2010-01-05 “Stalin’s daughter outwits abductors.”

Stalin’s daughter outwits abductors.
By Sascha Wilson
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 5 Jan 2010

The daughter of calypso icon Leroy “Black Stalin” Caliste escaped kidnappers by jumping out of a moving car in Pleasantville, off San Fernando, on Sunday night. Keina Caliste, 32, was the first person to be kidnapped for the new year. She was grabbed around 10.40 pm as she arrived home from steelpan practice at TCL Skiffle Bunch panyard on Coffee Street, San Fernando. Yesterday, her mother Patsy said Keina was very traumatised and was resting at their Turton Street, Cross Crossing, San Fernando, home. “We had to give her tablets to calm down. She doesn’t even know herself.”

Relating what her daughter told her, Patsy said Keina had just arrived home in her silver Nissan Almera car. She was opening the gate when a car pulled up behind her. Two men, one of whom was armed with a gun, alighted, grabbed her, and bundled her into the back seat of her own car and sped off. “They drove her all around San Fernando and they took all her things like her bank card, her identification card, money. Everything she had on her. “As they were approaching Skinner Park, she ask them to take the car and put her out. They said no; they not ready yet,” her mother said. Upon reaching close to the Licensing Office, she said Keina opened the door and jumped out. She ran to a house where she was assisted by a woman. They then called the police.

2010-01-05 “Stalin’s daughter escapes kidnappers.”

Stalin’s daughter escapes kidnappers.
By Cecily Asson
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Tuesday, January 5 2010

The search is on for two men, one of them armed with a gun, who police said abducted the daughter of five-time calypso monarch Black Stalin (Leroy Calliste) from outside her San Fernando home on Sunday night.

Keinya Calliste, 32, of Turton Street, San Fernando was bundled into her own silver Nissan Almera car and driven away by the men who police believed followed her to her front gate.

She, however, managed to escape her abductors by jumping out the car as the men sped off, a report stated. Police are yet to recover the stolen vehicle.

Calliste, a pannist with TCL Skiffle Bunch, had returned home from practice at the panyard on Coffee Street, San Fernando at about 10.40 pm when two men wearing ski masks pounced on her as she got out to open the gate to the garage. One of them had a gun.

Police said the car had an anti-theft device and when the men couldn’t start the ignition they pointed the gun at Calliste, bundled her back into the car, ordered her to start it then drove off with her.

As they approached Balisier Avenue, Pleasantville, Calliste managed to open a door and jumped out. She went to the home of a resident, who immediately alerted her relatives and the police.

Newsday learnt that during the abduction, the men told Calliste they would drop her off but warned her against reporting the matter to the police.

Calliste was too distraught to give interviews her mother Patsy said yesterday.

“It has left her very traumatised, but thank God she was not hurt. You hear about it happening to other people all the time but when it hits you, it is not a nice feeling. It is very painful,” Patsy said. Calliste, she said, was snatched in front of the gate leading to their two-storey house.

“She drove up here and came out to open the gate and bring in the car,” Patsy said.

“Two men came out of a white car, one of them had a gun and they confronted her. They just bundled her back into the car. I don’t know what they had in mind to do with her, but the fact that they went with her means that they kidnapped her,” she said.

“Her sister had heard her come to the gate, but minutes later when she looked out again saw them bundling her into the vehicle and driving off. From what she said, the men told her she had to go with them.”

Patsy said she was told the kidnappers demanded her daughter’s bank card and personal identification number (PIN). “She took no further chances and chose to jump out of the vehicle and went to someone’s house in the area where she told a woman what had happened. It was from there that she contacted us.” Patsy praised the police for their swift response.

Newsday was told the men attempted to drop Calliste off near Skinner Park, but the area was well lit and busy with customers at burger carts.

Investigations are continuing.

2010-01-03 “Tecia’s killing—year’s most heart-rending.”

Tecia’s killing—year’s most heart-rending.
By Akile Simon
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 3 Jan 2010

Out of the 507 reported murders for 2009, the killing of a ten-year-old Laventille girl, has been described a the most “heart-rending” homicide for the year. The incident was also condemned by Prime Minister Patrick Manning. Many would recall the morning of June 17, when the bloated body of Tecia Henry was found stuffed in a hole, under a house, a stone’s throw away from her Essex Street, John John, home. Henry had gone missing three days earlier, after her mother, Dianne, sent her to make a purchase at a nearby shop.

For days, villagers searched the area for the child, but to no avail. Incensed over the ghastly murder, hundreds of John John residents crossed “enemy territory” and surrounded several apartments at Block Eight, demanding that her alleged killer, Ricardo “Docs” McCarthy, come outside and face the angry mob. Within minutes, McCarthy ended up in the hands of residents, who broke down the door to his apartment. He was badly beaten and had to be rescued by police. Tecia’s killing was the only homicide scene which attracted more than 200 law enforcement officers.

As McCarthy was led away in handcuffs, he shouted: “Is not me; is not me.” After he was released from police custody, McCarthy never returned to John John. Instead, he decided to hide out at a house on Belle Vue Road, Long Circular, St James. On July 5, McCarthy was found shot to death in a track leading towards his house of refuge. He was never charged with Tecia’s killing, because of a lack of evidence, and his killing remains unsolved, so far.

Five one time
On the morning of September 13, five men attending a birthnight party at La Cabana Club in Eccles Trace, Knowles Street, Curepe, were shot dead by two gunmen. Their killing was the biggest total in a single shooting incident for 2009. The victims were Ray James, 23, of Jackson Street in Curepe and Poinsettia Road, Macoya; Damien Punnette, 24, of Knowles Street in Curepe; Hakeem Vickles, 17, of Bell-Smythe Street, also in Curepe; Keron Charles, 24, of Arnos Vale Road in Moriah, Tobago, and Glen Morris, 26, of Bertie Road in Five Rivers, Arouca.

In that incident, close to 60 other persons at the party had to scamper for safety, as gunshots rang out. Kerwin Parris, 21, and Grima Selassie, 16, both of Arouca, were also wounded in the incident. Police mounted a nationwide hunt for two suspects, Tyron Randy Brown, aka “T” and “Spoon,” and Hamza Lovell Friday, members of a gang known as “The Paparazzi”. Both men were shot dead during an alleged exchange of gunfire with police of the North-Eastern Division Task Force at a house on Sawmill Avenue, Barataria, four days later.

Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert said Brown was wanted in connection with close to 20 homicides along the East-West Corridor.
Police quickly solved the Curepe killings after the suspects were positively identified by witnesses, at the Forensic Sciences Centre, as the men who shot and killed the victims. The La Cabana killings, police said, appeared to be a reprisal for an attack on a 21-year-old man, who was severely chopped while liming at a bar on Watts Street in Curepe. James, officers said, was the gunmen’s target after he was identified as one of the suspects involved in the chopping.

2010-01-03 “Kidnap victim: I saw Jesus. God wants me to reach out to Oprah, says Debbie Ali.”

Kidnap victim: I saw Jesus. God wants me to reach out to Oprah, says Debbie Ali.
By Yvonne Baboolal
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 3 Jan 2010

While being held captive by kidnappers, she felt like she died, went to heaven, and saw Jesus. “I felt my life leaving me, but at no point did I cease to be who I am. I was taken to a place where there was rest, release, peace. “Nothing like pain there; no fear, no anxiety. Sadness and grief? It was impossible to feel those things. “I tried to feel sad about leaving my children, but I couldn’t,” kidnap survivor, Debbie Ali, told the Sunday Guardian last week. Ali said she must have been “dead” for about two hours, because she felt her life leave her around midday and her breath return in the early afternoon.

Kidnapped on December 5, 2006, from her Roystonia, Couva home, she reveals an astounding spiritual encounter she had during her two weeks of captivity in her soon-to-be-released book, “Bare Feet.” A former teacher who now describes herself as a writer, Ali has two children with her pilot husband. Although by no means wealthy, Ali was abducted and brutalised for ransom, news reports at the time stated. She says she was “mandated” by God to write the book and tell of her spiritual experience. She says she even heard God speaking to her in an audible voice, telling her how to market the book. “He told me to go to Oprah Winfrey and Obama with the book.” This may sound far-fetched to some, but Ali says she is now “only a phone call away” from making this a reality. “A lot of people will think I’m a nut case and will not believe me, but that doesn’t change the fact that the experience exists.”

Chained, raped, tortured
She was chained to a bed with a dog chain, raped and “tortured more than any woman could bear,” slapped, choked, kicked and cuffed.
“I had a pit bull maul me two, three nights. I had to keep dodging it, but it managed to bite out pieces of my hair. “I was blindfolded and didn’t see light for 14 days. I got eye and ear infections because of the sweat and tears. My vision has never been the same. “I was thrown into a hole in the ground and kept there for one day.” Ali tells all in raw, frank style in “Bare Feet,” which was a torment to write, she said. “It was like reliving the entire thing again. I would write one line and be sick for weeks. “It was not a healing process. Had it not been mandated to me to write this book, I would have never written it. “I had to tell of the spiritual experience I had while in captivity.

I felt my life pass away and leave my body. I’ve been to Heaven.”
It wasn’t just a state of mind she was in, either. “I saw, touched, tasted and felt,” Ali said. “I saw Jesus.” Asked to describe Him, she said after a pause, “He was like light and spirit with a human silhouette. “He lifted me and held me in His arms and nothing is comparable to that experience. “God wants me to write about the experience to show that He exists and He knows, sees and hears all that is done in darkness and in light, and that He saves. “The kidnapping was only a vehicle to expose this experience.” Her spiritual encounter is what gives her the will to live. “This experience I had in Heaven is what keeps me going. If I don’t relive it, I can’t get through the day. It reminds me of where I’m going.” Ali said nothing in the world had any meaning to her any more, including material possessions.

Non-existent case
Despite her heavenly encounter, Ali feels she has been permanently damaged by what the kidnappers did to her. “I don’t feel vindicated, in terms of justice being served. I heard through the grapevine that my case is not on the files; that it was closed because there is no evidence.” While Ali’s ordeal does not exist in the police files, it remains a nightmare that haunts her daily. “The experience goes into my family, my kids, my marriage, with long-term effects. “I don’t think I’ll ever be whole again. You really just can’t, after such an experience.” After three years, it has become easier to bear. But time had only eased the impact, Ali said. “I still take pills to go to sleep. I still have nightmares and wake up cold-sweating.” Ali sought the help of top T&T psychologists, but found none trained to deal with survivors of crime. She tried to set up a support group for female crime survivors, but had difficulty accessing funding. “I try to talk to women. The Anti-Kidnapping Unit used to refer women victims of crime to me.”

Daily terror
Ali still lives in the Roystonia home she was snatched from on December 5, her 30th birthday. Crime continues to plague the middle-income community located a stone’s throw from a Couva housing development, notorious for its criminal links. Residents lived in daily terror, Ali said, as break-ins and robberies occurred weekly. “Crime has escalated here to an unbelievable figure. People are robbed and beaten while jogging and have their houses broken into in broad daylight. “I was almost a victim a second time recently. I spotted a strange car making the rounds and called the AKU, and they came in 20 minutes. “The same vehicle was seen in another street later where a couple was held up at gunpoint and had their vehicle stolen.” Ali said almost every home in Roystonia was equipped with an alarm system, electronic gates, electrified fences and beefed-up burglarproofing. “You’re always on high alert, but no human is programmed to live like that.” Ali fears the crime situation will get worse this year with increased unemployment.

2010-01-01 “Colombians Trafficked to Trinidad and Tobago in 2009.”

Colombians Trafficked to Trinidad and Tobago in 2009.
Posted by: curbcrime
End Human Trafficking | January 1, 2010

Over the years that the sex trade has been in existence in Trinidad and Tobago, Colombian women and girls have developed the reputation of being both exotic and erotic.

As such, they have been most in demand in the field of prostitution, creating a strong ‘pull’ factor to a country which has one of the most stable economies in the Latin American region. Added to that, Trinidad and Tobago has a poor record of prosecution of prostitution so that brothels have operated untouched for decades.

The ‘push’ factors which encourage migration from Colombia include civil conflict, drug trafficking and extreme poverty among most of the 44 million persons who make up the population.

Throughout 2009 the Trinidad and Tobago government and the Colombian government reportedly improved relations in an effort to treat with the issue of sex trafficking.

However, several reports from the Colombian media have highlighted the treatment meted out to their nationals in Trinidad and Tobago who are possible victims of human trafficking.

One of the news reports published in September, 2009 alleged that up to 54 Colombian women who are victims of trafficking were being held in prison in Trinidad!

Another media report in December 2009 claimed that 26 Colombian women had been sexually exploited while detained in prison in Trinidad and Tobago.

2009-12-31 “T&T’s missing persons: Where have they gone?”

T&T’s missing persons: Where have they gone?
By Cherisse Moe
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 31 Dec 2009

They disappeared without a trace. Mysteriously gone from the face of the earth. Statistics from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit revealed that 904 people have been reported missing over the past year. Fifty three of those people have not been found. In 2008, the figures were just as worrisome with 610 people reported missing—48 of them remain unaccounted for. When the issue of human trafficking reared its ugly head again in March, the calls came fast and furious from almost ever sector of the society for the urgent implementation of legislation to deal with the issue.

The clamour grew when rumours surfaced that children were seen, packed like sardines, in large containers at the Port of Port-of-Spain. The word on the street was that the container was destined for Cuba and that the children were going to be exploited for labour and sex. However, the authorities quickly played down any assertions of human trafficking in T&T, insisting that “there was no evidence to suggest that people are being trafficked.” Still, the question remains: Where are T&T’s missing persons?

Gale Lammy: Where is my daughter?
Gale Lammy knows all too well the anguish that comes with losing a loved one. Her daughter, eight-year-old Leah Lammy went missing on February 10. Despite countless searches, including one led by acting Police Commissioner James Philbert, Leah has not been seen or heard from since. Salis Mack, a 33-year-old Cunupia PH driver has since been charged with Leah’s kidnapping. Mack, who has also been charged with stealing the child’s $1,700 cellphone, remains under 24-hour watch by Prisons officers at Remand Yard, Golden Grove, Arouca.

Meanwhile, Lammy said she has not given up hope that her daughter will be found. “She used to help me in the kitchen with the cooking for Christmas. She was always anxious to learn new things. All these things I’m missing. It’s very difficult for me. They took something that was precious to me without my consent. I feel the pain and hurt everyday,” she said, in a recent interview. “When I sit and study that she’s not here and I don’t know what is going on, it’s very hard to accept.” Lammy claimed the authorities have not contacted her to inform her of the status of her daughter’s case. “They seem to have given up. The police have not called me to tell me anything. I only hear updates about my daughter’s case over the news. It seems they have forgotten about me and my family. But I can’t forget because my daughter is still out there.”

Philbert: We are trying
Philbert says tackling the issue of missing persons remains high on his agenda. Describing the situation as a “major concern” he said the authorities have made significant changes to policies surrounding missing persons. Among the more critical initiatives were the amendment of the definition of a “missing person” and the implementation of specific procedures for receiving and closing a report, as well as the time-frame used for making a report. He said the Anti-Kidnapping Unit and the Homicide Bureau were being contacted immediately whenever a missing person report is received.

“There’s no longer a 24-hour wait period to make reports on missing persons. For kidnapping and murders, the homicide and Anti-Kidnapping Squad would collaborate and work in conjunction with the investigator. We publish faces of these persons in the media as soon as we get a photograph,” he said.
Philbert said due to the T&T’s escalating crime situation, these initiatives allowed for more immediate action from the police. Referring to the case of Leah Lammy, Philbert said the situation was “disturbing.” “The issue with Leah is something else. I want the family to know that we are doing all we can. These things grieve us just as much as it grieves the families.

“We never give up hope. Even though the case seems to be far fetched, we want them to know that we support them. We implore our police officers to work as hard as they can to bring closure.” Philbert also noted that the police service’s web site was being revamped and should be launched early in 2010. All pictures of missing persons, he assured, would be published there. Philbert also warned citizens to remain vigilant to safeguard themselves and their families against kidnappings and other crimes. “Just last week we had to get into quick action to rescue a two-year-old child. We’re moving faster in responding to these situations but people also need to be careful.”

More needed
Founding member of the MPA, Nathifa Mitchell, has again reiterated her call for greater support from the authorities when dealing with missing persons. Mitchell, whose aunt Lena Johnson, 35, went missing on November 8, 2008, accused the Police Service of turning a blind eye to the issue. “We don’t get any co-operation at all from the police. When we contact them for an event, we wish they would give us their support.
“Next year we will hold a public meeting to inform the family members and the public about our cause. We would be inviting someone in authority to answer some of the burning questions that families have pertaining their loved ones.” Mitchell said the association is also working to provide counselling for families of missing persons and will soon establish a web site where the pictures of all missing persons will be posted.

Help us
Meanwhile, CrimeStoppers’ general manager Keith Subero is appealing to citizens to report crimes they had witnessed. Subero said given T&T’s rising crime rate, the biggest challenge facing the organisation remained public confidence. “We face the issue of people being reluctant to come out and give the information. We’re calling for citizens to be more responsible. Please call our 24 hour call centre,” 800-Tips. He added, “Our system is safe and confidential and it’s part of an international network. We are one of over 1,500 crime stoppers units operating throughout the world in 35 countries.”

2009-12-26 “15 children still missing. Marc’s family living in misery.”

15 children still missing. Marc’s family living in misery.
By Richard Charan
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Saturday, December 26th 2009

When Tecia Henry’s decaying body was found on June 17, strangled, and stuffed in a hole under a neighbour’s house in Laventille, police closed the case on one missing child.

Still unsolved were 78 cases of children vanished since January 2006.

Despite what will almost certainly be a statistically significant drop in the number of all murders, Tecia’s will be recorded as one of a record number of child killings this year – 62 and counting.

How many children recorded missing are actually dead is unknown; there have been 361 child murders this decade.

How many of the missing had been kidnapped is also a mystery. This decade, 1,899 kidnappings have been reported. As of last month, according to figures kept by the police Crime and Problem Analysis Branch, 911 have been solved.

Police have dismissed suggestions of human trafficking. They believe the majority of cases are likely teenage runaways and the results of child-custody strife.

But there is reason for police to search for every missing child, as if that child was theirs, and never stop until there is an end – good or bad.

The reason is Marc Prescott, a child who, if alive, turned 13 years old this month.

Marc was taken from outside his school, the San Fernando Boys’ Government, one afternoon in May 2003.

That night, a telephone call came to the father, asking for $150,000 in exchange for the boy.

The man never called again. A search that police said extended to the Caribbean and North America went cold fast.

Marc’s mother had died when he was two.

Twin sisters, Cheyanne and Arianne, live with Marc’s surrogate mother, Lyncia Bailey, at Palmyra Village near San Fernando.

Life for them, is misery, their loss undiminished by time. Bailey said:

’We wait and we pray. This has changed us. Marc’s sisters are not allowed to go anywhere, not even with relatives. Why? Fear!’

Bailey suspects that someone known to the family took Marc, and she is certain the boy lives in Trinidad.

’It is hard to believe he could make it out of Trinidad (undetected). And if he is there, he should know that we remember. We talk about him for his birthday (December 10). This year his sisters bought him a Kiss cake, put candles on it…’

There is no rest.

’How can I when I don’t know he is safe? I wonder all the time where he is, who he is with. Maybe they are taking care of him. I can’t say’.

So Bailey and the girls do the best they can.

’It is something we can’t heal from, you see. Because we can’t find closure. So we live it, every second of every hour of every day. I don’t want anybody else to experience this. And I symphatise with all those who have lost loved ones this way because I know that, each day, they remember.’

In the year after the taking of Marc, seven children would be kidnapped for ransom. All made it back home, except Vijay Persad who remains missing.

’When Vijay’s family died (in a house fire last year) it was a very sad time for us,’ Bailey said. ’His parents died never knowing. I don’t want that to happen to me.’

So Bailey has appealed to citizens again.

’We hope whoever has him, whoever holding these (missing children) to find it in their hearts. Let them know they have disrupted a family, and they can still make amends. Let this story pierce their hearts, so they know they have done something wrong and bring him back to us.’

Note: If you have information on Marc Prescott, or any missing person, send a text message to 351-5256, or e-mail rcharan@trinidadexpress.com

Fact Box

As of December 22, says the Crime and Problem Analysis Branch, 888 persons had been reported missing in 2009 alone.

Of this, 834 returned home. 54 people have not.

The number of chidlren reported missing during this period is 433, of which 359 were females.

Thirteen of the missing were under the age of nine, and 181 were under the age of fourteen.

Fifteen of the children vanished this year are yet to be found.

2009-12-26 “Cops play Santa to rescued girl, 2.”

Cops play Santa to rescued girl, 2.
By Nalinee Seelal
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Saturday, December 26 2009

Seven police officers who rescued a two-year-old girl hours after she was snatched from her Maraval home last Sunday played Santa Claus and took the girl gifts and other goodies.

The officers, who are all attached to the recently formed Police 250 initiative and are all based in the Central Division, together with the Maraval police, took time off from their busy crime-fighting schedule and played Santa Claus to two-year-old Teja Pierre, who almost never left the safe arms of her mother at the Maraval home, yesterday.

Teja who celebrated her second birthday on December 8, was snatched at gunpoint by a man who demanded cash from her mother Mary Pierre.

Last Sunday at around midday the screaming child was taken to a shack at Jigger Hill, Maraval, and placed on a mattress by her kidnapper who then padlocked the shack and left the screaming child. Her frantic mother alerted the Maraval police and the entire community at Saddle Road, Maraval, formed themselves into little groups and combed all bushy areas with the hope of finding the girl.

A gardener, who lives close to the shack, was alerted to the whimpering of the child, who kept calling out “Mummy, mummy”.

The gardener paid no attention to the child and made his way to the Main Road where he awaited transport to take him to Maracas. While sitting on a bridge along the Saddle Road, he was met by a frantic man who asked him if he had seen a man running in the area with a child.

The gardener told the man that only minutes before he heard a child crying in a shack.

The man used his cell phone and alerted police.

At the same time seven officers from the 250 initiative, who had gone to the St James Barracks to refuel their vehicle, received a report on their wireless set about a baby being kidnapped in the Maraval area.

The seven officers, WPCs Ronella Alleyne, Raquel Smith, Lorraine Leopold, Kizzy Henry-Rigault, PCs Hakim Bullen, Sean Rosal and Lennon Augustine, all responded to the report and made contact with the gardener who led them to the shack where baby Teja lay asleep on a dirty mattress.

When she was placed in the arms of PC Bullen, the child cried out “I want my mummy, the man gone.” PC Bullen and the other officers took turns in reassuring the child that she was safe and will be taken to her mummy.

It was shortly after 2 pm, last Sunday, that a relieved Pierre was reunited with her daughter.

After Teja was rescued, Pierre wept openly and gave praise to the Almighty for sending the officers who rescued her youngest child.

The mother of three, accompanied by police officers, took baby Teja to a doctor where she was medically examined and given a clean bill of health.

Yesterday, Teja sat in the gallery of her Saddle Road Maraval home and played in a swimming pool bought for her by an uncle.

Her mother told Newsday that Christmas would never have been the same if her child was not safe and back home.

She said that she did not have time to purchase Christmas gifts for baby Teja but said none of that mattered since her greatest gift was having her daughter safely returned to her. Minutes after being interviewed by Newsday, a police vehicle with seven police officers arrived at the home of Pierre and like Santa Claus they all came with bags bearing gifts.

Teja who recognised the officers called some of the officers “Aunty” and screamed in delight when she was presented with dolls and other gifts.

WPC Raquel Smith, one of the seven officers who rescued the little girl, told Newsday that assisting in the rescue of baby Teja was one of her greatest achievements and she felt proud, not only of herself, but of the work of her colleagues who trekked deep into the hills of Maraval, anxious to find Teja.

She said, “Rescuing Teja is something we will never forget, and when the Commissioner of Police spoke about police partnering with the public this was put into action when the gardener led us to the shack where Teja was found. When we rescued Teja it was the greatest feeling we got as police officers because saving the life of an innocent child is like service to God.”

The seven officers cuddled Teja and played games with her before they left yesterday.

Pierre expressed thanks to the officers for their show of love to her daughter, adding she was pleased to see the softer side of the police.

She said that when the officers rescued her daughter she saw how emotionally charged they were and yesterday she again saw the same emotions when the officers presented her daughter with gifts. Pierre said since the incident she is afraid to leave her child alone and is calling on the police to find the man who abducted her child last Sunday. She is also appealing for assistance in the form of counselling for Teja who continues to display signs that she is still traumatised by her abduction.

Despite the agony she was enforced to endure for close to two hours last Sunday, Pierre again added that it was divine intervention which led to her daughter being rescued.

She said she has not stopped praying or giving thanks for the miracle which has changed her life forever and which has given her more faith in God.

2009-12-26 “Naail Ali’s parents want closure.”

Naail Ali’s parents want closure.
By Laurel V Williams
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Saturday, December 26 2009

CLOSURE is perhaps the only thing that will put a smile on the faces of relatives of kidnap victim Naail Ali.

In a recent interview at the family’s business place at Bonne Aventure Main Road, Gasparillo, Aassen ‘Tikie’ Ali and his wife Sherry admitted that the incident has turned the family ‘upside down’ so much so that major celebrations like Eid- ul-Fitr and Christmas are now meaningless to them.

The couple called for greater transparency between the media and the protective services.

They said if these mechanisms were in place to facilitate this, the whereabouts of their son may not have been a mystery today.

Ali was 26 years-old when he was snatched by gunmen and bundled into a car outside the family’s A&S Hardware and Furniture Store on June 10, 2008.

The family also paid an undisclosed sum of money, 30 days after the kidnapping and countless prayer sessions have been held as Ali’s loved ones hope for a miracle.

Ali’s mother, Sherry recalled the last moments she spent with her son before he was taken. She said it was normal for them to leave home together to go to the hardware.

On the morning he was kidnapped, she was not with him.

Wiping away tears, she said: “This is not easy for us at all. It is prayers that have us standing. A lot of people saw the car (in which Ali was bundled into) racing past our home and did not know what was happening. If police alerted radio stations and provided the relevant information about serious crimes like kidnapping, the public could react and help solve such crimes.” She still hopes her son is alive.

“He could be working in another country as a slave or something. I remember every moment of him from even before birth. We still have all his cards from kindergarten. Our other son (Kaleem ) is lonely. We wish that someone could talk to us about it… Say something… anything, ” she said.

Ali’s father said more needs to be done about the crime situation.

“We cannot allow criminals to breathe when we catch them. People go out and commit crimes, make a small jail, and return to do the same thing again. The Anti-Kidnapping Squad has been very good to us. They are trying their best and keep us posted with every new development of the case,” he said.

Murder accused Jimmy Cherry, 41, a former murder accused, was charged with Ali’s kidnapping, but in May, his body was discovered in Hermitage Village, San Fernando.

He was shot to death while out on bail. Another man Brian Pierre, 32, was also held and in January, he was killed by police in a shootout. A third man is currently on bail and will re-appear before a magistrate on January 8. But Ali’s parents still believe more people were involved in their son’s abduction.

“We do not want satisfaction, we want our Naail. He always made time for the family. It is so hard to have good children, like he and his brother, much less to lose one. God will see us through this. This life is just a stepping stone. One day bandits will not be able to put people through this,” Aassen said.

Ali would have celebrated his 27th birthday on May 28.

Since Ali’s kidnapping, there have been two other kidnappings in south Trinidad. Businessmen Denesh Soodeen, 28, of Chatham and Eric Sooklal, 72, of Philippines, near San Fernando, were snatched and up to now their whereabouts also remain a mystery.

2009-12-26 “Three men charged with murder.”

Three men charged with murder.
Saturday, December 26th 2009

THREE men appeared in court on Thursday charged with the murder of 40-year-old Nazir Mohammed.

The three men, Ansar Ali, 39 of Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley, Dillon Mungal 19, of Preysal Village, Couva and Kervin Ramlogan, 23, of Warrenville, Cunupia, all appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John in the Chaguanas Magistrate’s Court and were remanded in custody until January 4, 2010.

Both Dillon and Ramlogan are employees of Ali, the owner of Highland Environmental, a waste disposal company.

The men were arrested at their homes last Saturday.

Sgt Danny Ramlogan of the Caroni Police Station laid the charges.

2009-12-26 “Mom clings to hope for daughter missing 11 years…‘Marina will come home for Christmas’.”

Mom clings to hope for daughter missing 11 years…‘Marina will come home for Christmas.’
By Geisha Kowlessar
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 26 Dec 2009

Elizabeth Henry calmly repeated the mantra she has been reciting for the past 11 years. “Marina will come home for Christmas, she will come home today,” Henry said in a recent interview. On Christmas Day, 1998, Henry sent her daughter Marina, who was nine at the time, to Abu’s grocery on Factory Road in Diego Martin to buy items to make a macaroni pie and a cake. The child never returned to her home at Gokool Street in Diego Martin. Despite repeated and extensive searches by the police, soldiers and Coast Guard officers who scoured the Diego Martin hills and surrounding areas, Marina was never found.

Three weeks after the little girl disappeared however, a gardener stumbled upon a belt, a pair of trousers and a pair of shoes near the Blue Basin waterfall in Diego Martin. The items were positively identified by Marina’s mother. Eleven years after her daughter’s disappearance, Henry’s health has drastically deteriorated. Each day she is forced to swallow a cocktail of tablets to battle diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and blood clots. “Every time is Christmas, all my emotions just erupt. It is not easy all these years not knowing what happen to Marina and just waiting for her to be with her family again,” Henry said. But, she has clung to an unwavering hope that Marina would one day be reunited with her family.

“Hope is all I have. I cannot believe anything else but Marina is alive somewhere. I refuse to believe anything else. “It take me years to stop crying and sometimes I still cry,” Henry said. When Marina disappeared, the 57-year-old woman packed her bags and headed for Tobago for a few days. But the days soon turned into years as Henry found solace at scenic Signal Hill. But even her own thoughts have continued to taunt her. “I see the mad house, I see death, I see all kinds of things thinking about what happen to Marina. “I don’t want my worst enemy to go through what I went through,” Henry said.

Reminiscing when Marina was seven, Henry recalled one incident when, ill with the flu, her daughter tenderly nursed her back to health. “Marina said she want to cook so I tell her how to wash the lentils and break the pig-tail by the joint. “When the food finish Marina say she want to feed me too,” Henry remembered as tears flowed freely. Describing her daughter as “always a coward” Henry said Marina seldom left her side. “Whenever people see me they see Marina. She was always up under me,” Henry recounted. Her sorrow however, has been shadowed by remorse as Henry has blamed herself for Marina’s disappearance.

“If only I had not sent her to the shop that morning. If only we had stayed without the food and cake Marina would have been here today,” Henry said. Asked if she would contemplate returning to Trinidad, Henry was positive. Returning to Diego Martin however, was out of the question as her faith had wavered in people. “The day Marina disappear somebody must have seen something. But nobody come forward and nobody say anything. “If only somebody had come forward.”

2009-12-25 “Sad Christmas at missing Leah’s home.”

Sad Christmas at missing Leah’s home.
By Camille Bethel
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | Friday, December 25th 2009

There will be no Christmas celebration at the home of Leah Lammy today.

The eight-year-old has been missing since February, and police strongly suspect she is dead.

Leah’s mother, Gale Lammy, said yesterday, ’I am not celebrating Christmas this year. No Leah. No Christmas.’

Lammy has two younger sons.

Leah, a pupil of the Edinburgh Government Primary School, left the school on February 10 but never arrived at her Tom Street, Longdenville, home.

Police have charged taxi-driver Silas Mack with Leah’s kidnapping and with stealing her cellphone.

Mack has been charged with several other kidnappings and murders.

Gale Lammy said yesterday that although it has been hard for her to live every day not knowing whether her daughter is alive or dead, she continues to keep the faith.

’This time is very difficult for me. It brings back too many memories but I am keeping the faith that one day soon my prayers will be answered,’ she said.

Leah’s room, she said, has remained untouched and will remain that way until she knows her daughter’s fate.

’I have not had closure and everything has remained and will remain the same until then,’ she said.

The Missing Persons Association of Trinidad and Tobago made an appeal yesterday on behalf of the Lammy family, asking that a prayer be said for Leah and that anyone with information come forward.

’No one knows the fate of this child since she was kidnapped on February 10, 2009. It is time to stop evil, let the light shine in the home of this mother by bringing Leah Lammy home,’ the association stated. Anyone with information can call 800-tips or 665-9958.

2009-12-25 “Gunmen abduct couple, rape teen.”

Gunmen abduct couple, rape teen.
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Friday, December 25th 2009

POLICE were still last night searching for the men who raped a 16-year-old girl in Port of Spain on Wednesday morning. Police, however, said they had no leads in the case.

The girl, who is from Diego Martin, and a male friend, 24, had left the Zen nightclub on Keate Street, Port of Spain, around 2.30 a.m. after she had a fight with her boyfriend, 18.

Police said the two were in the Queen’s Park Savannah where the 24-year-old had his car parked. They were approached by two gunmen.

The rapists bundled the man and the girl into the man’s car and ordered them to drive to the nearby Lady Chancellor Road where they raped the teenager, forcing the man to watch, police said.

The men also robbed their victims of cash, cellular phones and jewelry before leaving. They left the man with his car.

The couple made their way to the Belmont Police Station where they made a report. The girl was also medically examined.

2009-12-25 “CJ’s one major concern – no interference in the Judiciary.”

CJ’s one major concern – no interference in the Judiciary.
By Onika James
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Friday, December 25 2009

The year 2009 had a somewhat slow start in the Judiciary. Several cases had to be pushed back, or aborted as witnesses failed to come forward. In others, it was the issue of accused persons being properly represented by attorneys.

However, of the cases that were heard in the High Court, the evidence deduced in the Samdaye Rampersad murder trial was the most telling.

The 48-year-old San Juan businesswoman was abducted on the evening of November 25, 2005, while in the company of friends at her variety store. More than one month later, her body was subsequently unearthed from a shallow grave in a cashew field in Claxton Bay on January 6, 2006.

Phillip Boodram, Steve Mc Gillvery, Vivian Clarke, Pernell Martin, Kervin Williams, Marlon Aaron Grappie, Ricky Singh, Roger Mootoo and Bobby Sankar were all charged with participating in Rampersad’s abduction and murder.

However, Mc Gillvery, Clarke, and Martin were the only ones convicted. The three were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Martin has since appealed. Sankar was freed, while the 12- member jury was unsure about the others.

The five other men are to face a retrial in 2010.

Simultaneously, in July, seven of this country’s nationals were sentenced to life imprisonment in Washington DC, for the kidnapping and murder of former Trinidad-born US war veteran Balram Maharaj.

Maharaj, a US naturalized citizen, was visiting from Mount Vernon, New York. He was kidnapped outside the Samaan Tree Bar in Aranjuez on April 5, 2005.

A $3 million dollar ransom was demanded, but no money was paid. After a week, debarred from his daily medicines, Maharaj, 61, who was a diabetic, and who had recently suffered a stroke, died. His body was cut into parts, and buried.

Army Corporal Ricardo De Four, Zion Clarke, Kevon Demerieux, Anthony Straker, Wayne Pierre, Christopher Sealey and Kevin Nixon will not see their homeland again.

Four others, Army Sgt Leon Nurse, Jason Percival, Russell “Saucy” Joseph, and Winston Gittens, pleaded guilty to hostage-taking.

However administratively, it was not until the later half of the year that things really began to heat up in the Judiciary.

The fireworks started when the Judiciary began to flex its muscles, and, through its head, Chief Justice Ivor Archie, voiced condemnation of any act of interference into its affairs by Government, or any of its agencies.

The no-nonsense approach, was first signalled by Chief Justice Archie during the opening of the 2009/2010 Law Term, on September 16 last.

“I must confess to some concern when I read some of the provisions of the draft constitution that referred to the Judiciary. They do not meet the objectives that have otherwise been publicly articulated and, in fact would, if passed, take us in the opposite direction. In my respectful view, Archie said, they stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of our role and function, and have disturbing implications for judicial independence. I refer in particular to clauses 121 to 125, 136 and 142” of the draft constitution, Archie said.

The CJ’s address was hailed as “a dam good speech” by most. Attorneys agreed he defended the Judiciary by his clear message of the separation of powers. So, potent was its content that, President of the Law Association, Martin Daly SC, two days ago, commented that, “in what was a very gloomy, and unsettling year in the country, found that the Chief Justice’s dissertation was an outstanding event, and was a penetrating ray of light.”

The Chief Justice’s firm stance for independence endorsed then High Court Judge Rajendra Narine’s position. Justice Narine, an Appeal Court judge was criticised by Attorney General John Jeremie earlier that week, after he referred to an affidavit sworn to by Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr.

The affidavit issue sparked a sequence of controversy between Jeremie, and members of the Bar. In his first response, the AG wrote to the Chief Justice. Archie was one of the Appeal Judges who ruled on the Bakr affidavit.

Earlier on September 14, 2009, Jeremie announced in the Parliament that, he had written to the Chief Justice over the conduct of then Justice Narine. “The action which Justice Narine took in this instance is to be contrasted with that of the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council.” Jeremie said “Justice Narine did not consider whether the alleged agreement was illegal and unenforceable, but decided the application to strike out the affidavit which was before him, was premature,” the AG added.

Some two weeks later, the situation reached fever pitch when AG Jeremie launched an attack on Law Association President Daly for -Daly’s criticism of him on the Bakr affidavit issue.

Daly responded a few days later. “Whatever the disagreement between the Council, and yourself on the relevant case law, the Council considers it disgraceful that you descended into a personal attack on me, Daly responded that he spoke then as President of the Law Association. He spoke no lie, according to him. Daly assured that he had just put forward the Council’s view relating to the matter bearing in mind that a sitting Judge would not be expected to enter the arena to answer the criticism of him. Daly reminded Jeremie, that as AG he had ignored the obvious fact that the statement was one of the Council, comprising as it does a body of lawyers democratically elected to represent their colleagues. The battle of words remains hanging.

Thirteen persons accused of the kidnapping and murder of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul- Coolman are set to go on trial early 2010. Additionally, the five accused in the murder of Dr Edward Khoury, will also face a High Court jury within the coming months.

The DPP’s office continues to be severely understaffed, and be manned by an acting DPP in the person of Roger Gaspard. High Court Judge Geoffrey Henderson was the last person to hold the substantive post of DPP. Since his elevation in January of 2008, Carla Brown-Antoine (now Justice Antoine) acted for some six months. Recommendations by the Judicial Legal Service Commission to have her fully appointed to the position were vetoed twice by Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

In an exclusive interview with Newsday two days before she demitted office, Brown-Antoine lamented that she “really wanted the job because it would have meant the height of her career.” She was appointed High Court Judge on September 17.

Gaspard, the next directly in line to hold the position of DPP, is now acting in the position. At the time this article was being written, sources revealed that attempts were afoot to have Gaspard appointed to the substantive position.

However, the posts of Solicitor General, and Chief Parliamentary Council remain vacant.

2009-12-25 “No sign of missing Gobin.”

No sign of missing Gobin.
By Camille Bethel
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Friday, December 25th 2009

Relatives of 28-year-old Jason Gobin who has been missing for the past seven days are expecting the worse but hoping for the best.

His sister said Gobin’s parents ’are not doing well at this stage’.

’They are trying their best to keep up and we have had a lot of relatives, friends and neighbours trying to comfort them as far as possible but they aren’t well,’ she said.

Gobin left his home at Herreira Trace, Kelly Village, Caroni, around 8 a.m. on December 17, and has not been seen or heard from since.

His white Isuzu two-tonne truck was found on Sunday morning near the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

Gobin was last seen wearing a three-quarter blue denim pants, a blue and black T-shirt and a pair of slippers.

Anyone with information on Gobin can call the Caroni Police Station at 662-3065 or 662-4291.

Meanwhile, police have no leads in the murder of Nazir Mohammed whose nude body was found on a river bank at Farm Trace, Caroni, last Thursday.

Mohammed was strangled, an autopsy found.

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2009-12-24 “Grieving mom wants justice.”

Grieving mom wants justice.
By Carolyn Kissoon
Trinidad & Tobago’s Express | Thursday, December 24th 2009

Pounding the white coffin bearing the remains of her murdered son, Polly Rampersad cried out for justice yesterday. She demanded that the police find the people responsible for her son’s death.

Rishi Rampersad, who was found dead in a forest near Penal on Sunday, was buried yesterday, following a funeral service at his parents’ home.

The moment the hearse arrived with the sealed coffin, his mother began screaming out her son’s name. ’Rishi, I was looking for you two weeks now. I wanted you to come home. This is how you come home, boy?’ she cried.

The woman had had sleepless nights since her son disappeared, relatives said.

’You tell me you going San Fernando to come back. Why God, why this happen to my child?’ she said.

Deian Rampersad, his cousin, said: ’He was always an ambitious person, who did not take shortcuts in life. He walked among the poorest and richest, and he loved to lime. He came into this world kicking and screaming and I am sure he left the same way.’

Rampersad said her cousin’s death had broken their family.

’I feel cheated, but vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord,’ she said.

His sister, Carmie Singh, who lives abroad, was unable to attend her brother’s funeral. But she wrote a letter that was read at the funeral.

It stated: ’I will always remember your smile. We will get justice. No family should have to go through what we went through these past days. I hope the ones who did this to my brother find Jesus.’

Singh promised that she would care for her brother’s 15-year-old son, Dillon.

Rampersad, who lived at Ruth Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad, was last seen alive leaving a nightclub in San Fernando two Sundays ago. His silver Nissan B-14 car was found near an abandoned house in Couva two days later. A woman was questioned by police and released.

His body was found in a forest along Quinam/Penal Road in Penal on Saturday. An autopsy revealed that he was beaten on the head. Homicide detectives are continuing investigations.

2009-12-24 “Teen robbed, raped after leaving nightclub.”

Teen robbed, raped after leaving nightclub.
By Akile Simon
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 24 Dec 2009

Moments after leaving a Port-of-Spain nightclub with her 24-year-old boyfriend, a 16-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and robbed by two gunmen yesterday. According to police, around 2.30 am, the couple was about to enter a vehicle parked at the Queen’s Park Savannah, when two gunmen approached.

The men ordered the victims to drive the vehicle to the Lookout on Lady Young Road, Belmont. Both victims were robbed of cash and valuables. One of the men took the teen to a nearby track and sexually assaulted her, before fleeing the scene on foot.

2009-12-23 “Maraval kidnapper still at large.”

Maraval kidnapper still at large.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Wednesday, December 23 2009

THE MAN who on Sunday kidnapped two-year-old Teja Pierre from her Maraval home, remained at large up to late yesterday even as senior officers of Western Division have reportedly started a probe into allegations that Maraval police officers were derelict in their duty on the case.

Teja’s mother Mary has claimed that Maraval police were lax in their response to her call for help and that it was four female police officers from Central Division, who were in Port-of-Spain on police business, who responded to a wireless radio report and headed straight to Maraval.

It was reported that the policewomen went into the Jigger Hill at the back of Teja’s home in search of her.

Two hours after the midday snatching, Teja was found in a shack in the forest. Speaking with Newsday, a senior officer confirmed they have launched an internal investigation as there are also claims that little Teja was actually found by SRP Constantine and Cpl Bullen of the Maraval Police Station and not any female police officer, as was initially claimed.

Senior officers also said that only late on Monday, that an officer from the Maraval Police Station logged an official statement from Teja’s mother. This was done immediately after seniors began probing the officers. However, police are yet to make any arrests but are asking members of the public to assist them.

It was reported that little Teja was snatched by a gunman who announced a hold up when he entered the backyard of her home. The gunman reportedly pointed a gun at Pierre and announced a hold up. He then snatched Teja and ran off into the hills after he refused money which Pierre was willing to hand over to him.

2009-12-22 “Rishi beaten to death, say police.”

Rishi beaten to death, say police.
By Carolyn Kissoon
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Tuesday, December 22nd 2009

Rishi Rampersad, the missing salesman who was found dead at the weekend, was beaten to death, police said yesterday.

An autopsy performed on the body revealed that he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Rampersad’s decomposing body was found in a secluded area off Penal/Quinam Road in Penal on Saturday afternoon.

Rampersad, who lived at Ruth Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad, was identified by his clothing. But it was impossible to say at that time how he died because of the advanced state of decomposition.

Rampersad went missing last week Sunday. He went to meet friends at a nightclub in San Fernando, relatives said. A friend told his family he was last seen leaving the nightclub about 11 p.m.

His Nissan B-14 car was found near an abandoned house in Couva two days later. A woman was questioned by police and released.

His killing has now pushed the murder toll to 493, according to an Express tally.

Relatives said his funeral will be held tomorrow.

2009-12-22 “Autopsy shows labourer was strangled.”

Autopsy shows labourer was strangled.
By Onika James
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Tuesday, December 22 2009

AN AUTOPSY carried out at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday on the body of Nazir Mohammed, who was found dead in a rice field in Caroni last week, confirmed that he was murdered.

The medical examination also revealed that a length of rope, believed to have been used to strangle the life out of Mohammed, was still around his neck. The official cause of death was listed as asphyxiation associated with ligature strangulation.

Mohammed, 39, was positively identified by two of his relatives at the Forensic Science Centre prior to the autopsy being carried out. A relative who spoke with Newsday on the basis of anonymity said, “The autopsy certificate revealed that Mohammed died from strangulation.” The relative added, “When I saw the body, there was a rope still tied around his neck. His hands and feet were also tied like that of a goat being taken to slaughter.”

Mohammed lived at Munroe Road in Cunupia with his common-law wife and had no children. His relatives said he dreamed of soon purchasing a vehicle and getting married.

According to a police report, two security guards were on duty at Trinweld Construction site at about 6.50 am on Thursday last when they spotted Mohammmed’s corpse in a nearby rice field and contacted the police. A motive for the labourer’s murder has not yet been ascertained and there have been no arrests. Sgt Ramlogan of the Caroni Police Station is continuing investigation.

2009-12-22 “‘Cops have failed us’.”

‘Cops have failed us’
By Inerva Arjoon
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Tuesday, December 22 2009

THE FAMILY of 34-year-old Rishi Rampersad yesterday said the police had failed them when they called on them for help in locating Rampersad after he went missing and was subsequently found murdered.

The father of one went missing a week ago and his body was found in Penal/Quinam Road, Penal on Saturday last. At the family’s Roots Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad home yesterday distraught relatives said they felt that they were not taken seriously by the police.

Shanty Seelochan said that after her brother failed to return home from a private party on Sunday night, the family filed a missing persons report two Mondays ago. “But up to now the police have never contacted us except to say when his body was discovered on Saturday and for us to come and identify it,” Seelochan said.

Through her tears, Seelochan said her family and friends formed search parties and fanned several parts of the country searching for Rampersad.

“We never gave up. We practically begged the police to help us look for Rishi but they never did,” Seelochan said.

The only person who visited the family she said was their Member of Parliament, Chandresh Sharma, who speaking to Newsday yesterday, condemned the murder and expressed concern about the crime situation.

Rampersad was separated from his wife, who lives abroad, and maintained his only child, 13-year-old Chad Rampersad who lived with him.

The auto supply salesman’s body was in an advanced state of decomposition hence the police were unable to determine if there were any marks of violence, but the family said their information is that Rampersad was chopped.

Contacted for comment yesterday, deputy Commissioner of Police Gilbert Reyes said if the family’s claim was true, “it would be very unfortunate”. Reyes added, “we were involved in the investigation and continue to be involved.”

2009-12-22 “WOMEN POLICE RESCUE GIRL, 2.”

WOMEN POLICE RESCUE GIRL, 2.
By Rhondor Dowlat
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Tuesday, December 22 2009

TEJA PIERRE screamed “mummy, mummy!” in terror as she was snatched by a gunman while her mother Mary watched in horror in the yard of their Maraval home on Sunday afternoon. However, two hours later, little Teja was back in the arms of her relieved mother after four police women, a gardener and a resident of the area searched the hills near the victim’s home and found the child unharmed in an old shack.

Pierre, 39, thanked God for protecting her daughter during the ordeal and heaped praise on the police women, the gardener and the other man for helping in rescuing her child. Up to late yesterday, the kidnapper remained at large.

Recalling the incident, Mary said at about midday on Sunday, she was hanging clothes to dry on a clothes line at the back of her Saddle Road, Maraval home when a man ran out from some bushes nearby and announced a hold-up.

“Teja was standing right next to me as I was hanging out the clothes to dry. I just heard a man in the back of me and in a split second he announced a hold-up. By the time I turned around he had a gun pointed at my face. I was only thinking of my daughter and I told him that I had money in the house and that I can go get it for him. But, as I said that, he said ‘no!’ and grabbed Teja before running off into the Jigger Hills,” Pierre said.

“I was shocked, I was crying, I was screaming as I heard my child screaming while the man was running off with her. I called E999 immediately and told them what had happened,” Mary said.

Four police women from Central Division who were on police business in Port-of-Spain heard an All Points Bulletin (APB) over the radio wireless system advising that a two-year-old child was snatched and sprang into action. Disregarding the fact that they were out of their jurisdiction the policewomen immediately headed to Maraval.

The officers split up and went into four tracks along the hill in search of little Teja. During the search which lasted for about two hours, one of the policewomen who was with a gardener came across a shack in the hills where they found little Teja asleep on a mattress inside the locked shack. They broke a padlock which secured a chain on the front door of the shack and rescued the child.

Little Teja was quickly taken to the St James District Health Facility where a thorough medical examination was conducted and doctors gave her a clean bill of health.

“I can never stop praising them (the policewomen) for their quick actions which I am sure was behind my girl being rescued unharmed,” Mary said. Pierre claimed that officers of the Maraval Police Station only got to her home a full half hour after the initial report was made to E999. She also claimed that Maraval police officers refused to head into the hills to join the four policewomen in the search for Teja.

Head of Catch Security Company, Bede Rovedas, who was a part of the search party, confirmed Pierre’s claims saying he was there and saw the officers fail to treat with the kidnapping of little Teja as an “urgent matter”.

“A child was kidnapped and the officers did nothing. They carried out no search and who knows, if it was not for the swift action of the Chaguanas policewomen, the little girl may have never been found.

“When we got back the child, thanks to the response of the women police who are based in Central, we went to the police station (Maraval) twice and got no kind of response from them. Up to now (yesterday) the police said they were coming to visit the scene and take statements but up to now we are still waiting on them,” Rovedas said during an interview at about 1 pm. A manhunt has since been launched for the man who was described as being dark-brown in complexion, tall and of slim build. It is believed that the man lives in the hills. Senior officers from Police Western Division are said to be investigating the veracity of Mary’s claims against officers of the Maraval Police Station.

2009-12-22 “Police search for missing Caroni man.”

Police search for missing Caroni man.
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Tuesday, December 22nd 2009

Police fear the worst in the case of missing Jason Gobin, who vanished last Friday after leaving home in Caroni.

Gobin’s Isuzu two-tonne truck was found abandoned near the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies on Sunday.

Gobin, 28, lives with parents at Herrera Trace, Chotolal Drive, Kelly Village.

According to a sister, he left home in the truck on Friday heading to Curepe to meet a man known to the family before going to Curepe to meet a cousin.

He never made it to either location.

Anyone with information call the Caroni police at 662- 3065 or 662-4291.

2009-12-22 “ICE Informs Public About Human Trafficking Modern Day Victims.”

ICE Informs Public About Human Trafficking Modern Day Victims.

Stewart Rabinowitz, of the Dallas-based law firm Rabinowitz and Rabinowitz, weighs in on the recent ICE decision to educate the public about modern day victims of human trafficking.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release) – Dec 22, 2009 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued a media initiative to inform the public about the horrors and prevalence of human trafficking, which is modern-day slavery.

A public service announcement campaign, “Hidden in Plain Sight,” is intended to draw the American public’s attention to the plight of human-trafficking victims in the United States. Victims of human trafficking are often sexually exploited and forced to work against their will.

“Hidden in Plain Sight” was rolled out last month on posters, billboards and transit shelter signs in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Newark, New Orleans, New York, St. Paul, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Tampa. Asserts Stewart Rabinowitz of the Dallas-based law firm Rabinowitz and Rabinowitz, “The goal is to raise public awareness about the existence of human trafficking in communities nationwide and ask members of the public to take action if they encounter possible victims. ICE is hoping that by going directly to the American public they can root out the criminals associated with human trafficking. “

“It would shock the majority of Americans,” states Rabinowitz, “that slavery still exists today in communities throughout our country. This heinous crime is well hidden, which means that the public has to be educated about human trafficking and encouraged to stay alert for possible victims.”

Current estimates are that 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked around the world every year. These victims are trafficked into the commercial sex trade and into forced-labor situations. Many of these victims are lured from their homes with false promises of well-paying jobs; instead, they are coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude, farm or factory labor, or other types of forced labor.

The greatest challenge in combating human trafficking is victim identification. These victims end up in a foreign country, often unable to speak the language and without anyone to advocate for them.
“Traffickers often take the victims’ travel and identity documents. They tell their victims that if they attempt to escape, their families back home will be either physically or financially harmed,” concludes Rabinowitz.

2009-12-21 “Arima man goes missing.”

Arima man goes missing.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Monday, December 21 2009

POLICE and relatives of Aeshwar Jordan are calling on the public’s assistance in locating the missing 32-year-old of Blanchisseuse Road, Arima. Jordan, also known as “Turi” has been missing since last week Monday and his relatives are concerned for his safety and well being.

His common-law wife, Sabrina Williams, explained that his last words to the family was “I am going down the road to come back.” Since then no one has heard from him.

She explained to police that Jordan, who was an escalator operator, was dressed in a dark blue jersey and a light blue three-quarter pants. She said he had left her with his three children at home to go to a nearby shop. However, when hours past and there was no sign of Jordan, she began to worry. This concern was solidified when subsequent calls to his cellphone went unanswered.

The following day she reported Jordan missing to the Arima police, however no one has seen or heard of the 32-year-old man since. The Police are making an appeal to members of the public who have any information which could lead to Jordan’s whereabouts to contact 667-3563 or 800 TIPS.

2009-12-21 “Lost Hope. Worst fears come true for family of missing man.”

Lost Hope. Worst fears come true for family of missing man.
By Carolyn Kissoon
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Monday, December 21st 2009

Deep in her heart, the mother of missing auto parts salesman, Rishi Rampersad, knew that something had gone wrong when he did not return home.

Her son would never leave home without saying where he was going. And he would never stay out without telling her.

Polly Rampersad prayed that her son would return alive. She would hold on to his 15-year-old son, Dillon, and cry herself to sleep at nights.

But her worst fears came true on Saturday when a decomposing body dumped at the side of the road was identified as that of her 34-year-old son.

’The police called us around 3.30 p.m. and said that they found a body. We went to the scene and identified the body as Rishi,’ his cousin Winston Rampersad said.

The body was found on a deserted roadway along the Penal/Quinam Road in Penal. The body was too decomposed for police to say how he died.

It was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where an autopsy will be performed this morning.

Rampersad, who lived at Ruth Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad, went missing last week Sunday.

He went to meet a couple at a nightclub in San Fernando, relatives said.

A friend told his family that he was last seen leaving the nightclub about 11 p.m.

His silver Nissan B-14 car was found near an abandoned house in Couva two days later. A woman was questioned by police and released.

His family formed their own search party and combed several areas throughout the country.

Three days ago, his brother Ravi Rampersad journeyed to Caroni where the a man’s body was found on the banks of a river. Rampersad said the body was covered in mud and he followed the undertakers to the Forensic Science Centre where it was cleaned.

’But after the mud was washed out I realised it was not my brother. That gave me some hope that maybe he was still alive,’ he said.

The body was later identified as that of 40-year-old Nazir Mohammed.

Penal police are continuing investigations.

2009-12-21 “Remembering Vindra.”

Remembering Vindra.
By Richard Charan
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Monday, December 21st 2009

If there is a single event, a defining moment that has come to symbolise the cruelty and inhumanity that has become our people, it may be the kidnapping three Decembers ago, of Vindra Naipaul-Coolman.

A woman as faultless as one could be, loved and honoured by all she met, humble despite her millions, intent on sharing her knowledge and wealth with as many as she could reach.

But snatched away that night by men waiting outside her home in Chaguanas.

She fought them, declared ’I am not afraid of you’ before being shot and beaten, taken away to be bartered for money.

A bungled police response, misguided search, futile appeal for release, and in the end, all that was found of Vindra was her DNA in the stains left between the floorboards of a house in which police believed she died, body dissected and discarded.

Family and friends remembered Vindra at a memorial sat sang (religious prayer service) at the Blue Star Ashram, Claxton Bay last Saturday night.

December 19 three years ago, she was snatched. For most everyone else, her death has been forgotten, her killing a statistic dutifully recorded by the Police Service Crime and Problem Analysis Branch.

Vindra’s death was listed as one of 371 killings for that year, a figure triple the homicide rate at the start of the decade.

As of November 20 of this year, police had recorded 3,090 murders.

These deaths do not factor in the number of unidentified bodies and bones stuffed in mortuaries around the country, of the missing people likely dead and buried.

The solve rate the year Vindra died revealed an alarming fact -only a quarter of all the killings were ’solved’ a term used by police when a someone is charged with the crime.

And despite the massive injection of manpower money to equip and improve the Police Service, that solve’ rate dropped last year to fifteen per cent – 83 people brought to justice in a year 547 people were killed, according to police figures.

Of the “solved” cases, many accused were freed at the end of the Magistrates Court preliminary enquiries or High Court trial, because of silenced State witnesses or good defence, weak prosecutions, and police investigation ineptitude.

How many killers have been brought to justice is unknown, but a clue is Death Row at the State Prison, Port of Spain.

Although the homicide toll moved from 120 in 2000 to 547 in 2008, there was never a need to expand the place where the condemned are kept.

Last week, senior officers celebrated a ’success’. Gang-related killings, which accounted for 348 deaths last year, were down by more than half. This year, only 161 gang-related deaths were recorded, which means that more than 300 citizens not linked to gangs have died.

What was not mentioned was that this year, more citizens that ever before – 72 and counting – were robbed and killed, with an unprecedented number of killings recorded as acts of revenge. The motives have changed. (See related table).

Of the 3,000-plus killings this decade, an arrest was made in only 835.

T&T’s homicide rate

In 2000 was recorded as 10 per 100,000.

In 2001, it increased to 12.58

2002 – 14.33

2003 – 20.69

2004 – 20.07

2005 – 29.69

2006 – 28.53

2007 – 30.38

2008 – 42.24

2009-12-21 “Body of car salesman found in Penal forest.”

Body of car salesman found in Penal forest.
By Radhica Sookraj
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 21 Dec 2009

Five days after his car was found abandoned in Couva, the decomposing body of auto car salesman Rishi Rampersad was found slumped in the forested areas off the Penal/Quinam Road in Siparia. The discovery was made by police around 5.30 pm on Saturday, after an anonymous tip-off. Sister Usha Balkaran said they got a call from police that a body was found and that they needed assistance in identifying it. Around 10 am yesterday, Rampersad’s brother Ravi Rampersad and cousin Winston Rampersad went to San Fernando mortuary, where they positively identified the corpse. Winston said Rampersad’s body was decomposed and was dressed in a vest and jeans.

Police said Rampersad’s shirt was missing. His wallet and jewelry were also missing. Police said they were unable to say whether the body bore marks of violence, because of the advanced state of decomposition. Relatives gathered yesterday at the family’s home on Delhi Road, Fyzabad, weeping with shock. Sister Maltee Balkaran cried: “I don’t know who would do this to my brother. He was such a good person. He always trying to bring our family together for a little cook or a lime. He did not deserve to die like this.” Maltee said that during the past few days, they searched in vain Couva, Chaguanas, Barrackpore, Debe, Penal, La Romaine and Fyzabad.

“We did not think we would find him like this. We thought somebody had him and we were pleading with them to release him,” Maltee said. Rampersad, of Delhi Road, Fyzabad, went missing after liming at the Prive nightclub in La Romaine. Relatives said he stayed for half-an-hour at a private party hosted at the club, before leaving, but didn’t returned home. Rampersad’s car was found at a house in Couva on Monday. Rampersad worked with Ramlogan’s Auto Supplies at Marabella and was the stepbrother of chutney singer Asha Kamachee. Rampersad’s parents—Polly Rampersad and father Harry Kamachee—were inconsolable yesterday. Relatives were busy setting up tents to hold a wake. An autopsy is expected to be done today at the Forensic Science Centre.

2009-12-20 “Relatives search for missing South man.”

Relatives search for missing South man.
By Radhica Sookraj
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 20 Dec 2009

Relatives of missing salesman Rishi Rampersad continued searching through the abandoned canefield tracks off the M-2 Ring Road on Friday, in a desperate attempt to find him. Wearing rubbers boots and holding cutlasses, the team jumped ravines and combed the hillsides off the Ring Road, hoping that they could find some clue to Rampersad’s whereabouts. Ragoonath said the search was random as it was common knowledge that killers often dumped their victims’ corpses in the abandoned canefields. “At this point, we do not know what to think. We are searching for any clue that he is alive. We are tired of waiting and hoping. We want answers. We want to know who has our Rishi,” Maltee sobbed.

She said that police have not been assisting in the search. “When we went to the Fyzabad police station to make a report, they told us to contact San Fernando police as it was out of their jurisdiction.” She said that nobody has called to make any ransom demand, so they were uncertain whether Rampersad was kidnapped. Rampersad of Delhi Road, Fyzabad, went missing after liming at the Prive nightclub in La Romaine. Relatives said he stayed for half an hour at a private party hosted at the club, before leaving. His car was found at a house in Couva on Monday. Anyone with information on Rampersad’s whereabouts can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS or alert relatives at 777-8359/476-5709.

Pierre, Teja – December 20, 2009

Name: Teja Pierre
Age: 2
Address: Saddle Road, Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago

Details: Teja Pierre was abducted around 12:00 noon on Sunday 20 December 2009, by an armed man who had held up her mother in their backyard. Her horrified mother watched helpless as her screaming child was carried off by the man into the Jigger Hills.

Her mother called E999 immediately but the responders were four police women from Central Division who were on police business in Port-of-Spain. They sprang into action after hearing the All Points Bulletin (APB) over the radio wireless system advising that a two-year-old child had been snatched. Disregarding the fact that they were out of their jurisdiction the policewomen immediately headed to Maraval. Two hours later, thanks to their efforts along with a gardener and a resident of the area, the child was found unharmed in an old locked shack and returned to her mother. The kidnapper was nowhere to be found.

A manhunt has since been launched for the man who was described as being dark-brown in complexion, tall and of slim build. It is believed that the man lives in the hills. Senior officers from Police Western Division are said to be also investigating the mother’s claims that officers of the Maraval Police Station failed to treat the kidnapping of little Teja as an “urgent matter”.

See all items mentioning Teja Pierre.

2009-12-19 “Family, friends team up to look for Rishi.”

Family, friends team up to look for Rishi.
By Phoolo Danny Maharaj
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Saturday, December 19th 2009

FAMILY of missing auto parts salesman Rishi Rampersad have formed their own search party to look for him.

As many as 40 friends and relatives have teamed up to search throughout the country, day and night, in the bushes and by the rivers, but there have been no signs, brother Ravi Rampersad said yesterday.

Rampersad, 34, of Ruth Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad, went missing on Sunday night after he left a nightclub at Gulf View, La Romaine. One of Rampersad’s friends told his family he left the club around 11 p.m. because he had to go to work the next morning. Rampersad never arrived home and has not been seen since.

’We did not receive any calls from anybody who might have seen him. It’s like he just disappeared in thin air without a trace,’ said a cousin.

Two days after Rampersad disappeared, Couva police discovered his silver Nissan B-14 car near an abandoned house. Yesterday, police searched the car for fingerprints.

Rampersad’s 15-year-old son, Dillon, and his mother, Polly Rampersad, have been crying since his disappearance, relatives said.

Anyone with knowledge of Rampersad’s whereabout can contact his relatives at 777-8359, 689-9942, 363-4767, 686-3667 and 745-2169.

2009-12-19 “Woman, 29, missing.”

Woman, 29, missing.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Saturday, December 19 2009

POLICE are calling on the public to assist them in locating 29-year-old Sheereen Latchman of Charlieville who has been missing since Tuesday. Her mother, Sylvia Sooknanan, 55, of Dino Road, Charlieville reported Latchman missing to the police at about 6.20 am on Wednesday.

She explained to police that Latchman, who lives with her mother and is a merchandiser with Chief Brand products, left home at about 7.30 am on Tuesday to go to work.

She was last seen wearing a pair of blue jeans and a light blue jersey. Latchman however failed to return home from work on Tuesday night. Subsequent calls to her cellphone went unanswered and checks with friends and relatives proved futile as well.

Since then the Anti-Kidnapping Unit has been contacted and the Central Division Police are making an appeal to members of the public who have any information which could lead to Latchman’s whereabouts to contact 665-9958 or 800 TIPS.

2009-12-19 “Relatives ID man found near river.”

Relatives ID man found near river.
South Bureau
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Saturday, December 19th 2009

The man found dead on the bank of a river in Caroni on Thursday has been identified as Nazir Mohammed.

The body of Mohammed, 40, was identified by a relative at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

The body was found off Farm Road, Caroni. Police said a rope was wrapped around the dead man’s neck and left leg.

Police suspect the man was murdered. An autopsy will be performed on Monday.

2009-12-18 “Hope continues for missing South man. Body found in Central not man’s from Fyzabad.”

Hope continues for missing South man. Body found in Central not man’s from Fyzabad.
By Carolyn Kissoon
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Friday, December 18th 2009

Relatives of missing 34-year-old Rishi Rampersad travelled to Central Trinidad yesterday, where the body of a man was found in an abandoned canefield. The nude corpse was smeared with mud and relatives were unable to make a positive identification at the scene.

’We went to the Forensic Science Centre and the body was clean, but it was not my brother,’ Ravi Rampersad said.

The body was found on the banks of a river off Farm Road, Caroni. Police said a rope was wrapped around the dead man’s neck and left leg.

Two security guards, employed with the Estate Business Management Development Company, spotted the body around 6.45 a.m.

Investigators are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the man. The dead man has a short haircut, greying beard, dark complexion, and in his 40s.

Rishi Rampersad, of Ruth Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad, disappeared after leaving a nightclub in San Fernando on Sunday. His car was found at a house in Couva on Monday.

A woman has since been questioned by police and released.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts can contact his relatives at 777-8359 or 476-5709.

Meanwhile, police are still investigating the murder of a man who was granted bail on Tuesday afternoon.

Dawn Daniel, 27, was gunned down at his Green Hill, Acono Road, Maracas St Joseph, home around 1.30 p.m., police said

According to eyewitnesses, Daniel was at home relaxing when gunmen barged into his house and started shooting. He was shot several times about the body and died at the scene.

A team of Homicide detectives led by Insp Stanley Ramdeen and including PCs Sunil Ramoutar and Learie Figaro visited the scene. PC Thomas of the Maracas Police Station is continuing investigations.

2009-12-18 “Cops seek identity of body found in ricefield.”

Cops seek identity of body found in ricefield.
By Rhondor Dowlat
Trinidad & Tobago’s Newsday | Friday, December 18 2009

TWO security guards patrolling a Trinweld Construction site at a rice field in Caroni stumbled upon the nude body of a man yesterday.

According to a police report, at about 6.50 am the two security guards were patrolling along Farm Trace — a dirt road within a rice field, when they noticed the body of a man, naked but covered with mud, lying among some bushes near a drain, close to an airstrip which was used by crop-duster planes several years ago.

The body was on its left side and had pieces of rope tied around the neck and left leg.

A party of police officers including Insp Kenny Mc Intyre, Joseph Isaac, Greenidge, Sgt Ramlogan, Detective Harriot went to the scene along with the District Medical Officer who ordered the body’s removal to the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

An investigating officer said initially the body was believed to be that of Rishi Rampersad, 34, of Fyzabad who went missing on Sunday night.

However, Rampersad’s brother, Ryan, who viewed the body on the scene, confirmed that it was not Rampersad.

Police described the body as of East Indian descent, dark brown in complexion, low haircut, growing beard and believed the man to be in his 40s.

Police are asking members of the public to assist them in identifying the body. They have asked to contact them at Caroni Police Station 662-4291, Chaguanas CID 665-9958, 800 TIPS (8477) or 555.

Sgt Ramlogan of the Caroni Police Station is investigating.
Nazir Mohammed

2009-12-18 “Nude corpse found on roadside.”

Nude corpse found on roadside.
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 18 Dec 2009

The nude body of a man, covered in mud, was discovered in a deserted area in Caroni early yesterday. Investigators initially believed the corpse was that of a missing sales clerk. The 34-year-old clerk of Fyzabad was reported missing by relatives on Sunday and has not been seen since. According to police, two security guards were on patrol at Farm Road in Caroni when on reaching a track they spotted the corpse covered in mud at the side of the roadway.

Police said a rope was tied around the neck. The body, that of an East Indian man, appeared to be in the 40s and was dark in complexion. Police said the man had a greying beard and a low haircut. Anyone with information is urged to contact the nearest police station or Crime Stoppers at 800-Tips (8477).
Nazir Mohammed

Gobin, Jason – December 18, 2009

Name: Jason Gobin
Age: 28
Address: Herrera Trace, Chotolal Drive, Kelly Village, Trinidad and Tobago

Details: Jason Gobin left his home on Friday 18 December, 2009. He was heading to Curepe to meet a man known to the family before going to meet a cousin. Jason never made it to either location. His Isuzu two-tonne truck was found abandoned near the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies on Sunday 20 September 2009.

Anyone with information call the Caroni police at 662-3065 or 662-4291.

See all items mentioning Jason Gobin.

2009-12-17 “Decomposing body found in Caroni.”

Decomposing body found in Caroni.
C News | 12/17/2009

C News understands that investigators suspect it may be the body of Rishi Rampersad who was reported missing over the weekend.
Nazir Mohammed

2009-12-17 “$50,000 reward for info on kidnap victim.”

$50,000 reward for info on kidnap victim.
By Carolyn Kissoon
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Thursday, December 17th 2009

A $50,000 reward has been offered to anyone who can help solve the kidnapping, two years ago, of Naail Ali.

The reward was announced in a newspaper advertisement by Crime Stoppers.

The ad asked, ’Did you witness Naail’s kidnapping or do you have information that could lead to the capture of his kidnappers. Information must be true and usable in court.’

Ali, 26, was kidnapped outside A&S Hardware on Bonne Aventure Road, Gasparillo, on June 10 around 8.30 a.m. His kidnappers drove a white Toyota station wagon, followed by a black van.

Three people linked to his kidnapping have since been killed.

United States deportee Jimmy Cherry was found shot dead in May 2009. He was charged with kidnapping, demanding a ransom and receiving money from the families of kidnap victims Naail Ali and 14-year-old Amrika Ramdial, who was eventually found alive.

Five days after Ali was kidnapped, police shot and killed another suspect, Rawle Charles, in Tabaquite.

And in January, police killed another of Ali’s suspected kidnappers, Brian Pierre, in Tabaquite. There is one other man linked to the crime.

2009-12-17 “Missing man turns up dead.”

Missing man turns up dead.
By Phoolo Danny-Maharaj
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Thursday, December 17th 2009

The body of a man was found near the Divali Nagar site in Chaguanas yesterday. He was identified as Roopchand Mahabir, 62, who was reported missing on Tuesday.

Relatives said Mahabir walked out of his Marcano Drive, Phase II, Charlieville, home around 10.30 a.m. and was never seen again. They began searching surrounding areas. He was found lying face down in a canefield along the Narsaloo Ramaya Road, Chaguanas, around 10.30 a.m.

Investigators said there were no marks of violence on Mahabir’s body, and it is believed he suffered a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the search continues for Rishi Rampersad, who disappeared after leaving a night club in San Fernando on Sunday. His mother, Polly Rampersad, 62, and son, Chard Dillon, 15, have been crying since he vanished.

Rampersad, 34, of Ruth Avenue, Delhi Road, Fyzabad, went missing after leaving a nightclub at South Trunk Road, La Romaine. His car was found at a house in Couva on Monday. A woman who lives at the house was questioned and released.

Anyone with information on Rampersad’s whereabouts can contact his relatives at 777-8359 or 476-5709.