My name is Eric Julien and I met my Bajan wife on the Internet.

I lived in La Brea all my life, up until when I moved to Barbados in 2012. I had a good reason for moving: getting married to a Bajan in 2010! It was a bit tricky in the beginning, all the hurdles, which I’m still jumping through. But I like the place and am trying to make it work.

I’m a Seventh Day Adventist. I think I’m both religious and spiritual. I accept Seventh Day doctrine. I take what I believe on faith.

I met Kim online. I saw her profile [on Carib Singles Web site] and, by her statements, she seemed to be a no-nonsense kind of person. I had to come up with a witty opening. So I said, “Greetings, Positive Person.” She went for that, big time.

Going to meet Kim in Barbados was a big first for me because it was the first time EVER on an aircraft in my 41 years of living! Which I achieved thanks to the US embassy in Port-of-Spain. They refused my application for a visa: I was divorced, didn’t own a house or car. They felt, if they let me in, I would be hiding in Brooklyn all now. People might think that half of Trinidad is in Brooklyn but half my own siblings are really there. I’m the third of four and the two eldest have lived in America for the last 26 years.
 It wasn’t frightening to go on a plane for the first time as a grown man. It was more of a childlike excitement. When the plane started taxiing and turned to takeoff, it was, and still is, for me, one of the most exciting moments in life. The night before I leave on a flight, it’s hard to sleep, I’m looking forward to it so much!

Kim came to Grantley Adams airport to pick me up. Walking out there and seeing her for the first time is something I will never forget. I knew, from that moment, “Yeah… This is THE ONE.” She took me to Miami Beach, one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever seen, to take in the sunset. The whole thing of being in the presence of this person in that setting.

We had our first quarrel the day I was to leave, after about six days. It was over a phone call I took, trying to show restraint with the person on the other end of the line, [she] felt I was being secretive. But it was really somebody wanting to get up in my business that I didn’t want to put on the wadjang behaviour.

We got married in 2010 in Barbados at a hotel that’s now closed down. But I don’t think of that as a bad omen, just an economic fact of life on an island where the whole tourism product fluctuates.
 
One of the things that made me fall for Barbados was a Sunday trip we took to Speightstown. From the time I drove through there, I saw, in my mind, a movie happening. It just had that look. And that is something that has been in me since: I must do something visually with that. I will make a movie out of that, somehow.

I miss my friends from Trinidad. Maybe it’s because of the community I grew up in but all those guys are like my parents’ other children. Everybody call my parents “Mom” and “Dad.” A lot of them belong to the same religion as myself.

You don’t look over your shoulder all the time in Barbados. But I never felt any fear in moving around Trinidad. I don’t drive so there were a lot of times I will have to travel at nighttime with my big bag of videography equipment. From Maraval to Port-of-Spain to La Brea. When people in Barbados say somewhere is “too far,” I just laugh.

The best part of meeting my wife online was the whole idea of being able to connect with somebody who I never-ever met in life and in a whole other country to the one I grew up in. Prior to that, the furthest off of Trinidad I had been was Tobago; and that was by boat.

A Trini is a friendly, laidback person who just enjoys life.

I am still largely connected to T&T. It will always be a part of me, because the larger portion of my life was spent there.

Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com

The Customs and Excise Division of the Ministry of Finance has acquired a Multi-Mode Threat Detector machine to improve its ability to detect contraband items, including narcotics and explosives, which are smuggled into the country.

Acknowledging that border control and security globally had become more sophisticated over the years, Finance Minister Larry Howai said, “Gone are the days when customs officers could simply eyeball arriving passengers to determine potential risks. Not only have passengers intent on nefarious deeds become highly adept at sneaking contraband into and out of our country, the sheer numbers of people entering and leaving T&T have made such simple profiling impractical.” 

Howai was speaking at the handing over ceremony of the equipment at Customs House, in Port-of-Spain on Friday. Howai said authorities needed to step up border control practices in commensurate fashion, hence the introduction of the 21st-century methods which he said were currently being deployed at all ports.

Howai said the detectors were only one of government’s approaches to increasing border security. He said 50 new officers were being trained, and allocations in this year’s budget will be put towards acquiring more sniffer dogs for the airports and training handlers.

Improved measures at the sea ports include additional container scanners. A new scanner donated by the People’s Republic of China is already in operation at the Port of Port-of-Spain, and Howai is optimistic that two which were recently bought from the US will be fully operational by the end of November.

Two additional machines are expected to arrive in the country next month, and with the help of US Customs, who are assisting in training local officers, these machines are expected to be functioning by the end of the year. US Customs and Border Patrol attaché to T&T Robert L Gross said these machines were very effective, and they were primarily used in the US, in explosives detection.

Gross said a group of T&T customs officers had just returned from Miami, where they had received seaport training, and that another group would soon be trained in handling containerised cargo and vehicle searches. He said the introduction of fibre-optic scopes and density meters would also be part of the training.

Some $.5 billion in crude oil and the survival of T&T’s economy are behind Petrotrin’s determination to berth a tanker coming from Ebola-stricken west Africa, even though it is now in a standoff with employees who are refusing to do it. Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali confirmed the situation yesterday, telling the T&T Guardian: “I know there are some people, including Petrotrin employees, who are refusing to work. “But we will have to find a way to berth the vessel. If it doesn’t berth, the refinery will have to shut down.  “Petrotrin depends on imported crude oil to operate. If Petrotrin doesn’t operate there will be no fuel for the country.” 

Petrotrin workers have refused to berth the tanker, Overseas Yellowstone, which arrived at Pointe-a-Pierre last Friday with $.5 billion worth of crude oil from Gabon, west Africa. Gabon is not on the list of countries whose citizens have been banned from entering T&T but it borders Guinea, Cameroon and Congo. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan announced last week that anyone coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Nigeria would be denied entry to the country. 

The highly contagious Ebola virus continues its spread in west Africa and the rising death toll is now over 4,500. Cases have also been reported in the US and Spain. Hassanali said yesterday that the Health Ministry gave a certificate of clearance to Overseas Yellowstone last Friday but workers were still refusing to berth it. Workers have to go out in tug boats and pull the vessel into the Pointe-a-Pierre port. He said the tanker took the crude oil cargo ten miles off the coast of Gabon and the crew members did not go onshore. Further, Hassanali noted, the crew had been aboard the vessel for 62 days. The Ebola virus has a 21-day incubation period.

Contacted yesterday, Khan confirmed that medical personnel from his ministry had gone aboard the Yellowstone and cleared it of Ebola last week. “It’s Ebola free,” Khan told the T&T Guardian yesterday. “The vessel was also given a clean bill of health based on its history, where it came from. “It came from west Africa but never reached shore. Its crew members are people from different parts of the world,” he noted. Khan said Petrotrin workers were refusing to go on board the ship to offload it but they have no reason to act in that manner. “The ministry and its doctors take their jobs seriously. If they are using Ebola for their union problems, it’s the country that will suffer,” he said.

Crew already taken off ship
The presence of the tanker has also thrown workers at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate into a state of panic.  A source claimed after the Health Ministry cleared the tanker last Friday, six crew members were taken off and transported to Piarco Airport. “We don’t know if these crew members were changing shift, or what,” the source said. 

The source claimed that after Petrotrin workers refused to berth the vessel, Petrotrin got Point Lisas tug boat workers to bring six crew members ashore. “The Government is banning people coming from West Africa into the island on airlines but they are being allowed to come in at the sea ports,” the source added. A Plipdeco official yesterday denied the tanker was berthed at this port, saying the vessel is out at sea on its way to Pointe-a-Pierre and Point Lisas does not service oil tankers.

Another United Kingdom-registered cargo vessel, Ocean Discovery, was initially prevented last week from docking at the Chaguaramas port. The vessel stopped at two ports in Africa before arriving in Trinidad but after Health Ministry officials checked the crew they were allowed to dock.

Roget: No protocol in Place
Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget said yesterday Petrotrin workers were within their rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act to refuse to berth the Overseas Yellowstone, since the company had no health protocol in place to protect the workers and the country from Ebola. “Petrotrin has not secured this port where a lot of international ships berth. Also, we don’t know which personnel crew members had contact with along their journey. Petrotrin is putting workers and the country at risk,” he said.

Roget also confirmed that crew members from Overseas Yellowstone were taken off the ship and expressed concern about that. “We don’t know who these people are and where they were taken,” he said. He added that the union got information that Petrotrin was trying to get Plipdeco workers to berth and offload the tanker. He said the union did not trust Petrotrin and was calling on the Health Ministry to intervene in the matter. “We want a committee set up to develop protocols to protect workers,” Roger said.

Also contacted on the matter yesterday, National Security Minister Gary Griffith told the T&T Guardian to pass on all Ebola reports to a recently set up committee being overseen by the National Operations Centre. Griffith said every five minutes someone called him to report some Ebola threat. “Someone even called to report something about a pair of sneakers coming from west Africa.”
President Anthony Carmona has signed an official order declaring the Ebola virus a dangerous threat to public health. The order gives state officials the authority to take required action to stem the disease.

About the Ship: Overseas Yellowstone, registered in the Marshall Islands in the northern Pacific, stopped at several ports on the way to its Pointe-a-Pierre destination, the last being Cartagena, Colombia. An online site showed the tanker anchored yesterday in the Gulf of Paria in T&T and gave its destination as Pointe-a-Pierre.

Whether Carnival 2015 is cancelled or not depends on the exponential rise in Ebola over the next month says Health Minister Fuad Khan. He was speaking at a forum on Carnival 2015 and Ebola at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Sciences (SALISES), University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, yesterday.

Saying his ministry had not taken any suggestions to Cabinet to cancel Carnival, Khan said both the Ministry of Health and the National Security Ministry continued to monitor the spread of the virus.
Most of the panellists at the forum, including Trinbago Unified Calypsonian Organisation president Lutalo Masimba (Brother Resistance), president of PanTrinbago Keith Diaz, president of the National Carnival Bandleaders Association David Lopez and lecturer in Carnival Studies Dr. Jo-Anne Tull felt cancelling the national festival was an unnecessary decision at this point.

Diaz added that the NCBA had a database of mas players, both local and foreign, and was willing to work with ministries to provide necessary information, while Masimba said calypsonians were ready and willing to assist in any educational campaigns on the virus. “I am not saying the business of Carnival is more important than health or the public welfare but if we are serious about Ebola, Carnival is next February and the Ebola outbreak is happening now,” said Masimba.

However, Khan challenged the panellists and the audience to ask themselves if they would cancel Carnival if over the next month the cases of Ebola increased to 10,000 cases a week.
“If Ebola is not contained if it enters the country we are looking at a 50 per cent decrease in population,” Khan said. Khan responded to remarks made by other panellists that the country and citizens would feel financial losses if Carnival was cancelled. “We can’t look at it and say we will lose $4.5 billion but we must look at it in the public interest because the $4.5 million that we may lose, if we have it (Carnival) no matter what we may lose our population.”
 
He said it was not just a matter of stopping Carnival. “I love Carnival but as Minister of Health I have to watch the whole worldwide scenario. Khan said the ministry was looking at increasing activity in blood bank, one case would take about 27 pints of blood to maintain. He said the Ministry of Health also did not have enough isolation chambers. He added: “What is going on worldwide is the development of process and procedures looking at a very infectious and new disease. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that there is a possibility if left unchecked the virus could infect 10,000 a week. “That is what we are facing in this country and the Ministry of Health is working on watching the international exponential rise of Ebola.”

Khan said while he could understand the economics of self and could understand the economics of nationalism, there were people who looked after themselves and people who look after the national interest. “There are going to be arguments on both sides of the fence on what is going to happen in February. “Are we going to stop the Carnival, yes or no? It all depends on what the exponential rise of Ebola is going to be like in the next month or so,” he added.

A meeting will be held next Wednesday involving the authorities and all Carnival stakeholders to discuss whether Carnival should be cancelled because of the Ebola threat and a recommendation will later be made to Cabinet. This was conveyed to reporters yesterday by Brig Anthony Phillips-Spencer, head of the National Ebola Prevention, Information and Response team (NEPIR) after its first meeting with representatives from various sectors, including security, military, fire and prison services, airport, Immigration Health, Tobago House of Assembly, ODPM, the National Carnival Commission, private and public-sector agencies. 

NEPIR adopted its mission to integrate and co-ordinate all efforts to be pursued with all available capabilities to prevent Ebola spread and protect all in T&T. This includes responding and recovery aspects should any spread occur. Phillips-Spencer said the Carnival issue was considered at yesterday’s meeting in terms of NEPIR’s responsibilities. 

NCC was represented by NCC chief executive officer Allison Demas. He said his team was given information that required that a full submission be made on the issue in subsequent discussions with all stakeholders.  Spencer said that consultation would be held on October 29. He said his team would share its recommendations on the issue with Cabinet based on intelligent advice. The meeting will be held the day before the weekly Cabinet meeting. How Carnival will be handled will be the prototype for how NEPIR will determine how to handle other major gatherings, including those related to Christmas, sporting and cultural events. ”Carnival will be our yardstick to determine our capability on all of this,” he added.
After the meeting, NCC sources said at yesterday’s meeting the NCC proposed a meeting between the authorities and all Carnival stakeholders and civil society groups at the Queen’s Park Savannah on October 29.
They had noted Carnival is held in 54 regions in Trinidad and also in Tobago and there should be some caution on the issue since it was a significant contributor to the economy, from ground and air transport, restaurants and hotels, mas itself, and even banks which gave loans for costumes. They underscored Carnival is a “serious business.”
At the press conference, Phillips-Spencer said the team had several legislative proposals on the Ebola issue, including improving the advanced passenger information system as a priority. He detailed NEPIR’s plan. 
Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) head, Dr James Hospedales,  said the Ebola threat was significant since it was the largest outbreak ever. 
He said while Nigeria and Senegal have been downgraded by the World Health Organisation, the situation continued in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea and the Congo.
Hospedales said while likelihood of someone among Caribbean islands or T&T getting Ebola was low, the impact it could have was catastrophic and all capabilites must therefore be strengthened.
Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation representative Yitades Gebre who commended the Government’s efforts on the issue, said the presence of the NEPIR team demonstrated T&T would be able to address the issue in an organised manner
Saying Ebola was a “no risk” situation for T&T, Gebre said each Ebola case could have as many as 75 contacts.
He said PAHO/WHO advised restricted movement of people from affected states but he felt as long as people did not have symptoms, they should not be banned.
Civil Aviation director Ramesh Lutchmedial said airlines worldwide were alerted by yesterday of T&T’s travel ban on  Ebola-affected states and protocols would be finalised by the end of the week for steps to be taken in the event of a plane-borne Ebola case landing in T&T.
Office of Disaster Preparedness Management’s Dr Stephen Ramroop said the ODPM was handling training, including  practising scenarios of Ebola entry via air, sea or land, and training people who would handle cases in the use of protective gear. 
That particularly involves police, who will have to issue the quarantine order for a case. Ambulances are already prepared and the ODPM has “iso-pods” for patient transfer.
The Tobago House of Assembly’s Allan Stewart detailed Tobago’s activities. 
Ahead for discussion is movement of people between both islands, transport of possible Tobago cases to the Caura quarantine unit and whether Tobago can self-support in the issue.
Phillips-Spencer said the team’s framework included points made by WHO’s checklist for Ebola prevention. 
He said an integral requirement for the effort was that it required broad dialogue and not public-sector involvement alone.
“There’s no room for hit-and-miss in this and we don’t want reactionary measures after a case occurs,” he added.

NEPIR’s job
• Prevention: Monitoring Ebola and designing/building capabilities to scout outside T&T on risk of threats that could challenge T&T.
• Robust screening plan.
• Surveillance at borders/communities on what could emerge.
• Making full testing capability available in T&T and at international/regional levels from PAHO/WHO, Carpha.
• Information strategies and public community engagement to prepare public to ensure measures to prevent Ebola or respond/recover from any spread.
• Response on swift, effective containment, involving effective rapid response from various first responders  (ambulance, fire, police, Defence Force, Coast Guard for sea-entry cases).
• Strong tracing capability to follow contacts any case may have had to halt spread.
• Extensive aggressive infection control and readiness to manage a possible case, including its removal to containment and protection of first responders/health workers involved.
• Case management relating to the proposed Caura quarantine centre and treatment centres.
• Managing burials.

Three policemen have been granted bail, totalling $300,000, on allegations of armed robbery, kidnapping, assault and drug possession. PC Ainsley Gay of the Southern Division Task Force and Special Reserve Policemen (SRP) Avinash Hajarie, 25, and Jeremy Tenia, 27, of the Princes Town Praedial Larceny Squad, appeared yesterday in the San Fernando Magistrate’s  Court, which was packed with police who came to support them. 

Gay, 29, was charged with armed robbery and the SRPs were jointly charged with two counts of misbehaviour in public office, stemming from allegations of kidnapping and assault. Prosecutor Cleyon Seedan told Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardinez-Ragoonanan the files have to be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for a State attorney to be appointed. The charge against Gay, who has five years’ service, is that on October 15, armed with a gun, he robbed Rodney Tannis at Orchid Gardens, Pleasantville, of $2,800. It is further alleged that on the same day at the Marabella Police Station three grammes of marijuana and 0.1 gramme of cocaine were found in his possession. The charges were laid by Cpl David Simon of the Professional Standards Bureau.
The magistrate expressed concern about the manner in which a justice of the peace granted bail to Gay at the San Fernando Police Station on Sunday. 

Noting bail was granted to him separately on each charge amounting to $100,000, as opposed to one bail to cover all charge, she said:  “Let’s say he absconded on one charge. What are we going to do? I really have a problem when a JP proceeds to give bail in this manner. I am not saying it can’t be done but it has to be better.” Apart from that, she said, the property used to secure Gay’s bail had two owners. “I want to know how one person could take bail when two people own the property,” she said. The bailor was not in court. The magistrate granted defence attorney Cedric Neptune’s request for the matter to be adjourned today for those issues to be sorted out. 

Hajaree, who has two years’ service, and Tenia, who has one year service, were jointly charged with two counts of misbehaviour in public office. The charges are that on September 14 at Debe they assaulted Basraj Toolsie, occasioning him actual bodily harm and falsely imprisoned him and took him away against his will. Those charges were laid by Cpl Joefield of the Professional Standards Bureau. They were each granted $100,000 bail to cover both charges by a justice of the peace at the station on Sunday.  Hajaree was represented by attorneys El Farouk Hosein and Dane Halls and Tenia was represented by Neptune. The magistrate approved their bail and adjourned the case to February 24.

A cheese paste sandwich and a cup of hot chocolate was the first meal hunger-striker Ravi Maharaj was given after he decided to end his five-day protest action against environmentalist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh yesterday. His decision to end the strike came two days after he collapsed outside the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), St Clair, where he began his protest last Wednesday.
Maharaj, who is warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, is expected to be discharged today.

The 29-year-old Maharaj, who is in favour of the disputed Debe to Mon Desir section of the Solomon Hochoy Highway, had condemned Kublalsingh’s decision to embark on a second hunger strike.
Lying on his hospital bed, Maharaj said he was feeling much better than he was over the weekend. He said he was given intravenous (IV) drips and had also been resting. "My decision to quit was really because of my condition. But now people will look up to me and be inspired," Maharaj said. Maharaj vowed to continue his fight by other means, this time taking it to south Trinidad. “I’m bringing the hunger strike to an end but I intend to take a different action now,” he explained. “I intend to go down to the areas of Debe to Mon Desir and try to highlight and try to bring to the fore the feelings of the people who live in that area and whether or not they do in fact support or oppose the highway and see who is in the majority and the minority.” 

Saying his hunger strike had not been in vain, Maharaj said he brought to the public’s attention the benefits of the highway, adding that the people of Debe and Mon Desir had been neglected for far too long. He said he has also shown the true effects that fasting could have on the body. Last Thursday Maharaj, who had complained of exhaustion and dehydration, wrote to Kublalsingh’s former doctor, Asante VanWest-Charles-Le Blanc, seeking treatment.

However, she declined to treat him. In an earlier interview with radio station i95. Maharaj said he believed Kublalsingh was able to complete day 34 of his strike because of the treatment he received from VanWest-Charles-Le Blanc. “I suspect a lot of that had to do with the medical care he was receiving.I though she would be able to assist me in maintaining my body a bit longer than I did. I believe she had some sort of method in maintaining Dr Kublalsingh's body for as long as he had,” Maharaj said. He said he believed VanWest-Charles-Le Blanc only recused herself from attending to Kublalsingh because she believed death was imminent.

Kublalsingh falls ill
But as Maharaj was recuperating, Kublalsingh fell ill. The leader of the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) had just pulled up at his camp site outside the OPM when he complained of feeling unwell around 10.30 am yesterday.  He was immediately taken back to his home at D’Abadie and up to late yesterday was being kept under close watch by relatives. His wife, Dr Sylvia Moodie-Kublalsingh, who answered his cellphone yesterday, said she was worried about her husband’s condition. “He’s just getting weaker and weaker, and critically, he couldn’t even come out the car this morning (yesterday) and he asked to be taken back home. That in itself is significant, and I think that is cause for concern. “I am just hoping for the best,” Moodie-Kublalsingh said.
Asked if Kublalsingh would be taken to hospital, she said that was still undecided. 
 

The State is ready to begin paper committal proceedings against three men charged with the murder of Sgt Hayden Manwaring. When the matter was called before Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan in the San Fernando court yesterday State prosecutor Stacy Lalloo-Chung said 43 statements had been filed, sworn and served on the defence . 

But the accused — Kerron Nicholas Garcia, 20, Anthony Clement, 38, and Kelvin Wallace, 24 — complained about the representation they were receiving from their lawyers. Wallace said the attorneys were not allowing them to see the statements to give them instructions. Agreeing they ought to see the statements, the magistrate told them they would have to decide whether or not they wanted to change their attorneys. The magistrate also asked Lalloo-Chung to contact the attorneys to find out their state of readiness and which witnesses they would be requesting for cross-examination and said she expected the attorneys to contact the accused before the next adjournment date.

The three are charged with murdering Manwaring, 42, on February 19, 2013. He was shot and killed while trying to arrest robbery suspects at Butler Street, San Fernando. PC Nicholas Phillip was also shot during the incident. A fourth accused, Kofi Cropper, 40, died earlier this year. The matter was adjourned to October 30 for a status report.

Police up to late yesterday were probing the death of a 48-year-old technician from New Grant who died after being stabbed in the chest on Sunday. Investigators could not say whether Satnarine Ramphal was murdered. 

They have detained a 25-year-old woman, who claimed he committed suicide. She remained in custody up to late yesterday as investigators awaited the results of an autopsy from the Forensic Science Centre, St james. Police said Ramphal and the woman were at his Watts Road home around 10 pm when they got into an argument.  The woman told police Ramphal went into the kitchen, picked up a knife and threatened her. He then grabbed her by the hand and stabbed her in the wrist but she got away.

She said as she ran out of the house screaming for help, she heard him coughing. She turned around and saw him on the floor with blood on his jersey. Neighbours called the Emergency Health Service and Ramphal was taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility. The woman was also treated for cuts on her hands and released into police custody. Police, including Insp Ramnarine, Sgt Roget, Cpl Rosan and Sgt John, checked the house and found a kitchen knife. 

A neighbour said Ramphal, who repaired and serviced air-condition systems, had constant arguments with the woman.  PC Lewis is continuing investigations.

The Point Fortin Borough flag will fly at half-mast today in honour of former mayor Victor Chin Kit. Chin Kit, 84, died yesterday. He had been ailing for several years. Present mayor Clyde Paul confirmed Chin Kit died at his home at Clifton Hill, Point Fortin, which he shared with his wife, Naomi, who survives him, along with their two children, Ian and Dianne. Chin Kit, an electrical engineer, served as an alderman on the first Borough Council in 1980 and as the second mayor during the period 1984-1987. Paul, who served as town clerk during Chin Kit’s tenure, described him as his mentor, saying he encouraged him to stay at the borough and serve the people. “The vision for Point Fortin, which we are seeing unfolding, came from Chin Kit. The lessons I learned about public service and local government came from him. Even though he no longer was involved in active politics, he was always around giving support. Whenever I had a problem, I would go to him,” Paul recalled. Both Paul and former councillor Grantley Wells described Chin Kit as the best mayor Point Fortin ever had.

Paul said Chin Kit was a longstanding member of the PNM and the party had been in contact with his family to assist with a fitting sendoff. In the meantime, he said, he had ordered the borough’s flag to be flown at half-mast. Local MP Paula Gopee-Scoon said she was saddened by the news of his death. She said: “He has been known to have been ill for some time and perhaps it was time to go. Knowing how deeply religious he was I am assured that he is in a better place with God. 

“I want to say that I have known him in another capacity, as a family man and friend of my parents. So he has known me from childhood. “I remember him for his intelligence, his very dignified manner in conducting all affairs, deeply religious, very committed in everything he did. “He truly was a servant of the people of Point Fortin and a man of great integrity. You don't find many Victor Chin Kits any more,” Gopee-Scoon added.

Oscar Pistorius, the South African track star, was sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa said a long sentence would lack “mercy,” while a more lenient sentence would “send the wrong message to the community.”

The athlete’s defense team said the law under which he was punished calls for him to serve only one-sixth of the prison term—10 months—before he can be placed on house arrest. He was also given a suspended three-year term on separate firearms charges.

After serving half the sentence, Pistorius can also apply for parole.

Ms. Steenkamp’s family said it was “satisfied” with the ruling, although the National Prosecuting Authority said it had not yet decided whether to appeal.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” June Steenkamp, the victim’s mother, told reporters outside the courtroom.

Mr. Pistorius’s family said it was not planning to appeal.

“We accept the judgment,” Arnold Pistorius, the athlete’s uncle, said in a statement, appealing to the news media to “let us move forward” and “give us some degree of dignity and privacy as we do so.”

“Oscar will embrace this opportunity to pay back to society,” the uncle said.

After a trial that opened in March, Pistorius seemed impassive as Judge Masipa ordered him to rise to hear his sentence.

Virtually since the moment of the shooting, Pistorius has been free on bail, living in his uncle’s luxurious mansion. But for now, Pistorius is a sentenced prisoner and will spend the night in a cell at Pretoria’s main prison. Live television images showed Pistorius being driven away from the courtroom in an armored police van. 

In September, Judge Masipa found Mr. Pistorius, 27, guilty of culpable homicide but she acquitted him on more serious murder charges.

The disabled athlete has admitted killing Ms. Steenkamp, 29, on Feb. 14, 2013, but he said he did so by mistake, firing four rounds from a handgun through a locked toilet cubicle door in the belief that an intruder had entered his home.

Months before the shooting, Mr. Pistorius, nicknamed the Blade Runner for the scythe-like curved prostheses he used while competing, became the first disabled athlete to compete against able-bodied contenders at the London Olympic Games in 2012. He also competed in the Paralympic Games.

The International Paralympic Committee said Pistorius would not be permitted to compete in its tournaments for the full five years of the term.

There were some indications that the sentence was seen by some South Africans at least as too lenient. People cramming the street outside the courtroom told reporters that Mr. Pistorius should have been jailed for 10, or even 20, years.

“They are only scaring him with this sentence,” Reuters quoted Johannes Mbatha, a 38-year-old minibus taxi driver in Johannesburg, as saying. “It shows our society hasn’t transformed.”

“If it was a black man, he would have never received such a light sentence,” Mr. Mbatha said. “But that’s how things are in South Africa.”

Sources: News 24, NY Times

Following is the complete list of proposed 2014 scholarship recipients in the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Education (CAPE).
 

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 1 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 2 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 3 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 4 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 5 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 6 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 7 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 8 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 9 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 10 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 11 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 12 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 13 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 14 of 14

Although seemingly bedridden and too weak to move, leader of the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) Dr Wayne Kublalsingh remains resolute that he will not back out of a second hunger strike which began over a month ago. 

The environmentalist, who has been reduced to mere skin and bones, is also adamant he is not afraid to die.

Lying on a bed facing east, Kublalsingh yesterday completed Day 36 without food or water in protest against the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Point Fortin Highway.

“Even if you face immortality and stare it in the face you have to do it,” Kublalsingh said in a strained voice.

“In our history, many times men have faced immortality, death in fact, and have relented and I don’t intend to be afraid of immortality. I’m very calm and I’m very firm that I am prepared at any time to face the immortal.” 

Barely able to lift himself from the bed, Kublalsingh said he was now unable to do the simple tasks, like taking salt water baths and going into his wife’s garden to meditate, which had brought him great peace and was the basis of his sustenance since he began the strike.

When the T&T Guardian visited his D’Abadie home around 5 pm yesterday, Kublalsingh said he had not had a bath for the day as he felt very dizzy when he stood up.

“I don’t want to stand up too much because if I do I get dizzy spells. I haven’t been to the garden today (yesterday) because my legs have become pretty weak.

“I don’t want to go out into the streets because I’m afraid that I faint and make a spectacle of myself. So I just prefer to lie down here,” Kublalsingh added.

Speaking slowly and slurred at times, he said if he did not “go the distance” he would be unhappy.

Life, he added, must have a sense of fulfilment.

“The hunger strike continues. There is too much at risk,” he said.

“Government seems intent on acquiring and destroying huge social and economic assets without doing proper accounting and following process.

“The resources that would be destroyed belong to persons that are very poor, middle class and very wealthy persons, so all classes are at risk here and if we do not fight and stop them now it’s a battle we would have to fight in the future.” 

During the interview he was closely monitored by his wife, Dr Sylvia Moodie-Kublalsingh, who declined to speak to the media.

Kublalsingh also demanded that Government accounted for huge financial assets, including that of the Treasury.

Regarding comments posted on social media he was dying, Kublalsingh said that could be halted if Government changed its mind and decided to adhere to the recommendations in the Armstrong report.

“I think if the Government comes to its senses and meets with the civil society organisations and independent professional organisations... many of them who are lining up to talk to them on this matter... and accept the process of bringing all the parties together and finding the best way forward, that could be prevented... let's see who wins,” Kublalsingh said.

His personal physician, Dr Asante Van West‐Charles‐Le Blanc, stopped treating him two weeks ago and advised him to go immediately to the hospital.

But Kublalsingh said yesterday having a doctor was the furthest thing from his mind.

“I have told my wife I will not be seeking any medical help... no doctors, nurses or ambulances, nothing of the sort,” he said.

Worry in HRM camp

Dr Wayne Kublalsingh’s apparently worsening condition has raised concern in the HRM camp outside the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in St Clair.

Yesterday he said it was difficult to say if and when he would return to the camp as he no longer had the physical strength to do so.

But a handful of his supporters who were present yesterday at the campsite yesterday remained resolute in the cause.

Bianca Bedoe, 29, who was the 11th of Project 40 group to go on a 24-hour hunger strike in support of the cause, said she made the decision because she “wanted to walk and talk the talk when it came to standing up for transparency and ethical conduct.”

Saying she felt a kind of helplessness and hopeless among people her age, Bedoe said complaining was not going to change anything. Having just returned from London she said she decided to “take the plunge” for what was right.

Speaking at the opening of the Golconda interchange yesterday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar urged Kublalsingh to seek medical treatment. She again said Government would not yield to his demands.

The HRM will today hold a second candlelight vigil for Kublalsingh at Nelson Mandela Park, St Clair, from 5 pm.

Lawyers representing president Anthony Carmona have sent a pre-action protocol letter to comedienne Rachel Price over comments she has been making about the President’s wife, Reema.

CNC3 reported last night the letter was sent on Monday to Price, who is also a talk show host.

The letter seeks to debar Price from negatively speaking about the First Lady’s attire on social media and elsewhere. 

It added that if Price did not comply further legal action would be taken.

The issue of her attire became a hot topic on social Web sites last month when she wore an outfit which some quarters of the public felt was a bit too revealing at an event hosted by the United Nations in New York.

The public health sector has run short of the tetanus vaccine.

A source said yesterday that a batch of the vaccine was found to be defective last month and was sent back to the supplier for replacement. 

The Pan American Health Organisation, which sources tetanus immunisations for public health departments in the Caribbean, was contacted and arrangements were made to have the batch replaced.

However, they still are awaiting the replacement.

An official said: “We were informed that it would be replaced very quickly but it has been more than a month and there has not been a replacement.” 

In the meantime, the various regional health authorities have been unable to provide immunisation shots to citizens, including Standard Five students across the country. 

It is customary for students to get the tetanus vaccinations in school or health centres before they sit the SEA examination.

Contacted yesterday, medical director of the San Fernando General Hospital Dr Anand Chatoorgoon said he was unaware of the shortage but officials at the North West and Eastern Regional Health Authorities confirmed there was no tetanus vaccine in stock.

“We are waiting for the ministry to resolve this problem,” the official said.

Contacted yesterday, Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan said he would have to investigate if there was a shortage of the vaccine.

“I have not been apprised of this. As far as I know there is no shortage of tetanus (vaccine). It is something that doesn’t get short,” Khan said. 

He added that immunisation was organised by the Minister of Health’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

“The EPI standing programme for immunisation is very efficient when it comes to vaccines,” Khan said. 

But if there was a shortage he would address it, he added.

What is tetanus?

Tetanus, sometimes called lockjaw, is a rare disease caused by a bacterium known as clostridium tetani. 

The bacterium often enters the body through a puncture wound which can be caused by nails, splinters, insect bites, burns, any skin break and injection drug sites.

The World Health Organisation said a toxin produced by the bacteria affected the function of the nerves and led to severe muscle spasms in the abdomen, neck, stomach and extremities. 

Tetanus can either be localised to one part of the body or generalised, with muscle spasms throughout the body. 

It has been called lockjaw because the muscle spasms in the face and neck can lead to the inability to open the mouth.This is one of the most common symptoms. 

Tetanus is a serious illness and is fatal in up to 30 per cent of cases. The WHO recommends that all children and adults should be immunised against tetanus. 

A booster is needed every ten years after primary immunisation or after a puncture or other skin wound which could give the tetanus bacteria an opportunity to enter the body. 

Source: www.medicinenet.com /tetanus/article.htm

Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget says that Petrotrin could have possibly exposed the country to the Ebola virus as no medical officer screened the crew aboard the Overseas Yellowstone crude oil tanker on Monday.

Despite Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan saying medical personnel gave the vessel a “clean bill of health,” at a press conference yesterday Roget claimed it was a port officer at Petrotrin’s Pointe-a-Pierre port who boarded the vessel for 20 minutes and relied on information given by the crew.

The Overseas Yellowstone, which bears the Republic of Marshall Islands’ flag, remained moored off Pointe-a-Pierre yesterday. 

Port workers have refused to berth the vessel, which is delivering approximately 750,000 barrels of crude oil to Petrotrin, because it came from Gabon, near the west African countries which are plagued by the Ebola virus. 

Although Gabon is not on T&T’s watch list for the virus, Roget said ships often bunkered at sea and that was where crews could contract the virus.

He said although Petrotrin claimed the vessel was safe, its assesment was based on an old procedure that did not take the virus into consideration.

He added: “The level of clearance that they would have given to the crew to berth that ship, for our employees to put themselves in harm’s way, is a health clearance certificate that has been in existence long before the issue of Ebola hit the attention of the international community.

“Therefore, it is on the sign-off of a port health officer, who is not a medical officer, who is not a medical doctor, and who would have boarded the vessel on 5.20 and departed on 6.40 minutes, and gave clearance without even checking out or examining the crew to determine that none of them exhibit any symptoms of Ebola.”

He added: “What if, for whatever reason, there is someone in one of those cabins that is quarantined, or with high fever, or exhibiting some symptoms? They will not tell us that, and our authority, having boarded the ship for some 20 minutes, did not check that. 

“Therefore they have given the clearance, on the basis of some procedure, (that the ship is) free of this Ebola virus. 

Roget said all the union was asking of Petrotrin was to put a heightened alert and protocols to ensure the workers’ and the country’s safety. 

On Monday, Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali said berthing the vessel was essential for Petrotrin’s operations. 

Petrotrin responds

State-owned Petrotrin said yesterday workers’ continued refusal to offload the oil cargo aboard the MV Overseas Yellowstone had affected the company’s production.

In a release last night, the company said the delay in the process had forced the company to “reduce the throughput to the refinery from 110,000 barrels a day to 80,000 bpd with the attendant financial losses.

“Without this supply of crude, the company could be forced to shut down operations at the refinery, which can take as much as two weeks to restart, thereby jeopardising the supply of refined products to the local market and international customers and threatening the continue viability of the organisation.”

The company said the workers’ action was continuing although the union had met with Petrotrin’s chief medical officer on their Ebola concerns and subsequently agreed there was no issue preventing employees from berthing the vessel.

It said workers still refused to berth the vessel after the meeting and it took alternative measures to berth it on Monday. 

However, it said despite agreeing to provide additional safety equipment, the employees then refused to carry out the port operations connected to offloading the vessel.

The company said while it appreciated the concerns of employees who must engage with vessels arriving from regional and international shores, the import of crude was critical to the continued operations of the refinery.

Clifton Youk See was an 83-year-old father of 36 children and grandfather of close to 40. He lived a full energetic life up to his death on Monday night, his children recalled. He was knocked down on the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, near Macoya.

Speaking yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, the first child of the retired accountant, Steve Youk See, said his father refused medical advice to stop planting and rest. 

The 62-year-old said his father loved gardening, adding jokingly “woman too.”

He added: “Up to recently the doctor stop him from doing all that kind of strenuous thing. A couple years ago he was in the United States and was close to kidney failure and had to return to Trinidad. 

“He would receive treatment every month and was doing well. 

“Two months ago he felt like his kidneys were failing and the doctor told him no more strenuous activities but he say he eh go die on no death bed.” 

According to police, Youk See, of Tocaragua Road, Caura, died at the side of the road on the highway after he was knocked down. 

Police said around 9.15 pm Youk See was crossing the east-bound lane of the highway when he was hit by a Toyota Rav 4. 

An autopsy said he died of multiple internal and body injuries consistent with a vehicular accident.

Youk See said his father did not suffer from any mental illness and overcame kidney failure, osteoporosis and other ailments. 

He added his father planted crops like cabbage, patchoi and tomatoes for the fun of it and gave them away. 

“He just like to produce things. He used to give away a lot. He was a very loving person” he added.

Clifton’s last son , Michael Youk See, said all the brothers and sisters were taught to love each other and the mothers of the various children welcomed the others openly. 

He said despite meeting one of his brothers for the first time recently, there has never been any animosity among the siblings as his father never encouraged that kind of thing. 

Police have released the 25-year-old woman arrested for the death of New Grant father Satnarine Ramphal as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled there was not enough evidence to charge her with murder.

Homicide detectives said while the woman was set free, investigations were continuing as they planned to meet with residents of Ramphal’s Watt’s Road community. 

They said although an autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, showed Ramphal died from a stab wound to the chest, it had not been determined whether the wound was self-inflicted as the woman had said.

They said she was the only witness to Ramphal’s death and claimed he committed suicide.

A fingerprint test will be done on the kitchen knife with which he was stabbed but police said it would not be enough to lay charges against the woman.

On Sunday, she and Ramphal were at his home around 10 pm when they got into a fight.

The woman told police he began rampaging through the house and threatened to kill her with a kitchen knife. 

He then grabbed her by the hand and stabbed her in the wrist but she got away and as she ran out of the house screaming for help, she heard him moaning. She turned around and saw him on the floor with blood on his jersey.

Both Ramphal and the woman were taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility. 

Ramphal was pronounced dead on arrival and the woman was taken into custody.

​

Homicide detectives said although an autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, showed Ramphal died from a stab wound to the chest, it had not been determined whether the wound was self-inflicted as the woman had said.

They said she was the only witness to Ramphal’s death and claimed he committed suicide.

Keon Gloster, the State’s main witness in the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial, was allegedly beaten by police before he agreed to assist in their investigation. 

The alleged beating was one of several discrepancies in Gloster’s interaction with police that led to the 12 accused men being charged with the crime.

This issue was raised by defence attorneys as they questioned homicide detective Supt Ancil Corbette yesterday. 

Corbette, one of the most senior police officers involved in the investigation, has testified to interviewing four of the accused men when they first came under the police radar weeks after the former Xtra Foods CEO’s disappearance and shortly before they were rearrested and charged with the crime in May 2007. 

Corbette also claimed to be present when Gloster pointed out his neighbours, who he said were involved in Naipaul-Coolman’s murder and disposing of her body. 

Gloster is yet to testify before Justice Malcolm Holdip and the 12-member jury in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court. 

While cross-examining Corbette yesterday, Mario Merritt, who is representing three of the accused men, asked if he knew Gloster had filed a lawsuit against the police shortly after he agreed to give them several statements in exchange for being released. 

“I know of the court matter but not the specific details,” Corbette said. 

Corbette also admitted to being aware that Gloster suffered from epilepsy and was hospitalised during his four-day stay in police custody. 

Saying Gloster’s medication caused hallucinations and would have left him “easily suggestible,” Merritt asked Corbette if it was proper police procedure to interview medicated suspects or witnesses. 

“I may not want to, but if the responses would save lives or help solve the case, I would do it,” Corbette said.

He refused to comment on whether the information provided by Gloster was verified and proved to be accurate, instead suggesting the question should be directed to the lead investigator, retired assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Nadir Khan. 

When asked if he had been told Gloster had been staying at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital, Corbette said no.

Merritt also accused Corbette of using a false statement from another one of the accused to try to deceive his client, Shervon Peters, into confessing to his alleged involvement in the crime. 

“I would not and did not do that,” a clearly agitated Corbette said in a loud tone. 

Corbette’s cross-examination continues today.

What the trial is about

Naipaul-Coolman was abducted in front of her home at Radix Road, Lange Park, Chaguanas, on December 19, 2006. Her family paid a $122,000 ransom but she was not released and her body has never been recovered. 

Since the trial began in late March, prosecutors have claimed that the businesswoman was held captive a house in a hillside area at Upper La Puerta Avenue, Diego Martin, near where almost all of the accused men lived.

The Ministry of Education yesterday released the full list of scholarship winners in the 2014 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (Cape).

The release came after the delay in publishing the list was criticised by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and Sunday Guardian columnist Maxie Cuffie.

Cuffie wrote that there was something strange about this year’s results of the scholarships, which are announced annually on the basis of results of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (Cape). 

The results were announced on October 9, which Cuffie said was much later than usual, with no reason being given for the delay. 

Rowley also called on the ministry to make public immediately the full list of all scholarships provided and beneficiaries selected.

open scholarship winners

​Full list of Open scholarship winners as released by the Ministry of Education yesterday:

Asja Girls’ College, San Fernando: 
Athalia Lydia Leo, environmental studies.
Farhanah Mohammed, mathematics.
Leana Aanusha Ramdhan, mathematics.

Bishop Anstey and Trinity College East Sixth Form: 
Benai Paponette, natural science.
Kaaria Gerard Eugene Quash, visual and performing arts

Bishop Anstey High School: 
Khalea Fayola Zahraa Robertson, language.
Chantal Danielle Cassia Hamilton, natural science.
Nalanee Takiyah Jones, visual and performing arts.
Rizanne Adrienne Roach Lucas, visual and performing arts.
Celine Roseanne Ramdai Singh, visual and performing arts.

Bishop High School, Tobago:
Rachel Tanya Boodram, natural science.
Verneth Noresha Joseph, natural science.

Couva East Secondary School:
Dillon Ramdhanie, technical studies.

Fatima College: 
Marvin S Mc Kenzie, general studies.

Hillview College: 
Azud Nafal Muhammad, environmental studies.
Sage Naomi Precilla, environmental studies.
Shivanna Celine Ramkissoon, environmental studies.
Renwick Joachim, mathematics.
Kristy C Lall, mathematics.
Syra Rebecca Ramcharitar, mathematics.
Navin Davindra Dookeram, natural science.
Anthony Javed Machikan, natural science.
Vinay Maniam, natural science.
Matthew Christian Nikhil Ramesar, natural science.
Naveen Rajin Ramoutar, natural science.
Nathan Marc Ashby Robinson, natural science.
Shivran Naren Singh, natural science.
Jeremy Andre Smith, natural science.
Rajiv Joshua Gautama Maharaj, technology studies.
Arun Levi Persad, technology studies.
Vivek Ravindra Ramcharitar, technology studies.
Nicholas Atiba David Raphael, technology studies.

Holy Faith Convent, Couva:
Suemanta Clemicia Rock, business.
Kristal Khadijah Boodram, general studies.
Vaishali Anandani Maharaj, natural science.

Holy Name Convent, Port-of-Spain:
Samantha Hoford, mathematics.
Aimee Ghent, visual and performing arts.

Iere High School: 
Kareshma Seebalack, natural science.

Lakshmi Girls' 
Hindu College:
Sharda Goolcharan, business.
Karishma Mohammed, mathematics.
Karishma S Bhagaloo, natural science.
Dineka Maharaj, natural science.
Eshanaa A Maharaj, natural science.

Naparima College:
Abdul-Saleem Ali, business.
Dmitri Kyle Brereton, mathematics.
Justin Rick Mohan Dwarika, mathematics.
Shane Bobby Joshua Indar, mathematics.
Anthony Lyndon Jagdeo, mathematics.
Vishal Aarshad Bachan, natural science.
Stefan Shiva Baldeo, natural science.
Matthew David Joshua Mahabir, natural science.
Himchand Shiva Persad, natural science.
Isa Ansari Pooran, natural science.
Avery Mathew Sirju, natural science.
Jeremy Nathaniel Neptune, technology studies.
Mandela Makesi Patrick, technology studies.

Naparima Girls' 
High School:
Kervelle R Baird, language.
Ahiliah A Gajadhar, mathematics.
Kimberlee L Laloo, mathematics.
Laken A Boochoon, natural science.
Sushma M Karim, natural science.
Candace Lessey, natural science.
Cherisa S Ramlal, natural science.
Paige A R Scoon, natural science.
Narika Singh, natural science.
Celeste P Jaggai, visual and performing arts.

Presentation College, Chaguanas:
Arshad Imran Hosein, mathematics.
Zachary Sachin Raghubar Ramsamaroo, mathematics.
Nicholas Ravil Gangoo, natural science.
Sandeep Keshav Maharajh, natural science.
Matthew Ben Maturasingh, natural science.
Vishnu Singh, natural science.

 Presentation College, 
San Fernando:
Nayan Basdeo, mathematics.
John Michael Keane, modern studies.
Mickhel Kiran Dookhantie, natural science.

 Queen's Royal College
Valsson Alexander Renold Tobias, mathematics.
Kyle Justin Antoine, natural science.

 St Augustine Girls' High School:
Renee Annaleigh Voisin, business.
Shakeera Adolphe, general studies.
Soleil Sachi Baldeosingh, language.
Rachel Antonia Albert, natural science.
Samirah Baksh, Natural science.
Kamilah R David, natural Science.
Sarah Duverney, natural science.
Maneesha Maharaj, natural science.
Stephanie Narine, natural science.
Kristyn Parmesar, natural science.
Kielash C Persad, language.
Renisa Elizabeth Ramnath, natural science.
Farihah Wahid-Pedro, natural science.
Shianna Williams, natural science.

 St Benedict's College:
Darren David Clement, natural science.
Darrin Daniel Clement, natural science.
Romauld Kellon Emanuel Johnson, natural science.

 St George's College:
Janaazie Coppin, language.

 St Joseph's Convent, Port-of-Spain: 
Josanne Crooks, environmental studies.
Gionieva Fraser, mathematics.
Nicol Olliverre, mathematics.
Tonya Johnson, modern studies.
Zara Smith, modern studies.
Anyse Calder, natural science.
Astrid Casimire, natural science.
Meagan de la Bastide, Natural science.
Gabrielle Gibbons, natural Science.
Natalia Koylass, natural science.
Alyssa Nathaniel, natural science.
Maegan Rogers, natural science.
Shane Marie Winner, natural science.

 St Joseph's Convent, 
San Fernando:
Alexa Gopaul, mathematics.
Alyssa Mike, mathematics.
Deisha Denysa Carr, natural science.
Tiffany Khan, natural science.
Charis Mungal, natural science.
Kirsten Samm, natural science.
Arifa Satnarine, language.

n St Joseph's Convent, 
St Joseph: 
Khadija Alexandra Permel, business.
Chelsie Adelle Renessa Romain, mathematics.
Jessica Meiling Allum, natural science.
Rayshell Mona Dhandoolal, natural science.
Roghinio Richard Noray, natural science.
Nicala Gabriella Rampersad, natural science.

n St Mary's College: 
Renaldo Toney, natural science.