JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, June 16, 2025

Coudray hopeful at Akiel Chambers march

Pub­lic re­veals new ev­i­dence

by

20130421

With less than a month to the 15th an­niver­sary of the death of Akiel Cham­bers, Gen­der, Youth and Child De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Mar­lene Coudray said yes­ter­day that sev­er­al peo­ple had con­tact­ed her min­istry with new in­for­ma­tion that may fi­nal­ly help solve his mur­der.Coudray made the an­nounce­ment af­ter the Jeri­cho Project's an­nu­al Akiel Cham­bers Jus­tice for Chil­dren March at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day.

Coudray, the fea­ture speak­er at the event, did not dis­close de­tails of the in­for­ma­tion she had re­ceived. She al­so could not con­firm whether the in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to Cham­bers' death had been re­opened by homi­cide de­tec­tives in light of the new in­for­ma­tion.On May 23, 1998, Cham­bers' body was found at the bot­tom of a swim­ming pool in Hale­land Park, Mar­aval, af­ter a birth­day par­ty for a class­mate. A post-mortem re­vealed he had been bug­gered and stran­gled. No one has been charged for the crime and his mur­der re­mains un­solved.

While speak­ing dur­ing a Par­lia­men­tary de­bate in Oc­to­ber last year, Coudray is­sued a call for the re­open­ing of the case.Speak­ing about the pub­lic re­sponse to that call yes­ter­day, Coudray said: "When I made the call, I was pleas­ant­ly sur­prised about the num­ber of peo­ple that came foward to help with in­for­ma­tion which may have been over­looked in the past."

Coudray said she was al­so ap­proached last week by a group who wished to make a film on Cham­bers' life. She said the film­mak­ers will be seek­ing per­mis­sion from his fam­i­ly be­fore pro­duc­tion be­gins.She as­sured the mod­est crowd at the event that her min­istry was work­ing on es­tab­lish­ing the Chil­dren's Au­thor­i­ty, as well as sev­er­al pieces of leg­is­la­tion, which would ad­dress chil­dren and child abuse.

"Vi­o­lence and abuse against chil­dren is not on­ly about leg­is­la­tion. We are to be our chil­dren's keep­ers. The abuse that is go­ing on, no amount of leg­is­la­tion is go­ing to pre­vent it," Coudray said. She al­so ad­dressed the is­sue of bul­ly­ing in schools, say­ing ac­tion must be tak­en to erad­i­cate it en­tire­ly."I want to ap­peal to all par­ents to­day to pay close at­ten­tion to what is hap­pen­ing with your chil­dren at school par­tic­u­lar­ly. We need to stop the bul­ly­ing and these acts against each oth­er," Coudray said.

Yes­ter­day's march at­tract­ed sev­er­al hun­dred sup­port­ers who made one lap around the sa­van­nah be­fore end­ing the event with a lec­ture ses­sion, which fea­tured Coudray, for­mer In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor Di­ana Ma­habir-Wy­att and sev­er­al abuse vic­tims.As part of the march, par­tic­i­pants were giv­en plac­ards bear­ing the names and ages of de­ceased vic­tims of child abuse.Jeri­cho Project pres­i­dent Phillip Alexan­der hailed the event as a suc­cess and promised that it would be con­tin­ued next year.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Percival Arthur Sukhbir

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Percival Arthur Sukhbir

Rodey the Entertainer: A decade of laughter and love

Yesterday
Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

RISHI RAGOONATH

Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

RISHI RAGOONATH

Honouring our dads: Happy Father’s Day

Yesterday
Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Antony Scully

Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Antony Scully

TSTT CEO Kent Western raising men, leading with love and purpose

Yesterday
Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

ROGER JACOB

Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

ROGER JACOB

Fathers by choice: The men who raise forgotten boys

Yesterday