Investigation into deaths of suspects: Young summons cops
Monday 15 February 2021
National Security Minister Stuart Young and Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith at a meeting of the Parliament s Standing Finance Committee in 2019. - PHOTO COURTESY THE OFFICE OF THE PARLIAMENT
MINISTER of National Security Stuart Young on Monday said he had earlier called in police top brass including Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith to ask about the deaths, while in police custody, of Andrew Morris and Joel Balcon. The two were suspects in the kidnapping and murder of law clerk Andrea Bharatt, 23.
At a briefing at his ministry in Port of Spain, Young said the suspects’ deaths were being investigated by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), which has already received some details, and the police.
Supermarkets wait and see over migrant re-registration
President of the Supermarket Association of TT Raviv Diptee. - ROGER JACOB
SUPERMARKETS are quietly adopting a wait-and-see attitude towards news that their Venezuelan employees will have to re-register their updated personal details under the Venezuelan Migrant Registration scheme, Supermarket Association of TT (SATT) president Rajiv Diptee told Newsday on Monday.
Minister of National Security Stuart Young on Wednesday last week told the Prime Minister s media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, that Venezuelans will be given new migrant registration cards, and the previous cards will be invalid.
Since then, Newsday has reported that Venezuelans were now in fear of losing their jobs and/or accommodation, due to uncertainties around the process. Newsday asked the association if its member supermarkets were indeed having jitters over their staff, and if so, why.
National Security Minister
Stuart Young.
MINISTER of National Security Stuart Young on Tuesday in the Senate flatly denied the Coast Guard had any involvement in last Saturday’s tragic drowning of a boatload of Venezuelan citizens who were heading to Trinidad.
At last count, the bodies of 19 victims had been found in the sea, including an 11-month-old baby and children two, six and eight years old.
Young replied to an urgent question by Senator Wade Mark, who asked if counselling was being offered to victims’ relatives in TT.
“Madam President, the loss of life in this tragic manner is upsetting,” Young said. “We, the Governmen,t are aware that bodies were recovered close to the Venezuelan town of Guiria and in Venezuelan waters. We have also been informed that unfortunately yesterday (Monday) more bodies were found on the shoreline of Venezuela.”