标签： Trinidad and Tobago

A regional court has granted bail of $400,000 to one of three defendants facing multiple serious charges connected to the alleged abuse of a domestic worker. The case, which includes disturbing allegations of prolonged assault and death threats against the victim, has drawn close attention to systemic protections for vulnerable domestic employees.

Twenty-two-year-old labourer Rohit Sitahal appeared for a virtual hearing before Master Kateisha Ambrose-Persadsingh at South A Court on the reported date. Sitahal faces five total charges: one count of throwing a noxious substance, two counts of intentionally inflicting bodily harm, and two additional unlisted offences. He is jointly charged with Fareeda Balgobin, a local businesswoman, and her son Joshua Benny, who did not appear for this week’s hearing.

Balgobin and Benny were taken into custody on April 11 and have since been held at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre under preventive detention orders signed by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander on April 20. The detention order against Balgobin links her to alleged activity with an organized Informed Crime Group (ICG) operating in the Penal region, where the alleged abuse took place. Prosecutors have submitted requests for writs of habeas corpus to secure the pair’s attendance at future court proceedings. Both are represented by defense attorneys Keron Ramkhalwhan and Shalini Sankar, while Sitahal appeared without legal representation this week.

During the hearing, police prosecutor Sgt Salazar urged the court to set bail at a level that reflected the severity of the alleged crimes, noting that the charge of throwing a noxious substance carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted. Despite this, Master Ambrose-Persadsingh approved bail for Sitahal at the requested $400,000, with strict non-contact and reporting conditions. The terms bar Sitahal from any direct or indirect communication with the alleged victim, require him to maintain a 50-foot distance from her at all times, order him to check in at the Rio Claro Police Station twice weekly, and restrict him to residing at the address he provided to the court.

The alleged victim, 42-year-old Sabita Basdeo, has told investigators she endured months of abuse between September 2025 and April 2026 at a private residence in Penal. According to police accounts, Basdeo claims she was repeatedly beaten, burned with harmful substances, and threatened with death if she tried to escape captivity. The case has been adjourned until June 10, when all three defendants are expected to appear before the court to proceed with the legal process.

A quiet residential compound in Longdenville, Chaguanas, has been shattered by violence that left two siblings dead on Thursday evening, with the victim’s family insisting 56-year-old Margarita Clarke was an innocent casualty of a targeted attack on her 53-year-old brother, Brian Clarke. The shooting, which unfolded around 8 p.m. at the family’s home on Longdenville Old Road, has sent shockwaves through the close-knit community, where violent crime of this nature is extremely rare.

Six siblings and their immediate families share the multi-apartment compound, with Margarita residing in a ground-floor front apartment alongside her two adult children, aged 20 and 30, and Brian occupying a top-floor front apartment. Speaking publicly to reporters from the *Express* on Friday, the siblings’ 75-year-old elder brother Kenneth Clarke shared the sequence of events that led to the deadly shooting, detailing that Margarita had been socializing with two friends at her home when the masked gunman stormed the property.

“As Margarita was heading inside to grab something for one of her guests, the gunman rushed in and opened fire,” Kenneth recounted. “Even after she raised her hand to surrender, he shot her in the chest before continuing straight upstairs to where my brother was. That was his target all along.” Brian was shot six times in the head, confirming the family’s belief that the attack was premeditated. Kenneth, who was away from the compound when the shooting began, arrived just minutes after hearing the gunfire.

Surveillance footage shared to social media shortly after the incident offers a clear timeline of the attack: a silver Nissan Note pulls up outside the family home just before 8 p.m., and a masked gunman exits the vehicle’s backseat. One initial shot rings out, followed by a woman’s scream, before six more shots are fired. The gunman then flees the property back to the waiting car, which speeds away from the scene immediately. Kenneth noted that the gunman moved directly to Brian’s apartment without hesitation, indicating he had inside information on the layout of the compound and Brian’s location.

Unconfirmed public reports have linked Brian to “bad company,” and his brother Allistair Clarke, who also lives on the compound, confirmed Brian struggled with a gambling addiction and owed money to unknown parties. Still, the family maintains that no debt justifies the brazen attack that claimed an innocent woman’s life. “We are devout Catholic people. Margarita was a good woman, she was never involved in anything like this, this was purely collateral damage,” Allistair said. “Brian was a good guy too, he would have paid what he owed. There was no reason to come here and do this. We need justice for both of them.”

Kenneth echoed that grief and anger, saying the whole community has been upended by the killing. “This never happens on this road. The entire street was blocked off with onlookers after the shooting, because everyone was shocked that something like this could happen here,” he said. “We have lost two family members, now we have to bury two of them. People were calling me all night Thursday saying how unfair it was that an innocent woman was killed. It is double the pain, and I couldn’t even sleep last night.”

Brian, who went by the nickname “Regis,” worked as a truck driver for a local hardware store in Cunupia, and his brother described him as a popular man who got along with nearly everyone he met. “He had all kinds of friends, and I can’t speak to what he got mixed up in – people don’t tell their brothers everything,” Kenneth said. “But the gunman knew exactly where to go, so someone must have tipped him off.”

The shooting has also renewed criticism of Trinidad and Tobago’s ongoing state of emergency, implemented to curb rising violent crime. Kenneth called the emergency measure “not working,” noting that the attack happened just a short distance from a local police post, with police patrol cars passing the compound regularly before the shooting. He issued a direct appeal to Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander to take stronger action to protect law-abiding residents.

“Right now, none of us feel safe. Innocent people are getting killed just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Kenneth said. “We need the government to step up and protect us.”

A violent shooting incident on Friday afternoon in Malick has left two people dead and three more hospitalized with gunshot wounds, sending shockwaves through the local residential neighborhood. According to witness accounts, residents along Seventh Avenue began hearing repeated blasts, similar to the sound of explosions, just after 1:00 p.m. Alarmed by the noise, local residents rushed to investigate and made a grim discovery: five men lying motionless on the ground outside a pink residential property positioned along the street.

Every person found at the scene had sustained at least one gunshot injury, with two of the men hit multiple times at close range. Emergency services were immediately contacted by bystanders, who waited with the victims for first responders to arrive. Within minutes, local law enforcement officers and emergency medical teams were dispatched to the Seventh Avenue location, and all five injured men were quickly transported to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex for urgent care. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, two of the victims did not survive their injuries, and they were pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.

As of the latest updates, police have not made any immediate public disclosures of the identities of the two deceased men, to allow time for next of kin to be notified. Investigative teams from the Northern Division alongside specialist homicide investigators have already processed the crime scene and opened a full formal investigation into the attack. At this early stage of the probe, detectives have not confirmed any clear motive for the mass shooting, and they are appealing to any members of the public who were in the area at the time of the incident to come forward with any information that could help advance the inquiry.

A wave of inmate unrest sparked by widespread misinformation about the expiration of a national state of emergency forced authorities to suspend all public and legal visits at Trinidad and Tobago’s Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) on Wednesday, multiple official and institutional sources have confirmed.

The chaos erupted shortly after scheduled visiting hours kicked off at 9 a.m., when dozens of detainees became increasingly agitated after learning they would not be released as they had expected. The incorrect belief that the ongoing state of emergency (SoE) would end on June 3 had spread through informal channels among the inmate population, leading many to anticipate imminent release. When that expectation went unmet, detainees launched repeated disruptive actions that derailed normal facility operations for hours.

Prison insiders told local media outlet the Express that the unrest unfolded in at least two to three separate outbursts throughout the morning. Inmates engaged in escalating disorderly conduct, including sustained loud commotion and the throwing of human waste, as tensions climbed across the facility. Administration officials made multiple attempts to restore order and resume pre-scheduled visits, but each effort was met with renewed unrest.

By 1 p.m., with safety risks mounting for both visiting members of the public and on-duty correctional staff, prison management made the call to suspend all visitations indefinitely. The suspension extended even to confidential meetings between defense attorneys and their incarcerated clients, a rare step that underscored the severity of the situation.

In an official statement released the same day, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), the union representing correctional staff across the country, confirmed it had been notified of the unrest immediately after it began. “Our understanding is that a number of detainees, believing they were due to be released today (Wednesday), became agitated and engaged in disruptive behaviour at various times throughout the day,” the association said.

The POA voiced full backing for the decision to halt visitor access, framing the move as an unavoidable step to protect all people inside the facility. “In the interest of maintaining order and ensuring the safety of all concerned, prison management took the decision to suspend visits to the facility. We support this decision as the safety and security of both detainees and visitors must remain the primary consideration during any period of unrest within a correctional institution,” the statement read.

The union also praised on-duty officers for their measured response to the volatile situation, commending their “professionalism and restraint in managing a challenging situation and for their continued commitment to maintaining the security and stability of the institution.”

When contacted for comment by reporters on Wednesday, acting Commissioner of Prisons Carlos Corraspe confirmed he had received initial updates about the unrest but had not yet received a full formal report from ECRC leadership. “At this point in time, I have been given some information about it, but nothing confirmed. I am still awaiting final reports across the ECRC and the other prisons,” Corraspe said.

Investigations into the unrest quickly traced the root of the misinformation to false claims circulating widely on social media platforms, which claimed the SoE was scheduled to end on June 3. In a corrective statement released Wednesday, the Office of the Attorney General clarified that the state of emergency will actually remain in effect until midnight on June 17, 2026, putting an end to the false release expectations that triggered the disturbance.

After more than a decade of pre-trial detention, a former Trinidadian prison officer has been cleared of all criminal charges connected to the fatal stabbing of a co-worker, following a jury verdict that accepted his claim of acting in self-defense.

The case centered on Jevon Atiba Sylvester, now 35 years old, who stood accused of murdering Dominique Bernard, a 37-year-old fellow prison officer, in June 2014. The fatal confrontation grew out of a romantic dispute between the two men, both of whom had been romantically linked to the same female prison officer, who occupied an apartment in Claxton Bay where the incident took place.

Court documents lay out a steady escalation of tensions between the two rivals. The day before the killing, Sylvester made an unplanned visit to the woman’s apartment and found Bernard already there. The following day, Sylvester returned to the property to recover a mobile phone he had left behind during his first visit, with his mother waiting for him in a parked car outside the building. What followed was a physical altercation that left Bernard with multiple stab wounds, which ultimately proved fatal. Sylvester fled the scene immediately after the encounter but turned himself in to local law enforcement officers later the same day.

During the weeks-long trial held at Port of Spain’s Hall of Justice, prosecution attorneys pushed the theory that the killing was premeditated. They argued that during the first encounter between the two men, Sylvester had explicitly threatened Bernard and brandished the same knife that was used in the fatal attack. However, Sylvester consistently denied ever issuing threats, testifying that he only used the knife to protect himself after Bernard launched an unprovoked attack against him.

Lead defense counsel Dane Halls presented two key arguments to the 12-member jury. First, he emphasized that all available evidence corroborated Sylvester’s account of acting in self-defense. As an alternative, Halls urged that if the jury determined the force Sylvester used was disproportionate to the attack, they should consider returning a verdict on the lesser charge of manslaughter, given that his client had been provoked into the confrontation by the existing tensions. On Wednesday, after hours of closed deliberation, the jury delivered a full acquittal, clearing Sylvester of both murder and manslaughter charges before Justice Maria Busby Earle-Caddle.

In comments to reporters following the verdict, Halls extended sincere condolences to Bernard’s family, acknowledging that no outcome in the case could bring back their loved one. “This is not a matter where anyone can be completely happy because a man lost his life,” Halls stated. He also used the moment to publicly condemn the excessive delays in Trinidad’s judicial system that kept his client behind bars for more than 10 years before his case ever went to trial. Following the jury’s decision, Sylvester was released from custody immediately. He had been held at Arouca’s Maximum Security Prison, and had appeared at the trial via remote video link from the facility.

A high-profile case alleging years of systematic abuse, captivity and torture of a 42-year-old domestic worker in southern Trinidad is set for a critical court hearing on Monday, with three defendants – a local businesswoman, her 18-year-old son and a third accused man – scheduled to answer a raft of criminal charges before the Siparia Magistrates’ Court.

The three accused have been identified as Fareeda Balgobin, her adult son Joshua Benny, and Rohit Sitahal. All charges stem from alleged offenses that investigators say occurred between June 2019 and April 11, 2026, according to official statements from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).

The victim, named by police sources as Sabita Basdeo, a mother of two, managed to escape her captors on April 11 and made her way directly to the Barrackpore Police Station to file an official report. When she arrived, officers observed visible, fresh injuries across her face and hands, which she told investigators were the result of prolonged abuse at the hands of the three accused. Basdeo told detectives she had been held against her will, forced to work unpaid domestic labor, and repeatedly tortured at a residential property in Penal. Her allegations include being beaten, burned with hot objects, and having her head slammed repeatedly into walls; she also claims that the accused threatened to kill her if she ever attempted to escape. Captivity is alleged to have been enforced continuously from September 2025 up to her escape in April.

Official charge documents show Balgobin faces the most severe and extensive list of charges, including one count of kidnapping, one count of false imprisonment, one count of throwing a noxious substance, two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, one count of choking, and three additional related criminal offenses. Benny faces five charges: one count of kidnapping, one count of throwing a noxious substance, two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm, and one additional related charge. Sitahal is facing four charges: one count of throwing a noxious substance, two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm, and one additional related charge.

Following Basdeo’s report, the TTPS launched a full criminal investigation, which was assigned to PC Lee Lum and overseen by a team of senior law enforcement officials including Senior Superintendent Simon, W/Supt Bridgelal, ASP Chulhan, Insp Ramdial, Insp Nandlal and Insp Maharaj. Legal guidance for the investigation was provided by ASP Phillip, and formal charging instructions were issued on June 3 by Supt Bridgelal with assistance from Sgt Bassarath.

Both Balgobin and Benny have been held in police custody since April 20, after Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander signed preventative detention orders for the pair in accordance with Paragraph 2 of the Schedule to the Emergency Powers Regulations of 2026. The detention orders name Balgobin as a resident of multiple addresses in Penal’s San Francique district, and allege that she is a confirmed member of an organized Informal Crime Group (ICG) operating across the Penal region. Investigative intelligence linked to the detention order names the group as being responsible for a pattern of serious criminal activity including kidnapping, false imprisonment, forced labor, grievous sexual assault, serious indecency, and attempted murder. Authorities also confirmed that the group had made explicit threats to kill witnesses in the case to prevent prosecution.

The case has been marred by suspicious interference: just four days after Basdeo’s escape, on April 15, one of Balgobin’s unoccupied residential properties was damaged in a fire. No people were present at the property at the time of the blaze, and no injuries were reported. But responding officers found evidence that the fire was intentional arson: a broken bedroom window and forensic confirmation that a Molotov cocktail had been thrown at the building. No additional suspects have been named in connection with the arson to date.

Monday’s court appearance marks the first public procedural step in a case that has shone a spotlight on the risks of abuse and exploitation faced by domestic workers in Trinidad and Tobago, and tested the country’s emergency preventative detention powers for organized criminal groups.