Yvonne Baboolal andRhondor Dowlat
Enterprise imam, Morland Muakyil Abdullah, whose son was gunned down on Wednesday, is calling for the urgent intervention of Central Division head Senior Supt Johnny Abraham and his officers in the matter.
"We want Johnny Abraham and Inspector Terrence Williams to deal with it urgently," Abdullah said in an interview yesterday at his Crown Trace mosque.
Asked if it was an explosive situation, the Imam replied: "Some brothers are not pleased about it (his son's killing).
Abdullah's sons–Aqyil Lynch, 25 and Ackmal Lynch, 22–were shot by masked men at a construction site in Charlieville on Wednesday.
Akmal died and was buried hours after. Aqyil was hospitalised but released yesterday with a bullet lodged in his leg.
He sat on a wheelchair, the injured leg in a cast, in the mosque downstairs the family's home. Close relatives and members of the mosque sat around quietly. "I am trying to hold on," Aqyil said.
Abdullah said he has been asking members of his mosque to raise their hands in prayer over the matter.
He also said he has received several calls from people who said they were ready to do whatever it took to seek revenge.
However, Abdullah pleaded with them to "hold their hands to such an act."
"Listen, the youths who are giving trouble are all Muslims and there is a lot of respect out here for Imam Abu Bakr and I will be thankful if he should really come in here and help me out in the fight for the restoration of peace and law and order back in the Enterprise community again," Abdullah said.
"I used to walk the streets at 2 am but I can't do that no more. Gone were the days when people never had fear to come into the area. We need this again," he added.
He said: "We take we licks. I have to practise what I preach. I have been asking the young men in the area to throw away their guns. We want the law to deal with this."
Abdullah added, however, that people did not always listen to their leaders. "We might say hold your hands but some might say they can't," he noted.
He said Akmal was well loved and respected in the Enterprise area.
Asked if the killing of his son was a reigniting of recent gang rivalry in the area, he said it may have stemmed from a domestic matter.
"My son and his former wife had problems. Akmal had a dispute with a guy. I want to believe that's where it came from. My son does not drink, gamble, do drugs. It wasn't no gang thing," he added.
Abdullah said shortly after the dispute between his son and the other man, the Imam of another mosque in the area came to see him on Eid.
"He said my son lash the guy and he wanted us to have a mashura (meeting) to settle the matter.
"I went the Sunday but didn't go Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning my son was killed."
Morland said he was the owner of Abu's Grill House on the Southern Main Road, Enterprise, and also runs a security business.
He said he was the man who found Chaguanas pilot Azad Niamat, after he was kidnapped and murdered.
The T&T Guardian visited the mosque of the imam who visited Abdullah before his son's death. A young man stationed at the front said he was not there.
Contacted on his cell, the imam said he would not speak to the media anymore since he was misquoted in a previous newspaper article.
Johnny Abraham, driving through Enterprise with Inspector Williams yesterday, said he was going all out to find out who killed Akmal. He said he was not taking anybody's word as to the cause of the murder but would try to find out for himself.
"The police are working on several different theories," he added.
He said despite all the media focus on crime in Enterprise, the truth was that there were only two murders in the area for the year, so far, and 18 shootings. He said additional officers had been deployed to patrol the area since Akmal's murder. "We don't want no reprisal killing," he said.
More respect for Abu Bakr than the police
Abdullah said there were about 1,000 members in his mosque who were from "all over."
He said his Crown Trace mosque was opened in 1997 by Jamaat al Muslimeen leader, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, but later broke away and joined the Anjuman Sunnat ul Jamaat Association (ASJA).
He said he had maintained "a friendship" with Abu Bakr, however.
Abu Bakr was detained for two days by the police for questioning in connection with the murder of Dana Seetahal and shortly after his release he visited the Crown Trace Mosque for Akmal's funeral.
He told members in the area he would be coming to end the violence and bring peace. Abdullah said Abu Bakr would be welcome in the area.
"People have more respect for him than the police. He will not pick on anybody, put them on the ground and rub them down," he added.
Asked how will Abu Bakr go about ending the violence in Enterprise, Abdullah said: "First, he will try to get rid of the guns.
"Ninety per cent of the young men will listen to him. He will not be violent. He will call them and have a meeting with them."