National Security Minister Emmanuel George says the brutal murder of acting Cpl Terrence Abraham has only served to strengthen the national security forces’ resolve to fight crime. Abraham’s murder comes just two months after the slaying of Sgt Hayden Manwaring, who was gunned down by bandits when he attempted to arrest them in San Fernando.
George, who visited Abraham’s Battoo Avenue, Marabella, home yesterday, said citizens and law enforcement officers are now faced with the constant prospect of being targets of crime. “I think with what is happening outside on the streets, we as ordinary citizens and members of the protective services are all at an increased risk,” George told the T&T Guardian.
“That is why the Ministry of National Security and the national security forces have to be even more alert and determined to put up a fight against the criminal elements. “That fight is ongoing and we hope that over time we will begin to make inroads and insights to reduce the number of crimes and the number of murders in particular.”
The minister said he was upset by the level of anger he has been seeing in society. “Sometimes we don’t understand how people lose their lives over a game of cards, over a cellphone,” he said. “I mean one would think that people would reflect and be less prone to taking this drastic action for minor issues.
“I urge that we as a country simmer down a bit. There is need for a lot less noise, everyone is shouting at each other and we need to just simmer down a little bit and listen to each other rather than be shouting at each other.” Abraham, 39, a father of two, was gunned down in Couva around 9 pm on Tuesday night, while taking his girlfriend, Rosa Hosein-Shah, to her Waterloo home.
Police reports stated that Abraham, who was off duty, was driving along Milton Road, Couva, when the side mirror of his Mazda 3 clashed with the mirror of a Nissan Wingroad. Abraham and the other driver got out of their cars and an argument took place. The man then pulled out a gun and shot Abraham several times about his body. The suspect then jumped back into his car and sped off.
Investigators suspect that Abraham was gunned down because of his involvement in an upcoming court case and are working on the theory that the accident may have been a ruse to execute a hit on Abraham. The excessive shooting of the Chaguanas Traffic Branch officer, who has 17 years’ service, was not consistent with killings related to arguments, investigators said.
An autopsy performed by Dr Eastlyn Mac Donald-Borris at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, determined that Abraham died of shock and hemorrhaging as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to the lower abdomen. Central, Southern and Northern division officers found a Nissan Wingroad wagon abandoned in Claxton Bay several hours after the shooting. Later inquiries revealed the wagon was not the one used in Abraham’s shooting, but instead in a robbery in San Fernando.
ACP Donald Denoon and Insp Chunilal Bedassie joined friends, relatives and fellow officers who gathered at Abraham’s home to comfort his mother, Doris Simon, yesterday, as she struggled to make sense of his death. Simon said although she knew her son had a dangerous career, she never thought he would have suffered such a horrific death. She said if he had his service revolver, he may have been able to overcome his attacker.
She said: “I never thought anyone would shoot him like that, but I know the person he was and if he was working and armed, no one would have been able to shoot him like that. He would have fought back.” The death has left his children, Jayden, 10, and Kalif, five, traumatised, she added. Simon said she and other family members went to the Couva Hospital where they met with former national security minister Jack Warner, who tried to console the family.
Holding on to a newspaper clipping, a letter to the editor where someone had commended Abraham for his work as an officer, Simon said her son was a hard working and likeable person who fulfilled his childhood dream by becoming a police officer. She said Abraham had been accepted to the Prisons Service around the same time as was accepted into the police training academy, but he chose to be a police officer.
“He liked his job and he was always happy doing what he was doing,” she said. He never complained and he liked to walk so he work in traffic. I never heard him complain. Since he was younger he always wanted to be a police officer.” George said Abraham will be given a military funeral and he will meet with his permanent secretary to see what other assistance they could offer the family.
The minister said the murder was particularly sad, since a young officer who dedicated his life to protecting citizens was taken away. Public Information Officer of the T&T Police Service, Sgt Wayne Mystar, yesterday urged his colleagues to be vigilant after one of their own, Cpl Terrence Abraham, was shot dead on Tuesday night in Couva. “On behalf of the Police Service, I want to extend condolences to the family and urge officers to be highly vigilant when on and off duty,” he said.
“Every murder is a great concern and we will do all things possible to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
— with reporting by Camille Clarke
