Six patients, one of whom is a high risk patient, from the Forensic Ward at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital escaped from the Institution at approximately 2 am this morning.

A release from the T&T Police Service (TTPS) stated that five of the six escapees have returned. 

According to reports, initially six persons had broken free from the institution, however, two of the escapees, Keylon Lewis and Jamaican national, Andre Harvey have since been recaptured, while another was returned by a family member.

Lewis, Maikie Hendrickson, 20, Gabriel Solomon 26, Michael Thomas, 26, and Harvey were recaptured within hours of their escape.

Lewis was held by officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch. Hendrickson was held in Rio Claro by officers of the Rio Claro Police Station. Solomon was held by officers from the Siparia Police Station. Thomas was returned by relatives to the institution and Harvey was held on the compound.

The sixth escapee Sheldon Thomas, 31, remains at large and is on a charge of murder. Thomas’ last known address was Mt Plaisance Carenage.

The NWRHA has increased the number of guards in St Ann’s and is now working closely with the TTPS to ensure that the escapees are recaptured.

Eden Nekeisha Teesdale was laid to rest at the Roodal Public Cemetery, San Fernando, yesterday, without her head or her family knowing who killed her, why and how she met her untimely end.

Bernadette Williams, the aunt of the late Teesdale, whose headless body was found floating in a barrel in the Mitan River two weeks ago, said her niece was taken away from them in such a sad and brutal manner because she trusted the wrong person.

In a eulogy at her funeral service at Guides Funeral Home, Coffee Street, San Fernando, Williams said Teesdale was born on August 9, 1990, in the midst of the coup attempt and the state of emergency. 

“But she was a quiet child who kept to herself,” Williams said. 

She said Teesdale, 26, was also neat and polished, like a model, full of life and laughter, flashing her big beautiful dimpled smile, dimples she passed on to her three children Amyah, five; Kamiyah Ash, three; and one-year-old Hezekiah.

“She was so full of life and love that she trusted the wrong person. She always saw good in everyone,” Williams recalled.

She said Teesdale’s life took a wrong turn when her mother Elennor Williams died in 2009, when she was just 19. 

“Although she said nothing, I think that is when she began to stray. We tried our best, we would check up on her when we could,” she said explaining that for periods they would not hear from her but she always called when she was in trouble.

“She was never rude, she was never disrespectful. When you spoke to her she would just smile and do it again. And if you spoke to her and scold her again, she would just smile and do it again.”

Williams described her niece as a dedicated worker who would show up for work even when she was ill.

“When we asked her to stay home she would say, ‘they would miss me at work, one short’... and that is what led to her downfall. She felt she was going for an interview for another job because she was home too long.”

Her brother, Keron, said after his mother’s death his sister became his mother.

“Everything was Eden and Keron, Eden and Keron,” he told the packed chapel.

“The last words she spoke to me was ‘Keron I coming back in an hour.’ I still hearing it ringing in my head.”

Their father, Eric, who returned from the United States for the funeral, said in the midst of the sorrow and grief, he was glad to know that his daughter was so loved.

Another aunt, Mary Joan Francis, also eulogised her, saying she had left a legacy of kindness and love.

A man described as her boyfriend said although a lot was being said about ‘his Babes’ by people who did not know her, Teesdale was the most real and genuine person he knew. 

“There is a God,” he said, as another mourner urged the family to put their trust in God.

Bishop Norma Raymond, who conducted the service, encouraged parents to plead the blood of Jesus on their children so that they would not meet a similar tragic end.

Representatives of the Steel Workers Union yesterday met with officials at Republic Bank to discuss the status of the former ArcelorMittal workers’ pension plan. Republic Bank is the trustee of the pension plan.

President of the union, Christopher Henry, claimed victory after his hour-long meeting with bank officials at its Park Street, Port-of-Spain, head office yesterday.

Several ex-workers staged a noisy protest outside the bank while the union officials were invited into the meeting, via a private entrance, for talks. Henry said the union will meet with the bank again on Thursday to have all its concerns answered. Some 644 workers were retrenched by the steel manufacturing company after it closed its operations in February citing poor sales and mounting debt.

According to Henry, the bank officials were told that it was treating the sacked workers "with scant courtesy as they (steel workers) have over $1 billion in this bank (pension plan)."

Following the meeting, Henry met with leaders of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM ) and the National Trade Union Centre (Natuc) to discuss further measures to have the matter resolved.

The workers were expected to take their protest outside the Hasley Crawford Stadium for yesterday’s Fifa World Cup qualifying match between the Soca Warriors and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The ex-workers were wearing the red union jerseys in support of the T&T team and were joined by other retrenched workers from Tube City Ltd and Centrin.

Henry said the Government should consider an investment opportunity for the plant at Point Lisas to resume operations to ensure the workers will return to their jobs.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said the Government had no intention of buying the plant as it would have to compete with cheap Chinese steel flooding the market and a $3 billion debt incurred by the company.

Henry said the union will attend the April 5 creditors’ meeting called by ArcelorMittal at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain. 

The workers were sent home one day after they won a matter against the company in the Industrial Court.

President of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association Insp Anand Ramesar is calling for a commission of enquiry into last July’s prison break at the Port-of-Spain Prison.

Ramesar was responding to a Sunday Guardian exclusive which revealed that the Prison Service executive was aware of a possible plan about an escape at the Port-of-Spain Prison months before the incident.

This information was contained in the official minutes (copies of which are in the Guardian’s possession) of a meeting between top brass in the Prison Service in January 2015, at the Prisons Administration Building in Port-of-Spain.

During the jailbreak on July 24, Allan ‘Scanny’ Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher ‘Monster’ Selby, armed with guns and a grenade, bolted from the prison.

Prisons officer Leon Rouse was shot and PC Sherman Maynard, who was stationed outside, was killed. 

Martin was killed moments after the escape after he was cornered at a guard booth of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and Hassan Atwell was murdered in East Port-of-Spain one day later. 

Selby, 30, surrendered to officers at the Barataria Police Station 48 hours after his escape. He was subsequently charged with ten offences including the murder of Maynard.

In a brief telephone interview, Ramesar said, “I am calling for a commission of enquiry into the prison break resulting in the death of officer Maynard. I want to say the revelation that there was information in relation to the prison break is very damning and it is wrong and perpetrated in the worst manner.” 

He said a police officer lost his life and national security was compromised in ways that never should have occurred because the intelligence was available. 

“Given the information now that there was intelligence, a question must be answered why policemen were placed outside without being advised about the full extent and the reason for their deployment, and the question must be answered about what was the strategic response should the information transform into a reality. 

“It demonstrates a lack of proper analysis and risk management coming out of the intelligence. In the general scheme of things it is an inappropriate leadership response,” he said. 

When contacted, Maynard’s relatives echoed a call for an investigation into the jail break.

A spokesperson for the family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they would like Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon to intervene.

“If they had intelligence that the prisoners were planning an escape let disciplinary action take place against the prison authorities and who were involved. 

“Our relative was killed. If it happened in the Police Service where intelligence was passed and nothing was done action would be taken. They would be suspended. We calling on the Minister of National Security (Edmund Dillon) to do something,” the relative said.

Commenting on the newspaper article, president of the Prison Officers Association Ceron Richards said, “I am shocked and hope that it will be properly investigated that there was information prior to that daring escape.”

Richards said the information raised questions as to why steps and measures were not taken.

“If what we hearing is true then why the other agencies were not alerted? And why (junior) officers were not alerted? It means to say officers were left as sitting ducks,” he said.

Attempts to contact Dillon on the matter proved futile.

A Penal contractor charged with raping a 12-year-old girl was granted $100,000 bail when he appeared in the Siparia Magistrates Court yesterday. 

Tyrone Jagessar, 53, of Rochard Road, Penal, appeared before Magistrate Margaret Alert in the Siparia First Court, yesterday. 

Jagessar was represented by attorneys Rennie Gosine and Roopnarine Rambachan.

He was charged by WPC Renn-Lashley of the Penal Police Station.

Alert read two charges to Jagessar. 

The first being that sometime between July 31, 2015, and September 1, 2015, Jagessar committed an act of serious indecency against the child.

The second charge is that between December 31, 2013, and January 1, 2015, Jagessar raped the child at her Penal home.

In court yesterday, Gosine said his client is a well-known contractor in Penal and has had no brushes with the law before.

He said Jagessar lives with his mother in Penal. 

Police prosecutor, Sgt Baptiste, made no objection to granting bail but asked that conditions be attached to the bail.

After setting bail in the sum of $100,000 with surety and clerk of the peace approval, Alert told Jagessar that he must have no contact with the child. 

She told him this includes all forms of social media, texting and sending messages with other people. 

Jagessar was also ordered to stay 100 metres away from the child’s home and to stay 100 metres away from her school.

The fourth condition is that Jagessar report to the Penal Police Station every Monday between 6 am and noon.

Alert told him if he breached any of the conditions, his bail would be revoked and he would not be eligible for bail again in the matter. 

She then adjourned the case until April 26.

Claudine Henry, the mother of St Ann’s Mental Hospital escapee and murder accused Sheldon Thomas, yesterday urged her firstborn son to surrender.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian at Pembroke Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Henry said if her son is killed by the authorities she would not bury him.

“I want to tell him if the State kill him his body will stay in the morgue because I not burying him. If the State take his life then they will have to bury him,” Henry said.

Henry warned her son: “I really hope if you get this clipping or see it on the news, contact me, let we go in. Don’t give the police the privilege and opportunity and advantage. Sometimes you have to surprise them, don’t give them the authority to take out your life at all.”

She said she believed her son, one of six who escaped and the only one still on the run, was frustrated and that was his reason for escaping. She said he had been incarcerated for the past 11 years and that would frustrate anyone, but she claimed he was also constantly abused by prison guards.

Henry said her son, who is accused of murder, was sent to the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, Santa Rosa, without her knowledge and for some weeks she was unable to locate him until she reported the matter to the media. She added that the facility was not equipped with a canteen or kitchen and all food items had to be purchased at the canteen at the Remand Yard, Arouca, then transferred to inmates in Santa Rosa. 

Henry, who was once the only woman to be on death row and was the first to be condemned prior to winning her case on appeal five years on, said those on the outside may not know the bitterness and anger inmates feel being locked up for years awaiting trial.

“I just want the authorities to give me some time to work with him because I don’t want that for my youth man,” Henry said, adding when her son was sent to the psychiatric hospital she told him to get as much time as possible there to “cool his head”.

“I told him ‘son, try and talk to the doctor so the doctor would give you a lil two-three months’ grace so your mind will be relaxed. Don’t try to escape, knowing you they will brand you and try to take you out.”

She also called on the Government, Inspector of Prisons Daniel Khan and Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart to do what is necessary to expedite criminal cases and improve conditions for inmates on remand.

According to police, Thomas was among six inmates who escaped from the St Ann’s Hospital’s Forensic Ward between midnight and 2 am yesterday, by cutting through the burglar proofing of Ward 27.

Thomas was referred to the hospital on March 7 for observation, based on an order issued by a judge of the High Court. He had been on remand since being charged with the murder of Anthony Lemessy, of Plaisance, Mayaro, on August 19, 2004.

Thomas, 31, had last known addresses at Upper L’Anse Mitan, Carenage, and Upper Haig Street, Carenage. 

When the T&T Guardian visited the Carenage area yesterday, residents said his family had moved out years ago and warned that Thomas “was not easy” and advised the T&T Guardian not to go looking for him as he was a dangerous man.

Police said the other escapees, Kyron Lewis, Maikie Hendrickson, Gabriel Solomon, Michael Thomas and Andre Harvey, were all recaptured or surrendered yesterday. Lewis was held by Guard and Emergency Branch officers, Hendrickson was held in Rio Claro by officers of the Rio Claro station and Solomon was nabbed by officers from the Siparia Station. Thomas was returned by relatives to the institution and Harvey was held on the compound.

Since the escape, the area that houses the 40 inmates was given an additional security guard, taking to five the number of officers guarding those accused of criminal activities and who were suspected of being mentally ill. A dog was also added to the security detail and the burglar proofing was reinforced the T&T Guardian was told.

Police are asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of Thomas to contact them immediately as he is considered armed and dangerous.

West Indian cricketer Kevon Cooper and former national footballer Shane Calderon both pleaded not guilty to a string of charges arising out of their arrests in Woodbrook on Sunday. 

The friends did so as they appeared before Magistrate Carl Quamina in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court yesterday afternoon on seven charges related to their alleged altercation with police. 

Cooper was charged with using obscene language, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, while Calderon was charged with using obscene language, two offences of obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty and assault to prevent lawful detention.

According to reports, around 3 am on Sunday, the pair were attempting to park along Baden Powell Street in Woodbrook when they were stopped by police. The two men reportedly argued with the officers over whether their vehicle was parked in a no-parking zone. 

During their brief court appearance, their attorney Christian Chandler informed Quamina that police prevented him from speaking to his clients for over five hours while they were being detained at the Woodbrook Police Station. 

He also asked that the two sportsmen be allowed to remain on the $20,000 station bail they were granted after being arrested. 

Quamina made note of the complaint and certified their bail as requested by Chandler. 

Cooper and Calderon will reappear in court on May 10. 

Nine days after the charred remains of schoolboy Darian Nedd was found in the burnt out shell of his home, one of his neighbours appeared in the Siparia Magistrates Court charged with his murder.

Roger Ragoopath, 26, a fisherman, of Red Brick Trace, Siparia, appeared before Senior Magistrate Margaret Alert in the Siparia First Court yesterday.

Ragoopath was represented by attorney Frank Gittens. He was charged by PC Subash Harrypersad.

On March 20, Nedd’s dismembered body was found among the ruins of his home at Deo Bruce Trace, South Oropouche. His right hand and left foot had been hacked off with a cutlass.

Nedd was a Form One student of the Siparia East Secondary School.

In court yesterday, Ragoopath remained stoic as the charge was read to him. 

Gittens asked the court for disclosure on his client’s next appearance in court. 

Alert remanded Ragoopath into custody and adjourned the matter to April 26.

Government is calling on public servants who receive $10 billion in salaries annually to become more efficient and effective in their delivery of services to the public.

Making the announcement yesterday was Minister of Public Administration and Communications Maxie Cuffie during an interview with CNC3 Morning Brew host Hema Ramkissoon.

Having recently assumed responsibility for the Ministry of Public Administration, which focuses on how the public service is structured, Cuffie said he intends to drive and push public sector efficiency in the coming months.

Asked if the public sector was efficient or inefficient, Cuffie said the sector was going through changes, which people have been resisting for whatever reason.

“The process has been slower than I would have liked,” Cuffie admitted.

While admitting that the public was not satisfied with the slow pace of services delivered at its 22 ministries, Cuffie said: “I understand what is behind that...and I think the reason why it has not been as fast as we would expect is because there are people who are adversely affected by change. There are people who resist change. I think the change management process has not been done as efficiently and effectively as we had hoped.”

He said to bring about change, dialogue, discussions and communications were required with the Public Service Commission (PSC), trade unions and all ministries.

While he does not think that public servants have outlived their usefulness, Cuffie said there was need for efficiency in the services they provide.

“There are 66,000 employees or positions in the public service. You have 45,000 bodies in those positions. It consumes almost $10 billion annually,” Cuffie said.

Asked if taxpayers were getting value for money with the $10 billion the Government forks out to public servants annually, Cuffie said: “Right now, I would say no. 

“It does not mean that public servants aren’t working, What I am saying is that for $10 billion we need to produce more for the country.”

He said while there was a perception that public servants do not work for their salaries, there are many employees in state enterprises who go beyond the call of duty.

Cuffie cited senior forester Keith Campbell who succumbed to injuries he sustained during a fire on Friday at Lady Chancellor Hill, St Ann’s, as a prime example of a dedicated and committed public servant.

Cuffie said there were systemic problems and process issues that contributed to this inefficient service.

“We need to have processes ...procedures to do things more efficiently.”

Asked if the merging of the Ministry of Communications and Public Administration would lead to job losses, Cuffie said no.

“The Prime Minister has given his commitment. And in any case, most people who work in the public service work with industrial agreements with the registered trade unions. You can’t just unilaterally up and say that you are going to cut salaries or cut people. That is not how we do things. As we go along we will ensure that the public service costs less.”

In the coming months, Cuffie said, the Government will come up with proper structures for all ministries to become more well- organised in exercising their duties and functions.

Cuffie said there are also plans to modernise the public service through eGovernance.

“You are going to hear significant announcements in the next few weeks and months over those developments.”

While the PSC has recognised that change was imperative, Cuffie said this has to be approached gradually.

“You have to look at all of the effects of the changes. That is what we are doing now.”

The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) has concluded that thousands of fish died in the Macoya River owing to a lack of oxygen.

Residents and gardeners last week reported schools of dead fish which they believe were a result of a chemical spill by a factory in Macoya.

Gardeners complained that they were not sure if the water was safe to use for gardening and watering their crops.

A statement from the EMA yesterday said industrial facilities within proximity of the river showed no evidence of discharges of pollutants into the Macoya River. Testing of the water revealed low levels of dissolved oxygen which could be linked to the cause of death of the fish; and investigations also revealed that a sluice gate system in the area is used to manage the flow and levels of water within the river. This gate was closed approximately two weeks ago and may be the reason for the low levels of dissolved oxygen in the river.

These preliminary findings have been shared with all relevant governmental authorities associated with activities in the area to sensitize them to the importance of the water course for all users, the statement said.

A final report on this investigation will be prepared and findings shared with relevant governmental authorities.

The river originates in the Northern Range and drains into the Caura Valley. It passes through Macoya in the East-West Corridor before joining the Caroni River.

Three suspects detained in connection with the abduction of school teacher Keston Mahabir have been released by police. 

The suspects—a 27-year-old man, his 23-year-old girlfriend and his mother—were released from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad’s office in Couva yesterday morning, as their attorneys, Criston J Williams and Alexia Romero, were in the process of filing a habeas corpus lawsuit in the Port-of-Spain High Court challenging the police to justify their continued detention without being charged. 

The family members, who are related to a reputed gang leader who is currently on remand on charges of kidnapping and murdering a woman in 2006, were detained by police hours after Mahabir was abducted. 

Police sources close to the investigation said yesterday that after the family members were arrested, their 15-year-old relative, a pupil of Mahabir’s school, went to police on Friday and made a criminal complaint against Mahabir over an alleged incident which was said to have occurred at the school several weeks ago. The teenager reportedly went to the Central Police Station on Sunday and gave a further statement, in which she sought to clarify information she initially provided to police. 

Investigators yesterday confirmed that they were in the process of verifying the teen’s allegations, but refused to say whether it was the main lead they were considering in Mahabir’s abduction. 

“The suspects may be rearrested once more information comes to light,” a police source, who noted that the investigation was at a “critical” stage, said. 

Mahabir, head of Keston’s Educational Institute of Pitiman Trace, Mc Bean Village, Couva, was abducted from his home last Wednesday. CCTV footage shown exclusively on CNC3’s Crime Watch programme, last Thursday, showed that at about 11.50 am two women parked a silver vehicle near Mahabir’s house. Mahabir, who was wearing a red T-shirt, met the women and escorted them to the back of the house, where he conducts his classes. Two minutes later, two men were seen entering the compound and the room where Mahabir and the women were. One of the men wore a bandana covering his face while the other wore a hoodie.

A few minutes later, one of the men came out of the house and walked to the front. Seconds later a second man was seen coming outside holding Mahabir around the neck and walking him to the front of the house. 

Mahabir, a graduate of the University of T&T (UTT), has spent the last five years teaching Mathematics, English, and Human and Social Biology at his private school, which has 73 pupils. He was expected to take up a teaching position at the University of the West Indies in September.

Speaking with reporters after his kidnapping, Mahabir’s fiancee, Shereeza Mohammed, and his family said they believed that it was a case of mistaken identity. 

“I just want to know that he is returned to us. I want him back home. I miss him and I am worried that he will never come back,” Mohammed said, noting he had studied engineering at UTT but had spent most of his adult life teaching classes because he loved teaching. 

One of his students, Jeremy Antoine, said he had four-hour classes which were fun and informative.

“Everyone wanted to be enrolled in this school. It was competition because his classes were exciting. He loved to make jokes and he always had a drive to make sure that every student did well,” Antoine said. 

Anyone with information on Mahabir’s whereabouts can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS.

Convinced that Keston Mahabir’s abductors had concocted a ploy to discredit him, fiance Shereeza Mohammed yesterday came out in his defence, saying he was never sexually involved with his teenaged student.

In an interview with the T&T Guardian, Mohammed said 26-year-old Mahabir was always concerned about upholding his good name and would never engage in such activity. 

Saying there was no way the teacher would ever put himself with a 15-year-old, Mohammed said: “If that was the case I want to know how that happened because I knew all his whereabouts.”

She explained that Mahabir, who is the owner of Keston’s Educational Institute, always treated his students with respect. 

“He did his classes at home. He would never jeopardise his career or his good name. He had nothing at all with that little girl,” Mohammed said. 

The petite woman, who moved in with Mahabir six weeks ago, described him as “the sweetest guy ever.

“I am feeling so bad right now because everybody is saying the worst things about him. My family does not want to believe what happened and neither do I. We know Keston and this is not something that he will do,” Mohammed added.

She said she had known Mahabir for several months and his behaviour during their time together never gave any sign of such a possibility. 

“When I met Keston, he was the sweetest guy ever. I never knew him to be a promiscuous person so I will not believe this,” Mohammed added.

Saying she was convinced Mahabir was still alive, Mohammed renewed her call for his abductors to release him.

One of the man’s relatives said she too did not believe the accusations levelled against Mahabir by the teenager.

“I know the girlfriends he had and he always brought them home. Everybody saying he had sex with the little girl but this is not adding up. They making Keston look like a pervert and he was not like that,” the relative, who did not want to be identified, said. One of Mahabir’s sisters said they were continuing to pray for his safe return.

“We know he will come home to fight this allegation. Not all that is said about him is true. This whole scenario is not true.

“Only God knows the truth and we are hoping Keston will come home and defend this allegation,” she added.

She said the family were engaged in deep spiritual prayers and were confident that Mahabir would return home.

Mahabir, of Pitiman Trace, Sonny Ladoo Road, Mc Bean, Couva, was snatched around noon on March 21. Police said two women, posing as officials from the Education Ministry, visited his home to discuss registration of his school.

However, while the women were chatting with Mahabir in a room at the back of his house where the school is located, a silver Tiida pulled up on the compound, three men got out, grabbed him, bundled him into the car and sped off. 

Anyone with information on Mahabir’s whereabouts can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS.

The skeletal remains found by a dog in Valencia last Saturday were those of 18-year-old Brandon Thomas.

Thomas was identified through his dental records by relatives who visited the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday. His autopsy revealed he was chopped and stabbed in the head and chest before his body was buried in a shallow grave.

Thomas, of Oropouche Road, Valencia, was reported missing in January.

According to police reports, a woman was fishing near a bamboo patch in a trace off Valencia Road last Saturday, when her dog brought a bone believed to be that of a human. The woman and other relatives later traced where the dog came from and found the skeletal remains. She then called police.

In two unrelated incidents, homicide officers are investigating the murder of a Morvant man found on the kitchen floor of his home on Saturday.

According to reports, around 2 am residents of Calvary Hill, Morvant, heard gunshots coming from the home Justin Eustace Phillip. Around 11 am, after not seeing him for the day, residents went to his home and found Phillip, 31, dead in his kitchen with gunshot wounds.

In another killing, Hughie Lopez, of Upper Pashley Street, Laventille, died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital around 10.45 pm Saturday, after being shot several times about the body. 

Police said they found Lopez in a track off the side of the road after they were called to the ares by residents who had heard gunshots.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses has cleared Immigration officials of any wrongdoing in the recent deportation of 12 Jamaican nationals after reviewing a report sent to him on the cases.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Moses said he also found the Immigration officials took the appropriate action as the visiting Jamaicans had failed to show their ability to sustain themselves in T&T.

“I have no reason to doubt that they would have been provided with meals, water and other provisions to make them comfortable and also allowed to leave the following morning,” Moses said.

Asked if diplomatic relations between T&T and Jamaica were nevertheless hurt by the incident, Moses replied: “The close bond relationship continues. We have been having ongoing conversations and it will continue favourably.”

Moses was expected to meet with Jamaican officials late yesterday afternoon.

The report, sent to Moses on Tuesday by the Immigration Division, had cleared all Immigration officers who were on duty at the Piarco International Airport on March 21, the day the Jamaicans arrived via two separate flights.

On their return to their country, however, the Jamaicans turned to social media claiming they were ill-treated and made to lie on the cold ground to sleep and also were refused food and water.

They called on their compatriots to boycott visiting T&T and using any of its products as a result of their treatment. 

However, a senior official at the Immigration Division had told the T&T Guardian that after an internal probe no officer was found to have acted irresponsibly or in a discriminatory manner towards the Jamaicans.

Rather it was found that the Jamaicans were not admissible based on their declarations and on interviews conducted by Immigration officers.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, communications specialist for Caribbean Airlines, Dionne Ligoure, also assured that once the people were refused entry to the country and placed in the care of the airline, “Caribbean Airlines does all possible to ensure they are treated just as they treat all our valued customers.”

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Bill will result in an onslaught on the constitutional rights of not only citizens but visitors to T&T as well.

She said so during a news conference following a parliamentary caucus at her office at Charles Street, Port-of-Spain. 

The legislation, which was presented for debate by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi recently, seeks to give the SSA more powers and will allow for phone tapping without a warrant. Debate on the legislation is expected to resume in the House of Representatives this afternoon.

Yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said while the Opposition understood the need to support crime- fighting legislation, the measure must have the required checks and balances. 

The former prime minister said there was little national commentary on the legislation and that situation should change as the provisions in the Bill would breach privacy rights of “every citizen and even non-citizens who may be visiting Trinidad and Tobago.”

According to Persad-Bissessar, the SSA bill will impact on every citizen “whether you are a businessman, a husband or wife, media personnel, politicians, trade unionist... it will impact on every citizen in terms of violations of rights to privacy which are enshrined in our Constitution.”

She said the legislation, if approved in its present form, would be like a molotov cocktail on the population and the matter should be put before a Joint Select Committee for special consideration.

“What is missing is the checks and balances that were necessary for proper protection of rights to privacy,” she said.

Persad-Bissessar said her concerns must not be seen as being against crime-fighting measures but rather one for ensuring safeguards were put in place to protect citizens’ rights.

She said when the SSA Act was first approved several years ago, its mandate was limited to drug-related offences, adding that what the new amendment “seeks to do is to include every offence you can think about with a penalty of five years or more.”

The Opposition says there is need for oversight regarding the selection of the head of the SSA, executive, legislative and independent oversight.

Responding to a question on the repayment of money owed by Opposition MPs for employing relatives in their constituency offices contrary to the law, Persad-Bissessar said she was still awaiting word from the Clerk of the House on that matter.

President of the Fire Services Association Leo Ramkissoon says penalties for setting bush fires need to be reviewed.

“The law has not been reviewed since its inception and it sends a message about the attitude from Parliament downward to the lighting of bush fires and the way we treat with safety on a whole,” he said in an interview on SKY 99.5 FM yesterday as he addressed the issue of how the problem of setting illegal bush fires in the dry season could be addressed.

Ramkissoon said it was unlawful to light fires during this season but no one paid attention until someone lost his life or was injured during a fire, in reference to the recent death of Senior Forester II Keith Campbell, who died from injuries while fighting a forest fire at Lady Chancellor Hill, St Ann’s.

“The laws need to be reviewed and the penalties need to be made commensurate with the repercussions of those actions and the enforcement bodies need to be strengthened. You can have many laws and if you can’t enforce the laws then you are of no use,” he said.

He also lamented the lack of resources at the department to deal with fighting bush fires. 

He said there were great advances to firefighting but there were basic issues and policies that the organisation was struggling to maintain. 

For example, Ramkissoon said there was a shortage of breathing apparatus units which were used to enter into smoke filled atmospheres. He said there were only 40 in Northern Division when the requirement was 90.

He said there were also 135 high-rise building in Port-of-Spain and environs and the organisation needed to upgrade its equipment to cater to that.

“There is always a likelihood of that (major fire) occurring. However, the Fire Services need to be upgraded in terms of being prepared for high-rise firefighting. If something like that happens the Fire Services would not be prepared,” he said.

On another issue, he said provisions for an insurance plan for firefighters were not satisfactory and there was a $1 million compensation which was mentioned by the previous government but it was not implemented.

He said firefighters have to seek their own insurance and were three times likely to die earlier in life due to constant exposure to toxic materials.

Contacted on the issues raised yesterday, Chief Fire Officer Kenny Gopaul said: “We’ve been handling all the fires. We have every station with an appliance now. We have trained personal, equipment and modern technology and even music in the vehicles.”

Mother of Shaliner Theodore-Hospedales was on the ground crawling through the unfriendly flames of a bush fire on Wednesday as she attempted to find her nine-year-old son, Hezekiah. As she desperately sought out her eldest of two children she herself caught fire. 

As the fire caught hold of her clothing and began to spread about her entire body, her screams brought help from villager Phillip Steven Jones, 27, who risked his own life by jumping through a ring of fire to extinguish the flames on her.

“I ran back down the hill, throw three buckets of water on me and went back up, ran through the fire and I went to a house, pull down a curtain and used that to out her. She was on fire on the ground,” Jones recalled as he spoke to the T&T Guardian yesterday.

Jones and his younger brother, Jeremiah, 24, are now being hailed by the Lahore Road, San Juan, community as heroes for their selfless act of saving the lives of Theodore-Hospedales, her husband and one-year-old baby Rukeia Bruce. 

Theodore-Hospedales' son, Hezekiah, unfortunately did not make it out alive.

But even as his efforts were being applauded by the people in his village, Jones, who is fondly called Jerry by friends, said yesterday he would do it all again if he had to but the next time he would place Hezekiah on his back while he held Rukeia in his arms.

“I kept screaming at them to follow me, follow me. When I saw that the fire, which had come from over the hill, spread to beneath us and was coming up on us, I said to mysel like we trap because the fire was all around us like a big circle. I ran and grabbed the baby from the woman and kept screaming at them to follow me,” Jones recalled yesterday. 

“But like when they running, the boy may have tripped and fall because I heard the mother screaming out for him. I kept running but screaming and looking back at them but the smoke was too thick and the fire was coming closer and closer,” he added.

Jones, who operates a small parlor, said shortly before noon on Wednesday, he was approached by Theodore-Hospedales, who requested a cutlass to cut a track for a bush fire to run along. He said he eventually decided to trek up the steep hill to assist the young mother.

“When I went up I didn’t see any fire, so we both were cutting the track and clearing the land but then suddenly the fire came from over the hill and spread to a house below us and the high breeze was blowing the fire upwards to us, trapping us,” he recalled.

“Everything happened very quickly but me and my brother still tried we best to save everybody.”

Firefighters from the San Juan Fire Station who responded to the call later found Hezekiah's burnt body lying in a hole in the ground in a foetal position.

Jones said he strongly believed the vehicles which were parked along the roadway delayed firefighters trying to reach the actual bush fire and extinguished it on time.

Hezekiah's death was the second in the past week as a result of a bush fire. 

On Good Friday, senior forestry officer, Keith Campbell, 54, died after being severely burnt in a bush fire off Lady Chancellor Road, St Ann’s. His colleagues — Kernarine Carrington and Jamal Bain — were also burnt but survived.

Bush fire causes fatal crash

A 92-year-old man died in a road traffic accident last Sunday after his son reportedly crashed due to poor visibility caused by a bush fire in Rio Claro.

According to police reports, Sowdgan Rajnauth, 92, of Ecclesville, Rio Claro, was being driven by his 31-year-old grandson, Israel Khan, along the Tabaquite Road when the accident occurred. 

Police said Khan crashed into an oncoming car heading in the opposite direction around 5.15 pm after he was blinded by thick smoke from a nearby bushfire. 

Speaking at yesterday’s police press briefing, head of the Highway Patrol Unit, Supt Mathura Singh, confirmed the incident. He emphasised, however, that the accident was not as a result of excessive speed.

Bush fire causes fatal crash

A 92-year-old man died in a road traffic accident last Sunday after his son reportedly crashed due to poor visibility caused by a bush fire in Rio Claro.

According to police reports, Sowdgan Rajnauth, 92, of Ecclesville, Rio Claro, was being driven by his 31-year-old grandson, Israel Khan, along the Tabaquite Road when the accident occurred. 

Police said Khan crashed into an oncoming car heading in the opposite direction around 5.15 pm after he was blinded by thick smoke from a nearby bushfire. 

Speaking at yesterday’s police press briefing, head of the Highway Patrol Unit, Supt Mathura Singh, confirmed the incident. He emphasised, however, that the accident was not as a result of excessive speed.

Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus said yesterday she suspected that over 5,000 people have lost their jobs in the last seven months as T&T continues to go through economic challenges.

“I will give you what my suspicions are in terms of the unemployed from September to now. I suspect they may be in the vicinity of 5,000 or a little beyond that,” Baptiste-Primus told reporters at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

Although the Central Statistical Office should be the agency to provide data of the unemployment rate, Baptiste-Primus gave an approximation of those terminated and assured that a new mechanism was being put in place to capture precise figures on the number of people who were retrenched recently.

Asked if Government would look at legislation to protect all workers, including contract employees, Baptiste-Primus said there was need for amendments to the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and the Companies Act “in terms of providing workers with the required protection.”

She said Government would engage soon in consultation with the private sector and labour movement “on the amendments on these two pieces of legislation.”

Once the Government got a response from those two groups, Baptiste-Primus said they would approach Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi “in that regard.”

Baptiste-Primus described as “distressing” the closure of ArcelorMittal and the retrenchment of its 644 workers who were sent home without any benefits. 

“Many of them had given upwards of 20 years of service to ArcelorMittal and they go home with one months’ salary,” she added. While Baptiste-Primus has been appealing to employers not to send home workers, she said Government intended to help those who lost their jobs.

Insisting that being put out of work affect people and families socially, physically, economically, psychologically and mentally, Baptiste-Primus said Cabinet had agreed to roll out a ten-point plan, focusing on treating with people who were no longer employed.

She said the objective of the plan was to provide immediate, short and medium term assistance to those who were terminated. So far, Baptiste-Primus said the Ministry of Labour has held collaborative meetings with several ministries and also the T&T Mortgage Finance (TTMF), Bankers Association of T&T, the International Labour Organisations, T&T Manufacturers’ Association and National Energy Skills Centre.

Government was also exploring job opportunities for locals in Caricom countries. She said the plan, which would cost Government over $600,000 would look at the development of soliciting new jobs, matching skills, training and retraining, formation of small businesses and psychological and financial counselling to the unemployed and their families.

In addition, a hotline would be established to connect the retrenched individual to a web of services, she added.

Baptiste-Primus said Government held discussions with the financial sector in adopting a humane approach with those who were sent home but still had outstanding loans and mortgages.

Recently, Baptiste-Primus said the TTMF came up with creative ways to lessen the financial burdens for 50 of its clients who had lost their jobs by extending the time frame to pay their mortgage. “What we suspect is that there is a large volume of unemployed persons out there who may have experience but are uncertified,” she added.

Baptiste-Primus said Government was not in a position to provide jobs for all the unemployed people in T&T and on April 5 a job expo would be in Couva to provide counselling and advice to unemployed people who were going through difficult and trying situations.

Baptiste-Primus said in this time of economic depression people needed to survive. “Surviving may mean looking at jobs that you may not have previously considered. It may also mean a reduction in the income and type of benefits that you have earned,” she added.

She said people who were jobless may have to think differently by seeking certification for a skill that they possessed but never utilised because of the economic situation the world and T&T have been facing.

“People would adapt,” she added.

Former prime minister of T&T Patrick Manning believes that politicians who are guilty of hiring relatives at their respective constituency offices are not worthy of public office.

Manning made a statement via his Facebook page on Wednesday night.

He disclosed that in all his 44 years as a Parliamentarian, he has never employed a family member or relative in his constituency office.

“Nor have I ever had my mother, father or spouse (common-law or legally married) working in my parliamentary office, whether they were paid or unpaid,” Manning stated in the post.

But he failed to mention that he had employed his wife, Hazel Manning, as the minister of education (2001 -2007) and later as minister of local government (2007-2010) during his administration. 

Under Manning’s leadership, the PNM suffered a defeat in 2010, and Keith Rowley succeeded him as leader of the People’s National Movement. 

In 2012, he suffered a debilitation stroke and has since made significant recovery after bowing out of the political limelight.

In his social media post Manning said that he always sought to engage the people of the PNM constituency structure who worked tirelessly to ensure that he was elected to office. People, he stated, who had a good working knowledge of the needs of the “grassroots” to work with him in his parliamentary office.

“Those who are guilty of these transgressions are unworthy of public office. And as the youth would say it, “nuff said!,” Manning’s post read.

On March 20, amid moves by Fixin’ T&T to get the Integrity Commission and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to examine several Opposition MPs’ hiring of relatives at constituency offices, Opposition MP Suruj Rambachan called on the Clerk of the House to clarify Parliament’s guidelines on the hiring issue.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and UNC MPs—Barry Padarath, Dr Bhoe Tewarie and Rushton Paray indicated earlier this month, relatives were working, and had worked at their constituency offices.

On March 17, PNM housing minister Marlene McDonald was dismissed by Prime Minister Rowley after a third set of allegations against her surfaced, this one involving alleged breach of Parliament rules concerning alleged hiring of her spouse, Micheal Carew and his brother, Lennox Carew, at her Port-of-Spain constituency office during 2010-2015.

Persad-Bissessar, on March 12, said two relatives had been employed at her constituency office for several years and after this term’s new guidelines, was seeking advice from the Parliament on the situation. Persad-Bissessar’s relatives have been employed for 20 years and 14 years.

Padarath disclosed that he terminated the constituency office employment of a relative in February after receiving the Parliament’s constituency manual for the 2015-2020 term then. This outlaws hiring of various types of relatives.

Padarath made it clear that it wasn’t an “immediate” relative, who had worked in his constituency office. He said he had contacted the Parliament and subsequently repaid salaries paid to the person.

Paray said he had informed the Parliament, when he became MP and found a distant relative (daughter of his grandfather’s second wife) employed from the tenure of previous MP Winston Peters. He said he was told by Parliament that due to the distance of the relationship, it was alright. The person is a part-time employee.

Fixin’ T&T, however, argued that the UNC MPs breached the Integrity in Public Life Act as it relates to, among others, Sections 24 (2), and 29 (1).

Fixin’ T&T was supported by the Independent Liberal Party—which said Persad-Bissessar and Padarath’s explanations were “weak” and demanded they resign—and the ruling PNM which repeated PNM chairman Franklin Khan’s call for Persad-Bissessar to resign. However, Rambachan, who called on the Clerk of the House to shed light on the matter, said facts on the hiring issue were being distorted. 

Noting the difference between guidelines for the past 2010-2015 parliamentary term and the current 2015-2020 term, questions were raised as to who changed the guidelines and if the changed guidelines were formally communicated to MPs or was the manual simply distributed to Parliamentarians without specific communications on the changes.

Questions were also raised as to whether or not the responsibility was of the Clerk of the House and if the guidelines were supposed to be agreed upon by the House Committee.

Other questions challenged if the guidelines were changed by the Clerk of the House or the new Speaker, or were they changed by the Clerk of the House without reference either to the former or new Speaker in the interregnum between the time the tenth Parliament was prorogued and the Eleventh Parliament began?

A 25-year-old San Juan man appeared in court yesterday charged with murdering a neighbour. 

Jamal Mohammed Khan, 25, of Bagatelle Road, Sunshine Avenue, San Juan, was represented by Keith Scotland.

Khan is accused of murdering Andre McLeod near McLeod’s Sunshine Avenue home on November 21 last year. 

Khan appeared before magistrate Cheron Raphael in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court.

He stood calmly before the magistrate and responded boisterously whenever he was asked a question. 

Scotland asked for all disclosure in the matter, including the criminal record of the State’s main witness as well as his mental health record. 

He also stated that there were identification parades done with his client without his knowledge or permission. Khan was charged by Cpl Jason Dejean of the San Juan Police Station.

As he left the courtroom, Khan told his relatives seated in the courtroom to stay strong. One woman responded wishing Khan the same.

The matter is adjourned to April 28.