Regional Briefs

Prisoner found hanging in T&T jail

PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

A 64-year-old man, who was awaiting trial for the 2009 murder of his wife and sons, was found hanging in his prison cell at the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca.

The authorities said that Pedro Sue D’Labeiro was found unresponsive in his cell on Thursday as officers were conducting routine patrols at the Top Security Wing of the Remand Yard.

They said a bed sheet was tied to the cell gate and the inmate’s neck. He was taken to the Arima Health Facility where he was pronounced dead.

D’Labeiro had been committed to stand trial in 2017 for the murders of his 46-year-old wife, Belinda, and sons Juan, 11, and José, six, between April 2 and April 5, 2009.

Police said they were chopped to death at their home in Arima.

Money tiff over SBAs  unfortunate, says former CXC head 

Castries (CMC):

The former registrar of the Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Dr Didacus Jules, has been commenting on the ongoing threat by teachers across the region to withdraw their services in marking examination projects under the school-based assessment (SBA) and the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) set by the CXC.

Teachers in some Caribbean countries – notably, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados – have been complaining about not being paid to mark the projects and have threatened to withdraw their services in protest.

“It is very unfortunate because I think in some ways, this is a debate that is focused on the money, and the SBAs is not a monetary thing, nor was it meant to be an imposition on teachers that would unduly tie up their time and create extra effort. All of that was supposed to have been fitted within the ambit of the work that they do in their classrooms and to give value to that in awarding final grades to students,” Jules said.

Earlier this week, the Grenada Union of Teachers advised its membership not to mark the SBAs and CPEA projects, but instead to submit them to the Ministry of Education.

Trinidad says no to gun amnesty

PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

The Trinidad and Tobago government on Thursday said it would not follow its Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbour, Barbados, in implementing a gun amnesty aimed at curbing gun-related crimes on the twin-island republic.

“A gun amnesty works in certain countries and certain circumstances. We don’t think that is applicable to Trinidad and Tobago,” National Security Minister Stuart Young told a news conference following the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Earlier this week, the Barbados government announced a week-long gun amnesty, with Attorney General Dale Marshall telling legislators that the amnesty would begin today.

“We think persons will just bring in older guns, but those who are using the guns to commit crimes in Trinidad and Tobago are not going to put down their guns,” Young said.