Five men, arrested by members of the Special Anti-Crime Unit of TT (Sautt) during an exercise, have been charged with murder. Anton Cambridge, 23, Anthony Charles, 30, and Kareem Gomez, 27, all of Covigne Road, Diego Martin, yesterday stood before Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan in the Port-of-Spain Fourth (A) Court. They are alleged to have murdered Cepep employee Russell Antoine on Covigne Road last May 13.
Tow others - Levi Joseph, 19, and Chicki Portillo, 17, also of Covigne Road - stood before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate late last Friday on the same charge. Antoine, 27, was walking along Upper Cemetery Street, Covigne Road, when he was shot several times about his body and slumped to the ground and died. All five accused also are charged with shooting at Marcus Spring and Joseph Spring with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, as well as four additional firearm-related charges.
Yesterday, the three accused were represented by attorneys Wayne Sturge and Fareed Ali. Sturge asked for disclosure of any evidence available to the defence. Particularly, he requested a copy of certificates of analysis, video recorded statements and witness statements. The latter, he said, his clients were entitled to by law.
Cambridge, Charles and Gomez were charged with the offences on Sunday. All five accused would return to court before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Eighth Court on December 13. They were arrested by Sautt officers during an exercise along Covigne Road on November 30.
