It is nice to follow a career in journalism. You get to meet people, sometimes important people.But it takes someone with "belly" to be a crime reporter. I did it for 32 years, and many of my friends felt I had become immune to seeing blood, dead bodies and criminals.
And the worst crime for a reporter to cover is the murder of a child.While everyone is focused on the two recent killings of Jacob Monroe and Keyana Cumberbatch, the public must never forget the killings over the years.
In most of these cases, the common thread is that the killers were those close to the children. For some reason, a relative is always responsible for the death of the child. In the Monroe case, the suspect now in police custody is a relative. In the Keyana case, the suspect was also close to the six-year-old.I have read where people are throwing blame on the Prime Minister, the present Government and the past Government.
I agree with what Stephanie Daly SC, Chairman of the Children's Authority, had to say on Friday, and that is: "it is impossible to protect every child in the country." Parents, whether it is father or mother, you must be careful who you bring into your home.
For some reason, a relationship goes sour and ends, and a third party ends up in the home with the young children. In many of the fatal cases, it is a stepfather or stepmother who causes grief. Parents have to take full responsibility for their children. Don't depend on others. I know there are many cases where mothers have to work and depend on others to collect children. Sacrifice is important...especially these days.
How can that be the fault of any Government? Throwing a tantrum in Parliament will not solve the problem. That problem originates from the home. It grieves me every time a child's life is taken away, because I have children too. I have been to many homes, as a reporter, when loved ones have been murdered. It is not a nice feeling and many times, you don't know what to tell the grieving relatives.
Many times, I questioned myself why I chose that career. It is a career I hope never to return to.While some cases have been closed with the conviction of the guilty, some remain unsolved.
Let me list some of them:
One must never forget the killing of 11-year-old Akiel Chambers in the pool of businessman Charles James at Haleland Park, Maraval, on May 23, 1998. Akiel was suffocated, buggered and his lifeless body thrown in the pool. Drowning was ruled out as no water was found in his lungs.
Two Coroner's inquests were held and in the latter, then Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls ruled that someone was responsible for Akiel's death. Two suspects emerged during that inquest, but in reality, there was just one to whom all the circumstantial evidence pointed. That suspect walks around Port-of-Spain, continuing to enjoy life as if he has no problem in the world.But as my late grandmother used to tell me when I was a boy, "there is a higher God who will deal with you."
That case remains unsolved and from what I hear, it will remain a cold case...forever. From the very start, the police treated this as a drowning and never pursued another line of investigation.I think the most gruesome I have encountered as a reporter was on October 25, 1993. Two children, Tulsie Dass, eight, and his sister, Sabrina, seven, were dug up from a shallow grave at the back of their house at Richmill Road, Carlsen Field, Chaguanas.
Their father had taken them to school earlier that morning. Around midday, the father's common-law wife, who was jealous of his affection for the children, went to the school and retrieved them. She took them home, sent them one by one to bathe, and then beat them.
That woman, Angela Ramdeen, then threw their semi-unconscious bodies in a shallow grave which she had dug earlier that day. She then covered up the hole and pretended that she knew nothing. Eventually, the father suspected something was wrong and called the police; that is when the children's bodies were recovered.Ramdeen was sentenced to hang, but the Privy Council sent the case back to Trinidad. Ramdeen was eventually sentenced to 35 years in jail.
What about six-year-old Sean Luke? On March 28, 2006, Sean was found dead in a cane field near his home. He had gone missing on March 26, 2006. The autopsy revealed that Sean had been sodomised with a cane stalk and had bled to death. Two teenagers aged 14 and 16 were arrested and charged, and their cases are pending.
Amy Emily Annamunthudo was only four years old and to many was still a baby. On May 15, 2006, Amy was raped, buggered, beaten and suffocated at her home in Marabella. Her 19-year-old mother was charged with negligence while her stepfather, Marlon King, was charged with her murder. Investigations revealed the girl had been subjected to repeated physical and sexual abuse during her short life and been hospitalised several times. King was eventually sentenced to hang.
Parmanand Persad was 13 years old. On October 29, 2006, Parmanand, a student of the Chaguanas Junior Secondary School, was beaten, buggered, tortured and murdered at Crown Trace, Enterprise. A neighbour was arrested for the crime.
On February 1, Dane Andrews, 12, of New Grant, Princes Town, was fished out of a pond close to his home. Andrews is believed to have gone swimming with friends at the same pond when he was sexually assaulted. Police investigators believe the person who assaulted Andrews, killed him by drowning him in the pond. To date no arrest has been made.
On April 23, 2006 Radha "Pixie" Lakhan, 16, of Siparia, was found dead in a shallow grave near her home. She had been missing for a month. A suspect was later held, and just three weeks ago, he was sentenced to hang.On June 17, 2009, the body of missing ten-year-old Tecia Henry was found. The child's decomposing body was discovered under a house at Block 8 in Laventille. The St Roses RC school pupil was missing hours after she left her John John, Laventille, home to purchase items at a nearby shop.
On April 8, 2010, Rawtee Linda Boodoo, 31, murdered her children Ashwaria, five, and 15-month-old Kristina by hanging them with ropes before taking her own life, also by hanging, at their home at Wilson Road, Clarke Road, Penal. The three were found hanging from a rafter in an empty bedroom during the early morning hours by Rawtee's common-law husband of seven years, Rennie Samaroo.
A police report revealed that at about 2 am, Boodoo awoke from sleep and realised his wife and daughters were not in their beds. He checked another room and made the gruesome discovery of his wife and two daughters hanging.
Francis Joseph
via e-mail
Francis Joseph was aformer crime reporter atthe Trinidad Guardian.