Category Archives: Crime in T&T

The Soul of the Nation

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 16, 2018

“The dicta coming out of Puttaswamy emphasized the fact that sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy which is inextricably linked to human dignity.” —Justice Devindra Rampersad

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA nation is a strange phenomenon. It takes many strands to make it whole. When so many things are going wrong in the nation and there seems to be little room for hope, little things happen that allows hope to blossom and points to what we can achieve if we only put our minds to it.
Continue reading The Soul of the Nation

Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ

By Corey Gilkes
April 03, 2002 – trinicenter.com

EasterFor many of the faithful, god-fearing Christians around the world, the resurrection of the Christ is central to that faith they hold so dear. Every year around March-April dramas are re-enacted commemorating the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus put on by devotees as a form of renewal. Like everything else that goes with religious matters, most Xians are blissfully ignorant about the true origins of this, the central theme of their faith. Coloured eggs are given to friends and the bunny is the animal associated with Easter but little thought is spared for the study of the roots of these traditions and the relationship Xianity shares with the “pagan” world it forever disrespects.
Continue reading Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ

La Brea massacre suspect captured

La Brea massacre suspect captured
The TTPS tweeted: “The suspect in the gruesome murders of four people on Tuesday at Sobo Village, La Brea, is held at around 9:10 a.m. (18.03.18) walking along a roadway leading out of St Albans Quarry, located 200 metres off the Valencia Stretch.”

BONE-CHILLING. Blood-curdling. Horrific.

Newsday Editorial
March 16, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

ViolenceMere days after the commemoration of International Women’s Day, the nation is now coming to terms with a crime the nature of which sets a new low in our country.

Yet again, the case involves reports of a jilted lover — a man who felt the gruesome massacre of innocent people was a just reward for being rejected by a woman.
Continue reading La Brea massacre suspect captured

Questions over shooting of gay man with links to Trinidad judge

UPDATE: MARCH 19, 2018: ‘Johnson planned hit on WASA official’
CJ’s close friend a suspect in 2 murders, says police report sent to UK…
ACTING Police Commissioner Ste­phen Williams has said it is alleged convicted fraudster Dillian Johnson, a close friend of Chief Justice Ivor Archie, who planned a hit on an official of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).

Dillian Johnson fears being killed for sexuality and is seeking asylum in the UK after attack

By Robert Booth
Wed 28 Feb 2018 09.11 EST – theguardian.com

Dillian Johnson and Chief Justice Ivor ArchieLawyers in Trinidad and Tobago are challenging the conduct of the country’s top judge, following questions about his relationship with a man who was shot in an ambush and is now seeking asylum in the UK.

The Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago is investigating allegations involving the chief justice, Ivor Archie, after local media queried his conduct in relation to Dillian Johnson, 36, who survived a night-time shooting outside his home in December. Johnson fled Trinidad to the UK three weeks after the shooting and says he fears for his life if he is forced to return.
Continue reading Questions over shooting of gay man with links to Trinidad judge

No guns in our schools

By Raffique Shah
February 27, 2018

Raffique ShahWhile I empathise with the trainee teacher who was robbed at gunpoint on her school’s compound last Wednesday morning—I suffered a similar fate at my home back in 2002—I do not understand why people are shocked by the brazen, early morning robbery.

If we feel schools should be sacrosanct, that bandits and other criminals should show respect for our institutes of education, perish the thought. Some parents, teachers and students have long jettisoned that notion by their misbehavior, and students’ brawls captured on the ubiquitous phone-video-cameras are among the most popular fare uploaded onto sundry so-called social media Internet sites, providing perverse entertainment for people who seem to spend all their waking hours digesting cyber-garbage.
Continue reading No guns in our schools

“Christmas” killed, residents protest

By Ryan Hamilton-Davis
February 20, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

Akeil “Christmas” is dead, and Port of Spain residents are not happy about it.

Police allegedly shot a man with that alias during the hours of last night, and in response, residents have taken to the streets in fiery protest, burning debris and blocking major roads which lead to the capital.
Continue reading “Christmas” killed, residents protest

FBI tip on terror threat

By Nalinee Seelal
February 17, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

Trini ISIS fightersUS law-enforcement officers, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), tipped off TT’s Special Branch and the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) in December last year on plans by a certain group of local Muslims to bomb the US Embassy in Port of Spain between Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
Continue reading FBI tip on terror threat

Mad, mad Trinidad

By Raffique Shah
February 13, 2018

Raffique ShahWhen opposition and government parliamentarians jointly pursue any issue that seems to be of national importance, I become very suspicious. Recently, when they did in the instances of the passing of former President Max Richards and election of Justice Paula Mae Weekes to the presidency, I expressed my fears in this space. Now that they have unanimously appointed a special select committee of six MPs them to probe the fiasco that the appointment of a Commissioner of Police is turning out to be, I smell a rotting rat whose putrid stench permeates both political parties, some commissions and commissioners, and possibly holders of high office who are aiming to go higher and higher.
Continue reading Mad, mad Trinidad

$$ FOR FB POSTS

By Jada Loutoo
February 06, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

Justice Frank SeepersadSocial media users beware. You may have to pay if your posts are found to be defamatory. The warning came from Justice Frank Seepersad who yesterday ordered a woman who posted defamatory statements on Facebook, to compensate an entire family. She was sued after a series of post appeared on her page in 2016.
Continue reading $$ FOR FB POSTS

Abdicating One’s Responsibility

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 30, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am a bit stunned—ashamed is a better word—that the prime minister admits his inability to combat the most existential problem that faces our country. The prime minister declares: “I have noted the number of murders taking place and being reported in the newspaper daily…. I am being held responsible when it is the police service that has the power and authority to go after the criminals.”
Continue reading Abdicating One’s Responsibility