Moontown

Charged with murder

By Rickie Ramdass rickie.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

LEADER of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen Yasin Abu Bakr has been charged with murder.

Bakr and Brent “Big Brent” Miller were charged yesterday with the murder of Maraval resident Israel Sammy in 1998, following a coroner’s inquest into his death.

Miller was Bakr’s main accuser in the charge of conspiracy to murder two former Jamaat members, but his evidence was deemed to be unreliable by then High Court judge Mustapha Ibrahim in 2006.

Coroner Nalini Singh, in her ruling in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court at 11.45 a.m. yesterday, said she found there was sufficient evidence for both men to be charged with Sammy’s killing.

Both Bakr, leader of the 1990 attempted coup, and Miller were in court when the ruling was handed down. They voluntarily entered the prisoners’ dock before they were taken away in a police vehicle to the Port of Spain Criminal Investigations Department (CID) where the charges were laid by Acting Supt Baldeo.

At 2.35 p.m., Bakr and Miller returned to the courthouse as heavily armed police officers stood guard along St Vincent Street where the court is located. Vehicular traffic was brought to a halt while pedestrians and media personnel were ordered to the other side of the road.

Less than five minutes after arriving, the two appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Eighth Court where other heavily armed officers were present. The charges were read.

Defence attorney Larry Williams, who represented Miller, told the court he was “ready and anxious to proceed with the matter”, and he would be contacting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard for information in relation to what direction the matter would go.

Former DPP Geoffrey Henderson, he said, had indicated the State could not proceed with the Sammy matter against Miller, based on the statements he had given to officers investigating that killing.

The inquest into Sammy’s death began on February 2, 2009, with Bakr first appearing before Singh on February 6. Thirteen witnesses, including Louisa Sammy, the mother of the dead man, had testified. She, along with WPC Bacchus of the Port of Spain CID, was cross-examined by Williams yesterday before Singh gave the ruling.

Bakr had hired Senior Counsel Pamela Elder as his attorney, following the advice of Singh to obtain an attorney. Elder chose not to cross-examine either Sammy or Bacchus, who were called by Williams. She also did not make any closing submissions yesterday.

Sammy, 22, a mechanic of Dacca Street, Boisierre Village, Maraval, was taken from his home by masked men around 2 a.m. on May 20, 1998. He was beaten in the road and shot dead behind his home.

The two accused were taken into prison custody at the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca and will return to court before Ayers-Caesar on October 6.

Chris Gayle - file

Baugh

Russell

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Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

West Indies captain Chris Gayle has refused a central retainer contract offer from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Gayle is the third player to have rejected the central retainer contract from the WICB, following Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard.

Gayle was earlier granted an extension by the WICB to make a decision on the contract offer. The contract period runs from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011.

The contracts were offered on four scales - A, B, C and Development.

The A contracts are valued at US$120,000 (J$10,285,200 million) per annum; B - US$100,000 (J$8,571,000m); C - $US$80,000 (J$6,856,800m); and Development - US$24,000 (J$2,057,040m).

Both Gayle and Bravo were offered A contracts, while Pollard was offered a C contract.

Contract

Gayle and Bravo’s snub has left Shivnarine Chanderpaul as the only member of the team with an A contract.

According to a release, “the WICB has written to Gayle, Bravo and Pollard seeking details of the issues which caused them not to take up the offer, in an attempt to understand same and so that the issues can be addressed for future contract offers.”

Despite their position, the three players will still be eligible to represent the West Indies, as long as they meet the board’s selection criteria.

Additionally, according to the WICB, the possession of a retainer contract is not a prerequisite for selection to the West Indies team.

Meanwhile, the refusal of the trio has led to a lucky break for the Jamaican trio of David Bernard Jr, Andre Russell and wicketkeeper-batsman Carlton Baugh Jr, who were upgraded from development to central contracts.

The trio were listed among eight players for developmental contracts.

They join batsman Brendan Nash and spinner Nikita Miller as Jamaicans among those centrally contracted.

Miller says he was not surprised.

“It was not really a surprise as when I look back prior to my injury, I think I was showing some amount of improvement,” Miller, who was on a development contract last year, told The Gleaner yesterday.

He added: “It’s a plus to get a central retainer, which is like security for me to continue working on improving myself so that I can help the team to move up to the next level.”

Another Jamaican, wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton, who plays for the Combined Campuses and Colleges in regional competitions, has a development contract.

The board’s CEO, Dr Ernest Hilaire, was delighted that there are enough players who seem committed to the regional team’s cause.

“The WICB is delighted to have a full complement of players on Central Retainer and Develop-mental contracts,” he said in the release.

“We see this as a clear demonstration by the players themselves that they are committed to working with the WICB towards the development and success of West Indies cricket,” he added.

WICB contracted players: Category A - Shivnarine Chander-paul. Category B - Sulieman Benn, Darren Sammy. Category C - Kemar Roach, Brendan Nash, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Shane Shillingford, Nikita Miller, Devon Smith, Ravi Rampaul, Nelon Pascal, David Bernard Jr., Andre Russell, Carlton Baugh Jr. Developmental Contracts - Kirk Edwards, Gavin Tonge, Andre Fletcher, Chadwick Walton, Devendra Bishoo, Assad Fudadin, Imran Khan and Kevin Stoute. (Jamaica Gleaner)

This house fell into the Sandy Park gully in Liguanea, St Andrew, during torrential rains yesterday. Two occupants of the house are confirmed dead while six others are still missing and feared dead. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Arthur Hall, Senior Gleaner Writer

THE FLOOD rains which lashed the island over the past three days have claimed at least two lives and there are growing fears that many other persons might have died, as the outer bands of what developed into Tropical Storm Nicole rocked Jamaica.

A teenage boy and a 68-year-old farmer were confirmed dead in what could be one of the most deadly weather systems to have hit the island in more than a decade.

A family of six is among the persons reported missing and feared dead, but there were unconfirmed reports last night that at least six other persons could not be accounted for.

The first worrying signs came in the wee hours of yesterday morning when news broke that the wall of the Sandy Gully had collapsed, near Liguanea Avenue in St Andrew, pulling three houses into the raging waters.

It was quickly confirmed that a woman, her four children, her common-law husband and a visiting female friend were in one of the houses at the time it fell into the gully.

At the break of day, as the water flow subsided, the nude body of one of the children, a young boy, was seen near the collapsed building inside the gully.

A frantic search was launched but up to late last night, as the other persons had not been found sparking fears that they had been buried in the rubble or their bodies washed into the sea.

“Me can’t tek this. Me know all of them and the woman is a good woman who work hard and is always trying,” said one neighbour with tears flowing down her face.

Other persons cried quietly as they expressed regret at the tragedy.

Member of parliament for the area, Delroy Chuck, was equally struck by the tragedy which he claimed was avoidable.

“Obviously, it is a combination of factors that has caused the collapse of the house,” Chuck told The Gleaner.

“The house was built right on the gully bank and the gully floor and its banks were eroding. Up to Saturday, I was viewing it because I have made representation already to the National Works Agency about the many gullies in the community that need to be repaired and this was one of them,” Chuck added.

Death confirmed

Hours later, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that 68-year-old farmer Lenford Blake was washed away by torrential rains in Flagaman, St Elizabeth.

While the police were unable to provide details on the circumstances surrounding Blake’s death, it was reported he was at a bar in the community when he left. On his way home, he was reportedly swept away by gushing waters.

That news was quickly followed by reports that a man who attempted to cross the flooded ford in the Hope River in Harbour View, St Andrew, had been washed away.

Residents claimed to have seen the unidentified man’s body floating towards the sea.

The body was not found up to press time and the police were unable to provide any information.

In 2008, Tropical Gustav caused 15 deaths and left millions of dollars in damage. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Residents at Payne’s Bay are hopping mad over what they see as a move to hinder beach access to one of the most popular open windows to the sea.

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5:40 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 29, 2010 - An 18-wheeler truck flipped on its top and blocked a section of the ABC Highway just outside the Grantley Adams International Airport this evening.

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These young men push this motor vehicle in the rain on Marescaux Road near Heroes Circle, Kingston, yesterday. - photo by Rudolph Brown

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

THERE ARE early indications that the havoc wrought by the heavy rains on the national Budget will be as devastating as it has been on several communities over the past two days.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday admitted that his administration was bracing for further onslaught from the rains, as well as a massive price tag for the damage it has unleashed on the island’s infrastructure.

Golding warned that while it was too early to provide an estimate of the havoc wrought, early indications were that adjustments would have to be made to the Budget.

“If the rains continue, we could have significantly more challenges,” the prime minister warned.

He was amply supported by senior representatives from the critical agencies at what should have been the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing.

“The damage is going to be expensive,” declared Golding, following a preliminary aerial assessment that had to be aborted because of poor visibility.

He said donor countries are not likely to respond in the same manner as they would in the event of a hurricane.

The forecast from the Meteorological Service is that rains are likely to continue to pelt the already oversodden island.

Director of the Met Service, Sylvia McGill, told journalists that the weather system associated with Tropical Storm Nicole could continue until tomorrow.

More devastating showers

She served notice that two additional weather systems lurking ominously near the island could produce more devastating showers.

But already the picture is grim.

Golding said the worst affected parishes were Kingston and St Andrew, Clarendon and St Catherine.

The prime minister revealed that shelters were activated in these parishes as well as St James.

He said arrangements were in place for emergency supplies to be dispatched to affected areas as well as other communities that have been cut off. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Government should open ownership of the Transport Board, the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC) and the airport and seaport to “ordinary Barbadians” and institutions.

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Opposition leader Mia Mottley()

Government should open ownership of the Transport Board, the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC) and the airport and seaport to “ordinary Barbadians” and institutions.

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley made the suggestion yesterday while addressing members of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Hilton Barbados.

She said Government should not continue to wholly own and manage some of its facilities, when to do so would “challenge its ability to afford other services and benefits which are more important to us as a society – like affordable health care and free tertiary education”.

Her recommendation is that Government allow credit unions, individual small investors, pension funds, medium and large corporate entities, as well as workers to share in the ownership of a number of state-owned enterprises.

On the Transport Board, she asked: “Why should Government invest another $100 million in debt to purchase equipment [buses] and operational expenses over the next decade when it can contract out its routes to private operators for a fixed fee monthly in a highly regulated environment . . . ?

“Why can’t the men and women who have been driving the buses for years be empowered to become owners, along with other private investors in the sector?”

She pointed out that it would be necessary for Government to continue to find a mechanism “to protect the most vulnerable for whom that cost of travel is still a burden”.

On the BNOC, she said Government could continue to own part of it through the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

However, she asked why the workers, other institutional investors reflecting a broad-based ownership profile and local companies should not be given the same opportunities.

Widening the ownership base “will allow us to raise capital for the BNOC while ensuring that Government can focus on its core responsibility of regulation while creating a platform for ownership in Barbados”, she said.

According to Mottley, if Government maintained ownership of the airport and seaport to ensure security, that safety could be provided no matter who owns these facilities.

If it was a revenue concern, Government could share retention through the NIS and fees and taxes will ensure that the country continues to benefit from future revenue and profits.

Mottley underscored the need for Government to make major changes in its economic model as the economy continues to face tough times. (TY) (Nation News)

A flu-like epidemic has hit the inmate population at her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds in St Philip.

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Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds in St Philip()

By: Wade Gibbons

A flu-like epidemic has hit the inmate population at Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds in St Philip.

The situation has been deemed so serious, official sources told the Daily Nation yesterday, that prison authorities have been forced to quarantine 60-odd inmates in at least two buildings, as well as the medical unit, to control the virus.

The sources said affected prisoners had been placed on a daily Vitamin C regimen, and indicated that the virus had also affected warders, some of whom were on sick leave.

The sources, however, stopped short of saying the illnesses were dengue-related.

To ensure the virus is contained behind the prison walls, precautions have been taken concerning family visits and prisoners travelling across the country for court appearances.

Yesterday, Dodds public relations officer John Lythcott confirmed there was a health issue at the prisons. He said some prisoners had “flu-like symptoms” but that the public could be assured everything was under control.

Lythcott said it was not expected that the outbreak would generally affect visits to the prisons or compromise prisoners’ appearances in court.

The rainy season has brought with it an upsurge in people contracting the flu, including the deadly dengue virus. There have been at least three reported deaths from dengue over the past three months.

The Ministry of Health, through its Vector Control Unit, has stepped up its public awareness programme on the keeping of sanitary premises, eradication of mosquito breeding spots and identification of the dengue virus.

The Ministry of Health has also increased its fogging schedules throughout the island. (Nation News)

Reginald Budhan, permanent secretary, Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Reginald Budhan agrees with the widely held assertion that government bureaucracy helps to hold back business, but the top civil servant in the island’s industry and investment ministry does not believe it is the only, or biggest, constraint to entrepreneurship and competitiveness in Jamaica.

“The system is bad, but I don’t think it is so bad that it is the source of your uncompetitiveness,” Budhan, the ministry’s permanent secretary, told Wednesday Business in an interview.

In fact, Budhan suggested that corruption in Jamaica contributes substantially to the country’s uncompetitiveness and its poor economic performance.

Hence, as the country’s tackles public-sector bureaucracy, he feels it has to “reform the values and attitudes of the nation.”

So, while Budhan supports civil servants being encouraged to take greater risk on the job, he warns of the potential backlash if things go wrong - an attitude that is likely to instil caution.

“The level of bureaucracy in a country and the control systems are reflections of the honesty and integrity of the people,” he said.

Budhan’s analysis - coming against the backdrop of Jamaica’s rank of 95, among the 139 countries rated on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) - is unlikely to be embraced favourably by private-sector leaders, who complain, often, and bitterly, about how difficult it is to conduct business here.

It is true that Jamaica is 99th, out of 180 countries on the Transparency International’s Corruption Index and 107th on the GCI for the same issue.

But these indexes, private sector people point out, measure corruption in the country broadly, and adding more public sector red tape only compounds the problem and adds to corruption. In that regard, Jamaica, on the CGI index, is 79th for irregular payments and bribes and 116th for the perception that public officials apply favouritism in decision-making.

Homogeneously corrupt

“Successive governments, instead of targeting the minority of corrupt businesses, have treated the private sector as homogeneously corrupt,” complains Milton Samuda, president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC).

“As a result, the civil service and its bureaucracy have evolved documentation and processes which make businesses difficult for all,” Samuda added.

It is a complaint that government ministers have, for years, claimed to understand and which the current prime minister, Bruce Golding, has promised to fundamentally address.

Golding, like Budhan, said the problem is not as bad as sometimes made out, in his April budget remarks, agreed that the public sector’s role in facilitating business “is not anywhere as good as it needs to be.”

“A major bugbear in doing business and investing - the things needed to facilitate growth and job creation - is the frustration posed by bureaucracy,” Golding told his parliamentary colleagues.

It took too much time, far “too many unnecessary producers … too many to be completed and too much time to get responses or decisions on simple matters,” he said at the time.

A body that Golding established to review the structure of government has delivered a plan on the restructuring of the government. It is now being reviewed by the administration and a parliamentary committee.

That report, however, does not address the immediate concerns of businesses faced with bureaucratic logjams, although Budhan said these are things being worked on by a competitive committee, chaired by his boss, the industry, commerce and investment minister, Karl Samuda.

Several impediments to doing business have been identified, he said.

“The key ministries with responsibility for implementing the reforms also identified the policies and strategies that they would be implementing in an effort to resolve the challenges to doing business,” Budhan said.

‘Government can do more’

The JCC’s Samuda, however, believes Government can do more … and quickly.

For instance, Samuda would immediately implement a recommendation by the contractor general for a single anti-corruption agency with investigative and prosecutorial powers.

He would also legislate that project approvals be deemed to have been granted three months after application. “If an application is properly submitted and meets all legal and technical requirements, but the bureaucracy has not fully processed and/or formally approved them.”

This is as close to a suggestion made early in office by Prime Minister Golding for some project development, but which he has not instituted.

Budhan said the Government was listening to the private sector, but the solutions will take time.

“It is a continuous work,” he said. We have to take a little more risk, but it means that when people exploit that latitude you need strong penalties.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

News

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is reporting that roughly 170,000 customers are without electricity due to worsening weather conditions.

The JPS activiated its emergency operation centers across the island to assess damage and restore power in affected areas.

However, heavy winds and rainfall are affecting the company’s restoration efforts in some communities

Customers are being advised that offices will close at 12 noon today. (Jamaica Gleaner)

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is reporting that at least one child was washed away when the house in which the child was living was swept away in Barbican, St Andrew in the vicinity of Burger King.

The age and sex of the child are not yet known.

There are also reports that several residents have been marooned in Nightingale Grove, St Catherine where a gully has overflowed its banks.

The situation in the St Catherine communities of Bushy Park and The Vineyards is also said to be serious.

Meanwhile, there have been several reports of flooding across the island due to the heavy rains associated with Tropical Depression # 16.

Kingston and St. Andrew

· August Town, Bedward Garden and Goldsmith Villas, homes have been flooded
· August Town Bridge has collapsed
· Red Hills- Sterling Castle homes have been flooded and it is reported two persons are trapped within their home
· Harbour View- Bridge has collapsed
· Marcus Garvey Drive Flooded
· Saddlers Avenue and Lanston Road of Mountain View has been flooded
· South Monterey Drive of Hope Pastures flooded
· Kyntire Close in Papine flooded
· Don Head Avenue, Liguanea reported flooding
·

Spanish Town

· Thompson Pen- homes have been flooded
· Bridge joining the communities of Simon District and Tredegar Park has collapsed

St. Catherine

· The Bog Walk Gorge is Closed
· Sunnyside Linstead flooding reported
· Serenity Park, between Spring Village and Nightingale Grove, the gully is reportedly overflowing

Clarendon

· Four Paths flooded
· Portland Cottage flooded

St. Elizabeth

· Burnt Savannah blocked
· Fullerswood Main road is inundated

St. Mary

· Junction road is blocked it is reported that persons are trapped in a car in the vicinity of Castleton

Westmoreland

· Savanna La Mar, four homes have been reportedly damaged
· Savanna La Mar Cooperative Credit Union and the Savanna La Mar Baptist Church has been damaged

The public is advised to continue monitoring the radio for further advisories and to avoid areas that are at risk from flooding and landslides. Also take the following precautions in the event of heavy rains:

1. Be ready to evacuate if you live in low-lying or flood-prone areas. Decide on likely evacuation routes now.

2. Avoid flooded waterways, i.e. Fords, gullies, streams or rivers, either on foot or in vehicles.

The ODPEM will continue to monitor the situation and further updates will be provided as the situation demands.(Jamaica Gleaner)

Gareth Davis, Gleaner Writer

Local family members of 41-year-old Patrick Dell, a Jamaican in Riviera Beach, Florida, who murdered his estranged wife, Natasha Whyte-Dell, and four of his stepchildren, before turning the gun on himself, have been left in a state of shock.

The grieving relatives, who spoke with The Gleaner yesterday from Prospect Land Settlement in Portland, said they were deeply saddened and traumatised by the incident.

Dell’s brother, who asked that he only be identified as McFarlane, said the news of Monday’s murder-suicide was taking a toll on the family.

Dell’s mother, who gave her name as Miss Lucy, was too distraught to speak and asked McFarlane to take over from her.

“The family is now going through a crisis, and everyone is in shock at this time. We never expected to receive any such news involving my brother, and it is rather difficult for us at this time,” he said. “Maybe at a later date, when we have recovered from this tragic news, we might be able to speak about it.”

According to The Palm Beach Post in Florida, the incident was the worst mass murder-suicide in Palm Beach County’s history.

The report stated that the couple got married in 2006 and started having marital troubles shortly afterwards.

Whyte-Dell filed for divorce three times between 2007 and 2008 but voluntarily dismissed each case. Their relationship deteriorated until December 2009, when Whyte-Dell told police Dell attacked her with a knife.

In an affidavit for his 2009 arrest, a Riviera Beach police officer stated that Dell, who suspected his wife of cheating, brandished a knife and charged Whyte-Dell and another woman outside the woman’s house. The two women ran inside but could hear him screaming through the door.

The affidavit stated that he called out: “Your family is going to cry today. You will be going to the morgue.”

On Monday, Dell shot and killed Whyte-Dell and her children, Daniel Barnett, 10; Jevon Nelson, 11; Diane Barnett, 13; and Bryan Barnett, 14.

Another of Whyte-Dell’s children, Ryan Barnett, 15, was injured and hospitalised.

Dell, who left Jamaica for the United States several years ago, once operated a stall at the Musgrave Market in Port Antonio from which he sold shoes.

Market vendors are also having a hard time coming to grips with the news of the murder-suicide.

“He was a hard worker,” said a vendor at the Musgrave Market, who gave his name only as Chucky. “I just can’t believe what they said he did. Everybody knew him. He was friendly, and he was doing quite well here before he left to go to foreign.”

Seven children were inside the home early Monday when Dell shot his 36-year-old wife.

Police say the couple’s two biological children were unharmed and were with relatives.

Suspicious vehicle

According to reports, a police officer was checking a suspicious vehicle when he heard what sounded like muffled gunshots. When officers approached the home, Dell went outside and shot himself. He died at the scene.

Whyte-Dell’s brother, Rohan Whyte, told The Palm Beach Post, that his family was coming together to grieve.

“We don’t have a comment at this time,” he said.

Jamaica-born Michael Barnett, father of three of Whyte-Dell’s murdered children, said she lived in fear of her husband.

“She told me that he would follow her all the way to school,” said Barnett, who visited Ryan in the hospital Monday and said his son spoke to him. “She’d call the police and they’d do nothing.”

Jevon’s father, Leroy Nelson, said Whyte-Dell tolerated Dell for their children’s sake.

“They wanted to get away from what he was doing. They were having arguments all the time,” Nelson said. “She felt really guilty because she wanted to do the right thing.”

Information taken from The Associated Press and The Palm Beach Post for this story. (Jamaica Gleaner)