Archbishop Joseph Harris has spoken out against government corruption, pleading with the public not to commit “serious sin.” Speaking at Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church at Harris Promenade, San Fernando, during Palm Sunday celebrations yesterday, Archbishop Harris said, “Every time we commit serious sin we crucify the lord once again.” 

Although he did not make any reference to politicians, Harris said serious sin such as government corruption and murders were a form of crucifixion. 

“Every murder is a crucifixion of the Lord. Every time we leave a homeless person to die on the streets is a crucifixion of the Lord. Every time someone dies in our hospitals because of poor medical care is a crucifixion of the Lord. Every time there is corruption in Government, it is a crucifixion of the Lord and we take part in it,” Harris said. 

The Archbishop’s comments came days after Housing Minister Marlene McDonald was fired for hiring relatives at her constituency office. Several UNC MPs, including former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Princes Town MP Barry Padarath have also admitted to hiring close relatives in their offices.

Asking the congregation whether they “really loved the Lord,” Harris said those who commit sin are betraying Christ.

“How often have we told the Lord I will never betray You and how often, a few minutes after, we betray the Lord for a few pieces of silver....if not silver it will be a skirt or pants or something else,” Harris said. He also urged the congregation not to lime at the beaches and attend sporting events for Easter.

“If we are serious about celebrating the passion death and resurrection we have to find ourselves in this story. I know many of you would have made arrangements to go to the beach or to some sports meeting. Every year I say please try not to do that,” Harris said. He urged his congregation to spend the three days in reflection and meditation.

“Live these three days with the community to which you belong because this is not an individual feast that we celebrate by ourselves. This is a feast of the community that we celebrate together. We can change our story from damnation to salvation,” Harris said.

Harris said there was a perception in T&T that “God is a Trini” mainly because T&T has been spared from upheaval multiple times.

“I remember five or six years ago there were rumours that a hurricane was coming to Trinidad. Businesses were closed,  people were sent home...schools were closed. But down in St James by a popular bar there were people feteing and liming and drinking and they said God was a Trini, nothing will happen. When the hurricane flew North, people said we tell you God is a Trini. He wouldn't let any hurricane hit us...many people were praising and thanking God who is a Trini,” Harris said.

However, he added that even though T&T has been treated well by God, people continue to crucify Him.

Riyana S Gibson 
Student,
Hugh Wooding Law School 

Sexual harassment is a very real and often traumatic experience for many people in T&T and it often manifests itself in the work environment.

Sexual harassment in the workplace may be broadly defined as “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences for the victims of the harassment.” As stated in the leading Canadian case of   Janzen-v-Platy-Enterprises-Limited-[1989]-59-D.L.R.-(4th)-352: 

“It is ... an abuse of power. When sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, it is an abuse of both economic and sexual power. Sexual harassment is a demeaning practice.... By requiring an employee to contend with unwelcome sexual actions or explicit sexual demands, sexual harassment in the workplace attacks the dignity and self-respect of the victim both as an employee and as a human being.”

What constitutes sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment means no more than sexual misconduct, directed, in the workplace, at an unwilling victim to whom that misconduct is offensive, unsettling, upsetting, psychologically damaging or otherwise stressful. Sexual harassment includes unwanted pressure for sexual favours; unwanted deliberate touching, leaning over, cornering, pinching or the like; unwanted sexual looks or gestures or unwanted letters, telephone calls, or materials of a sexual nature.

In the workplace
A workplace covers any place that a person attends for the purpose of carrying out their work or trade. Sexual harassment is covered in the workplace when it happens at work; at work-related events; between people sharing the same workplace; or between colleagues outside of work. Sexual harassment can involve employees, managers, contractors, agents, clients, customers and others connected with or attending a workplace. It can be male to male, male to female, female to male or female to female.

All incidents of sexual harassment require employers to respond quickly and appropriately. While the person who sexually harasses someone else is liable for their behaviour, employers can also be held vicariously liable for acts of sexual harassment by their employees.

Remedies 
There may be several remedies available to victims of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment may be considered indecent assault. Section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act, Chap 11:28 defines “indecent assault” as an assault accompanied by words or circumstances indicating an indecent intention. Thus, a person who indecently assaults another may be guilty of an offence. 

Sexual harassment may also be considered a form of sex discrimination. Therefore, an individual may seek redress against a harasser or employer under section 5 of the Equal Opportunity Act, Chap 22:03 on the grounds of sex discrimination.

There is a natural link between workplace health, safety and welfare and sexual harassment. In such workplaces, psychological injury or damage as a result of sexual harassment may be sufficient injury to health and welfare to initiate a claim under section 6 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Chap 88:08.

Additionally, common-law remedies may be available where the courts may award compensation to a victim of sexual harassment. 

—This column is not legal advice. How the law applies to you depends on the facts of your case.  If you have a legal problem, you should consult a legal adviser. 

Less than 24-hours after police launched a land, sea and air manhunt for the killers of teenager Darian Nedd, two more suspects have been arrested. 

The brothers — a 19-year-old construction worker and a 22-year-old labourer — were nabbed on Sunday night. The suspects of South Oropouche were kept in separate locations yesterday as homicide officers quizzed them for hours in connection with the crime. 

A third suspect, aged 25, who was arrested shortly after Nedd’s body was found, also remained in police custody.

Up to press time yesterday, Nedd’s mother, Christine, who works as an oyster vendor, was still awaiting an autopsy on her son’s remains. Christine said she could not sleep as she was haunted by the thoughts of her son being dismembered and burnt inside their home at Red Brick Trace, South Oropouche.

“Every time I close my eyes I see his face. Right now we up in Port-of-Spain waiting for them to do the autopsy. Nothing that they do will bring back my son,” she said. 

Christine and her family have been living in fear since last September after her son witnessed a crime. Death threats were made and Christine said she begged the police to save her son. 

When the police failed to offer help, the teenager fled. He returned home last week to go to school. On Saturday around midnight, the 14-year-old boy was chopped. 

The killers burnt down the family’s home. When the body was found Nedd’s right foot and left hand were missing.

Police said yesterday they were still doing investigations. Once the case is closed, a report will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions who will determine whether charges will be laid.

​Griffith: NOC must be used

​Meanwhile, former National Security Minister Gary Griffith said a more professional approach has to be taken to protect witnesses and police informants.

“We must ensure that citizens can pass on information on to the Police Service without fear of reprisals. Before we had a network where the E999 Rapid Response was working with the National Operations Centre (NOC) but this has fallen flat. 

“We need to have the system reignited like what we saw two years ago as these systems are critical to detering criminals and reducing the fear that the public has,” Griffith said.

He added the NOC was the catalyst which made 2014 the year with the lowest crime. “If we do not set back up this system, we will revert back to the days when the public suffered because of manpower shortages and no patrol vehicles,” Griffith added.

He said he had made several attempts to meet with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon to share information on crime fighting but he never got a response.

Efforts to contact Dillon for comment yesterday proved futile as calls to his cellphone went unanswered.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday “confusion” over which CL Financial entity owns the group’s Republic Bank shares is slowing down the monetisation of the bank as part of the repayment of monies owed to the Government by the group, which collapsed in January 2009.

Addressing a news conference at the Ministry of Finance building in downtown Port-of-Spain, Imbert said there was confusion over whether shares are owned by Clico or Clico Investment Bank. 

He said the former Central Bank governor Jwala Rambarran was going to take the matter to court to allow a judge to make a determination on which entity owns the shares.

“I felt that would take too long. That could stay in the court for the next five years and we would never know who owns the shares and never be able to dispose of them,” Imbert said.

He said the current Governor Alvin Hilaire has adopted a more pragmatic approach to the issue, in which consensus would be sought before going to the court for a consent order.

Imbert said: “The plan is that by the end of fiscal 2017 the Republic Bank shares will either be disposed of entirely or transferred to the Government for it to decide what to do with them.”

Republic Bank’s 2015 annual report indicates that four CL Financial entities own shares in the bank, T&T’s largest:

• Clico Trust Corporation owns 40,072,299 shares or 24.74 per cent of Republic

• Clico Investment Bank (CIB) owns 16,196,905 shares or 17.97 per cent of Republic

• First Company Ltd (believed to be a CIB subsidiary) owns 13,191,640 shares or 8.14 per cent of Republic

• Clico owns 11,786,000 shares or 7.28 per cent of Republic

Imbert said the Government was also looking into what should be done with Angostura and CL World Brands, two of the spirits entities in the empire that was established by Lawrence Duprey.

The minister said the transfer of Clico’s shares worth $3 billion in Angostura, CL World Brands and Home Construction Ltd to the Government had not been done as ye, but will be done as the Government needs the money. 

But he said his understanding is that the shareholders of CL Financial want to retain control of Angostura and CL World Brands so that they can raise a loan to repay the Government.

Imbert said he now met with the Central Bank every Wednesday and one of the issues that was always on the agenda was the Clico situation. He said the Central Bank had offered to sell Clico’s traditional portfolio to some 17 entities that did business in T&T.

He said a letter would soon go from CL Financial to the minority shareholders of Methanol Holdings (International) Ltd, offering to sell them Clico’s 56 per cent stake in the Oman-based methanol plant for $2 billion, which was the valuation price. 

The right-of-first refusal is enshrined in the shareholders’ agreement that led to the establishment of MHIL.

Imbert also told journalists the Government had agreed to guarantee a loan of US$5 million ($33 million) by the T&T Ex-Im Bank to a toilet paper producing plant in Arima to save 400 jobs and that the Government would continue to operate a managed float of the exchange rate, although the International Monetary Fund was advising “greater flexibility,” which he said meant a freely floating exchange rate.

Two longtime friends were murdered yesterday afternoon at Guaratta Hill, Upper Maracas, St Joseph, in what police believe was a hit ordered from behind prison walls.

Police said following the murders of Keston Charles, 31, and Anton Du Four, 37, both of Blood Street, Maracas, St Joseph, a PH driver was allegedly held for aiding the gunmen in their escape. 

Police said they received vital information from an informant that the killing was orchestrated from the jail and was connected to the murder of Sherwin Wallace on Saturday morning, a short distance from yesterday’s double murders. The killing of the two pushed the number of murders to 106 for the year.

Police said residents yesterday reported hearing gunshots and later found the two men dead around 5 pm. Police said they believe the men were set up, as moments before they were killed they had been called to the area by unknown people “for a smoke”. An unlit marijuana cigarette was found in the hand of one of the men.

Wallace, 38, an information technology teacher at Belmont Boys’ Secondary, was killed around 2.45 am on Saturday. Police said while driving his Suzuki Grand Vitara along Maracas Royal Road, gunmen opened fire on Wallace.

The carload of heavily armed masked men then pulled in front of the vehicle and continued firing. He died at the scene. 

His friend, Quincy Small, of La Seiva, Maraval, was shot in the leg during the attack and remained warded yesterday in stable condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mount Hope.

Yesterday, residents said the men were “quiet fellas” who were never involved in any criminal activity. Their relatives said the same as Du Four’s mother, Antonia, cried asking why her only child was taken from her.

The distraught woman called on God for strength as she was consoled by relatives. 

An aunt of Du Four, who did not want to be identified, said she last saw him about two days before his death and claimed he was living in Kelly Village.

She said the last thing she recalled her nephew telling her was that he was going to live for his two sons, both under the age of five. She said her nephew was “in and out of trouble” but was now staying clear of bad company.

Relatives of Charles denied the father of one was involved in any criminality. They said he lived in the area and were surprised he was killed, given his non-involvement in anything illegal. 

Homicide officers are continuing investigations. 

Questions surfaced last night as to whether Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had breached the Integrity in Public Life Act by employing her nephew, Richard Ahamad, in the Opposition Leader’s office.

However, Persad-Bissessar denied that she had broken any laws in a CNC3 report last night.

The news comes on the same day head of Fixin’ T&T Kirk Waithe wrote to Integrity Commission chairman Zainool Hosein calling for an investigation of the former prime minister and Opposition MPs Barry Padarath, Rushton Paray and Dr Bhoe Tewarie for reportedly employing relatives at their constituency offices.

According to Section 24 (2) of the Act, a person whose activities are governed by the Act shall not use his office for the improper advancement of his own or his family’s personal or financial interest.

Ahamad, an attorney, is employed as legal counsel at the office.

Several calls and text messages to Ahamad’s phone went unanswered yesterday while the Opposition Office stated he was in a meeting, CNC3 reported.

If Ahamad is employed at the office, then his salary would be paid by the Parliament and signed off on by Persad-Bissessar.

In response to a text message about Ahamad’s employment, which may be viewed as a breach of the Act, Persad-Bissessar responded by saying no laws had been breached and that to the best of her knowledge there was no person employed there whose work fell within any restricted categories or within the provisions of the Act, or any law or parliamentary guidelines.

“We may now all have to follow the words of the Prime Minister, re DNA testing for persons employed,” Persad-Bissessar wrote in her response to CNC3.

A detailed report regarding the Malcolm Jones matter has been requested by Joint Select Committee (JSC) members from the Petroleum Company of T&T (Petrotrin) as questions arose whether chairman Andrew Jupiter was a board member when the decision was taken to discontinue the case against Jones.

The question was asked by Senator Wade Mark from the committee, chaired by Independent Senator David Small.

Jones, the company former executive director, was accused of a breach of fiduciary duty and alleged mismanagement in 2013 for the construction of the GTL plant at Petrotrin’s Pointe-a-Pierre site, which was scheduled to be built at a cost of $2.7 billion to convert natural gas to diesel but instead cost an extra $1.12 billion in addition to the original estimate.

At yesterday’s JSC meeting Jupiter, who denied having any knowledge of this, said: " I was not present when the board took the decision, I recuse myself. I would like the entire public to know that.

"The decision of the World GTL started in January 2005 or around that time. I became a member of the board in June 2006. Other decisions took place after 2006 but the decision of World GTL was before I became a member of the board," Jupiter said.

Mark then asked whether it was a known practice for a board to "unilaterally take upon itself" to withdraw a matter before the court or whether there was any discussions between Petrotrin and the executive arm of the State.

Jupiter said since he was not part of the discussion he was unable to comment.

Mark asked who among the Petrotrin members could comment following which the company's general counsel Sharon Morris-Cummings said:

"The decision was taken by the board after it received legal advice. I would not say there is a practice of just discontinuing matters but the matter was handled by the AG's office and then new advice came to the attention of the board and the decision was made.

"The counsel comprised Vincent Nelson QC, Varun Debideen and Gerald Ramdeen who came off the record,” she said.

Mark also requested a detailed listing filed before the Equal Opportunity Commission by employees of Petrotrin.

The committee also heard of several worrying challenges facing the State entity, including aging infrastructure, asset integrity which posed risks to the environment and human health and safety and inadequate succession planning.

"Our current reality is we lack the required number and quality in most of the key competencies necessary for our continued survival and sustainability. 

“These include geological, geophysical and petroleum engineering, process engineering, reliability engineering, project management and finance," Jupiter said. 

In addition Petrotrin racked up an annual wage bill of $1.8 billion for just over 5,000 employees, including 3,962 permanent workers and 114 contact workers.

Neil Derrick, acting vice-president human resources, said there was a "sweep" of employees who left to work at similar companies.

Asked if the company had worked out a plan to deal with project management, Petrotrin's president Fitzroy Harewood said the company needed to strengthen its project management team, adding that close to 900 workers were expected to leave within the next five years due to attrition.

We have a standard recruitment audit to see where there are gaps and this has not been completed. The audit was not initiated with the intention of getting rid of anybody," Derrick said.

On an average between 14 to 25 per cent of graduates were retained by the company, the committee heard.

On claims that only a specific group of contractors are employed by the company Harewood said there was a "wide base of vendors" adding that work was done via competitive tendering.

"Once we have accomplished that we basically have a pool of people who we use from time to time," Harewood added.

Regarding the current pricing structure for the sale of refined products within Caricom counties which were reported to be too highly priced Harewood said the pricing market has been traditionally competitive.

Given the current economic challenge, he said, Petrotrin had been focusing more on its short-term financing rather than longer or medium-term arrangements.

Small said from Petrotrin's report submitted to the committee it was disturbing to see the company's operational cost as opposed to its revenue over the past five years showed a steady increase.

"If this trend continues the company will find itself in dire straits. There is deep underlying cost issues which the company has not found a way to fix," Small added.

Millions lost 

Some TT$3.19 billion has been spent on an ultra low sulphur diesel plant which has been 98 per cent complete but due to serious structural flaws, including bent beams, this project was yet to get off the ground.

The committee heard the plant had been some seven years behind completion.

Jonathan Barden, the company’s vice-president of refining, said the project started in 2009 with an anticipated completion date of 2012. The contractor was Samsung Engineering which was awarded a US$220 million contract,

However, there was an extensive delay by labour matters which pushed the completion date to 2013.

Barden said when the plant was 98 per cent complete, during a 2013 routine pre-commissioning activity one of the beams was discovered bent. Other similar beams were also discovered, including some 200 which are under strength.

The contractor was terminated and the matter is before the court.

But MP Fazal Karim said Petrotrin was also to be blamed due to it poor selection.

While the plant is expected to be opened by next year, the committee heard there was no guarantee of that.

Millions lost 

Some TT$3.19 billion has been spent on an ultra low sulphur diesel plant which has been 98 per cent complete but due to serious structural flaws, including bent beams, this project was yet to get off the ground.

The committee heard the plant had been some seven years behind completion.

Jonathan Barden, the company’s vice-president of refining, said the project started in 2009 with an anticipated completion date of 2012. The contractor was Samsung Engineering which was awarded a US$220 million contract,

However, there was an extensive delay by labour matters which pushed the completion date to 2013.

Barden said when the plant was 98 per cent complete, during a 2013 routine pre-commissioning activity one of the beams was discovered bent. Other similar beams were also discovered, including some 200 which are under strength.

The contractor was terminated and the matter is before the court.

But MP Fazal Karim said Petrotrin was also to be blamed due to it poor selection.

While the plant is expected to be opened by next year, the committee heard there was no guarantee of that.

Ostracised by his peers, a Naparima College student who recorded the now controversial discussion one of his teachers engaged in with a Form Five class, has again made a recording, this time confessing what he did and apologising to the school and his colleagues.

The remorseful young man, in a ten-minute recording he sent to colleagues on What’s App asking for their understanding, said he took full responsibility for recording the violent and homophobic rant of the teacher who also criticised the way her colleagues dressed but he did not take responsibility for making it public. 

He said his trust was betrayed by a colleague, whom he trusted to listen and give a perspective but who instead posted it online. 

“I shouldn’t have recorded it but it happened and certain repercussions occurred but it wasn’t my fault. I understand the source was me but the negative effects of that is not my responsibility. That happened. We can’t change it now even though I wish I could.” 

He said the intention was not to use the information to bring the teacher into disrepute and subject her to all kinds of condemnatory remarks but to engage her in a later conversation as he disagreed with some of the perspectives she offered.

“I knew she would listen. That is why I did it. So I started to record... not really because I wanted to put it up publicly but because I am a person I have very bad short-term memory and I only listen through visual cues so I can’t pick up things.”

He said he had planned to review the recording over the weekend and talk to her on the Monday from a teacher to student perspective. 

He said he decided to share the conversation with a colleague, “who is on the other side of the table, who is openly homosexual as (name called).”

He said he asked him to listen to it and give him a feedback and trusted him to do just that.

The Form Five student said as soon as he heard about the online audio of his recording last week Sunday, he immediately confessed to his parents and the school’s administration but was advised not to respond or say anything “even though it really hurt me not to do so and tell you that I did it. That’s why my parents say, that’s what admin say and I could not disrespect them.”

Calling on his peers to understand where he was coming from and talk to him he said whatever their reaction, he would take it neither negatively or positively but treat them with the respect they deserved.

“Come and tell me what going on and we could talk it through.

“This is something we need to learn and take something out of. No matter how big or small, no matter good intent or bad intent, you should never ever react impulsively on emotions. Sometimes emotions take over logic,” he said.

State enterprises accessing public funds cannot be allowed to operate as “rogue entities” and must be made to account for their financial operations.

Labeling the lack of compliance as inexcusable and indefensible, chairman of the Joint Select Committee on State Enterprises, David Small, is warning companies refusing to submit reports and audited statements to their respective line ministries by the first week of April, that they “will face the resultant consequences whatever they may be.”

Delivering the warning during yesterday’s afternoon session at the Parliament building, Small communicated the committee’s disbelief and shock over the blatant disregard demonstrated by a number of ministries who failed to respond to the committee’s request for statements on companies under their purview by February 29.

Addressing the permanent secretaries, chief executive officers and directors present yesterday, Small said:

“In assuming responsibility as permanent secretary, chief executive officer or director, there must be acceptance that taxpayers funds are being issued and as such, accountability must be a top priority on your schedule.”

Among the ministries mandated to appear before the committee yesterday were Works and Transport; Finance; Energy and Energy Affairs; Agriculture, Land and Fisheries; Rural Development and Local Government; Tourism; Community Development, Culture and the Arts; and Housing and Urban Development.

Small said the committee was intent on setting a new bar and any entity which fell short would suffer the consequences.

Expressing concern after several officials indicated that they had not received any correspondence from the committee requesting the relevant information and the stipulated deadline of February 29, Small also heard that some “slippage” had occurred in the ministries of Rural Development and Local Government and Tourism as those officials scrambled to put together the reports that had been requested.

Other ministries reported the challenges they encountered as they sought to adhere to the committee’s request.

These included changes at the executive level, relocation of offices, personnel retiring and a general failure by some of the entities to respond in a timely manner to the respective line ministry’s request for information.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Simone Thorne Mora Quinones, reported to the committee that the East Port-of-Spain Development Company Ltd had already submitted its reports for the years 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 to the Ministry of Planning and the Economy.

Regarding the Urban Development Corporation of T&T, the committee heard that there were “gaps” in the reports submitted which detailed the company’s operations during the period 2011 to 2013.

Quinones said Udecott had submitted reports for the period 2009 to 2011, to the Ministry of Planning and the Economy.

However, she added “there was no evidence” to confirm if reports had been submitted for the period 2011 to 2013.

Reports for the period 2013 to 2014 are currently being reviewed and she has promised that those would be tendered soon.

Following consultation with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Ministry of Health is confirming a sixth case of the Zika virus in Trinidad. There are  no confirmed cases in Tobago.

The ministry said the patient is a 37-year-old male from Gulf View, La Romaine who presented with fever, rash and joint pains. This is the third person to have contracted the virus in this area. A mother and daughter were confirmed as the first two cases in the area. 

Residents who have been complaining about overgrown bushes and clogged drains in the area, also signed a a petition which they sent to their Member of Parliament Attorney General Faris Al Rawi to have the area cleaned.

The ministry said the San Fernando City Corporation, Insect Vector Control Division and the County Medical Officer of Health have been informed and field work has commenced. The Ministry of Health continues to urge citizens to take steps to prevent the infection of themselves and their loved ones.

The Ministry has outlined the following guidelines for citizens to follow.

1.   Dispose of all unwanted containers/items in the yard or environs which can collect water and become mosquito breeding grounds.

2.      Cover water containers such as barrels, drums or buckets with a mosquito proof covering.

3.       Ensure that your drains and guttering allow the free flow of water.

4.       Empty and scrub the sides of water vases or use dirt or sand instead to support flowers.

5.       Cover extremities when out in the evenings.

6.       Use bed nets that are tightly tucked under the mattress for protection at night.

7.       Use insect repellant that contains DEET as an active ingredient.

Southern Division homicide officers are being kept busy today with two separate shooting incidents.

Earlier this morning, around 5.50 am, officers received an anonymous call that a man was seen slumped over the steering wheel of a white Honda Civic at the end of Sooknanan Street, Marabella.

When the officers responded they found the victim, identified as Mark Ravello, dead with what appeared to be a single gunshot wound to the head.

Ravello lived at Cedar Drive, Pleasantville.

ASP Ramdeo, Insp Lutchman, Persad, Sgt Francis, Hajaree and PC Ramoutar from Homicide Division visited the scene, along with members of the Southern Division Task Force and CID.

And while homicide is currently investigating that incident they are also working on another shooting which took place on Monday afternoon in Moruga, where three men were shot multiple times.

One of them succumbed to his injuries this morning while being treated at the San Fernando General Hospital.

T&T Guardian was told that the men went into a forested area at La Lune, Moruga to harvest yam.

One of the men reported he heard a loud explosion and then felt a burning sensation on his shoulder and then in his abdomen.

As he began to run away he told police he noticed the other two men had been shot as well.

Two of them remain warded in a stable condition.

The Moruga police and homicide division are not yet certain if the trio triggered off trap guns while in the forest, making it an accidental shooting, or if it was purposeful and someone would have fired at them.

Keep posted to T&T Guardian for more details. 

The husband of a Diego Martin Corporation councillor was killed in accident on Diego Martin highway this morning. 

The accident, involving a green Mitsubishi Lancer, occurred around 8 am. Gerald La Touche was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The side of the car was so badly crushed that the fire officers had to cut the car to retrieve Mr La Touche. 

A protection order is not just a simple piece of paper. 

This was the stern message sent yesterday by Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar after she sentenced two men for breaching protection orders brought against them by their respective companions.

In the first case, Keston Herbert collapsed and had to be helped by police officers to stand after being sentenced to a total of 78 months in jail for breaching the order on three separate occasions. 

However, Herbert will only serve 36 months as the sentences will run concurrently. After regaining composure each time the sentences were read out, Herbert wailed in the courtroom. At one time a woman, identified as his mother, was heard comforting him.

Herbert pleaded guilty for breaching the order on December 8 and 14, 2015 and again on March 11, 2016 by using obscene language and threatening the mother of his child. 

Herbert was charged by Constables Ronaldo Dopwell and Kadeem Williams, both of the Central Police Station, Port-of-Spain. 

For the first two offences he was sentenced to 18 months and 24 months respectively while he was sentenced to 36 months for the final offence. 

The court heard that on March 11, Herbert, of Hibiscus Drive, Petit Valley, called the woman’s workplace and threatened to kill her, burn down the business and get herfired after cursing her. 

On December 14, Herbert went to the Barataria Health Centre where he became abusive towards the woman and told a nurse who sought to intervene that she was his “child mother” and he loved her. 

About a week prior, Herbert met the woman at City Gate, Port-of-Spain, where he tried to grab their child from her saying he had not seen his child for a year. 

The protection order was issued in May 2015 and had a three-year life span. Six months after it was granted Herbert breached the order. 

It was this first offence that persuaded the Chief Magistrate to not follow the plea of Herbert’s attorney, Natalie Sanchez-Andrews in asking for a non-custodial sentence.

Ayers-Caesar said the law required that on the second breach of the order a person can be fined, jailed or both. 

She added that a message needed to be sent to others who believed protection orders were just pieces of paper and were trivial.

“A protection order is not just a piece of paper and people need to get rid of that mindset. It is a means of protecting people from abusive relationships. 

“This court and society take a serious view of breaching a protection order whether it is a man or a woman,” Ayers-Caesar said as she sentenced Herbert. 

Herbert’s attorney said her client was commendable for wanting to see his child and that was the only reason he had breached the order four times. She added that in today’s society, a man wanting his child should be highlighted because it was so uncommon. 

After sentencing Herbert, Ayers-Caesar said she hoped some organisation could get involved and seek to rehabilitate perpetrators of domestic violence because it was a serious offence. 

The other case

The second offender was sentenced to three months in jail with hard labour. 

Corwin Floyd, of Factory Road, Diego Martin, pleaded guilty to breaching the order on January 24. Floyd, 32, pleaded guilty to the offence, stating, like Herbert, he just wanted his child.

He admitted that on the day he tried to take his son from his mother and was denied. 

Floyd told the court that Sundays were the only days he was allowed time with his child and the day before he was told he would never see his child again. 

He also confirmed that he left and returned to the woman’s home with a cutlass which he used to smash a cellphone he grabbed from an eight-year-old girl who attempted to call the police when he arrived.

Floyd cried that he was willing to compensate the family for the phone and for the past two-and-a-half months he had been clearing three acres to plant tomatoes which would be ready by the end of this month or early next month. 

He added that the reason it took police that long to find him was because he was spending most of his time in his garden. 

“This restraining order come like a burden on me, ma’am, because I can’t go by she (the child’s mother) to collect my child. I feeling real spited,” Floyd said. 

Floyd, the court heard, had another breach of protection order pending before another magistrate. 

He was then sentenced to three months for breaching the order, three months for maliciously damaging the cellphone and ordered to pay $800 in compensation within one month of spending six weeks in prison. 

The sentences are to run concurrently. 

— See Page A11

Finance Minister Colm Imbert says Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran was fired in December because of breaches to the Central Bank Act which led to his misconduct and failure to perform his duties.

He said so in yesterday’s Senate debate on a private motion by Opposition Senator Wade Mark which called on legislators in the Upper House to condemn the Government for its dismissal of Rambarran who was appointed by the former PP government.

In his presentation of the motion, Mark, a former House Speaker, said Rambarran was forced out for political reasons. He also said the Central Bank Governor was not accountable to the Government.

However, Imbert said Mark was wrong in his claim, adding the President can terminate the appointment of the Governor on the advice of the Cabinet.

He said it was during the Cabinet meeting of December 23 it was decided to have the appointment of Rambarran revoked by acting President Christine Kangaloo.

Imbert said in such matters the President had no discretion.

He said Rambarran was in breach of the Act when he publicly disclosed some of the largest users of foreign exchange in T&T.

Imbert said that disclosure by Rambarran “was a breach of Section 56 of the Central Bank Act and Section 8 of the Financial Institutions Act.”

The Finance Minister told legislators Cabinet also “took note of the fact that there was a need to restore confidence in the confidentiality of the banking system and the governance of the Central Bank.”

The minister said several companies had expressed a lack of confidence in the system of allocation of foreign exchange under Rambarran.

Imbert said it was wrong for Mark to say the Central Bank Governor was not accountable to the Government or the Minister of Finance. 

“If it is the Government that causes the appointment to be made and it is the Government that causes the revocation to be made, then certainly the Governor is accountable to the Government in the performance of his duties.”

Imbert said under Section 12 (e) of the Central Bank Act, the President “may terminate the appointment of the Governor if he is guilty of misconduct in relation to his duties or he fails to carry out any of the duties or functions conferred or imposed on him under this Act.”

He said he was in possession of a pre-action letter from attorneys for Rambarran indicating their attention to pursue the issue of his revocation in the court.

Imbert said he had no awareness of claims by Mark that three companies were involved in foreign exchange violations in T&T.

“That is a mystery to me,” he added.

Officials of the El Dorado East Secondary School up to yesterday were attempting to contact parents of the 21 students who are to be removed from the institution after engaging in “unacceptable and undesirable behaviour.”

This is part of the process as suspension letters were expected to be issued to the students from yesterday.

Providing an update on the situation at the school prior to delivering the opening address at the Safety and Security in Schools workshop, hosted by the CORE Foundation at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, chief education officer Harrilal Seecharan vowed: “We are not giving up on any of the students.”

The students were selected from 31, who were listed by school officials as deviant.

On Sunday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said ten students had been removed from the list following a meeting with school officials, including guidance counsellors, who indicated they could be rehabilitated within the school system.

Seecharan said the remaining 21 students were to be enrolled at the Couva Learning Enhancement Centre where they would undergo a three-week programme which included counselling, remedial sessions and interactive therapy.

He explained that based on assessments throughout the programme, “we will recommend whether they go back into the school or explore alternative options.”

However, he assured the Form Five students who were scheduled to write the May/June exams that they would be allowed to do so.

Returning to the issue at hand, Seecharan said they were concentrating on efforts to get parents to partner with the ministry.

Pressed to say how the ministry intended to get students who were over 16 years and over to attend the rehabilitative programme, Seecharan said they would not stand in judgment of parents who had not attended last Monday’s meeting at the Education Ministry.

“With the students over 16, we are not giving up and we will continue to try to get them back into the system,” Seecharan said, adding: “We have to encourage them.”

Unwilling to cite the situation at El Dorado East Secondary as an isolated case, Seecharan added: “We have these cycles we go through. In the last four or five years, more incidents are being highlighted.”

He said the data did not suggest the number of incidents had increased exponentially, but rather “incidents were being highlighted in the media which in the past may not have been.”

On the first day on the job as Planning Minister, Maxie Cuffie has promised to look into reasons why members of the public can no longer access public assistance in filing their taxes at Inland Revenue Division at the corner of Edward and Queen Streets, Port-of-Spain.

Members of the public have complained they were being turned away as that service was no longer available.

The T&T Guardian during a visit to the office yesterday was told by one of the security guards the service was permanently stopped.

No reasons were given, only that it was a "directive from management," he added.

However, Cuffie, who was fielding questions from members of the media after meeting his staff at Public Administration and Communications at the National Library building on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, said he was unaware of the reasons for the unavailability of the service.

"I know that office is in transition but I do not know the details of why that has happened. I will take that as my first complaint to resolve," Cuffie said

On what specifically he would be doing to improve the public service Cuffie said he would have to examine the policies of the public service and how that had impacted on the ordinary man.

"My main, main thrust is ensuring a positive impact on people and on the public so that we can ensure that all the money that is spent by the Government always go to improving the lives of the people," Cuffie said.

Customer service, which has been branded as an ongoing sore point in the public service, also needed to improve.

That, Cuffie said, was a reflection of a bigger problem.

"It is not just the treatment you get when you go before a public servant but it is also when you make a request... even public officials suffer from the fact that the system does not work.

"Sometimes you retire and you have to wait five years before you can get pension and gratuity and it’s all tied to policies and procedures. What I am going to do is insist that we look at the end and its impact on people," Cuffie added.

Pressed on how long the public would have to wait to have an efficient service, given that repeated assurances have been made, Cuffie said he could not give a time frame.

"I don't want to give a time frame for anything because today is my first day in the ministry. I can't set a time frame without even hearing what the challenges and constraints are, so give me a little while before I put deadlines," Cuffie said.

Asked whether he intended to restructure the Board of Inland Revenue which has also been deemed inefficient, especially in the tardy payment of pension, Cuffie said Government had a plan to reintroduce the revenue authority, adding that Finance Minister Colm Imbert would be leading that charge.

‘Inefficiency leads to corruption’ 

In addressing his staff Cuffie urged the delivery of public services was vital, saying this must be improved.

"When people talk about corruption a lot of responsibility falls on the public service. I am not saying public servants are corrupt although we have problems across the society.

"Whenever there is an inefficient delivery of public services it encourages corruption because that is the way people seek to exploit the system to get things done," Cuffie said.

The public service has just over 66,000 employees and commands just under $10 billion annually of Government resources, Cuffie added.

Powerful Ladies of T&T (PLOTT) said it is very disturbed by the escalating murder rate which has crossed the 100 mark before the end of the first three months of 2016.

The group lamented the senseless killing of 14-year-old Darian Nedd who was chopped and set on fire at his family’s home at South Oropouche on Sunday because he witnessed a crime. 

The body has been so badly burnt that his identity could not be determined, preventing an autopsy from being done on Monday as scheduled. 

Instead, forensic pathologists will have to rely on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) samples from the remains and that of his mother, Christine, to find a match before they can determine the cause of death.

Three men are currently assisting the police in their investigations .

In a statement the organisation said, “Like many citizens across T&T, PLOTT is deeply disturbed by the escalating murder rate.”

In its review, the group used graphs to show that 86 per cent of those murdered were men and 12 per cent women. 

The gender of some two per cent of the victims is yet to be determined.

Of this figure, 21 per cent represented those in the 25 and under age group. 

The age group which represented the highest number of murders was the 26-35 years category. Some 13.7 per cent of the victims were in the 36-45 age group, 4.9 per cent between 46 and 55 years of age and 7.4 per cent were 56 years and over. The ages of a significant number of victims, numbering 13.7 per cent, are still unknown.

The life of the majority of victims was ended by a bullet, while 8.4 per cent were stabbed or chopped, 1.1 per cent beaten, 2.1 per cent burnt, another 2.1 per cent strangled, while the manner of death of 4.2 per cent remains undetermined.

PLOTT’s analysis said east Port- of-Spain continues to be the crime capital with 31.6 per cent of the murders for 2016 occurring in the areas of Laventille, San Juan and Belmont. In contrast the lowest number of murders were recorded in the West. 

The East/West Corridor is running a close second behind east Port-of-Spain with 24.2 per cent of the murders for the year happening in that part of the country. As of March 16, South recorded 18.9 per cent of the murders and Central 14.7 per cent.

While some criminals continue to use the cover of darkness to commit murders, some have become so brazen that they take out their victims in what is termed “broad daylight,” the organisation said.

Pointing out that statistics for 2016 are yet to be uploaded to the Police Service website, the group said it will continue its own research and analysis as it seeks answers.

Until then, it called on citizens to be safe, remain on the alert and report any crimes they may be aware of, witnesses to or victims of. 

HOTLINES

Police Service—999 

Crime Stoppers—800-TIPS (8477)

When paraplegic Mark Ravello was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head yesterday morning, it came as no surprise to his mother Dawn. 

Standing on the roadside in Marabella, waiting for police to remove his body from his car, she said she was bracing for this reality for some time. 

“I am not surprised because I figured that might happen one day. Where drugs are concerned, you expect this to happen anytime. It was kind of hard, but I had to brace myself for it...Mark was a cocaine addict, so this was his grounds, he is always in the back here,” she said in an interview.

A police report said around 5.30 am Marabella police responded to information that a man’s body was seen leaning over the steering wheel of a white Honda Civic at Sooknanan Street Ext, Marabella. When the team led by Insp Don Gajadhar and Sgt Dale Ramroop arrived, they found a bare-chested Ravello, 42, of Pleasantville, dead with a gunshot wound to the head. 

Investigators said the area is a known drug block and they believe Ravello, a former technician at Lewis Appliances, went to purchase drugs. They said the car windows were down, suggesting that the gunman shot him from the outside. 

According to his brother, Kendon Evelyn, the windows of Ravello’s car were always down and he usually drove bare-chested because the car had no air conditioning. He said his brother fell off a mango tree 12 years ago and damaged his spine. However, he did not let that stop him and converted his car to use hand controls so he could move around freely, even playing mas on his wheelchair for previous Carnivals.

The father of a man who was murdered in Valencia last month appeared before a Sangre Grande magistrate charged with being in possession of an assault rifle and a quantity of ammunition.

Beresford Edwards, 64, of Oropouche Road, Valencia, was denied bail and remanded into prison custody by Senior Magistrate Avason Quinlan. 

His son, Seon Edwards, was shot dead outside Copper’s Bar in Valencia on February 26.

Last Saturday, police officers led by act Sgt Alana Lopez and Cpl Kerry Ramnarine searched Edwards’ home and allegedly found an AK 47 assault rifle and 17 rounds of 7.62 ammunition. 

Attorney Jerry Holder, who represented Edwards, pleaded with the magistrate to grant his client bail on the grounds of Edward's age and that he was a permanent resident of Valencia and not a flight risk. However, Quinlan denied the application and advised Edwards to apply for bail to a judge in chambers. 

The charge was laid by Woman Police Constable Joseph of Valencia Police Post.—Ralph Banwarie

The Ministry of Education says the term missing music scores does not mean that data has been lost, but that it is being tracked or validated.

This is in response to the Sunday Guardian's story on the lost Continuous Assessment Component (CAC) music scores and the mix-up of other subjects of the Secondary Entrance Assessment Examination (SEA) titled “Ministry loses CAC music scores.”

In a release from the ministry on Monday, it said, “Upon investigation, the Ministry of Education has found that claims made in a newspaper article entitled ‘Ministry loses CAC music scores’ are not true. 

“It was reported that students’ scores were lost, ‘mixed up’ or ‘cannot be located’ thereby compromising the integrity of the 2016 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations.”

In the newspaper article TTUTA (T&T Unified Teachers' Association) president Devanand Sinanan said there were many irregularities associated with the CAC and called on the Ministry of Education to put an immediate halt to the CAC at the Standard Four level. 

In addition, the article claimed that the scores for all the other CAC subjects (Agricultural Science, PE, Science, Character and Citizenship Education, Drama, Creative Writing and Art) have been “mixed up” by the IT department of the Ministry of Education by allocating incorrect marks to students, thereby compromising the integrity of the 2016 SEA exam.

A statement issued by Sinanan yesterday said principals have been instructed to resubmit marks for those components, including Visual Arts, Character and Citizenship Education and English Language Arts, without any explanation. He described the situation as “gross inefficiency” by the ministry.

He reiterated a call for the CAC to be halted in Standard Four until a proper review of the programme was done.

After Education Minister Anthony Garcia was apprised of the situation on Sunday, he promised to have the matter investigated. “The Ministry states that the allegations, specific to the music part of the CAC, are not accurate as these assessments were fully implemented during the period January 16 to July 1, 2015, and music scores have in fact been uploaded since the last academic year and can be viewed by schools that have access to the online platform.” 

It added any requests for music scores at this time were made to ensure that they were included in moderation packages so that the staff of schools who were proceeding on Easter vacation would not have to be contacted during the vacation to provide “missing scores.”

The release said the term “missing scores” was coined by officials of the ministry to refer to scenarios where scores have not been uploaded for the following reasons: 

1. Scores were not uploaded before the deadline (an assessment schedule is circulated to all primary schools at the beginning of the academic year). 

2. Irregularities due to non-compliance with the guidelines (specified during face-to-face training and in the manual). These can include loss of data because the session “timed out” during upload; not saving the data; not sending the file to the Ministry of Education. 

3. Students were absent, dropped out, withdrew from the class, transferred from one institution to another, are repeating Standard Four or re-sitting Standard Five. A tracking process is subsequently implemented to verify whether the student participated in the assessment to explain the “missing score.”

It said the term “missing scores” does not mean data was lost, but was being tracked or validated. 

The release stated additionally, it was pertinent to note that no scores that had been uploaded by schools were in any way “mixed up.” It explained, firstly, the online platform was designed so that each school was assigned a centre code for which there were two levels of clearance—the administrator and the user. 

It said no other personnel apart from the designated officers or personnel from the Information and Communication Technology Division can interface with the data. 

The release went on, secondly, the structure within which the data was organised had specific fields that clearly indicated what data was to be uploaded and reports can be generated for verification with the master sheets that were provided.

It said the online platform was developed and managed by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) as part of its assessment services to T&T. 

The release said data capture and processing for CAC used a platform similar to that developed for CSEC and CAPE level examinations. 

It said as part of the quality assurance process for the SEA, the ministry had requested that principals check all instances of missing scores for students identified on the online registration system. Further, principals had been requested to ensure that samples of students' work were submitted for moderation by CXC.