HELL ON EARTH
By VERNE BURNETT Monday, January 25 2016
“This is hell on earth,†declared Port-of-Spain Mayor, Raymond Tim Kee yesterday after visiting the family of slain schoolboy Mark Richards at Sogren Trace, off Laventille Road.
“What is happening here is hell on earth,†the Mayor said.
Speaking with journalists after the visit he said the Port-of- Spain City Council will hold a caucus meeting today to discuss the murders of schoolboys Denilson Smith and Mark Richards who were pulled out of a taxi and shot dead by unknown gunmen last Thursday while travelling home from school. The boys were killed while still wearing the uniforms of their school, the Success Laventille Secondary School. Their murders have traumatised the country and, in an address to the nation on Friday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that the army will move into the area and set up a base there on a permanent basis.
Tim Kee said the meeting will take decisions to help the people of Sogren Trace in whatever way possible.
“One thing I am sure about is that most of our councillors are from East Port-of-Spain so there is a passion and commitment to assisting all citizens in East Portof- Spain. At this time I think Sogren Trace and this area take preference over others in the East because of what is happening here now.†The Mayor was accompanied by Councillor Hillan Morean, the councillor for the district of St Ann’s River North; Councillor Nedra McClean, the representative for East Dry River and Councillor Jennel Young among others.
Funeral arrangements for both boys were still being finalised yesterday.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia is expected to visit the families this morning.
After listening to the hardships of the affected residents, Tim Kee said “The worst thing is when you are involuntarily imprisoned.
To get into a taxi is a problem.
To walk a hundred metres from their households to get a taxi to go to work is a problem because I understand the miscreants come and look into the taxi and identify who is and who is not and choose to put to sleep those who they do not like for whatever reason.†He said it was a serious situation and he expected that the Prime Minister will keep his promise to concentrate on the area by having the security agencies spend some time there. He said he wasn’t talking about a two or three week stay but something fairly permanent until the area returns to a state of normalcy. He said even then a reduced complement of manpower might still be needed.
He said he hoped there could be a permanent police/army post in the area especially at the area playground where he said so many things were being lost. “You can’t take advantage of a playfield as wonderful as it is because everybody is afraid to go out and even play.
We’re talking about children who have nothing to do with all the criminal activity.†He also said there was a community centre or handicraft centre in the area which was not in use and he would hold talks with the Parliamentary representative for the area, Fitzgerald Hinds, to have the centre functioning for the use of the residents so they could be doing things to make a living. Tim Kee said what the residents were experiencing was more than poverty but tyranny from the gangsters who were terrorising the area so they were caught in a double problem of poverty and violence.
“It’s really heartbreaking. I’m sitting there and I am feeling the pain — not physical, of course — the emotional pain that they must be enduring at this time and what makes it even more disturbing to me is that I understand that some of the people that were held were people from right around here who were the victims like one of the children that were killed.†Following the shootings of the schoolboys police arrested nine persons from the Sogren Trace area but by yesterday afternoon it was reported that all but one had been released.
One resident told Tim Kee that there needed to be a police post in Sogren Trace itself to protect the residents because he feared that after the police and army leave the violence would return. He said they did not want any sporting programme but something that would bring employment to the area. Another resident commented that the violence had been going on for 17 years. Others stated openly that they were afraid to leave home to attend school or go to work today and some parents said they were fearful about sending their children to school.
The Mayor was planning to visit the home of 81-year-old Morsley Phillip on Sogren Trace but had to call off that visit as he was informed that relatives of Phillip were not at home. Phillip was shot dead on Friday night by two men who broke down the front door of his home at about 10pm.
By VERNE BURNETT Monday, January 25 2016
“This is hell on earth,†declared Port-of-Spain Mayor, Raymond Tim Kee yesterday after visiting the family of slain schoolboy Mark Richards at Sogren Trace, off Laventille Road.
“What is happening here is hell on earth,†the Mayor said.
Speaking with journalists after the visit he said the Port-of- Spain City Council will hold a caucus meeting today to discuss the murders of schoolboys Denilson Smith and Mark Richards who were pulled out of a taxi and shot dead by unknown gunmen last Thursday while travelling home from school. The boys were killed while still wearing the uniforms of their school, the Success Laventille Secondary School. Their murders have traumatised the country and, in an address to the nation on Friday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced that the army will move into the area and set up a base there on a permanent basis.
Tim Kee said the meeting will take decisions to help the people of Sogren Trace in whatever way possible.
“One thing I am sure about is that most of our councillors are from East Port-of-Spain so there is a passion and commitment to assisting all citizens in East Portof- Spain. At this time I think Sogren Trace and this area take preference over others in the East because of what is happening here now.†The Mayor was accompanied by Councillor Hillan Morean, the councillor for the district of St Ann’s River North; Councillor Nedra McClean, the representative for East Dry River and Councillor Jennel Young among others.
Funeral arrangements for both boys were still being finalised yesterday.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia is expected to visit the families this morning.
After listening to the hardships of the affected residents, Tim Kee said “The worst thing is when you are involuntarily imprisoned.
To get into a taxi is a problem.
To walk a hundred metres from their households to get a taxi to go to work is a problem because I understand the miscreants come and look into the taxi and identify who is and who is not and choose to put to sleep those who they do not like for whatever reason.†He said it was a serious situation and he expected that the Prime Minister will keep his promise to concentrate on the area by having the security agencies spend some time there. He said he wasn’t talking about a two or three week stay but something fairly permanent until the area returns to a state of normalcy. He said even then a reduced complement of manpower might still be needed.
He said he hoped there could be a permanent police/army post in the area especially at the area playground where he said so many things were being lost. “You can’t take advantage of a playfield as wonderful as it is because everybody is afraid to go out and even play.
We’re talking about children who have nothing to do with all the criminal activity.†He also said there was a community centre or handicraft centre in the area which was not in use and he would hold talks with the Parliamentary representative for the area, Fitzgerald Hinds, to have the centre functioning for the use of the residents so they could be doing things to make a living. Tim Kee said what the residents were experiencing was more than poverty but tyranny from the gangsters who were terrorising the area so they were caught in a double problem of poverty and violence.
“It’s really heartbreaking. I’m sitting there and I am feeling the pain — not physical, of course — the emotional pain that they must be enduring at this time and what makes it even more disturbing to me is that I understand that some of the people that were held were people from right around here who were the victims like one of the children that were killed.†Following the shootings of the schoolboys police arrested nine persons from the Sogren Trace area but by yesterday afternoon it was reported that all but one had been released.
One resident told Tim Kee that there needed to be a police post in Sogren Trace itself to protect the residents because he feared that after the police and army leave the violence would return. He said they did not want any sporting programme but something that would bring employment to the area. Another resident commented that the violence had been going on for 17 years. Others stated openly that they were afraid to leave home to attend school or go to work today and some parents said they were fearful about sending their children to school.
The Mayor was planning to visit the home of 81-year-old Morsley Phillip on Sogren Trace but had to call off that visit as he was informed that relatives of Phillip were not at home. Phillip was shot dead on Friday night by two men who broke down the front door of his home at about 10pm.