Emotions ran high in Point Fortin on Tuesday night as supporters of the People’s National Movement (PNM) cried neglect by the party they have pledged loyalty before a forum hosted by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Rowley was given an earful about a lack of sporting facilities, an abandoned fire station, old schools, lack of jobs, housing, and a Member of Parliament they claim was not regularly in his office to attend to their needs.

The meeting, titled Conversation with the Prime Minister, was held at the Point Fortin East Secondary.

School teacher Michael “Buzz” Mills led off the tirade as he stood before a microphone on the floor to question why the PNM had an attitude against Point Fortin.

Amidst sustained applause, Buzz was emboldened to tell Rowley and MP for the area National Security Minister, Edmund Dillon, who had addressed the audience at the Point Fortin Secondary School moments before, that he was not interested too much in National Security at this time.

“What I am interested in is why the PNM have this attitude against Point Fortin. Why? Why? Why?”

Mills identified the Mahaica Oval, from where many national and international sporting icons emerged, and the Civic Centre, which he said had been demolished under successive PNM administrations, “which have been faithful to you and up to today we can’t get it fixed.”

“But Point Fortin ain’t have one good ground and I am asking why. What makes it worse is that we support the PNM over the years,” Mills said as he broke down.

But Rowley was quick to assert that this was not a PNM meeting but a Government meeting as he advised members of the audience, some of whom were dressed in the party’s T-shirts and colour, to keep PNM business for later. He also told them that it was easy to identify themselves as being persecuted, but they had good reason to support the PNM over the years, again advising, “Don’t come with dat.” 

Master of ceremonies, Nicole Olivierre, also came in for some heckling as she tried to reign in some of those asking questions, informing them that the meeting was to deal with national and not personal issues and to properly conduct themselves as the meeting was being carried live on television. To this an elderly woman in the audience replied, “So let the people hear what going on here nah.”

Former PNM councillor Andrew Abraham was also among the residents who brought to the fore that there were five gas stations in Point Fortin, but only one was functioning. “And we are talking about a constituency that is PNM,” Abraham stressed.

Energy Minister Franklin Khan who shared the platform with Rowley said they were aware of this and explained there were challenges with getting the owners to accept new regulations which dealt with health and safety issues. Khan said they are hoping to get a minimum of three gas stations in operation shortly. 

Rowley heard about and was shown discoloured water which has been flowing from the taps of residents and an appeal from a small contractor to get the $105,000 owed to him by the Water and Sewage Authority. When Rowley advised him to take it up with his MP, the gentleman expressed no confidence in his MP saying he had brought it to his attention, “but he write a letter, got no response and he done with that.”

 The PM  also heard appeals from a representative of the Fire Services for a new building to replace the dilapidated structure which has been declared unfit and which they have vacated, appeals from parents for the long-awaited  new Fanny Village Government School, for support of NGO’s and land to build a homework centre, pleas for a trade school, housing , the influx of  Venezuelans in the Borough and another emotional plea for justice from a mother Nicole Anthony, who had lost her daughter and son-in-law to crime. 

More than halfway into the meeting, resident Mervyn Mc Intosh rose to accuse the Prime Minister and those on the platform, “Of total disrespect” for not singing the National Anthem before the start of proceedings.

To this Rowley stopped the meeting, and ordered the audience to stand and Mc Intosh to lead in the singing of the Anthem, which he did.  

Almost at the end of the meeting, another kind of emotion was evoked from a man who said he had travelled all the way from Rio Claro to bring a message to Rowley from the late Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams. He was given the opportunity to deliver it privately to Rowley.

Over a year after the Privy Council ruled that the repeal of the controversial Section 34 of Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act was lawful, 23 persons and four companies who applied for dismissal of their cases under the short-lived legislation yesterday withdrew their applications.

High Court judge Mira Dean-Armorer yesterday granted permission attorneys for the applicants leave to withdraw their applications, which were filed almost five years ago but remained untouched as they unsuccessfully sought to challenge Parliament’s decision to repeal the legislation within a month of it being proclaimed.

“These matters were forgotten,” Dean-Armorer said as she went through the list of applicants.

Dean-Armorer did not order the applicants to pay the legal costs incurred by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), as their attorneys did not request that it be compensated.

The applications withdrawn are: Russell Huggins, Renee Pierre, Anderson and Sherwin Meharris, Amrith Maharaj, Aman Harripersad, Collin Catlyn, Oswald Catlyn, Ishwar Galbaransingh, Northern Construction Ltd, Carlos John, Ameer Edoo, Steve Ferguson, Brian Kuei Tung, Barbara Gomes, John Henry Smith, Brent Alvarez, Carlton Roop, Dane Lewis, Montgomery Diaz, Maritime Life Caribbean, Sadiq Baksh, Fidelity Finance and Leasing Co Ltd, Basdeo and Oma Panday, Maritime General and Krishna Persad versus George Nicholas.

The withdrawals are significant as they brought to an end one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent history.

The act sought to abolish preliminary inquiries for serious criminal matters. It provided that if cases had not been started within ten years of the date an offence had been committed, the accused could apply to have the matter dismissed. After Section 34 was proclaimed on August 31, 2012, approximately 42 applicants filed motions to have their criminal cases dismissed.

A report on the potential impact of the legislation on the cases of persons on fraud charges arising out of the construction of the $1.6 billion Piarco International Airport was published by this newspaper causing massive public uproar.

The legislation was repealed by Parliament on September 12 that year rendering the unheard applications null and void.

One of the political casualties was Justice Minister Herbert Volney who was blamed for misleading Cabinet to believe the early proclamation was sanctioned by the Chief Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions. He was fired from the Cabinet and eventually resigned from the People’s Partnership, paving the way for a by-election.

Although similar legal challenges were filed by the other applicants against the repeal , it was agreed during a preliminary hearing that the cases of businessmen Steve Ferguson, Ameer Edoo and three insurance companies would be used as a test case which would decide the fate of the other applicants.

In their lawsuit, the group was alleging that the repeal was contrary to the principle of separation of powers and the rule of law and breached their constitutional right to due process of law. They were also claiming that the repeal was unfair as it directly targeted it and that it is “disproportionate and unjust” because of its retrospective effect.

Dean-Armorer was assigned to hear both their applicants and subsequent lawsuits. In April 2013, Dean-Armorer dismissed the lawsuits.

Her decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal and then by the Privy Council, who dismissed the applicant’s final appeal in January, last year.

In shaping its national agenda Vision 2030, as they work towards attaining developed country status, Government has identified poverty eradication as a top priority.

And although chronic poverty has declined significantly globally, senior government officials said statistics dating back to the 2005 Survey of Living Conditions found that 16.7 per cent of the local population were living in poverty.

Addressing persons at the launch of UNDP and UNICEF Joint Programme Towards National Measurements of Multi-Dimensional Poverty in T&T at the Courtyard Marriott yesterday, permanent secretary, Social Development and Family Services, Jacinta Bailey-Sobers assured that Government was committed to addressing and ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions.

Revealing they were in the midst of obtaining more recent data, Bailey-Sobers acknowledged there was a large share of persons in developing countries who lived very close to poverty.

According to the 2016 UNDP’s Human Development Report, the Multidimensional Poverty Index presented an issue of grave concern to nations globally as it was found that 1.5 billion persons from developing countries live very close to poverty.

Bailey-Sobers admitted that if government was to achieve targets in the area of poverty reduction, there was a need to establish appropriate national measurements which are multidimensional and will address various deprivations related to children, individuals and families.

Adding that they were working closely with the Central Statistical Office to update records, Bailey-Sobers said stakeholder participation was critical as government recognised it was impossible to make a dent in poverty statistics on its own.

Working on developing a National Poverty Reduction Strategy which would complement both the 2030 National Development Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals, Bailey-Sobers said poverty and inequality remained pervasive challenges which were further exacerbated by the current downturn in the economy.

With many overlapping social programmes currently in place to assist persons, Bailey-Sobers said existing infrastructure would assist in ensuring the success of a number of transformative projects planned for fiscal 2018.

Among them is the Social Mitigation Plan which is hoped will cushion the impact of the economic downturn on the poor and vulnerable; restructuring the ministry; the adoption of an integrated model for service delivery; and the introduction of a standardised means test for all social programmes.

UNDP/UN Resident Coordinator Richard Blewitt agreed that poverty was a critical issue facing T&T.

He said the programme aimed to support national partners and stakeholders to develop and implement a national poverty reduction strategy, provide technical assistance to establish a national poverty definition, and strengthen coordination of social protection measures.

Since the mysterious death of her eldest child five years ago, tragedy has hounded Point Fortin grandmother Nicole Anthony.

Her eldest child, Miguel Anthony, 23, was found dead behind the home of his then girlfriend in September, 2012 and although an autopsy ruled his death was by suicide, Nicole felt he was murdered.

On January 17, 2017, her older daughter Luenda and her common-law husband Rickey Mohammed were shot dead as they slept in a bedroom in the same house as Nicole.

Six weeks after that, Nicole’s other daughter Samantha dropped dead when a blood clot made its way to heart.

The despair the grandmother faces keeps growing because she is yet to get any justice for Luenda’s death. In fact, her anger over the situation was so palpable that she attended the ‘Conversations with the Prime Minister’ session on Tuesday night at the Point Fortin East Secondary School hoping for answers from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon.

Instead, she said she met blank stares and ‘fancy talk.’

“I went there straight from work, wearing a rubber slipper, my work pants and a vest, cause I thought the Prime Minister (Dr Keith Rowley) would refer the matter to the Minister of National Security or at least give some kind of assurance that something would be done,” Anthony told the T&T Guardian at her Cochrane Village home yesterday.

“But all he look to tell me is that not everybody case could be solved quickly. The way he talk it didn’t give me no confidence anything would happen in this case. It look like because I poor I mustn’t get justice for my daughter.”

She said she believes Luenda and Mohammed were killed over a car Luenda had purchased about two years ago. “Someone sold her the car and then a little while after some fellas come and thief it. Then the police end up getting back the car in Port-of-Spain about a year ago and locking up some people for buying it over. I hearing talk all over Point that a man boasting about how he take back the car from she and then send he boys for she, but up till today I not hearing anything from the police.” She said Luenda, who was employed with the Amalgamated Security Company Ltd, worked very hard and did not deserve to die in that manner.

“On top of everything, the police tell me about two weeks after the murder that they know who is the driver of the car that come in here to kill she, so if you know who the driver is, why they didn’t lock him up?”

“All I want is justice for my child, I fed up wait to hear something.”

When Luenda died, Nicole assumed responsibility for her daughter. However, some weeks later the child’s father took custody of her and now she lives with him and spends her weekends with Nicole. Samantha’s death also left her with two other granddaughters, eight and four, to care for.

“I work and look after my grandchildren but it is very hard for me most times, I don’t even know how I’m going to afford to buy their books to send them to school in September. “ The girls receive a social services grants but Nicole says it is not enough. She has applied for a food card but is awaiting a response from the Ministry of Social Development.

One of the men who was initially arrested for questioning following the double murders of Videsh Subar, 13, and his sitter Hafeeza Rose Mohammed, 56, was killed by police officers during a gunfight yesterday morning.

According to a police report, at about 4 am Kendall “Sausage” Garcia, 23, was shot during an exchange of gunfire with officers who responded to a robbery in progress at Orange Valley, Couva. Police said Garcia, who was originally from Valencia, was one of four men involved in the robbery.

Officers of the Central Division Task Force responded and confronted the men, two of whom were armed with guns. Three of the men ran off, but police said Garcia began shooting at them, forcing the officers to return fire. Garcia was shot twice in the chest and subsequently taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility, where he was pronounced dead.

An officer investigating the double murder said yesterday that Garcia was arrested and charged for rape, which was pending before the courts. The officer said on June 27 when they received the call of Mohammed and Subar’s killings, they immediately ran background checks on possible motives.

“This was when we discovered that Sausage was arrested and charged for rape and he was also known for robberies.

So immediately he was brought in for questioning just after midnight (June 28), given the circumstances surrounding Mohammed’s death,” the police source said.

“However, hours after, although we had a possible motive for Mohammed’s death there was still not sufficient evidence to prove that Sausage actually murdered her and the little boy so we had to release him. He was released later that same day (June 28).”

The T&T Guardian was told Garcia’s criminal profile shows he was a dangerous drugs and firearms offender.

He had two addresses - 40 Gokool Street, New City, Valencia and at LP645, Eastern Main Road, Maturita Village, Arima.

Subsequent to Garcia’s release, police held three other suspects and released two of them after they were not recognised in identification parades at the La Horquetta Police Station. A fourth suspect, a 25-year-old man of Sangre Grande, who alleged he was beaten by police and forced to sign a statement, was said to be still in custody. A 54-year-old male relative of Mohammed has also been detained and a formal statement taken by investigating officers.

Mohammed and Subar were both found tied up and their throats slit at Mohammed’s home at Ajim Baksh Street on June 27.

Speaking about the Garcia’s killing after he delivered remarks at the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of T&T’s graduation ceremony in Port-of-Spain yesterday, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said it was engaging the attention of himself and acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams.

Asked what was of specific concern to him over the killing that triggered a discussion with Williams, Dillon said whenever a killing is committed he would speak to the CoP, since this was a barometer by which they are measured.

“To single out this particular incident ... it is every murder is a cause for further interrogation and further inquiry to get an understanding of what has happened ...was there something we could have done to prevent it? Is it something that we could do now to speed up the arrest and prosecution as the case might be? So before and after the event there are always concerns to me.”

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, police are seeking assistance in identifying a Port-of-Spain drug addict and petty thief known only as “Yankee,” who was killed on Nelson Street early yesterday.

A 21-year-old woman has been fined $7,500 after she admitted to attempting to smuggle a quantity of marijuana, concealed in two bars of blue soap, to her boyfriend at the Mayaro Police Station.

Around 1.40 pm on Wednesday, Sherece St Clair, of Princes Town, went to visit her boyfriend, who had been charged with a recent robbery in Mayaro. 

Police said he had contacted St Clair from the police station and asked her to bring several items for him.

When St Clair arrived at the police station, she brought several items of clothing and toiletries including two bars of blue soap.

Police said St Clair met WPC Birball Connell who checked the items and noticed the blue soap seemed strange.

When she checked more carefully, a piece of one of the soaps fell off, revealing, a black plastic back stuffed in the hollowed out centre.

Inside one of the soaps was compressed marijuana, weighing 14 grammes, wrapped in a black plastic bag.

The other soap contained 20 hand-rolled cigarettes.

St. Clair was detained and subsequently charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

She was taken to court on Thursday and pleaded guilty before Magistrate Rae Roopchand at the Mayaro Magistrate Court.

She was fined $7,500 or in default serve 12 months in prison. She was ordered to pay $4,000 immediately

Police have foiled the attempted abduction of a Chinese national in Woodbrook.

According to reports around midday, the man was walking along Damian Street, opposite the One Woodbrook Place complex, when a white Honda City pulled alongside him.

Police said two occupants got out and attempted to force the man into the trunk but were almost immediately confronted by police officers, who were on patrol in the area.

The victim was freed and taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for a medical examination. The two suspects were detained and are currently in police custody.

The vehicle used by the abductors, a Honda City, which police believe may have been stolen, was wrecked and taken away for forensic analysis.

The area remained cordened off up to 1.15 pm as police and crime scene investigators continued their investigations.

Today's incident comes almost two weeks after San Fernando businessman Gregory Laing was kidnapped.

Laing was abducted on June 29 and was released after his family paid a $270,000 ransom. 

Two men have seen been charged in connection with Laing's kidnapping.

Police have foiled the attempted abduction of a Chinese national in Woodbrook.

According to reports around midday, the man was walking along Damian Street, opposite the One Woodbrook Place complex, when a white Honda City pulled alongside him.

Police said two occupants got out and attempted to force the man into the trunk but were almost immediately confronted by police officers, who were on patrol in the area.

The victim was freed and taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for a medical examination. The two suspects were detained and are currently in police custody.

The vehicle used by the abductors, a Honda City, which police believe may have been stolen, was wrecked and taken away for forensic analysis.

The area remained cordened off up to 1.15 pm as police and crime scene investigators continued their investigations.

Today's incident comes almost two weeks after San Fernando businessman Gregory Laing was kidnapped.

Laing was abducted on June 29 and was released after his family paid a $270,000 ransom. 

Two men have seen been charged in connection with Laing's kidnapping.

Police officers from the Western Division have launched an investigation into the reported attempted abduction of a young woman on Wednesday night in the St James area.

The woman, who posted a four-minute, 23 seconds video on a Facebook page under the name, “Nina Carolina Arbea,” alleged that she was almost “kidnapped” and was appalled over the alleged reaction of police officers when she went to make her report.

In the video, Arbea said the police officers told her that there was nothing they could have done as she was not actually abducted, although she claimed she also showed them surveillance footage of the attempted abduction.

At the start of the video, she explained why she was making recording about her ordeal.

“I made this video to let you all know that they are taking girls in Trinidad, and I know this because they tried to take me.”

She said the video showed two men coming out of a car and running towards her shortly after she arrived at her home. She said a blue Nissan Almera pulled up close to her and two men came out of it and ran towards her and attempted to snatch her. She added that on seeing this she started to scream.

She also claimed that a neighbour happened to arrive on the scene at the time and this was when the men got scared and ran off.

A police officer at St James Police Station yesterday told the T&T Guardian that they had viewed the woman’s video message, but added that they are yet to confirm whether she in fact did make a report.

The officer added that the little surveillance footage the woman showed in her video message gave no substantive evidence and/or identity of the alleged suspects or of their vehicle. The officer also sent out an appeal to the woman to return to the St James Police Station to assist them in their investigations.

The T&T Guardian attempted to reach out to Arbea, only to realise that the video was taken down and her Facebook name changed. A message sent to her asking why she had made the changes and for further comment on the alleged incident went unanswered up to press time.

The man arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Chinese national Sajio Zhang was wanted in connection with the abduction of another Chinese descendant last weekend.

According to police sources, the Honda City which the 31-year-old El Socorro, San Juan man was arrested in yesterday, hours after grabbing Zhang, was stolen from his previous kidnap victim last Saturday.

The suspect’s first kidnap victim, a Chinese bank employee, was grabbed in the St James area and driven around by two men who demanded he withdraw cash from his account and give it to them. However, that victim managed to escape and ran into a business where he was assisted. The kidnappers then fled with the man’s car. But that victim never made an official police report, the T&T Guardian was told, as he was afraid because the abductors had all his personal information, including his address.

Yesterday, police said the suspect spotted Zhang, a courier with the Chinese Embassy, walking along Haye Street en route to the embassy on Elizabeth Street around 5.50 am. The suspect pulled alongside Zhang and bundled him into the back seat of the white Honda City and whisked him away.

The incident was reported around 7.30 am and just after 10 am the suspect was arrested along Damian Street, St James and Zhang, who was still in the back seat, was rescued. Damian Street is three streets away from Elizabeth Street.

A ransom of $20,000 was demanded but never paid. Police said the suspect was held with a pistol.

Zhang was unharmed and neither his hands nor legs were bound. However, an eyewitness to the rescue said he was lying down on the floor behind the driver when the police intercepted the vehicle.

Speaking with the media yesterday at Damian Street following the rescue, an eyewitness identified only as “Leprechaun” said he saw heavily armed police surround the car and point guns at the driver before rescuing Zhang.

“Police intercept a vehicle and hold a fella. You could see that the man on the ground was mix. The driver was a black man, a plain African black man,” Leprechaun said.

“About three or four police come and stop the car and one of them come out with a small gun and start shouting (at the driver) ‘Aye what you doing, what you doing?’ And there was a lil commotion and thing.

“Police surround the whole car. They carry two people down at the end of the day though. One was on the ground in the back and one was the driver. So they take the man on the ground first, then they take the driver.”

At a press conference yesterday, acting Police Commissioner Harold Phillip said following the report, officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Port-of-Spain Division, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Western Division, Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit, Guard and Emergency Branch and E-999 Rapid Response Branch and other units of the National Security Ministry responded. (See editorial on Page A20)

Phillip said Zhang was a member of the support staff and not a diplomat at the embassy, after it was rumoured he was the official driver to the Chinese ambassador. He added that following the kidnapping there will be heightened security for diplomats, as the police service “will evaluate security arrangements and ensure that all diplomats are safe in T&T.”

Nationals not being targeted

Within the last two months, four Chinese nationals were killed.

On June 15, couple Shirui Zhao, 32 and Yanli Gu, 29, were killed as they arrived at their apartment upstairs the Kosume Bar, at the corner of John Street and New Haven Avenue, Marabella. Ying Loung Ma, who was shot during a robbery in May, also died at the Arima Health Facility one month later. And on June 28, Yana Zeng, 33, was killed after she resisted when two men tried to rob her mini-mart at Santa Cruz Village.

Asked if Chinese businesses were being targeted by criminals, Phillip said: “There have in fact been crimes committed against Chinese business owners, just like other business in T&T. But generally, based on crime trends, they are not being specifically targeted.”

Asked if the response given to Zhang’s kidnapping will be offered to all other reports and was not a case of bias because of his affiliation to the embassy, Philip said: “Given the nature of the activity we proportionate or respond to deal with the particular crime.”

Zhang’s kidnapping also came on the heels of that of Gregory Laing, 54, whose family owns Puff N Stuff Bakery along Circular Road, Vistabella and the Trade Winds Hotel in St Joseph Village, San Fernando.

Laing was kidnapped on June 28 and after a ransom of $250,000 was paid he was released. Two men are currently before the court in relation to that kidnapping.

Phillip was asked if the same attention given to Zhang was given to Laing’s case.

“I want to say yes,” he said.  

He also said based on the early stage of the investigation, he could not say if anyone else was involved in the kidnapping. He said the police were still assessing data when asked if there is now an increase in kidnappings. He said Zhang’s was the second kidnapping for ransom for the year.

Phillip also commended his officers and members of the national security arms for the quick response and their assistance yesterday. He boasted that the police service is fully equipped, ready and capable to respond to any threats or kidnappings.

Days after he was released from police custody for questioning in connection with the double murders of Haffiza Rose Mohammed, 56, and 13-year-old Videsh Subar, a 32-year-old man was re-arrested yesterday.

The Arima man now joins his 23-year-old relative who was arrested on Wednesday night.

The other two suspects—a 25-year-old man of Sangre Grande and a relative of Mohammed—remain in police custody.

Mohammed and Subar were both found tied up with their throats slit at Mohammed’s home at Ajim Baksh Street, Malabar, on June 27.

On Wednesday morning, one of the first suspects to be detained for questioning, Kendall “Sausage” Garcia, 23, was shot during an alleged exchange of gunfire by police officers from the Central Division, after the officers who responded to a robbery.

Garcia’s criminal profile reveals he was a known drugs and firearms offender.

He had two addresses—#40 Gokool Street, New City, Valencia and at LP#645, Eastern Main Road, Maturita Village, Arima.

Subsequent to Garcia’s release, police held three other suspects and released two of them after they were not recognised in identification parades at the La Horquetta Police Station.

A fourth suspect, a 25-year-old man of Sangre Grande, who alleged he was beaten by police and forced to sign a statement, was said to be still in custody.

A 54-year-old male relative of Mohammed has also been detained and a formal statement taken by investigating officers.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday paid tribute to the late councillor for the Barataria electoral district, Pernell Troy Bruno, describing him as a “very humble and service oriented” individual.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian just as he exited the St Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church in Malick, Barataria after attending Bruno’s funeral service, Rowley challenged all local government councillors to “follow after his footsteps.”

“He was a very good example of what a councillor ought to be. He was a very outstanding member of the community, a very pleasant and wonderful person,” Rowley said.

Bruno died on Saturday after a battle with cancer.

Bruno’s very close friend, chairman of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation, Esmond Forde described him as a “big man, but yet reserved.”

“He was one who commanded respect. He did a lot of walking about in the community and helped countless people. We have lost a good one and we now have to move on,” Forde said.

Councillor for Morvant, calypsonian Franz “Delamo” Lambkin recognised Bruno for the high respect he paid for the people in the community no matter of race or religion.

“I would also miss him because he was one of my biggest fans, as you know I wrote a lot of the PNM songs.”

Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts and MP for St Ann’s East Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly in her tribute said that she hoped that the councillor who takes over from Bruno “would be able to do just like he did.” A by-election for the electoral district will be held to replace the councillor. No date has been announced for the by-election.

“He was a very committed and very serious councillor. An advocate for his community and one who was well appreciated. We have lost a great one, both for the PNM and Barataria. He leaves behind big shoes to fill and we anticipate that whosoever shall take over, would be able to do so just like he did.”

Hundreds of mourners turned out to the funeral service which was officiated by Fr Cornelius Phillip. Media photographers were not allowed to take photos in the church. They were told that it was a request made by the grieving family.

During the service tributes were given by several councillors who worked alongside Bruno.

One of his colleagues remembered him for his tireless work. “He checked every street light and every drain and he made sure that all in the community had access to all the needed healthcare.”

Another remembered him for being out there during preparations for Tropical Storm Bret on June 19, “despite his severe back pains, Bruno was out there with his son distributing sand bags.”

President of the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC), Brian Lewis remembered Bruno as an athlete, who represented T&T at the CARIFTA and CAC games in athletics. Bruno also earned an athletic scholarship to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

“His passion, dedication and commitment for the betterment of his community and country — his ethos of selfless service and his deep desire and resolute vision for a better T&T stood out. His resolute faith and confidence of the power of sport to make a positive difference in the lives of the youth of the nation was unwavering and an inspiration,” Lewis said.

Bruno was laid to rest at the San Juan Hill cemetery.

Still trying to come to terms with a gun being placed to her head, RBC Financial’s senior manager of corporate communications, Nicole Duke-Westfield, yesterday thanked God for life after she was carjacked in front of her home in Diamond Vale, Diego martin, on Wednesday.

According to Duke-Westfield, at about 1.30 pm gunmen ambushed her outside her home and took away her dark-grey X-Trail. The car was damaged after the gunmen hit a wall while escaping.

Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Duke-Westfield said the incident, which happened in seconds, had left her very much traumatised.

“I am shocked. It happened so fast but I’m doing better than I did yesterday (Wednesday). I’m not crying all that much but I keep drawing the curtains to look outside, which is not very good,” Duke-Westfield said.

The incident unfolded as she pulled into her driveway. She said a vehicle pulled up behind her and she initially though someone had come to her husband. She said she couldn’t see inside the car or determine its make as it was drizzling. She also didn’t see the license number.

“By the time I realised what was happening, the young man had already jumped out of the car and was knocking on my driver side window with his gun and shouting ‘Get out, get out!’

“I saw the gun. I will never forget the gun. It was silver, looked like new. I hurriedly got out of the car, he pointed the gun at the back of my head and said: ‘Go so, go so!’

“I did and headed to the house. In the split second that this happened, Julien came to the gallery and he was stopped in his tracks by the second gunman, who was getting into the passenger seat. I never saw that second gunman - until we watched the scene on our cameras later on.”

Duke-Westfield said apart from her vehicle, the bandits got away with several personal items, including her handbag and iPhone. She expressed disgust at the current crime situation, “given how society is right now, we won’t be the last and at least I can live to tell the story.”

A report was made to the West End Police Station.

Investigating officers are asking members of the public to divulge any information that may lead to the recovery of the SUV and/or any arrests. Officers are also asking owners of auto body shops to be on the look out for persons coming in to repair a damaged X-Trail and contact the nearest police station.

According to a police source, there has been an increase in vehicular thefts in the Western Division over the past few weeks. On Wednesday, two other vehicles were stolen at gunpoint in the Diego Martin/Diamond Vale area.

The United National Congress (UNC) has been given the green light to pursue its lawsuit against the Children’s Life Fund Authority over its refusal to provide funding for treatment of two children suffering from the same genetic blood disorder.

High Court Judge Nadia Kangaloo yesterday granted the Opposition party permission to pursue its judicial review claim against the authority after its application was unopposed by attorneys representing the Attorney General during a hearing at the Port-of-Spain High Court, Hall of Justice yesterday.

In his submissions, head of the legal team for the Office of the Attorney General, Senior Counsel Reginald Armour said his client did not oppose the granting of leave as the Opposition party had raised an important legal issue.

However, he urged the court to approach it “carefully and prudently” as it would affect future cases handled by the authority.

Responding to the State’s position, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, who is leading her party’s legal team, said it was “welcomed news” as the case dealt with a issue of national importance.

Persad-Bissessar, under whose tenure as prime minister the fund was established, said that it was also good news for the families of four-year-old Shannen Luke and five-year-old Terrance Chandoo.

Luke and Chandoo were diagnosed with Beta Thalassemia Major when they were less than one-year-old. Since then they have been on a cocktail of medicine and have to do monthly blood transfusions.

Luke, Chandoo and their parents are currently at the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome, Italy, where they the children are scheduled to undergo a hemopoietic cell transfusion (bone marrow transplant).

In the lawsuit, filed by Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge on the families’ behalf, the party is contending that the board acted irrationally and unreasonably when it rejected applications made by Luke and Chandoo’s parents in April.

The applications were turned down on the basis that the children’s families had already paid €158,000 each for the treatment when they made their applications and the authority does not provide reimbursements.

However, Persad-Bissessar and her party are claiming that the authority’s board is mistaken as Section 9 of the legislation which established the fund and the authority in 2010, allowed for reimbursement payments.

The party is also challenging the authority’s claim that the children are not entitled to funding as their condition is non-life threatening.

The party has also sourced two local medical experts — Dr Steve Smith, a specialist in internal medicine and consultant haematologist Dr Ramesh Mathura — who analysed the children’s cases individually and challenged the board’s claim over the non-life threatening nature of the disorder.

In their affidavits filed in support of the case Smith and Mathura both claimed that the risk of death associated with the disease was dependent on the ability of the local health care sector to provide adequate treatment.

Mathura said: “From my experience from twenty three (23) years of working in the public health care system in this county and from my knowledge of the present facilities for the treatment of this disease I can assess the ability and deficiencies for the treatment of this disease and I can say unreservedly that the present system is woefully inadequate and deficient.”

The two doctors claimed that the children’s risk was high due to issues with the Blood Bank’s inability to guarantee a regular supply of blood for their monthly transfusions.

They also claimed there was a shortage of medical experts qualified to properly treat the disease.

Both Smith and Mathura concluded that the children’s chances of survival would increase if they undergo the procedure in Italy. The

Opposition party will have to file an application to deem Smith and Mathura as expert witnesses before the case eventually goes to trial.

Vanessa Gopaul and Vahini Seunath are appearing alongside Armour for the Office of the AG.

A Tarouba man was remanded into police custody yesterday, after being charged with sexually penetrating and sexually touching a 16-year-old girl.

Robert Persad, a father of three, cursed and threatened members of the media who were taking his photo as he was being escorted out of the San Fernando High Court yesterday.

When he appeared before Magistrate Indira Misir-Gosine, Persad, 36, was not represented by an attorney.

Dressed in a vest, a short pants and wearing a pair of rubber slippers, Persad fidgeted and tried turning away from the magistrate several times, ignoring the warning of court officers to stand still. He was not called upon to plead as the charges were laid indictably.

He was charged with sexually touching the girl at a house on May 11, 2017. He was also charged with sexually penetrating the child at the same location on May 13, 2017.

He was charged by Ag Cpl Nicole St John of the Child Protection Unit, South, after being arrested in an exercise by Marabella CID officers yesterday morning.

Prosecutor Sgt Ian Sylvan asked that Persad be remanded for tracing. He will return to court today.

San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello says an investigation will be launched into allegations that members of the Contractors and General Workers’ Trade Union (CGWTU) are demanding sexual favours from women to help them gain employment at the San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC).

However, the union’s president, Ainsley Matthews, says such accusations come with the territory and denies any of his members engage in any such action.

The allegations came to light yesterday as San Fernando mother of three Jovanne Edmunds staged a one-woman protest at City Hall’s doors.

Armed with a placard, Edmund criticised the corporation’s recruitment process for casual labour, saying the union had too much authority over who gets hired. She said while working for the People’s National Movement (PNM) during the 2016 Local Government Elections and the 2015 General Elections, campaigners were promised jobs for their children. Since then, she said her 27-year-old son has only received fortnightly labour twice. She said this was a problem for many young people in her community and if nothing is done, she will take her protest to Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein.

Sympathising with Edmund, a few members of council said the situation between the SFCC and CGWTU is untenable and puts councillors under pressure. Members told the T&T Guardian that when the PNM took over the council, they met a system whereby the union submits a list of names for fortnightly labour, which accounts for 70 per cent of the workforce. The corporation’s administration chooses 20 per cent of the labour while the councillor gets 10 per cent, which usually amounts to one person from their area over scores of unemployed youths.

“The collective agreement is that the union can recommend workers for consideration, but they cannot demand. The union is getting 70 per cent of the employees that come looking for jobs and this is a big racket running in the corporation. This puts councillors under pressure because in Embacadere, Pleasantville, and Marabella, you have a lot of unemployed people looking for jobs. We met a corrupt system in place and this has been going on for years,” council members, who did not want to be identified, said.

“Recently, the union barged in and cuss up the corporation workers. They are using war tactics and a senior union member was cautioned by the police for threats made to a female member of staff.

“A senior member of the union was challenged by an employee for making sexual demands on women looking for jobs. I have had women coming to me crying and can you imagine mothers, who are just looking to feed their children having to give sexual favours for a job? This is wrong.”

Union does not intimidate

Responding to the allegations yesterday, Matthews said the union’s right to make recommendations for employment is included in their collective agreement with the SFCC. He said the union does not intimidate anyone, but does demand dialogue on issues affecting workers. If the dialogue does not happen, they make noise, he said.

“We must look at the vacancies and we demand to see those vacancies. There are some new people in positions and they are not aware of the relationship the union has inculcated with the management. Upon these two people taking office, they wanted to ride roughshod over the union and we are not taking that,” Matthews said.

“We do not threaten anybody, we used industrial language. If they can’t understand good language, we used industrial language.”

However, stressing that the allegations were serious, Regrello said he will have to look into the recruitment practices used by the administration. He said members of the council were the policy makers and do not dictate the administrative functions. He said he met with Edmunds yesterday and one of her sons was able to get employment on Wednesday. Her other son can only be considered for work in the next fortnight, he added.

In the coming months, the public will see a number of new initiatives being rolled at the country’s prisons.

CCTV cameras have already been installed at the Port-of-Spain State Prison after the entire building block was re-wired.

At the Youth Training Centre for teen accused plans are afoot to construct a hall of residence, while the remand section at Golden Grove Prison, Arouca will soon have its video conference centre operational.

These were some of the improvements National Security Minister Edmund Dillon outlined on Wednesday to reporters.

Dillon’s comments came two days after president of the Prisons Officers Association Ceron Richards in a T&T Guardian article expressed fears that Sunday’s jailbreak in Guyana was a disaster waiting to happen at the Port-of-Spain Prison.

Richards said two things that could trigger a stand-off and jailbreak at this prison were lack of security measures and the city’s ageing facility.

Dillon said in a bid to install CCTV cameras at the city’s prison they had to call in T&TEC to replace the facility’s entire electrical system.

“We did that quite recently. We had to change the system to cater for those new loads and additional wiring and so on. We have a contractual arrangement right now looking at CCTV cameras through the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service.”

He said the ministry has so far completed 70 per cent of its video conferencing centre at the Remand Yard Prison, something which had been proposed for several years.

“We had some issues on and off with the contractor which has been dealt with.”

Once completed, Dillon said this would take away the movement of remand inmates and Tobago prisoners from attending court who are sometimes told that their matters have been postponed to a later date.

“So that they would be brought right next door and that facility is just outside of remand yard and their issues will be dealt with via video conferencing.”

Dillon said there were also plans to strengthen the manpower of prison officers.

He said some areas of deficiency which the association identified were being addressed.

Asked if the ministry intended to do an independent assessment of the structural integrity of the Port-of-Spain Prison, which was built in 1812, Dillon said with the exception of the Maximum Security Prison most of our jails were old.

“We are looking at issues pertinent to Carrera (Island Prison), Port-of-Spain and other facilities that are aged. Right now we are looking at the Youth Training Centre...we have just looked at renovating and creating a hall of residence for the boys.”

Chairman of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT) Allison Lewis says the Ocean Flower 2, the passenger vessel sourced for the sea bridge, faces a penalty of US$26,500 (TT$185,500) a day, if it arrives in this country seven days later than the scheduled arrival date of July 17.

The Ocean Flower has been leased from Bridgemans Services Group of Vancouver, Canada, at a daily charter rate of US$26,500 (TT$185,500).

Lewis said, “there is a penalty associated with late arrival and there are performance standards and if they don’t meet those performance standards the arrangement could come to an end.”

The vessel had a contractual obligation to be in this country as agreed to by July 17, but the arrival date has been pushed back by almost a week after being delayed in Japan and Russia. Lewis admitted there were “some problems in the crossing,” but did not go into details.

At yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan announced that the cargo vessel for the sea bridge, Cabo Star, is expected to arrive on Sunday while the Ocean Flower will arrive later in the month.

The two vessels were chartered to alleviate significant sea bridge problems since the departure of the Super Fast Galicia after the contract was not renewed in April 21. Since then two other vessels, a barge, the Trinity Transporter and a cargo vessel, the Atlantic Provider, were leased on a short-term basis but met strong objection from users.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Port Authority said that the Ocean Flower “does not have long range fuel capacity and is required to make various stops for fuel.”

In addition it said “weather conditions presented a challenge for the vessel to transit at its most efficient speed and in the interest of safety, it had to travel at a considerably reduced speed, which resulted is this delayed arrival.” Tracking information indicates that the vessel is still out in the ocean near Japan.

The Ocean Flower 2 was built in 1996 it has the capacity to transport 600 people and 225 cars.

Asked why the Port selected a vessel as old as the T&T Express and which can develop problems, Lewis said “there were a number of things including availability.”

She said, “the time we were looking for a vessel was a very bad time because of the summer charter arrangements and there were not too many boats with the specs that we required or that we could live with that essentially we could have chosen from.”

The alternative, she said, was “to tell Tobago they will have to wait until October.”

Lewis also denied that any one linked to the ruling People’s National Movement was linked to the charter of the vessel. She added, “to my knowledge there is no PNM financier involved. We were out there looking for a vessel and it was tendered as one of the alternatives offered to the port authority. The people contracted were Bridgeman Services,” a company based in Canada. But she could not say whether the company had a local agent.

Although Sinanan sought regular updates on the search for the vessel, she said, there was no directive from Sinanan as to which vessel to select. She said Sinanan’s involvement came after the recommendation was made, “once the recommendation goes through the tenders and board we would make recommendations to the Ministry of Works, it goes to the Minister and he gets approval from the Cabinet.”

In the Maritime industry once a vessel is older than 15 years it is recommended that it be replaced. Both the T&T Express and the T&T Spirit are older than 15 years and have been experiencing mechanical and other problems.

Asked whether taxpayers will have to foot the bill for maintenance of the Ocean Flower 2, Lewis said,“it is on a charter hire and Bridgemans Services will be responsible for maintenance.”

The Canadian Company, she said, will also pay for “crew accommodation for the vessel.”

The Port Authority depended on insurance market specialist Lloyd’s of London to conduct inspections of both the Ocean Flower 2 and the Cabo Star. Lewis said based on the report submitted “everything was good with the vessel.”

President of the Tobago Chamber Demi John Cruickshank said the Chamber was not asked to be part of the process for the selection of the vessel and they were now “shocked to hear about the problems being experienced.”

He said in the past the Chamber’s views were sought on vessels and “we were part of the process.”

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has proposed next Tuesday for the meeting which Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has sought with her, United National Congress public relations officer Anita Haynes confirmed yesterday.

The Opposition proposed the date following Rowley’s request for a private meeting at the Parliament. Rowley had said the meeting will be for preliminary discussion on “selected matters of national interest” involving areas in which he feels “the Opposition should be engaged.”

Persad-Bissessar had told supporters at a meeting on Monday night that she would attend.

Yesterday, Haynes said, “We’ve sent a letter proposing Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 2 pm in response to the request from the Office of the Prime Minister. We are awaiting confirmation of the date and time from the OPM.”

In a WhatsApp message response to GML queries on the meeting last evening, Rowley said: “She (Persad-Bissessar) proposed that date, which is within the time frame I suggested and I agreed so the meeting will take place next Tuesday at 2 pm. She asked for an agenda and she will receive one tomorrow (today).”

Yesterday, other UNC officials couldn’t say if Persad-Bissessar would insist on having a note-taker at the meeting, which Rowley wants to be private.

Matters expected to be discussed include possible legislative directions regarding current issues in the judiciary, stemming from 53 cases which were left unfinished when former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar was appointed a High Court Judge before being forced to resign from her next position.

Last week, Rowley had hinted that the judiciary issue may become one for the executive to deal with, adding correspondence he’d seen indicates the matter may only be solved by resorting to Parliament. He’d also indicated a willingness to have a special sitting of Parliament for this.

Parliament is currently on vacation and MPs would have to be called back to work for a special session.

Rowley had also said he was “about” to approach the Opposition for discussions outside of the Parliament on campaign finance reform, following the Jamaican model, to have talks on the reform issue prior to proceeding to Parliament. He said Government recently discussed “progressing the national discussion” on campaign finance and was about to initiate it.

Government sources say any legislation that requires Opposition support in the Parliament may be an issue for the meeting. They noted that apart from the matters Rowley has hinted about - the judiciary and campaign finance reform - Government also has a heavy legislative agenda coming up.

UNC sources said they expected the PM would focus on the judiciary’s issues, “but we also feel the state of the country should be discussed and the issue of crime especially should be high on the agenda. Women are being targeted - it’s time the PM listens to the public.”

After word of the meeting on Monday, Persad-Bissessar said among matters she’d want to discuss with the PM would be a tribunal to see who was “telling the truth” in the issue of the judicial fiasco involving Ayers-Caesar.

Persad-Bissessar didn’t answer calls yesterday.

This will be the first such private meeting between Rowley and Persad-Bissessar. They met last year, but had been accompanied by delegations from their respective parties to discuss anti-crime endeavours.

With the arrest of a 31-year-old San Juan man in connection with the kidnapping of a Chinese national Sajio Zhang on Thursday, police are looking at other crimes reported by other Chinese nationals or descendants who may have been victims of the man.

Police are considering the actions of the man to be xenophobic, as he has been connected to at least one other similar matter. They are now calling on either Chinese nationals or descendants who may have suffered a similar fate to come forward to identify the man during an identification parade this weekend.

So far, the man is facing at least two kidnapping charges, one involving Zhang, the courier to the Chinese Embassy, and the other a bank employee who escaped from the trunk of his own car after he too was kidnapped last weekend.

Zhang, 57, was walking along Haye Street, St Clair, en route to the embassy on Elizabeth Street around 5.50 am Thursday when the suspect pulled alongside him and bundled him into the back seat of a white Honda City and whisked him away. The incident was reported around 7.30 am and the suspect was arrested along Damian Street, St James, just after 10 am, with Zhang still in the back seat. Damian Street is three streets away from Elizabeth Street. According to police sources, the Honda City which Zhang’s kidnapper used was stolen from his previous kidnap victim.

The suspect’s first kidnap victim, a bank employee with Chinese ancestry, was grabbed in the St James area and driven around by two men who demanded he withdraw cash from his account and give it to them. However, that victim managed to escape and ran into a business where he was assisted.

The suspect is currently being held at the Central Police Station, where he was interviewed by officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit. Police said they are satisfied the man does not seem to be part of a larger organisation. Attempts to contact the Chinese Embassy for a comment were unsuccessful yesterday, as the T&T Guardian was told officials were in a meeting.