News Briefs

Amnesty Int'l welcomes murder charge against cops

Amnesty International has welcomed the laying of charges against six policemen over the murders of three men more than six years ago.

Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, Constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch were charged Wednesday for the shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Mark Allen and Ucliffe Dyer along Arcadia Drive, St Andrew on January 12, 2013 under questionable circumstances.

The policemen had indicated that they acted in self-defence.

Corporal Fullerton was further charged with making a false statement to the Independent Commission of Investigations.

He is being accused of misleading the Commission about his use of lethal force during the incident.

They were each granted $600,000 bail with sureties when they appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

The matter was set for mention on September 30.

 

 

Becca named to CBU Hall of Fame

SAN ANDRES ISLAND, Colombia (CMC):

The Barbados-based Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) has inducted two former regional media workers into its Caribbean Media Hall of Fame during its 50th annual general assembly held in Colombia this week.

In a statement, the CBU said late Jamaican sports writer Tony Becca and the Trinidadian media executive Shida Bolai had been inducted into the hall of fame.

Becca, a former Gleaner sports editor, was “hailed as having sports and sports journalism in his blood from the early days as he played cricket, football. hockey and table tennis.

“He was best remembered for reporting on all sporting disciplines with his writings about cricket – and, especially, West Indies Cricket – for which he was renowned. He covered more than 125 West Indies Test matches.”

Bolai was regarded “as a strong leader at operational and executive levels in media steadily working across media platforms of print, radio and television” during her employment with the Trinidad-based Caribbean Communications Network.

 

 

T&T cops probe murder as children found with decomposing bodies

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Police are investigating the discovery of two children – an eight-month-old baby and his four-year-old sister – found in a house in south Trinidad with the decomposing bodies of three people, who were shot dead.

The police said that the children were found by their 21-year-old brother Vishad Mohamed, who went to visit his family in Penal, Trinidad, on Thursday.

He discovered the bodies of his parents – Wazir Mohammed, 57 and Shelly-Ann Ragoonanan, 39 – as well as his 46-year-old uncle, Nazir Mohammed.

The children were not harmed by the killers and the authorities say it is likely that the four year old had been taking care of the baby following the shootings that apparently occurred four days earlier.

Senior Superintendent Wayne Mohammed told reporters that Vishad, who lives elsewhere, went to check on his family as he was unable to make contact with them since Sunday.

 

 

PAHO warns of ‘complex situation’ of dengue in the Caribbean

WASHINGTON (CMC):

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is warning of what it describes as “the complex situation” of dengue in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It says the region is currently experiencing “a new epidemic cycle of the disease” after two years of low incidence.

According to the latest PAHO epidemiological update, during the first seven months of 2019, more than two million people contracted the disease, and 723 died.

PAHO said the number of cases exceeds the total number of cases reported in 2017 and 2018 “although so far, it remains lower than the number recorded in 2015-2016".

PAHO said another characteristic of the current epidemic is that children under the age of 15 appear to be among the most affected.