Today marks one week since the Chance family were ejected from their one-room shack by flood waters brought on by Tropical Storm Bret.

The life of the seven members of the family have changed drastically since then.

Now, Ramrajie Chance, 31, her five young children and her common-law husband, Sameer Ali, have hope that they may be allocated a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) house. Chance is pregnant with her sixth child.

The family had to be rescued by their neighbours when rising flood waters swept through their home on Sunrees Road, Penal, on Tuesday, trapping them inside.

They were taken to the La Costena Activity Centre in Penal and have been housed there since. They have received assistance in the form of food, clothes and toys from concerned members of the public and the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and are mostly comfortable at the shelter.

Chance had said earlier this week that she could not return to the one-room house with her children as the family’s outhouse was filled with water and the galvanise roof and walls were still shifting with the wind. She feared that scorpions, caimans and snakes would pose a greater threat to the children in the aftermath of the storm.

She had said the family was being evicted from the centre but the president of the La Costena Village Council Satnarine Ramcharan told the T&T Guardian yesterday the group is not being evicted as they empathise with them.

On Saturday, Housing Minister Randall Mitchell told the T&T Guardian HDC would visit the family and conduct an assessment to see if they could be granted emergency relief.

That team, led by the HDC’s Social Department manager, Maria Mc Cleve visited the Chance’s Sunrees Road, Penal home yesterday.

In an interview yesterday, HDC chairman Newman George said, “They are doing an assessment and an evaluation and just having a chat to see what the family require. And although tomorrow is a holiday, we will ask Mc Cleve to come in and give us her report.

“We will try to do our duty and assist in any way that we can, we will inform the minister and see what we can do from there.”

A hopeful Ali told the T&T Guardian yesterday that a HDC house will give the young children a proper home to grow up in. “I have a little hope that things might work out, it’s not really for me, I live my life already,” he said.

“I done live my life and I will just be happy to see the children get somewhere comfortable to live.”

If that fails, Ali said he would be grateful for the donation of building materials to rebuild the small house.

“At the end of it, your own is your own, no matter how small. If we don’t get through with this, although it would be so much better for the children, I will try to patch up the house and we could go back to it.”

The mother of a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy was found murdered at her home in Gasparillo yesterday.

Ornella Philip, 28, was found sprawled on the living room floor of her home on Thompson Street, with a single gunshot injury to the chest.

Philip lived in a ground floor apartment of the building with her eight-year-old daughter, Kayla, who has cerebral palsy.

Kayla was left with her grandmother, Joanne Seepersad around 11.30 pm on Saturday to spend the night.

Seepersad lived in an apartment to the back of the building and the family has two groups of tenants who also live in the building.

Police reports stated that around 10 am, a man from the area went to purchase a cigarette from one of the tenants and noticed the front door to Philip’s apartment was ajar.

He called out to her and saw her body on the floor in the living room area. The man told his friends who were nearby and they then alerted Seepersad who was upstairs.

When Seepersad entered the apartment, she discovered her daughter’s body.

At the scene yesterday, neighbours reported hearing a loud bang around 1 am on Sunday but said no one investigated the noise.

Philip’s relatives were hesitant to speak to the media and a relative would only say that Philip was a full-time caretaker for her daughter.

Insp Ramkhelawan of the Gasparillo Police said Philip’s murder was the fifth in the district for the year.

He said although the district’s homicide rate is relatively high, other serious crimes have decreased.

PC Noyan is continuing investigations.

Philip’s death brings the number of people who have been murdered for the year so far to 243.

In an unrelated incident, Siparia Police are investigating a possible homicide in the area.

According to reports, Miguel Lalman, 26, was hunting at Location #119, Range Resources, Quinam Road, Siparia, on Saturday when he called his father-in-law around 10 pm and told him he had been shot.

Lalman lived in Mendez Village, Siparia.

The father-in-law and another man went into the forest to search for Lalman and brought him out to a clearing and called the police. However, by the time officers arrived, Lalman had died. He had been shot once in the upper right shoulder.

Siparia police are continuing investigations

Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein is appealing to citizens to stop their indiscriminate and illegal dumping as he said this is partly to blame for the devastating floods the nation has experienced over the past week.

Speaking to members of the media at the Cipero River along the Gulf View Link Road yesterday, Hosein said he saw fridges, stoves and mattresses being dumped into watercourses during a tour on Saturday.

“When we were going through San Juan yesterday and El Socorro South noticed people have fridges, stoves, mattresses in abundance blocking up all the rivers and that is what is causing the flooding — I’m not saying that alone, we have low lying areas and we have an abundance of rainfall which caused excessive rain,” Hosein said.

“I am appealing to the citizens of this beautiful country we live in to be more civic-minded—those who are already doing so, I compliment and congratulate them because there are law-abiding citizens in this country—but the ones who are in the minority who are doing it, to cease from doing it, because the public health inspectors, once they catch them they will be charged.”

According to the Litter Act Chapter 30:52 “3 (1) A person who without reasonable excuse—(a) deposits any litter in or on any public place other than— (i) in a receptacle placed for the purpose of collecting it;

or (ii) in or at any approved site; and having deposited any litter otherwise than as prescribed in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of paragraph (a) in or on any public place (whether inadvertently or otherwise) leaves such litter there, is guilty of an offence against this act.”

The act further states that: “(6) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction in the case of an individual to a fine of $4,000 or to imprisonment for six months or in the case of a body corporate to a fine of $8,000.”

Hosein said the Ministry of Works was cleaning and dredging the Cipero River yesterday after a visit on Saturday by himself, Works Minister Rohan Sinanan and San Fernando West MP Faris Al-Rawi.

He said most of the main watercourses fall under the purview of the Ministry of Works and the regional corporations are responsible for the maintenance of small drains and tributaries.

“The corporations have an allocation, a limited allocation and they try to give priority to the important rivers, they did a few and they supposed to start to clean but the rainy season came up on them so...they have to clean to it from early as this week. We are giving them help through the Ministry of Works because most of these rivers belong to the Ministry of Works, it is not corporation rivers, we have the tributaries and the drains, the minor drains, the majority belongs to the Ministry of Works and they are doing the majority of work right now.”

However, he said the works have been delayed as the contractors have to wait for the flood waters to recede.

Hosein also brought Eid greetings to the national community, saying, “To the nation, Eid Mubarak and may Allah continue to bless all of us on this auspicious day, a day of joy and celebration because we have fasted for the entire month 29 days. This month was a guide for the next 11 months of the year, it was not only abstaining from food and drinks but also from jealousy, envy, malice and back-biting, all the negatives.”

Still reeling from the damage caused by flood waters which swept through her home , Gloria Ramgobin broke down in tears as her family tried to salvage pieces of furniture and appliances that were under water for the second time in a week.

Ramgobin, 56, her husband Kemchand, 61 and their daughter Meena, 28 had to flee their Messiah Trace, Williamsville, home around 1 am on Saturday when the Guaracara River burst its bank. The family survives on the National Insurance pension that Kemchand receives after retiring from the Princes Town Regional Corporation as a labourer.

Dozens of families in Messiah Trace, Reform Village and several streets in Princes Town were affected when heavy rains caused the river to overflow early Saturday morning.

Ramgobin said the water was over seven feet high inside her home. She said the family was awaiting a visit from councilor Vashti Sookhoo and the Princes Town Regional Corporation for assistance.

“This is the second time this week we dealing with this, everything we had gone again,” she lamented. “We couldn’t stay in the house when water start to come in, cause it came so fast.”

Fearful for their lives, the family fled the small wooden house leaving all their belongings to the mercy of the raging river.

When the murky water subsided, they returned to find their freezer, refrigerator and clothes scattered throughout their yard.

“The freezer was pushed out of the house and end up against the fence, I don’t know if it will work again because this is the second time this week that it get wet. There was no place to put anything safe.”

The mattress allocated to the family by the Disaster Management Unit of the Princes Town Regional Corporation last Tuesday was also soaked.

A short distance away, Sanjay Sanasie and his family were busy trying to salvage items from their home.

He said water was nine feet high on his property, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

“We would have repurchased some things after the flood on Monday night and all of those things are now destroyed,” he said

Sanasie is calling on the Princes Town Regional Corporation to dredge the Guaracara River properly as he said this is the cause of the constant flooding.

“This problem has been ongoing for years but this year is definitely the worst, the corporation needs to come and clean the watercourse or this will continue to get worse.”

Braving the pouring rain yesterday, Sameer Ali began trying to piece together the small wooden home he shares with his wife and five children which was destroyed by floods from Tropical Storm Bret last week.

Ali, his common-law wife Ramrajie Chance and the children had to be rescued from the same house in Sunrees Road, Penal last week Tuesday when rising flood waters trapped them inside. Ramrajie, 32, is pregnant with her sixth child.

The flood water, some four feet high, saturated the plyboard walls and wooden floor, leaving the house uninhabitable.

Since then, the family has been housed in the La Costena Activity Centre in Penal. Through donations of private citizens and the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, they have been provided with food hampers, cooked meals, clothing and other items. One generous donor even gave the family a stove.

Yesterday, their luck continued when a distant relative of Ali, who asked to be identified only as ‘Uncle’ purchased 20 sheets of construction ply for them. Another donor, through the office of Siparia MP, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, donated another 10 sheets of ply.

At the house yesterday, the old walls were removed and with the help of Uncle and Ali’s friends, Anthony Jaggernauth and Harold Muradali, new walls were put up.

Ply sheets were also nailed over the gaping floor boards, as Ali said he did not want the children to fall through.

“Uncle really came to Trinidad for a holiday but when he see the situation I was in, he came to help me,” Ali said.

The family is being assessed by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to determine if they qualify for emergency assistance.

Ali said although he is holding out hope for that assistance, he is trying to get his family out of the activity centre, so it can be used for other activities again.

“They have courses going on there and for right now we can’t remain there all the time,” he said.

The Rio Claro man who posted a Facebook message which threatened harm to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s family has apologised for his statements.

However, Rayad Mohammed may yet face legal sanction as the T&T Police Service is investigating the post while Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi says he may be in breach of the law under the Cybercrime Bill.

In a post on Facebook yesterday, Mohammed wrote: “Someone should find ROWLEY daughter and wife and slit their throats n rape them.” It was an apparent post in response to the gruesome double murder of Hafeeza Rose Mohammed, 56, and Videsh Subar, 13, in Malabar on Wednesday. (See other story)

The post was widely circulated on social media and drew scathing criticism from several people, with some labelling it racist. Hours later, Mohammed deleted the post and his account.

However, when the T&T Guardian tracked him down last evening, Mohammed, via a Whatsapp message response, humbly apologised for his words.

Trying to explain his reasoning behind the now-controversial post, Mohammed wrote: “I was n still am really pissed about the murders of the little boy n his care taker. What I meant with that post was that only when someone who is of rank or their family gets that then maybe they will do something about crime.”

Asked his response to those who criticised him, he wrote, “My intention is what I told you before.

“Hardly anyone acted like that for the murders, but a status I post n everyone thinks bad, why, because is the PM?”

Asked if he had any suggestions on how crime should be dealt with, he wrote, “Show the public that they are serious about it rather than just saying they do.”

He later elaborated on his apology, saying, “I am sorry for the way it was said but I didn’t mean it in that way n I humbly apologise for it and the way it was taken.”

Contacted yesterday, however, the AG said he was aware of the post and noted such posts constitute a criminal offense under the Cybercrime Act (see box). However, Al-Rawi refused to comment further on the issue.

Efforts to reach Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams by phone were unsuccessful.

However, a senior police officer who wished not to be identified confirmed they had already launched an investigation into the post and its author.

“It was sent to us and we are investigating. We have the name and photos of the individual, as well as where he can be found. Unfortunately, not any more can be said on the matter until our investigations are completed,” the officer said.

In August 2011, under the stewardship of then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, a 14-year-old girl shot into the spotlight when a video she made threatening Persad-Bissessar went viral.

The girl, referring to herself as “Granny Quila,” posted the video on Facebook and YouTube, hurling death threats, obscene, offensive, vulgar and racial remarks at Persad-Bissessar over the declaration of a state of emergency and curfew restrictions in certain communities.

At that time, then Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs publicly stated the incident would be investigated.

However, Persad-Bissessar met with the child days later after the child posted an apology video on her social media accounts and said she (Persad-Bissessar) had forgiven her for her actions.

Reminded of that incident yesterday, Mohammed replied, “Serious. Oh.”

Asked to respond to the possibility he might be charged for his statements, he wrote, “My cousin was murdered in 2011 n no one charged and all that lead to my status. I honestly didn’t mean anything by that statement except that which I told you before.”

He said he did not want to name his cousin and to those who might say he was not telling the truth about his relative, he said, “Everybody could say what they want, I know what I meant.”

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

According to the CyberCrime Bill 2017, Section 18 (1) A person who uses a computer system to communicate with the intention to cause harm to another person commits an offence.

2) In determining whether an offence is committed under this section, the Court may take into account any factor which it considers relevant, including—(a) the extremity of the language used in the communication; (b) the age and characteristics of the person involved; (c) whether the communication was anonymous; (d) whether the communication was repeated; (e) the extent of circulation of the communication; (f) whether the communication is true or false; and (g) the context in which the communication appeared.

(3) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—(a) on summary conviction to a fine of $100,000 (one hundred thousand dollars) and to imprisonment for three years; or (b) on conviction on indictment to a fine of $250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand dollars) and imprisonment for five years.

(4) For the purposes of this section, “harm” means serious emotional distress.

A girl has topped the country once more in the Secondary Entrance Assessment examination. Lexi Balchan, 12, of Fitz Lane, Vance River placed first in the examination beating out over 18,000 other students. In an interview with the media shortly after the announcement, Lexi said she has aspirations of becoming a scientist when she gets older. She says the secret to her success was lots of hard work. Lexi has passed for Naparima Girls College in San Fernando.

​Although she often fantasised about placing first in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination, Lexi Balchan was at a loss for words when her dream came true yesterday.

The 12-year-old Point Fortin ASJA student was so overwhelmed with emotion she could barely speak when reporters tried to interview her following the announcement.

Lexi, of Fitz Lane, Vance River, beat out some 18, 149 students for the top spot and passed for her first choice of Naparima Girls’ College, San Fernando. Her raw composite scores were 97 in Mathematics, 96 in English Language and 20 in Creative Writing.

She was presented her results by Education Minister Anthony Garcia as he and his entourage, including Minister in the Minister of Education Dr Lovell Francis, visited the school yesterday.

Point Fortin MP and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Lynsley Doodhai and National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) president Zena Ramathali also visited and addressed the students before they were given their results.

Another Standard Five student, Jada Wiltshire, was recognised by Garcia as she placed in the top 100 students nationwide.

After receiving her results, Balchan, who has aspirations of becoming a scientist, wept as her parents, Lisa and Krishdath Balchan, huddled around her offering their congratulations. Her younger sister Leia was not present to join in the celebration.

“I feel so happy...there are no words to describe it,” Lexi said in between tears.

When asked if she believed she could have captured the first place, she managed a smile and said, “I kind of thought it was going to be me. A lot of times I fantasised.”

She credited her success to hard work, her parents’ support, her teachers’ guidance and God. However, she said she had to make many sacrifices along the way.

“A lot of things that I missed out that I wish I can experience again...things that were once in a lifetime but in the end it was all worth it.”

However, she said she needed no reward for placing first.

Her father also said Lexi’s success was the result of her hard work.

“Since the beginning, from inception into this school, I always preached to her (Lexi) that you have to dream big to get big things,” Balchan said.

“But in dreaming big, you can’t just dream and expect that one day you wake up and it happen - you have to work hard - and Lexi is a very hard-working individual. She doesn’t play, most of the time is either she is always reading or doing some little activity that will relax her mind and we as parents, we supported her in everything that she would like to do.”

He urged other parents to spend time with their children, as he said often times children just need support.

“So to the parents outside there, you all need to spend a little time with your children, have a little discussion, find out what is going on with their school life, their normal everyday life, because some of them you might not even know,” he said.

“You all need to sit by the table and the children might need a little support, you might not have to be involved in the school work but offer them some support.”

Fed up of alleged police inaction over a spate of robberies in his community, a Freeport pensioner went to a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) meeting on Tuesday hoping to air his grievances.

Instead, he was accosted at gunpoint by two bandits, who waited for him outside the meeting and demanded the keys to his vehicle.

The man, who is not being identified for security reasons, panicked, threw his keys in some nearby bushes and began shouting for help, causing the gun-wielding bandits to flee the scene.

The drama unfolded outside the Three Roads Development Facility, Mission Road, Freeport, around 8 pm Tuesday, as PCA director David West held the authority’s first outreach programme since deputy director Michelle Solomon-Baksh was appointed last Thursday.

Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie addressed the attendees briefly, welcoming West to the constituency.

The victim, who is 79-years-old, left the meeting shortly after 8 pm, after West had called the proceedings to an end. He had parked his car opposite the centre and upon returning to the car, he noticed another vehicle parked directly behind him.

“When the meeting finished, I leave to go home, and I walk out and gone by the car. I see a car park up behind me but all I did was open my driver side door. I see the car starting to pull off from behind me, so I stand aside for the car to pass properly,” he recounted.

“When they pulled aside me, the man put down the glass and push out a gun at me and start saying, ‘Give me the keys, give me the keys,’ over and over again.”

Afraid for his life but adamant the bandits would not get the better of him, he threw his keys away and began to shout for help.

“I pelt away the keys over the wall and start to bawl for somebody to come help me, when they realise I wasn’t staying quiet, they drive off and gone.”

He said he was in shock at the incident and could not recall the license plate of the vehicle the men were in. He said one of his neighbours along the Freeport Mission Road was also robbed on Tuesday evening.

“I am concerned about my community, just last week two bandits went into my relative’s yard and was walking and looking into the cars parked up. Then just this evening they break into my neighbour house, so is like everywhere we go, they following now.”

Councillor for Freeport/Chickland Anil Baliram was standing outside the centre at the time, and upon hearing the man’s cries for help ran into the building and raised an alarm while other residents assisted the man in retrieving his keys.

Tewarie contacted the Freeport police and later told the T&T Guardian the man was lucky the bandits did not shoot him.

“It is really ironic that this man would walk out of this meeting and he would have two bandits waiting for him, one with a gun and he took his key and threw it away when they asked him for the key,” Tewarie said. “And he is very lucky that one of the bandits did not shoot him - he is very lucky to be alive and not wounded because I think it was a very dangerous situation there.”

He was also critical of the Freeport police, noting they took too long to respond to the call.

“It just shows the kind of problems that we are dealing with in this society, one is the issue of crime on one hand and the other is the issue of police response, because I called the police and they have not arrived yet.”

He said he placed a call to the station around 8.05 pm but the officers responded some 30 minutes later.

“And the other thing is the follow-up, because no one was injured, it is difficult to say if the police will follow up and try to catch the perpetrators.”

Asked if he thinks the incident warrants security at PCA outreach meetings in the future, PCA head West said, “Well I think it was an isolated incident, we never had anything like that before.”

He said he spoke to officers who responded on the night and they told him the incident may have been perpetrated by a group of men in the area who have been harassing residents. However, West said if police are present at future meetings it will deter the public from making their complaints.

“There can be no police presence. If the police are there the people who are attending will not feel comfortable about complaining against the officers in their district.”

...Body wants more teeth to probe cops

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is proposing an amendment to the act it is governed by so the authority can visit the scene where police officers shoot civilian suspects and be allowed to take and carry away evidence away from those scenes.

PCA head David West also wants the act to be amended so they can function for up to three months without a deputy director. The PCA was shut down on May 8 when then deputy director Andrew Stroude resigned to take up a post as a judge of the Industrial Court.

West was speaking during a community outreach programme at the Three Roads Development Facility, Mission Road, Freeport, on Tuesday evening. This was the first outreach since the authority’s new deputy director, Michelle Solomon-Baksh, was appointed last Thursday.

“We would like the authority to be immediately called to the scene where a civilian is shot by a police officer and be able to monitor the actions of the police and members of the public,” he said.

He said from October 3, 2016 up until July 3, 2017, there had been 29 fatal police shootings.

“We can see we have already increased - we would like that when there is a fatal shooting, the most senior officer on the scene contacts the Commissioner of Police, then the Commissioner contacts myself, the deputy director or someone appointed by us, who would then contact our investigators and tell them where this incident took place and they would then go down and monitor the officers and see what is happening.”

On May 8, 2017, all PCA investigations were put on hold pending the appointment of a new PCA deputy director.

On Tuesday, West said he hopes the act governing the PCA will be amended to let the authority continue to function even if there is no deputy director.

“For example, when the last deputy director resigned the PCA was shut down for three months - we are proposing that if in the event of the death, resignation etcetera of a deputy director, the PCA shall be duly constituted and can continue to act for a period of three months,” West said.

“So that is not too long that the director can abuse the power (of the authority), so it is a short period of time, we hope that we can have this amendment passed or part of it so the PCA does not have to be shut down.”

Other amendments proposed:

1 - To permit the authority to enter and search a public place and seize and carry away any evidence that may be found therein.

2 - To amend the section 44 of the Act by imposing a duty on the Commissioner of Police to provide a written decision with reasons to the authority within three months of the authority making a recommendation pursuant to that section.

3 - To provide the commission, the Commissioner of Police, the Assistant Commissioner of Police to immediately inform the authority of matters related to Section 21(1)(a) of the PCA Act and to require each of them, where such information is given, to produce a written report thereon within three days of the date the information was provided to the authority. Furthermore, to provide the measure(s) of recourse should either of the parties identified fail in their obligation.

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.

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.

When the new school term opens in September, all sugary drinks including soft drinks will be banned from schools across the country. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the move was aimed at converting schools to healthy zones.

Deyalsingh was speaking to the media after addressing attendees at a one-week residential camp hosted by the Diabetes Association of T&T at the Preysal Secondary School yesterday. President Anthony Carmona and his wife, Reema Carmona, also attended the event, where she delivered the feature address.

“We have to recognise that we have a crisis on our hands when it comes to juvenile diabetes and childhood obesity, one of the drivers of that is an unhealthy lifestyle,” Deyalsingh said.

“An awareness campaign will be part of the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) programme we are rolling out. It has started already, we have already conducted the Body Mass Index (BMI) study of over 5,000 students which started last year and we have banned the sale of sugary drinks in schools, we are already doing the Diabetes in Pregnancy programme, so all of these things have already started and more and more initiatives will be rolled out.

“So a part of the Non-Communicable Diseases programme is to encourage children to lead a healthier lifestyle, which includes what they drink, what they eat and how they exercise or don’t exercise.”

Deyalsingh said healthier options are to be introduced in schools instead. Through the programme, the Health Ministry will also seek to change the menus of free school meals provided by the Ministry of Education.

He said energy drinks are also going to be banned.

“It also includes the banning of the sale of energy drinks, we have to recognise that too many of our young people are drinking too many of these energy drinks which are not good for them, so we are also banning that from school cafeterias, especially for our secondary school children.”

While energy drinks will remain for sale on the open market, Deyalsingh said the ministry will be launching a public education to show the dangers of consuming those drinks.

A South Oropouche man will appear in the Siparia Magistrates’ Court tomorrow charged with the murder of 17-year-old David Sancaro. The accused is a 37-year-old mechanic.

Sancaro, of St Mary’s Village, South Oropouche, was run over by a van on July 16 following an altercation at a bar.

According to reports, at around 9 pm on July 16, Sancaro and two of his friends, Stephen Tannis, 22, and Kadeem Elliot, 14, both of Fyzabad intervened when they saw a man allegedly physically abusing his female companion at a bar. The trio were liming along the Southern Main Road, Otaheite at the time.

When they intervened, the man allegedly grabbed a cutlass and chased them. The youngsters fled and the man followed in his Ford Ranger pickup. Sancaro’s friends were able to jump into a ditch to escape but Sancaro, who had recently had a minor surgery was unable to follow them.

The man allegedly hit Sancaro with the van and then reversed the vehicle on his body.

When the man tried to run over Sancaro a second time, Tannis and Elliot began pelting the vans with stones. The man drove off and later reported the matter to the Oropouche Police.

Sancaro was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he died while receiving treatment. He was laid to rest on Wednesday after a service at Guide’s Crematorium in San Fernando.

Just over a month after the Chance family had to be rescued from rising flood waters at their Sunrees Road, Penal, home, they awoke yesterday morning to murky brown flood waters at their doorstep. Sameer Ali, his common-law wife Ramrajie Chance, who is five months pregnant and their five young children are back in the tiny squatter’s shack located on the edge of a lagoon because they are yet to receive the help promised by the Housing Development Corporation.

On June 20, during the passage of Tropical Storm Bret, flood waters entered the small wooden house and the floorboards and walls were saturated, leaving the house uninhabitable and many of the family’s meagre possessions destroyed.

The family was temporarily housed in the La Costena Activity Centre for seven days before they moved back into their home.

On June 25, the HDC sent a team to visit the family and promised to get back to them after doing an assessment. However, Ali said they have heard no word from HDC since.

Yesterday Ali said he contacted the Disaster Management Unit of the Penal/Debe Corporation and was told to seek shelter with friends and family. He said he also contacted Councillor Shanty Boodram who sent T&T Fire Service officers to the house.

“The last time we were removed from the house and put in the community centre, the very next day we start to feel like we was a burden to them. Every day was some new problem.”

“We staying here for now, the water is not inside the house yet but it rising slowly, hopefully it don’t reach inside.”

Pregnant Ramrajie had to carefully walk through the flood waters balancing on the wooden steps of the house, carrying a small plastic basin to fill with water to wash dishes. The eldest of her daughters, who is ten, volunteered to do the washing up instead and stood on plastic crates to reach a makeshift sink in the yard.

“If we had friends and relatives to turn to, we would have never gone to the shelter in the first place,” Chance said. “We are begging them again, please help us to get somewhere better to live.”

With the help of private citizens, Ali was able to replace the old wooden walls of the house with new sheets of plyboard a week after the storm. However, they still don’t have access to running water or electricity and their outhouse was under flood water yesterday with faeces overflowing into the yard.

“We were happy to get the help to fix up the house but the rainy season only now start and it look like we going to get plenty more flood. We can’t stay here with these children like this,” Chance said.

Ali said the flooding is caused by a river behind the house which has not been cleaned in years.

“A few years ago they used to always be cleaning the river. We used to get a little water in the yard but not this kinda flood. They need to do something about the river too,” he said.

HDC chairman Newman George told the T&T Guardian an assessment had been done a report was sent to line Minister Randall Mitchell for review. However, he did not have any further information on the case.

When contacted, Mitchell said he recalled the case but did not have any details on hand to share. He referred questions to HDC managing director Brent Lyons.

Lyons said the assessment on the family revealed much more than a need for housing and recommendations were made for other agencies and ministries to intervene.

“When we had that incident, Tropical Storm Bret, we did an intervention and our intervention revealed much more than a story of housing. This is a story where they needed a lot of social intervention which we made recommendations for all of those to be dealt with.

“For instance the issue of the children not attending school, the issue of income and unemployment. There are some other issues that I don’t want to share that require intervention by different state agencies which we made recommendations for,” he said.

Lyons said at the time of the intervention, the family asked for assistance to rebuild their home.

“As it relates to housing, what they had asked for was to be assisted with material to rebuild. We didn’t provide that but my understanding is that material was provided by some other good Samaritans and so that is pretty much where it’s at,” he said.

“When we went to do the intervention, what they said is that if they get housing, they will be happy but their request was for material to rebuild where they were. If now the request is specific to housing,we will have to take a look at that.”

Lyons said another intervention will be initiated in the coming week to assess the family for a home.

Brennon Rampersad was freed yesterday of the 2007 charge of causing the death of his friend and neighbour, Craig Harripersad.

Harripersad, 15 was a passenger in a  white Sunny sedan driven by Rampersad, then 18, on May 12, 2007 when Rampersad lost control of the vehicle and ploughed into a truck driven by Birsingh Gadraj.

Harripersad died while receiving treatment at hospital the following day.

The trial against Rampersad, who is now a fire officer attached to the Siparia Fire Station, began on July 13 before Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo in the San Fernando High Court.

Yesterday, the jury deliberated for one hour and 40 minutes before returning with a not-guilty verdict. Attorneys Kevin Ratiram and Chris Ramlal represented Rampersad, now 28, while state attorneys Shabana Shah and Norma Peters led the prosecution.

During the trial, PC Roger Fortune testified that he was a passenger in a police vehicle driving along the SS Erin Road when he witnessed a white Sunny car coming in the opposite direction at a fast speed.

Fortune said he alerted the driver of the police vehicle, Sgt Harry and Harry pulled their police vehicle to the extreme left of the roadway and stopped. He said the Sunny passed them at a high speed and then veered into their lane behind them, colliding with a truck that was also behind them. Fortune said he contacted the Siparia Police Station, the Fire Station and an ambulance. 

Also testifying for the prosecution, retired Cpl Khalif Karim said he was received a report on the day of the accident and when he went on the scene, he observed the front of the white Sunny car pinned under the front of the truck. He said he saw four occupants in the car including Rampersad who was in the driver’s seat.

He said after fire officers used the Jaws of Life to free the occupants and Rampersad came out of the vehicle, he asked him how the accident had happened. Karim testified that Rampersad told him he came around the corner, lost control of his vehicle and collided with the truck.

But defence witness, Rampersad’s uncle Avelino Montano testified that on the day of the accident, he received a message and went to the scene with his cousin, Steve. He said when he got there, he saw Rampersad in the drivers seat and the steering wheel of the car was pinned against him. The car’s windshield had been shattered in the accident.

He said he and Steve climbed onto the car’s bonnet and through the space where the windshield would have been, they pulled the steering up and away from Rampersad. Montano said the steering budged a small distance and Rampersad began to cough up blood. He said he then lifted Rampersad out of the car where he was placed on a stretcher and taken away by ambulance.

Montano said at no time did Rampersad ever speak to anyone at the scene as he appeared to be unconscious.

Last Wednesday, Rampersad testified on his own behalf, telling the jury he was driving on the day when he came to the corner. He said he slowed to about 30 miles per hour and then began accelerating again. He said as he turned the corner, he saw a police van about six feet in front of him in his lane coming towards him.

He said he also saw a truck on the opposite lane. He said the police van appeared closer than the truck and he panicked and instinctively pulled to the left to avoid colliding with the police vehicle.

He testified that he felt a vibration on his steering wheel and saw he was headed to a ditch on the side of the road. He then pulled to the right to try to get the car back on the road. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital.

He said due to injuries sustained in the accident, he was unable to walk until about five months later. He said he couldn’t immediately remember the accident and around mid-August 2007, he began getting flashbacks as to how the accident happened.

For his part in the robbery of a passenger in his vehicle in 2016, Edmund Sewlal was sentenced yesterday to six years hard labour.

His co-accused, Felix Bhola, was sentenced to four years hard labour.

Both men were on trial for the robbery with aggravation of a 54-year-old man on July 12, 2016.

They were both found guilty before Magistrate Cheryl Ann Antoine in the San Fernando First Magistrates Court yesterday.

The trial began on July 3, 2017 before Antoine.

Attorney Ainsley Lucky appeared on behalf of Bhola, 39 while Sewlal, who is 49, was unrepresented. Sewlal, of Pascal Road, Gasparillo, and Bhola of Tabaquite were charged by PC Lyndon Ramcharan of the Gasparillo Police Station.

During the trial, the court heard that on around 10.30 pm July 12, 2016, Sewlal was driving a Mazda hatchback vehicle in which Bhola was a back seat passenger and a third unidentified man was the front seat passenger.

Under the pretense that he was working ‘PH’ taxi, Sewlal picked up the victim along the Gasparillo Link Road. The victim asked to be taken to Marabella but instead, on reaching close to Reform Junction, Sewlal pulled to the left side of the road and stopped. 

The court heard that the man sitting in the front seat pulled out a cutlass and told the victim “Pass everything you have.”

The victim handed over $260 in cash, a Nokia cell phone valued $300, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

The front seat passenger then instructed the man to get out of the car, while Sewlal also came out of the vehicle and opened the trunk. He told the court that he opened the trunk so the victim would not see the vehicle’s number plate as he drove off.

Both Sewlal and Bhola had claimed they had no part to play in the robbery and it was done solely by the unidentified third person.

However, in handing down the sentence, Antoine told Sewlal that being the driver of the vehicle, he had some control of the environment.

Sewlal, a father of three has ten previous convictions of a similar nature which were taken into consideration for sentencing. Bhola, however, had no convictions or pending matters before the court.

A Princes Town man was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail for the buggery of his four-year-old cousin in 2006. When he is released from prison he will undergo counselling for three years and programmes will be put in place to treat him.

Sitting in the San Fernando High Court yesterday, Justice Althea Alexis Windsor sentenced the man to two years and eight months on the charge of grievous sexual assault and one year each on two charges of buggery. He will serve a total of one year and six months in jail.

The accused was 15-years-old when the two incidents occurred in 2005 and 2006.

The grievous sexual assault and one count of buggery occurred sometime between April 2005 and April 2006. A second count of buggery occurred sometime in 2006.

The man pleaded guilty to both charges in the San Fernando High Court on May 29. He was represented by attorney Ainsley Lucky while State attorneys Sabrina Dougdeen-Jalgal and Sarah De Silva prosecuted. 

High Court judge David Harris will rule on September 28 whether former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar can take legal action against the Judicial Legal Services Commission (JLSC) and President Anthony Carmona over her resignation in April.

Ayers-Caesar is seeking a judicial review against the JLSC chaired by Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Carmona, challenging what she said was her forced resignation as a judge, deeming it to be illegal. The matter came up for hearing in the San Fernando High Court before Harris yesterday.

Ayers-Caesar was represented by Senior Counsel, Ramesh Lawrence-Maharaj and his legal team. The application, inclusive of a witness statement belonging to Ayers-Caesar, was filed last week.

Ayers-Caesar is also suing the JLSC and the Office of the Attorney General.

Attorneys Russell Martineau SC, Deborah Peake SC, Ian Benjamin and Ian Roach represented the JLSC while Reginald Armour SC, Ravi Hesses-Doon and Ravi Nanga appeared the Office of the Attorney General.

Ayers-Caesar, took the oath before President Carmona on April 12. She later tendered her resignation on April 27 and on that same day, Archie issued a statement accusing her of not making himself or the JLSC aware of the “full extent of her obligation in the Magistrates’ Court before she was sworn in.” 

In reference to some 53 part-heard matters that Ayers-Caesar had pending at the Magistrates’ Court, Archie accused her of failing “to manage the transition from the magistracy to the High Court in a way which ensured that undue hardship was not placed on stake holders.”

Yesterday, Maharaj presented the application for leave to file for judicial review on Ayers-Caesar’s behalf, telling the court that she had been forced to sign a resignation letter that had been written for her by the CJ’s secretary on April 27, 2017.

He said an appointment had been made for her to meet Carmona by the JLSC. He said both of these things, among others, constituted a breach of the Section 137 of the Constitution which states a judge can only be removed from office for misbehaviour and an inability to perform the function of office.

He submitted that the actions of the JLSC and Carmona were unlawful and unfair to Ayers-Caesar and amounted a constructive dismissal and constructive removal from her position as a judge. He further submitted the actions of both parties threatened the judicial independence and security of tenure of judges.

Harris ordered that the JLSC and the AG’s office file their responses to the application on or before September 8, 2017. Maharaj was given 14 days after that to file any response to the two parties.

The matter was then set for hearing on September 28, 2017 at the Port-of-Spain High Court. 

Christopher Julien, the man who exposed himself to students at a primary school in San Fernando on two occasions, was sentenced to a total of 20 months with hard labour when he appeared in court yesterday.

Julien, 39, was arrested in May for indecently exposing himself in front of a boy’s primary school, after police officers saw him standing with his jersey raised and his pants and underwear at his knees. He was holding his private part in his hand. When he was arrested, Julien reportedly told the officers, “I like them lil children.”

The officer held onto his hand to arrest him, but Julien began pulling away in a violent manner, eventually freed himself and began to run away from the officers. He was caught a short distance away. He was also charged with resisting arrest and escaping lawful custody.

Julien had also been charged in March for exposing himself while standing opposite the Anstey Memorial Girls’ Anglican School and sentenced to 60 days in prison. Several months before that, he was sentenced to 40 days in jail for exposing himself to a woman. He also has prior convictions for possession of cocaine and marijuana.

When he appeared in court on May 22, Senior Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine sent Julien for psychiatric evaluation at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital. Yesterday when he went before the court, Antoine said the report found that he was fit to plead.

Antoine said since Julien had already spent two months in custody awaiting the evaluation and the maximum penalty for indecent exposure was 60 days in jail, she would place him on a three-year bond on that charge. On the charge of resisting arrest, she sentenced him to 18 months hard labour and for escaping lawful custody he was sentenced to two months hard labour.

The sentences are to run concurrently so Julien will serve a total of 18 months behind bars.

Works Minister Rohan Sinanan says based on the feedback he has been getting on the use of the Cabo Star vessel, it is more than adequate to service the sea bridge between Trinidad and Tobago.

Sinanan was speaking at the commissioning of a bridge along the Torrib Tabaquite Road and tour of the constituency yesterday. Tabaquite MP Dr Surujrattan Rambachan accompanied Sinanan for the commissioning. Construction of the $28.5 million bridge began when Rambachan was Works Minister under the People’s Partnership government.

“The feedback from the truckers, the Tobago chamber and the stakeholders is that they are quite comfortable with the vessel itself,” Sinanan said.

He said they could not leave Trinidad on the normal 12 o’clock schedule. However, “as of today (Saturday), today is a rest day for the vessel, so once they start back the schedule will go back to the normal routine from tomorrow.

“The vessel is working as expected, the capacity, based on the feedback I am getting, it is much more than adequate and the passengers are very comfortable, it is taking significantly more passengers.”

Asked about future plans for servicing the sea bridge, Sinanan said the Government has a threefold plan which will culminate in the purchase of a vessel.

“We said from day one that is it a threefold—short term, which is the rental for one year; medium term ,which is a three-year rental; and the long term is the acquisition. Now that we have the short term in place, the medium term I am sure they will start on that procurement and they are in the process of liaising with the World Bank and other stakeholders to ensure that we inspect the correct vehicle for the purchase sometime later on.”

He said that process has already started, led by the Port Authority of T&T and its chairman, Allison Lewis.

He said although the cost of leasing the ferries are steep, the sea bridge needs to be serviced so Government had little choice.

“The thing about it is, the Tobago sea bridge is very important to both Trinidad and Tobago and it is something we would love to have a reduced price on but unfortunately because of the time, because of the emergency, there was a tender out there there was a procurement process and that is what was available. This is why we are going after a three-year time charter and we expect in a three-year time charter where we have more times for bids, we should get a better price.”

He said the ministry expects to construct and open 12 new bridges soon and construct another 24 in the coming fiscal year.

“We do have an ongoing programme, most of the bridges are almost at the stage of completion we have some challenges obviously with the funding, it has slowed the programme a bit, but the programme is ongoing. We are in the process now where we have 12 more bridges at the point of being awarded and then we are doing a new programme for another 24 bridges for the next fiscal year.”