who have gender fluid children and an open sexual orientation should return to the church and cleanse their ways, Gordon said the teaching at the church would be love, mercy, forgiveness, welcoming and to help them become the best version of themselves and open their lives to Christ. He said this campaign was based on truth.

In April, the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) promised to write the Equal Opportunities Commission to ensure the LGBTI community is protected in wake of its victory in the High Court after Justice Devindra Rampersad declared two clauses of the buggery legislation unconstitutional.

But Gordon said there are laws to protect people who were fired based on their sexual orientation.

“The Industrial Court will not allow somebody to be fired simply by a whim and fancy.”

Dottin, who spoke via Skype, said they were not using hate, disrespect or revenge against anyone, insisting that families should not be undermined.

Ali said God did not create Adam and Steve, but Adam and Eve in the beginning.

Mansingh also questioned why laws should be changed to accept what is not right. He said research has shown that there is was no gay gene.

Austin said there was also no evidence that someone is born a homosexual.

“That is a construct we must be mindful of. It’s not a question of us versus them. What we are experiencing is a culture shift,” Austin said, adding people cannot say they want rights.

“Anybody could have a right. What we have moved away from is from absolute. We have gone to season of relative.”

He said the state has become God by regulating right and wrong, which the churches now have to deal with.

“We are not against anyone. We are against an agenda that is intended to reverse the norms of society.”

Disappointed. That’s how Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (Caiso) executive director Colin Robinson summed up religious leaders call yesterday for Government to amend the Marriage Act and to not amend Equal Opportunity Act to accommodate the LGBTI community.

“The faith leaders who spoke this afternoon have lost their way. They gathered to oppose discrimination protection for a vulnerable minority who were thrown out of their apartments, homes and fired from their jobs in April after the court’s ruling,” Robinson told the T&T Guardian in a telephone interview, adding the proposals would result in the LGBTI community finding other places to worship.

“LGBTI people are people of faith. We pray like everybody else. We will just form our own congregation and worship there. If faith is not going to be relevant in people’s lives, then they would not turn to those faiths.”

Robinson said he was very disappointed in the Catholic church and Archbishop Jason Gordon for discriminating against their community.

“I am disappointed in a young Archbishop who doesn’t have the mettle of leadership that his predecessor had.”

He, however, tipped his hat to the leaders who did not show up at the meeting.

“The faith leaders have proven that they have lost their way and they are becoming less and less relevant in the lives of the LGBTI people. That is the message they sent.”

While the leaders said they are representing 90 per cent of the Hindus, Muslims, Catholics and Seventh-Day Adventists, Robinson said the State needs to protect the 10 per cent of the population “regardless who they are.” He said the LGBTI represents a conservative estimate of 35,000 adults, which says something.

Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) chairman Lynette Seebaran-Suite last night agreed that the act needs to be broadened to protect everyone in society.

Speaking on CNC3 on religious leaders’ call that Government not emend the EOC Act to accommodate the LGBTQI community, Seebaran-Suite said the Constitution also protects people’s private lives.

“If you feel that one of your constitutional rights is being infringed you can bring a constitutional motion against the Government. But that is only if the Government is infringing your right. But if it is a private employer or between one individual and another individual it will be society even though we have the bill of right. There is no remedy to enforce your right not to be discriminated against.”

She admitted, however, there are many areas of activity where one is not protected from discrimination on the basis of one’s sexual orientation.

“That is why the Equal Opportunities Commission has been calling for an amendment to our act to broaden the definition of sex because the definition sex does not include sexual orientation.”

She said she has a strong feeling that T&T does not believe the act is fair, reasonable and constitutional.

Kevin Edwards, a security officer at the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union headquarters in San Fernando, was found dead on an empty parcel of land his family owns around 5 am yesterday.

Reports stated that ASP Yearwood, Sgt Ramlogan and Cpl Harripersad responded to a report of a body along the Sixth Company Road, Indian Walk, Moruga, around 6 am and found Edwards, 37, with a stab wound to his head. Police were told he was seen in the community around 11.30 pm on Sunday.

His common-law wife Rena Ramoo said she was out on Sunday and when she returned to their Sixth Company Circular Road home around 9 pm the door was open and he was already gone. Ramoo said Edwards was supposed to transport two villagers to work yesterday morning and when he did not show up they tried to call.

“His father knocked on the door and said that them boys ready to go to work. I tell him that Kevin was not home so he send me to go and drop them. So I take the car and picked them up and when I reached by the junction, the fella who found him ran up to the car glass,” she recalled.

“He said, ‘Allyuh wouldn’t believe what happened. Look Kevin body in the empty land there.’ I went down to see the body… What I could do? I started to bawl.”

Police were yet to determine a motive for the murder and up to yesterday evening no one was arrested. A villager said he saw Edwards, who was found only in his underpants, walking in the road around 11.30 on Sunday night with a bag and a green coverall around 11.30 pm

Ramoo said she did not call Edwards because he was away from home he would not answer his phone. She said on days when he did not have to work he would go out and return home the following morning. Ramoo and his sister Kimberly said it was surprising that he was found wearing only underpants as he was self-conscious about his size.

“He used to always say that his foot too skinny for people to see his legs. He was not a person to even walk outside bareback,” Kimberly said.

Remembering her brother, she said he was very discreet about his personal life but he was the life of the party and a ladies man. (K FELMINE)

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Fate was cruel to Rio Claro farmer Radhay Krishna Mahabir yesterday.

On the day of a power outage which forced him to manually open his motorised gate, he unknowingly let gunmen into his home.

Although Mahabir, 49, was initially able to react and make it inside his house and lock the door, he was shot through a bedroom window. With the bullet lodged in his neck, Mahabir called his wife, who was at the Piarco International Airport with their daughter after returning from a vacation in the US.

But despite making several frantic calls to save her husband’s life he died before police arrived.

Relatives said yesterday that Mahabir, whose arm was amputated in an incident years ago, farmed in the Rio Claro area and sold the crops he and other farmers produced at the Macoya Market.

It was around 3 am as he was preparing to leave his home along the Tabaquite Road for the market that bandits struck.

As he opened the gate to drive out, he saw the gunmen running towards him. He ran inside and locked himself in a bedroom, but a gunman was able to fire a shot through an open window.

A police report conflicted, however, as they said he was shot while closing the door. With no way to enter, the gunmen left but it was believed that they stayed in the neighbourhood, as residents reported seeing strange men around their houses after they were awakened by the gunshot.

Mahabir also contacted his brother, who, along with neighbours, broke down the door to the bedroom. However, it was too late.

As residents gathered outside the house they noticed an unknown man lurking. They alerted the police and the man, who had mud on his feet, was arrested.

Given Mahabir’s hard-working and honest character, relatives said they were clueless as to why someone killed him.

They said he worked well with the other farmers, there was no one fighting him for the land and he never owed anyone. They said if someone owed him and it seemed as if it would result in conflict, he would have rather forgiven that person’s debt.

No one came to the assistance of Kemba Olufemi yesterday when her ex-lover tried to shoot her and then used the gun to beat her mercilessly on her head. After hitting her with the gun about 100 times, Lloyd Logan, 60, then calmly walked a short distance away and drank poison in the car park of Tropical Plaza, Pointe-a-Pierre.

Olufemi, 37, survived the brutal attack and is warded in a stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital, but Logan died.

While the heinous incident sent shock waves across social media after the video of the incident went viral, what was equally disturbing was that no one helped her during the four-minute attack although several vehicles were close enough to see what was happening and their occupants probably did. There were also people standing nearby watching the attack.

Police said Olufemi, a taxi driver who lives with her two children at Macaulay Village, Claxton Bay, had ended her relationship with Logan about two weeks ago, but they had arranged to meet at the plaza yesterday. She arrived there around 11 am.

The video shows a woman exiting the front seat of Olufemi’s car, which was parked near a casino at the plaza, while Olufemi remained in the driver’s seat. Logan then walked up to Olufemi’s car, pulled out a gun, aimed it at her and pulled the trigger. But police said the gun jammed and did not go off.

Determined to finish her off, Logan then began beating her on the head with the gun, pulled her out of the vehicle and continued beating her. Olufemi tried to fight back but he overpowered her, pulled her to the ground and continued beating her on the head.

During the ordeal several cars slowed down but no one left their vehicle to help the helpless woman. At one point Logan’s gun flew out of his hand but he retrieved it and continued beating her.

Seconds after he walked away, Olufemi got up and walked away.

PCs Nagessar, Beharry and Hospedales, of the St Margaret’s Police Station, responded to the report along with officers of the Southern Division Task Force. When the officers responded they saw Logan drinking a bottle of paraquat in the car park. When he saw the police he put down the bottle, which was half empty and gave no resistance when the officers arrested him.

By this time several people had gathered around Olufemi in the car park. She was in and out of consciousness. There was a lot of the blood on the ground and bloodstains on her car. An ambulance later took her to the hospital where she was treated and then warded. She suffered a fracture and several lacerations to the head.

Logan, of Perseverance Village, died while being attended to at the same hospital.

Police said yesterday that Olufemi never made a report against Logan at the St Margaret’s station. Police believe people were afraid to intervene because Logan had gun.

When the T&T Guardian contacted Olufemi’s son via his phone and spoke to her sister at the hospital they both declined to comment. But when the T&T Guardian visited her home yesterday, neighbours described Olufemi as a hard-working, humble and strong person.

Stephen Sookdeo posted on Facebook, “Crime has paralysed a nation to react. Too scared to get involved. Too worried about getting killed innocently trying to help. It’s truly unfortunate.”

Another user, Alana Deoraj-Samaroo, posted, “So many saw, passed, watched yet stood by and did nothing...real talk no wonder why the country got bad to worse because nobody will turn around to help anyone these days, yet talk about how the country getting bad an it not safe...smh.” Marabella police are investigating.

Joel Julien

Approximately $300,000 worth of possible tax revenue to the Government is being lost on a yearly basis because customers are buying Android boxes instead of becoming paid television subscribers, DirecTV general manager Bernard Pantin says. He estimates there could be as many as 80,000 Android boxes currently in the country.

Pantin made the claim at a conference titled " Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement: Video Content Piracy" hosted by Alianza at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

Android boxes allow users to stream content from the Internet and are sold with pre-installed software which sometimes allow content to be streamed illegally. And this piracy is where the problem lies. The boxes can be purchased at some retail stores around the country and their prevalence is said to be impacting the revenue for subscription television, which has been dwindling in recent times.

Annie Baldeo, of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT), said revenue for paid television fell from $183 million in the last quarter of 2016 to $164 million in the first quarter of 2017. One of the reasons for the declining revenue was the increase in Android box usage, Baldeo said.

"There is a new free kid in town - the Android boxes, you never have to pay another monthly fee in your life, you are getting something fully loaded, all red flags if somebody is offering you that," Pantin pointed out.

Corporate Vice President of HB Latin America Group Javier Figueras agreed with Pantin about the rise of the Anroid boxes and the new frontier being explored by pirates.

"People are paying for services and not knowing how long it will last. It is true there are many Android boxes, there are many people paying for that but they don't know how long it will last and for which distributors are not even paying a penny, such as companies like Novo, in this country pushing the Android box and pushing services that are totally illegal," Figueras said.

Figueras said piracy is a very serious topic which affects all.

"Piracy oftentimes goes hand in hand with illegal activities such as drug trafficking, weapons, money laundering that affects the country," he said, adding piracy is not the "victimless crime" that many believe it is.

TATT's Karel Douglas said the authority will begin consultations for the regulation of Android boxes next week.

"We have persons in the industry question the importation and the sale of these devices and how it threatens the livelihood of many providers, we have had small cable tv broadcasters indicate that Android boxes have destroyed their business and they are opting out of the subscription television market," Douglas said.

"We have been asked time and time again what is TATT the regulator doing about these devices and why is it that we the regulator is allowing Android boxes to be openly imported and sold to the public at the expense of the industry. Well, we have heard you and the authority will soon begin the process of holding consultations on the issue of Android boxes."

One avenue that is being proposed to address the issue is the possible banning of Android boxes being imported into the country. TATT has already drafted a consultation paper which is to be published by June 25.

Witnesses to Monday’s horrific attack on Kemba Olufemi yesterday said they were too scared to intervene because the attacker had a gun.

After the video of the incident went viral on Facebook, several people expressed their disgust that no one, including the security, tried to help Olufemi.

Police found the loaded .38 revolver which Lloyd Logan used to beat Olufemi to within an inch of her life on the scene of the incident at Tropical Plaza, Pointe-a-Pierre, on Monday. Logan, 62, repeatedly struck Olufemi, 52, on her head with the gun after it jammed when he first tried to shoot her. Logan then ended his life by drinking poison.

Olufemi had broken off her relationship with Logan two weeks ago but agreed to meet him at the Plaza.

One of the security guards who patrols the compound yesterday told T&T Guardian he was not around when the incident took place but said he understood why his colleagues did not intervene.

He said, “In that situation, the security could not have done anything. He had a gun, we are bare hands, we do not have guns.”

He said the situation was unfortunate.

An employee of one of the businesses at the plaza said, “He had a gun. No one wanted to come out. They were scared.”

She said the casino had its own security but had not yet opened.

Another worker said the place was not busy, there were a few customers and not many vehicles in the car park.

Addressing the issue yesterday, psychologist Dr Katija Khan said when people decide to help or not in such situations, they also weigh the potential danger to themselves.

“I think with someone waving a gun they will definitely think about the risk involved. I do not think people are uncaring. But we cannot let fear and concern override the need to help persons who desperately need it,” Khan said.

She admitted fear and anxiety over the crime situation will definitely impact on how people act.

“In this situation there are two factors, concern for crime in general and also intervening in this specific situation of domestic violence,” Khan said.

Apart from physical aid, however, she said people could have helped in other ways.

“If you feel it is risky you can call the police, you can shout out, you can blow your horn but certainly not the all or nothing response,” she said.

Khan said some of the tell-tale signs of abuse, whether it be psychological, verbal, financial or psychological, include controlling, possessive and aggressive behaviour.

“Gas-lighting, which is when they manipulate you into feeling as though you are the problem and you start to doubt yourself. They isolate you from your friends and family. Poor communication is a big red flag, they either shout at you or give you the silent treatment.”

Saying that domestic violence is a crisis in this country, she added, “There must be zero tolerance for abuse.”

SASCHA WILSON

The Claxton Bay woman who was savagely beaten on the head with a gun by her ex-lover yesterday thanked God for her life.

Speaking from her hospital bed, Kemba Olufemi, 52, declared, “I am alive. Thank God for life.”

But Olufemi, a taxi driver, admitted that she had been told of the rumours on social media that she had passed away following the brutal attack on Monday.

Olufemi’s head was still heavily bandaged when the T&T Guardian visited her at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday, but was alert and speaking well. However, she declined to to speak more about her near-death ordeal or take a photo.

She was surrounded by family and friends who held hands around her bed, praying and singing religious songs for her to be healed.

Olufemi underwent surgery after she was brutally struck about 100 times with the butt of the gun which ex-lover Lloyd Logan, 62, had initially tried to shoot her with. When the gun jammed, however, Logan used its butt to violently hit her, before eventually taking his own life with poison.

Olufemi told police she went to Tropical Plaza, Pointe-a-Pierre, to meet Logan although she had broken off their relationship two weeks ago. She said he walked up to her while she was seated in her car, pulled out a gun, aimed it at her and pulled the trigger. She told police she heard three clicks but the gun did not discharge. She told officers she remembered being beaten and crying out for help, but after that she only remembered waking up at the hospital. Olufemi, a mother of two, suffered serious head injuries, including several lacerations and a fractured skull.

After the video of the incident went viral on Facebook, several people expressed their disgust that no one, including the security, tried to help Olufemi during hter attack, although some of them could be seen nearby, while drivers of vehicles also slowed down to view the attack before driving off. (See other story)

However, speaking to T&T Guardian at the hospital’s mortuary yesterday, Logan’s relatives said the man they saw carrying out the brutal act in the video was not the Lloyd Logan they knew and loved. They said he was neither a monster nor was he violent.

Expressing shock and sadness over the incident, the relatives apologised to Olufemi and her family.

“We are deeply sorry that this incident took place. We had no idea. I don’t know what drove him to do that. The Devil is busy, just waiting until you are weak. That is why we have to kneel down in prayer,” said Logan’s nephew Benjamin Franklyn.

Unaware that he was having relationship problems, the family said Logan, a retired steel bender, was “normal” on Sunday.

Logan, who has grandchildren, lived alone at Perseverance Village, Couva, having separated from his wife several years ago.

“We found out on social media. This is a shock to all of us. There was no sign,” said Franklyn.

Logan’s only child, Leroy Baptiste, 40, added, “It was surprising. No words could express, we are speechless. I always know him as a jolly, sprightly person. He was always happy and was enjoying his life. That is the person I know. I don’t know what caused that transformation.”

The family did not know he owned a gun. Police recovered the .38 revolver loaded with three rounds of ammunition at the scene.

Do you think someone should helped the woman who was beaten with a gun by her ex-lover?

Annie Samai, 55, houswife, Debe

It depends, next thing he start to shoot all of them, so you have to think.

Telleca Black, 32, geriatric nurse, Carapichaima

Yes, I find it was wrong because it had cars passing. He was dragging her. No one stop and intervene, which was wrong. Is like no love here again.

Joshua Clarke, 21, accountant, Palo Seco

They should have helped. By watching the video everyone saw that the gun was jammed, so they could have intervened and help her.

David Dirpaul, 72, pensioner, Couva

Of course, they should have assisted her in some way.

Rekesh Rampersad, 63, retiree, Ontario, Canada

Sometimes people are afraid, but to help someone is a natural instinct. Since I left Trinidad I don’t think there is love again.

Michael Ramsey, 73, pensioner, Princes Town

Yes, they should have tried to help her because it was a woman who was being beaten.

Dawn Aaron, 49, housewife, La Romaine

They could have tried, but people afraid of the gun, afraid they will get shoot. Still, they could have tried to help her.

Carmen Ramsaran, 58, housewife, Penal

Of course they were supposed to help her. If he hitting her with the gun that mean the gun had no bullets.

A University of T&T lecturer caught in a video using profanity towards his students was said to have been “only appealing to the students in the class to listen and take their studies for serious.”

The 39-second video, which went viral over the past 24 hours on social media, showed the lecturer, dressed in a grey hoodies jacket, scolding the students using “strong profanity”. The man was yesterday identified as a former Physics lecturer who was based at the South campus for the past 13 years. Ironically, he was one of the lecturers whose contracts were terminated in the first phase of a restructuring exercise by the university. The video in question, however, was taken seven months ago.

UTT management sources confirmed that the lecturer taught at the university but made it clear he was retrenched and not fired from the university over the said video.

In the video, the lecturer can be heard saying: “Listen, listen…if you don’t want to listen, it simple and you don’t want to hear pick up your bag and get the @#$% out the class…Alright! – because I have classes back to back and I had to tell the next class last week that I had four f@#$% funerals in two f@#$% weeks to come and f@#$% sit down here and hear alyuh don’t do alyuh work…” He then gesticulated and re-enacted how the students would sit back on their chairs and act like they’re not listening and referred to them as “Big a$$@@%.”

However, speaking in his defence yesterday, the UTT source said the lecturer was at the time going through “serious emotional stress.”

“His mother had passed away around that time and he was under so much emotional stress that he had to hire a driver to come to work,” the UTT source, who confessed to being the lecturer’s friend, said.

A UTT lecturer, who also wished not to be identified, said on the day in question the then-lecturer was scolding his students because they were very disruptive in class.

“He had set up a lab for them and they didn’t go to the lab. He told them that he had to bend backwards for them to get the lab and was very angry that they did not go. He was appealing to them to take their work seriously…yes the profanities may have been a little over but he was trying to drive home a point to them,” the UTT lecturer said.

The UTT lecturer noted that at the end of that very semester all the students in the said class failed their exams and the same ex-lecturer had to teach them again, “just to know that they all passed their exams the second time around so these students did take him for serious after all and bucked up. He was always known to genuinely care for the students and make sure that he always worked closely with them and supported them. He meant nothing abusive or bad.”

Another close friend of the ex-lecturer said he was very distraught and troubled over the release of the video. The friend said he was looking to move on with his life in a “new direction” and now has to deal with this issue.

“He heard about it and really is upset about it, so distraught that he has switched off his phone because he has been answering calls continuously since it went viral. He is out of teaching now and looking to go into a new different way in life. Some of his former students who knew him well are rooting for him in all this though.”

But T&T Unified Teachers Association president Lindsay Doodhai yesterday condemned the use of obscene language by teachers during the performance of their duties.

“Teachers should not be using obscene language in their classes no matter the situation. Its use is inexcusable.”

Also contacted yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said he was told that UTT had since launched an investigation into the incident. He added that teachers need no reminder of how they are supposed to behave, “teachers know exactly how they supposed to behave, interact with students and compose themselves.”

He added that any teachers caught in similar situations will be investigated and necessary disciplinary actions will be taken accordingly.

Approximately two months into detainment Keegan Roopchand and his wife were purportedly visited by people said to be Trinidadian Immigration officers—a male and a female.

“The Jordanians prepared me for what they described as an interview and told me what to say for each of the possible questions. They said they (Jordanians) would be watching me and if I complied, my family would be released. I was fearful that if I didn’t comply my family would be subjected to continued torture and imprisonment,” Roopchand said.

He said the Immigration officer spoke in a Trinidadian accent and presented apparent legitimate identification.

“But I was paranoid he was working for the Jordanians and they were testing me. I thought I would have someone to tell the truth to, but I could trust no-one.”

He said others representing themselves as FBI officers also questioned him.

“Their interrogation techniques were different from the Jordanians, but questioning was along the same line. I lost my identity—I was living a lie to survive.”

After the questioning, he said the Jordanians said there was no need to keep him further.

“They said, ‘we know you’re a good person and you didn’t come here to cause harm. We’re sending you back to your country.’

“They told me my wife and children were in Trinidad and I was to follow days after. No charges were pressed, however, I was kept in a detention facility until my flight.”

He said his release was delayed “for reasons unknown” and a new ticket was required.

“The guards would taunt me, ‘Where’s your ticket? Why are you still here?’ I had to fend for myself, forging alliances within the facility. Weeks later I got a phone for a few minutes to contact family members.

“Returning to Trinidad, neither my wife nor I were escorted by any authorities. In Trinidad, I was received and questioned in a civil and professional manner. Trinidadian authorities expressed concern over my wife’s mental state and alerted me to physical scarring on her back when she was examined.”

Roopchand said they still had questions over why they were detained in the first place.

“Our apartment was far from the Syrian border. We had no illegal items and haven’t engaged in illegal activities in Trinidad or Jordan. Much discomfort and blame has been placed on people due to our detainment. While an apology won’t suffice, I offer it regardless,” he said.

He said his only solace while he was detained was that the Jordanians allowed him to read the Qur’an silently and was told when it was time to pray.

“During prayers, I’d beg Allah to protect T&T’s Muslims. I still do in my prayers as I fear this is not the end of our torment.”

Roopchand said the situation caused rumour-mongering and gossip “much of which originated with defamatory claims in media releases” and media misrepresentation of his family’s situation.

“Some claims are causing national hysteria. I categorically deny and refute these comments, particularly those recently by Newsday.”

He claimed:

• He and his wife didn’t do Hajj in 2014 and even when they did Hajj prior to 2014 didn’t meet those persons who were detained concerning the February Carnival plot.

• They weren’t military trained.

• While sympathetic with conflicts Muslims are undergoing in Syria, Rohingya and Palestine, they had no plans/intentions to visit such locations.

• They weren’t questioned about injecting “poison” into local meats.

• He never engaged in making/supporting any terror devices.

• The existence of Islamic “cells,” videos triggering terrorist attacks and the like are false.

• Also false and designed to create panic: accusations about being provided with “Black Powder” to use in Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

National Security sources also yesterday discounted some information in the Newsday article, but stressed that Roopchand remains “of interest.”