NEWS
Guilty of killing mother and infant son
The death penalty was read twice yesterday in the San Fernando High Court to a Mayaro man who was found guilty of stabbing to death his ex-lover and throwing her body into a latrine pit then stabbing her 18-monthold son and throwing him into the Ortoire River. The murders took place in 2005 and 12 years later, 41-year-old Anand Baboolal, also known as “Son”, went on trial. Justice Althea Alexis- Windsor ordered that he suffer death by hanging for the murders of 26-year-old Ria Ramlochan and Ishmael Timothy Ragbir. The child was stabbed 14 times and one of his ears was severed. Read more here
Decomposing body found in Princes Town
An Oropouche man on his way to collect cassava sticks in St Croix, Princes Town got a shocking surprise when he stumbled upon the nude decomposing body of a man. According to reports, Kenrick Dookie and his brother-in-law went to Sankar Trace, around 9.30 am yesterday to collect cassava sticks. Around 10 am, Dookie left his brother-in-law chatting with some friends and walked down the incline. On reaching almost to the bottom of the hill, Dookie said he began getting a foul stench. Read more here
Killer weeps in court after death sentence
Tears flowed from Anand Baboolal’s eyes after he was told that he will suffer death by hanging for the murder of a mother and her baby in Mayaro 12 years ago. The death sentence was read twice to Baboolal in the San Fernando Supreme Court yesterday afternoon by Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor, after the jury returned with a guilty verdict after approximately two hours in the jury room. Baboolal, 40, of Mayaro, who is also called “Shawn” and “Son”, was convicted of killing Ria Ramlochan, 26, and her 18-month-old son, Ishmael Timothy Ragbir, in 2005. Read more here
POLITCS
CISL to close
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday confirmed that Cabinet has taken a decision to close down the special purpose company, Community Improvement Services Limited (CISL). Rowley gave this confirmation in response to a question from Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh in the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister explained that Government has done a general evaluation of the State Enterprise sector. Read more here
Crime woes troubling PM
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is describing Trinidad and Tobago as a “violent and lawless society” and admitting that there is “no area in crime fighting” he is satisfied with as chairman of the National Security Council. Speaking to host Hema Ramkissoon on CNC 3’s Morning Brew yesterday, Rowley also expressed his own concern about corruption in the Police Service, which he said affects the flow of information to solve crimes. With the murder rate at close to 150 for the year, Rowley said crime is “an intractable problem. What is required is a sustained response with the expectation that there would be successes in those areas.” The litmus test, he said, is the success of security agencies, but he said “I am not satisfied with anything in the area of crime management, crime detection and suppression.” Read more here
Ramnarine: Upstream investment dried up before 2010
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s statement to Parliament yesterday on the country’s gas shortage “conveniently neglects to mention that one of the main reasons we experienced gas shortages from late 2010 to today is the fact that upstream investment dried up from 2008 to 2010”. In response to Rowley’s account of the gas situation which the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government encountered when it came into office in September 2015, former energy minister Kevin Ramnarine said yesterday the former administration had cultivated investment in the upstream. To this end, he said foreign direct investment in the energy sector climbed from US$501 million in 2010 to US$1.5 billion in 2015. Read more here
BUSINESS
Energy Chamber: All’s not lost with Angelin project
Platform construction is only one portion of the overall delivery of a major offshore gas development, according to the Energy Chamber. In a statement issued yesterday, the chamber said despite this country’s loss of the opportunity to build the platform for bpTT’s Angelin project, other opportunities for local content also exist in the drilling, installation and commissioning phases and the chamber will continue to work with bpTT and other stakeholders to increase local content. Chief Executive Officer of the chamber Dr. Dax Driver said while it would change from project to project, the platform construction would amount to about ten to 20 percent of the total cost. He said a typical upstream project such as bpTT’s Juniper was a US$2 billion project so ten percent of that would give an idea of the total cost of the platform fabrication. Read more here
Rowley: Roget’s statement hurting T&T
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday that OWTU President General Ancil Roget’s “take your platform and go”statement is hurting the country. “That is not really the kind of thing that causes somebody in a BP boardroom or elsewhere to say Trinidad is the place we want to put our money,” he said during an interview on The Morning Brew Roget has said he will not apologise for the statement and repeated his position, voiced after BP pulled construction of the Angelin Platform from T&T. Dr Rowley said: “I think BP was as disappointed as we were.” Read more here
Chamber sad over BP rig pullout
All responsible stakeholders in the country must be disappointed by the decision not to construct bpTT’s Angelin platform in La Brea. This was the message from the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago yesterday. Last Wednesday, energy giant bpTT announced that it would construct its offshore platform for its Angelin gas field outside Trinidad and Tobago. Read more here
REGIONAL
Montserrat enlists OECS support in dispute with CDB
The government of Montserrat has enlisted the support of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission in its bid to have the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) re-examine its decision to drop Montserrat from its list of Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) beneficiary countries. The bank notified the government earlier this year that Montserrat was no longer eligible to receive financial support under the regional programme. The reason given was that the island’s per capita GDP position has improved, causing the island to be classified as a high income country. Read more here
Damning Charges! Prosecutor Outlines Fraud Charges Against Well-Known Attorney Patrick Bailey
Prosecutors yesterday detailed how a St Catherine man hired well-known attorney-at-law Patrick Bailey to handle a land transaction and joint venture housing project but ended up, several years later, without his 22-acre property and having to pay his prospective business partners over $28 million. Clerk of Court Channa Ormsby outlined the allegations in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court as she sought an indictment order to have Bailey stand trial for conspiracy to defraud. Bailey was also scheduled to stand trial for forgery arising from the transfer of the property, but that charge was withdrawn. Ormsby explained that the parish court "does not have jurisdiction to try this offence". Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Beslan school siege: Russia 'failed' in 2004 massacre
Satellite photos show North Korean nuclear site 'primed and ready'
North Korean monitoring service 38 North said Wednesday the country's Punggye-ri nuclear site is "primed and ready" for a sixth nuclear test. "The activity during the past six weeks is suggestive of the final preparations for a test," 38 North analyst Joseph Bermudez told CNN. Their prediction comes as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that North Korea may have the capability to deliver missiles equipped with sarin nerve gas. He and other analysts pore over commercial satellite imagery of the testing site, looking for signs of activity similar to that prior to other tests. Read more here
13th April 2017