A Sangre Grande man, wanted in connection with several serious crimes in east Trinidad, was killed in a shootout with police on Tuesday. According to reports, around 5 pm members of the Sangre Grande Crime Patrol Unit were on patrol along Road Five, North Eastern Settlement, Sangre Grande, when they saw the suspect standing at the side of the road. When the police stopped their car and got out the suspect ran away through a nearby forested area. 

The police ran after him and 15 minutes later he was spotted hiding behind a tree. Police said he drew a gun and began shooting at them and they returned fire. The man, who was later identified as Keldeon Charles, was shot several times in his chest and abdomen. He was disarmed and taken to the Sangre Grande District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. 

His body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy was initially scheduled to be performed yesterday. However, his relatives did not turn up to identify his body and as such the procedure was postponed to today. Homicide detectives said Charles had a lengthy criminal record for shooting, robbery and gun possession offences. He was wanted in connection with a series of shootings in the same community where he was killed.

Investigations are continuing. 

Police are continuing investigations into a shooting incident which left a St James father of two dead and his wife injured. The man was killed in front his wife and two children on Tuesday, a short distance away from his home at Aboud Circular, Long Circular Road, St James. According to police Osei Richardson was known to be involved in criminal activities, having been charged in 2005 with possession of arms and ammunition. 

Police added that after his arrest there were unsuccessful attempts on his life. Reports are that around 8 am Richardson was with his wife, Cindy Daniel, and two children when a gunman approached from the driver’s side and began shooting at the 29-year-old at Belle Vue, Long Circular. Police said Daniel, who was driving the car, was making a three-point turn when the shooting took place. 

Residents said when the shooting began Daniel, who was shot in the right waist and hand, begged the attacker not to shoot as there were children in the car. Instead of heeding the call, the shooter walked around to the passenger side and shot Richardson. Daniel then drove her bleeding husband to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Daniel was treated and discharged.

According to his autopsy done by pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov, Richardson was shot twice, once in the neck and once in the chest. One of the bullets punctured both lungs and exited the left shoulder blade. Richardson lost three pints of blood, Alexandrov said. Richardson’s family, who were at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Tuesday were too distraught to speak with the media. His killing has taken the murder toll to 396 for the year, 13 more than the corresponding period last year.

Northern Division police officers recovered three guns and arrested seven men in a series of raids in the district. Two men were arrested on Saturday at Printeryville, Arima, with a 9 mm pistol and two magazines containing 18 rounds of ammunition. The gun, police said, was found hidden in the crotch area of a 26-year-old. The suspect and another man, who were sitting in a car parked at the side of the road, were arrested by members of the Crime Patrol Unit led by Insp Mark Maharaj.

One day later Maharaj and a team of officers, including Cpl Bushell, found another loaded pistol during a search at the Arima home of a 27-year-old man. The officers went to the man’s home after a report was made that two bandits, one armed with a gun, robbed WPC Fraser of cash, jewellery and other valuables including her police identification card. 

Fraser was walking along Lalchan Trace, Malabar, around 12.30 pm when she was robbed. She reported the matter and the Crime Patrol Unit stopped a green Nissan B14 along Sherwood Park, Arima, later that day and arrested two men. It was at the home of one of the men the gun and stolen items were recovered.

The third gun was recovered on Monday around 11.45 pm by officers of the Tunapuna Police Station, led by Sgt Singh. Police said they were on patrol along Karamath Street, El Dorado, when they saw a car swerving along the roadway. During a search, a revolver and five rounds of ammunition were found. The suspects were arrested and the 41-year-old driver was also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Ten days after her body was found in a shallow grave behind her house, two people appeared in court charged with the murder of Stephanie Millington. Bianca Millington and Lawrence Williams appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court. They two were charged that between December 2 and 10, at 178 Geranium Drive, Morvant, they murdered Stephanie Millington.

Although they were escorted to and from the courtroom separately, officers said Millington begged to kiss her husband before they were placed in the court cells after the matter was called. The charge was laid by PC Travis Chatar. Attorney Candice Price, who represented Bianca Millington, called for full disclosure. Tricia Gilbert-Bayne appeared for Williams.

The accused are to reappear on January 15 when disclosure is expected to be made to their attorneys. Stephanie Millington, 83, of Geranium Drive, Morvant, was bludgeoned to death before her body was buried in her own backyard. An autopsy revealed she was suffocated while being beaten repeatedly with an object believed to be a stout piece of wood. The official cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head with suffocation. 

A Port-of-Spain businesswoman has been fined $50,000 for operating an international call centre without a concession from the Telecommunications Authority of T&T (TATT). Magistrate Aden Stroude imposed the fine—a fifth of the maximum penalty of $250,000 under the Telecommunications Act—on Noella Noel, during a hearing at the Port-of-Spain Fifth Magistrates Court. 

Stroude found Noel guilty last week of the charge that she operated her business along Maraval Road, Port-of-Spain, from March to May 2009. Apart from providing cheap international calls, Noel’s company also sold computer software to allow customers to access the service from their homes. 

Making submissions before Noel's sentencing, TATT's special prosecutor Sean Cazabon admitted his clients faced the daunting task of detecting offenders under the legislation due to the rapid advancement in internet services over the last decade. Cazabon suggested that a hefty fine would serve as a deterrent for would-be perpetrators and would also assist in the orderly, systematic development of the local communications industry. 

“Parliament in its wisdom thought these offences are significant enough to warrant such a harsh sentence,” Cazabon said. Stroude allowed Noel 28 days to pay the fine or in default she would serve three years in prison. Noel was represented by Marc Husbands who said his client intended to appeal the sentence.

A 28-year-old Coconut Drive man was ambushed and killed in Chaguanas yesterday morning. Jonathan Moore, aka Talloo, of Rosewood Avenue, Coconut Drive, was murdered shortly after 8.30 am at Nimblette Street, Enterprise. Police said a light blue Toyota Corolla with four male occupants armed with guns pulled up alongside Moore and began shooting at him. Moore started running along Isles Trace and the men followed him in the car. He was struck by the car and pinned against a parked truck.

Police said one of the men came out of the car and shot Moore in the head. The three other men then came out and they each shot Moore. They then sped off in the car, but crashed a short distance away. The men abandoned the car and escaped.
District Medical Officer Dr Ravi Kawal ordered the removal of the body to the Forensic Science Centre where an autopsy is expected to be done tomorrow.

The car was impounded at the Chaguanas Police Station where it will be processed. Visiting the scene were Snr Supt Johnny Abraham, Supt Adams, ASP Brandon John, Insp Terrence Williams and Sgt Jitindra Toolaram.

A Tobago businessman yesterday reappeared in court on money laundering charges. Raymond Francis, 42, and his wife, Gail Francis, who was already charged for the offences earlier this year, are accused of forgery of a letter from the Sport and Culture Fund instructing the transfer of $5.5 million into an account held by them. The incident occurred in March last year.

Francis and Gail had fled to Canada to avoid charges. Gail returned to T&T after an arrest warrant was issued and after an extradition request was made by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Francis also returned. Francis was first charged in January of this year with 16 counts of money laundering by members of the Financial Investigations Branch (FIB) of the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and appeared in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court.

Yesterday, Francis, 42, of Milford Road, Scarborough, reappeared in the Scarborough Magistrates First Court. The offences occurred during the period April 2-4, 2013. The charges were laid indictably and Francis was not called upon to plead. He was granted fresh bail in the sum of $750,000 with surety and the matter was adjourned to January 19.

Three illegal firearms were seized and eight men arrested during an early morning police and army operation in Beverly Hills, St Barbs, and Canada, in Laventille and Beetham Gardens, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. According to a media release from the T&T Police Service (TTPS) Public Affairs Unit, officers searched several homes between 4 am and 10 am. The seizures included two 9mm pistols, a .38 revolver and 123 rounds of assorted ammunition.

One camouflage suit and a quantity of marijuana were also found and seized. Nineteen fixed penalty notices were issued for various traffic violations. Snr Supt Wayne Boyd led the exercise which included officers from the Inter-Agency Task Force, members of the T&T Defence Force, the Guard and Emergency Branch, members of the North Eastern Division, members of the Port-of-Spain Task Force, CID and Canine Unit.

Two armed members of a gang of bandits who target Chinese businesses were arrested by police on Saturday night. The suspects, both in their 20s from Marabella and Tarodale Gardens, were held hours after shooting up a roulette machine during a failed robbery at the Lucky 7 Bar at St Clement’s Junction, Ste Madeleine on Friday.

Police obtained video footage of the men walking into the bar around 5 pm Friday, firing several shots at a vacant machine and then announcing a robbery. But when patrons began screaming and running frantically, and the gunmen saw the flashing lights of a passing police vehicle, they ran out the building without taking anything.

Based on the footage, San Fernando CID and Southern Division Task Force launched a search for the men and eventually found them at Phase I, Tarodale Gardens, around 11 am Saturday. When the men saw the police they ran, but Cpl Nanan and PCs Branche and Bacchus were able to catch the men.

Both men are still being interviewed in connection with several other robberies of Chinese businesses, among them groceries and restaurants, and are expected to go on identification parades. It was not the first time gunmen had stormed the Lucky Seven Bar. On June 3,  its security officer, Darryl “Million” Baptiste, was shot dead while on duty there. CCTV footage at the compound also helped police in capturing his killer.

Arima police believe they may have arrested a serial rapist in the area and are calling on anyone who may have been a victim of an attack to come forward and assist them in their investigations. According to a police report, at about 10.30 am on Christmas Day, a 21-year-old Carapo woman boarded a “PH” taxi, PBM 5330. She was the lone passenger and was seated in the front seat of the vehicle.

On reaching the Malabar Industrial Estate, the driver, a 33-year-old man from La Horquetta, stopped the vehicle and came out. The man then walked to the front passenger door, opened it and began to beat the woman. He then tied her hands behind her back and placed her face down in the back seat of the vehicle. The driver then got back into the driver’s seat and drove to a road off Aripo Road, near a WASA pump. The man then proceeded to rape the woman.

A party of police, including PCs Fraser, Jones and WPC Joseph, were on mobile patrol along the Aripo Road and saw the vehicle parked along the side road. As the police approached the vehicle, the driver, who was clad only in his boxers, attempted to run away. His victim also ran out the vehicle screaming for help. The police chased the suspect down and subsequently arrested him. Police said the driver fit the description of a suspect made by several other rape victims in the area. 

One Glock pistol, along with ten rounds of ammunition, was seized by police during an exercise in Diego Martin yesterday. 

According to a police report, at about 1.30 pm a party of police from the West End Division Task Force, including Ag Cpl Linton, PCs Duntin, Moseley, Hollingsworth, Sheppard and WPC Bruce, went to a house at La Puerta Avenue after receiving information. They carried out a search and found the gun and ammo, but no one was arrested.

Violence continued over the long holiday weekend as a 46-year-old woman was killed by an irate motorist, who rammed his car into her and two other women following an argument in Mayaro, yesterday. 

Up the late yesterday, police were at the scene along the Naparima Mayaro Road, Bristol Village, where Darlin Arjune was killed. Police said the argument happened after the car the women were travelling in was involved in an accident with three other cars. The cars involved were a Mitsubishi Lancer, a Nissan Sunny B11, a Nissan Sunny B14 and a Toyota Corolla. Initial reports stated that around 4 pm, the driver of the Mitsubishi Lancer was heading south when he collided with the other vehicles. 

All occupants came out and began arguing. Police said the man became so enraged that he got back into his car and reversed into the women. They were taken to the Mayaro District Health Facility where Arjune was pronounced dead on arrival. Another victim, Victoria Arjune, was transferred to the Sangre Grande Hospital after she was thought to have sustained two broken ribs. The third victim was receiving treatment at the health centre.

Police said the driver of the Lancer was in custody and was being questioned. Arjune’s violent death follows the murders of Kern Samuel, 20, of Redhill, Petit Valley, and Arthur Noel, 59, of Arima, on Boxing Day. Samuel was shot several times outside a bar party at Cocoa Jah, along with Jervon Mosegue of Church Street, Petit Valley. Noel, a homeless man, who lived at the Mickey Trotman Recreational Grounds, was chopped on his head and shoulder.

Police officer held for rape
A Southern Division police officer is being investigated for sexually assaulting a 42-year-old woman during a Christmas lime. According to reports, the officer was at the woman’s house in Penal when, around 3 am Friday, they got into the officer’s car and drove to a lonely road off Clarke Road. The woman claimed that the officer began touching her inappropriately against her wishes. She reported the attack at the Penal Police Station. Investigations are continuing.

Police officers of the Eastern Division Task Force discovered about 152 kilograms of marijuana and four cases of Du Maurier cigarettes in several crocus bags in bushes at a remote beach, between Grande Riviere and Matelot around 5 am yesterday morning. The drugs have an estimated street value of $1.5 million.

Public Affairs Officer of the TTPS, Superintendent Joanne Archie, told the T&T Guardian the officers, who were led by Senior Superintendent Sasenarine Mahabir, along with Corporal Diaz, received information and conducted surveillance in the area before making the bust. 

They believe the contraband may have been sneaked into the country via boat. No one was arrested.

$22,000 in batteries stolen
 Police  are searching for a battery thief who stole $22,000 worth from a business place in Cunupia over the Christmas holidays. Police said at around 4 pm on Christmas Eve, Gangaram Sooknanan left 14 trucks with batteries at Sat Sais Company Ltd and went away. When he returned around  7 am on  Saturday, the batteries were missing. PC Augustus is continuing investigations.

Passenger robs pedestrian at gunpoint 
A 44-year-old pedestrian was robbed of his valuables at gunpoint by a passenger in a car on Saturday. Police said at around 7.30 pm, Alan Ramlogan, a construction worker, of Cunupia, was walking east along Sampson Trace when a blue Nissan B 16 with three male occupanys pulled up alongside him. Police said the back seat passenger came out of car, pointed a gun at Ramlogan and  robbed him of a $850 casio watch and wallet containing $143  in cash. 

Cunupia police officers are investigating.

Passenger robbed in taxi 

A Freeport mechanical technician was robbed while travelling in a PH taxi on Saturday night. Sudesh Lutchman, 47, told police he boarded the white Nissan Sunny at St Mary's Junction, Freeport. A front seat passenger turned around and robbed him of  $200 cash and his bank and credit cards.  The driver drove around with him for a while before dropping him off at Bejucal Road, Charlieville.   WPC Plante is continuing enquires.

A Petit Valley man has appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate three times in the past two days on two separate counts of murder and other offences. Murder accused, Kijana Hernandez, 24, of Third Street, Simeon Road, Petit Valley, was charged with the murder of Sheldon Barrow and Kevin Joseph. Yesterday morning, he was jointly charged with his cousin Mark Hernandez with the murder of Sheldon Barrow.

Yesterday afternoon, Kijana appeared again in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates Court before Marcia Ayers-Caesar, when he was charged with Joseph’s murder, at Goodsession Drive in Diego Martin, on May 28 this year. He was also charged with possession of firearms and ammunition, the attempted murder of Jervon Ottley, wounding with intent, causing bodily harm of Adrian James and shooting at Kendell Downes.

Ayers-Caesar told Kijana he needed to retain a lawyer. Barrow, of Sparrow Drive, Simeon Road, Petit Valley, was killed after being shot several times while playing cards with a group of friends on April 3 this year. The matter was adjourned to January 27 next year.

The murder toll stood at 402 up to late yesterday with the death of a Petit Valley man on Monday evening. Amatifa Duke was found with multiple gunshot wounds outside his home at Store Drive. A report said, around 5 pm, Duke was at home when he apparently heard someone call out to him. A few moments later several loud explosions were heard.

Police said Duke was found lying on his stomach in the yard. The police were notified and the body was viewed by the district medical officer who ordered its removal to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy. No suspects were held up to late yesterday.0

Two Point Fortin men appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the murder of a 29-year-old mechanic whose skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave 18 months after he went missing. Francis Francois, 31, and Donald Ramsaroop, 25, who both live in the same community as the victim Arnold Quashie, appeared before Point Fortin Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle.

Quashie, 29, left his Lot 18 Salazar Trace, Point Fortin home in his brown Nissan B-14 car on June 14, 2013, but never returned. A missing person report was made to Point Fortin Police and the car was discovered abandoned at Petrotrin Field Road, Guapo, Point Fortin.  After receiving information, the police went to 4 Duckman Road, Field Road, Point Fortin, on December 22 where Quashie’s skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave.

The two men were charged on Monday after the police received instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions. They are expected to re-appear on January 29.

A 32-year-old PH taxi driver appeared before an Arima magistrate on Tuesday charged with rape, kidnapping an robbery. Saleem Noel, of La Horquetta, appeared yesterday in First Court before Magistrate Indrani Cedeno. He was accused of committing the offences on Christmas Day at the Heights of Aripo. Noel was granted bail in the sum of $300,000 or $20,000 in cash alternative. 

The matter was adjourned to January 27. 

Northern Division police have been put on high alert after two of the five murders for the new year occurred within their region. The most recent incident took place yesterday morning when 30-year-old Dorothy Rodrigo was shot dead after gunmen stormed her home in Carapo.

Rodrigo’s murder came hours after 71-year-old Maloney resident Vernon Carter was shot while watching fireworks at his home shortly after midnight on Wednesday. Police are working on the theory that Carter was hit by a stray bullet fired by an over-zealous reveller, who opted to use his gun instead of fireworks to celebrate the start of the year. 

Contacted yesterday, head of the division, Senior Supt David Abraham, described both murders as unfortunate, since, he said, his officers were on patrol in various parts of both communities when the shootings took place. “We had patrols in both areas at the time. We were on high alert but we can’t be everywhere at once,” Abraham said. 

Despite his concern over the spate of murders, Abraham hailed his division’s efforts last year, as he pointed to statistics which showed a 24 per cent decrease in murders from 2013 and the seizure of 141 illegals guns—the highest figure for all nine policing divisions. “One murder is too much. We have already held strategy meetings with Deputy Police Commissioner Glenn Hackett and rest assured we will get this situation under control,” Abraham said.  

Police said that Rodrigo, of Jokhan Trace Extension, Carapo, Arima, had just returned home from a New Year’s party and was about to have a shower, when the murder took place. Homicide detectives said Rodrigo’s neighbours contacted police around 3.15 am when they heard a volley of gunshots coming from her house. When police arrived minutes later, they found the front door ajar and Rodrigo lying in the bathroom with several gunshot wounds to her upper body. 

Rodrigo, who was still in the black and white outfit she wore to the party, was pronounced dead at the scene by a District Medical Officer. Speaking with reporters before Rodrigo’s autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, yesterday morning, her brother Sheldon and aunt Hazel Ameen could not think of a reason for her killing. Both relatives described Rodrigo as friendly, loyal and loving. “She was working to try to build her life up. I don’t know why anybody would want to hurt her,” Ameen said. 

Investigators had not established a motive for the murder, up to late yesterday, and were attempting to determine if Rodrigo’s attackers had followed her home from the party in Peytonville, Arima, or if they awaited her return home. Police believe the incident may have stemmed from a dispute between one of Rodrigo’s relatives and members of a criminal gang which operates in her community.

No one had been arrested in connection with either murder up to late yesterday. Cpl of the Region Two Homicide Bureau is probing Rodrigo’s murder.

Police are investigating the New Year’s Day murder of a 30-year-old Couva man who was found dead in the back seat of his car on the Solomon Hochoy Highway. Investigators believe Steven Fabian Carrington was carjacked by killers around 11 pm before being shot three times in the chest. According to reports, Petrotrin security officers were patrolling when they noticed a white Nissan Almera parked on the shoulder of the northbound lane of the highway, near the Gasparillo Overpass.

On checking, they found Carrington slumped across the back seat, with blood oozing from his chest. Gasparillo police and officers from the Southern Homicide Bureau went to the scene and had the body taken to the Forensic Science Centre. 

Police are yet to determine a motive for the killing but said Carrington, who went by the alias “Bully,” was a known petty thief and had spent time in jail for marijuana offences when he lived in Point Fortin. They said he also lived in San Fernando for a while before moving to Couva. No one was at Carrington’s Carolina Village home yesterday, but neighbours said he recently moved into the area and they knew little about him.