标签： Trinidad and Tobago

The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) has escalated its call for government transparency, demanding immediate answers over the unexplained disappearance of a $900 million allocation earmarked for teacher backpay in the 2025 national budget. In response to the unresolved delay, the union has instructed its members to adhere strictly to formal job descriptions, and confirmed it is evaluating all legal avenues – including regulated industrial action – that remain permissible under the country’s current state of emergency.

Addressing reporters at TTUTA’s Carlsen Field headquarters during a Wednesday press conference, association industrial relations officer Kerry Broomes outlined the union’s next steps, noting that legal counsel would be engaged to recover the funds the union says are owed to the nation’s educators. Broomes explained that the $900 million sum was first publicly earmarked for teacher salary arrears by former finance minister Colm Imbert when the 2025 fiscal budget was tabled, and questioned why the allocation has vanished without being used for its intended purpose.

He recounted that current Finance Minister Davendradath Tancoo has since acknowledged the $900 million figure was approved, but no payment has materialized. Drawing a colorful analogy to a iconic Sesame Street magic trick character, Broomes joked that “Mumford passed through because the $900 million has disappeared.”

“There is no money to pay teachers, the line item has disappeared, and now all of a sudden they need to quantify. But there is a process that we use when we met with the Chief Personnel Officer to quantify how much backpay will be paid, and we did that, and that’s how we came up with $900 million,” Broomes said. “So how, now, does there need to be new processes before any release can be done? This is nothing less than a falsehood.”

TTUTA president Crystal Ashe amplified the union’s frustration, accusing the government and Ministry of Education of blatant disrespect toward educators and misleading the public about the priority of backpay payments. Ashe pointed to a recent Ministry of Education media statement that claimed teacher backpay was a top government priority, noting the union has received no formal communication to back up this claim.

“Blatant disrespect. What we’re seeing here is just bad, a bundle of what we call lies. Let us stop the lies. Pay the educators the money, find the money. You have it,” Ashe said. He urged the government not to reallocate the earmarked funds to other government projects the state may deem higher priority, stressing that investment in education depends on honoring commitments to the teaching workforce.

The timeline of the delayed payment has shifted repeatedly, according to Ashe. Government initially told the union payments would be completed by June 2025, before pushing the date to January 2026, and then to the end of the first quarter of 2026. Most recently, during a mid-year budget review Monday, Tancoo announced that provisions for outstanding union obligations including teacher and nurse backpay would not be made until the 2027 national budget.

Ashe blasted the repeated delays as “moving the goalposts,” and warned that key school activities could be paused until the funds are released. If teachers are forced to wait until fiscal 2027 to receive what they are owed, Ashe said, voluntary extracurricular activities hosted by teachers, secondary exam grading, graduation ceremony planning, and school registration processes could all be put on hold until 2027.

“TTUTA would not hesitate to take the necessary legal and other actions, noting that any industrial action would have to abide by the law under the current state of emergency,” Ashe reaffirmed.

In addition to the backpay dispute, TTUTA also called attention to previously granted teacher benefits that have been cut, including access to free psychological support through the public service Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

The backpay dispute stems from a 2025 wage agreement: in April 2025, TTUTA accepted a 5% salary adjustment for the 2020–2023 period put forward by Chief Personnel Officer Dr Daryl Dindial. The deal, which closes 18.2% of the existing wage gap and includes consolidation of the Cost of Living Allowance along with other improved working terms, was supposed to see updated salaries and all backpay issued by the end of January 2026. While the 5% base salary increase was finally reflected in teachers’ bank accounts in March, the full backpay amount remains outstanding, with no official, firm timeline for disbursement.

A fatal daytime shooting has shaken the community of San Juan in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, after a 51-year-old man was gunned down while boarding a taxi at the popular Charlotte Street taxi stand on Wednesday afternoon.

The victim has been formally identified as Marlon Hamlyn, a resident of Greenvale, La Horquetta. According to initial police reports, the violence unfolded shortly after 2 p.m. As Hamlyn settled into his cab preparing for a trip within San Juan, an unidentified gunman walked up to the stationary vehicle and opened fire multiple times, striking the victim before fleeing the scene.

In a desperate attempt to save Hamlyn’s life, the taxi driver immediately pulled away from the stand and rushed toward the Port of Spain General Hospital, with a police escort joining the emergency trip along the route. Despite the quick action, medical staff pronounced Hamlyn dead on arrival to the facility.

Law enforcement officials have since launched a full criminal investigation into the killing, with the primary priority being to identify the gunman and uncover a clear motive for the attack. Investigators moved quickly to cordon off the entire taxi stand shortly after the shooting to preserve evidence, and have begun interviewing local witnesses who were in the area at the time of the incident. They also plan to review all nearby surveillance camera footage in search of clues that could lead to an arrest.

The violent incident has left nearby business owners and workers on edge, with many local residents expressing deep fear and frustration over persistent violent crime in the area, even amid ongoing calls for an end to gang-related violence across Port of Spain.

Speaking to local media on condition of anonymity, one man who works at a nearby business noted that the shooting highlighted the stark disconnect between public calls for peace and the reality of daily life in the area. “It is ironic that while some people were calling for peace, incidents like this showed that clearly there is none,” he said, adding that local residents now face the grim reality of living each day as if it could be their last.

A female worker who has been employed in the area for several years said this was the first fatal shooting she had witnessed during her time there, and explained that locals now have to pray for safety every time they leave and return to their homes. Another local woman, who did not see the shooting but heard the chaos immediately after it occurred, said she locked herself inside her business out of fear once the shots rang out. She told reporters that witnesses reported the gunman fled toward the City Gate area after the attack, and also raised ongoing concerns about rampant petty crime in the area, claiming that chain snatching incidents happen at the San Juan taxi stand on a daily basis, with no predictable pattern to when the crimes occur.

Most regular taxi drivers at the stand declined to comment on the shooting when approached by reporters. One occasional private hire driver, however, described the killing as deeply unfortunate, noting that it came even as community leaders push for an end to violence across the city.

The shooting comes just weeks after a planned community peace walk aimed at ending gang violence in East Port of Spain was blocked by police, who stated the organizers had not obtained the required official permits to hold the public event.

As of this shooting, the national murder toll for the year currently stands at 177, a minor decrease from the 181 murders recorded during the same period last year. Still, the brazen nature of the daytime attack in a busy public area has renewed calls for stronger action to address violent crime in the Port of Spain region.

After decades of uncertainty and one of New York’s most high-profile cold case investigations, 62-year-old former Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in maximum security prison with no chance of parole, closing a chilling chapter of serial violence that shook Long Island for nearly 30 years.

Handing down consecutive life sentences at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Tuesday, Judge Timothy Mazzei delivered a scathing rebuke of the married father of two, calling him “disgusting—a despicable man, if you are a man at all” and labeling him a coward for his unrepentant actions. The sentence guarantees Heuermann will die behind bars for the torture, mutilation and murder of eight women, whose remains were found scattered across coastal Long Island between the 1990s and 2010s.

Among Heuermann’s confirmed victims is Sandra Rajkumar-Costilla, a 28-year-old woman who immigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago’s Sangre Grande at age 17 in 1982. She was stabbed, strangled and mutilated by Heuermann in 1993, 11 years after her migration, leaving behind a two-year-old son who is now 35. In a victim impact statement read by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, Costilla’s stepsister Ruth Ramos said her family finds closure in the knowledge Heuermann will never harm another person again.

“While justice cannot bring [the victims] back, it ensures they are no longer forgotten, and it brings our families peace knowing the person responsible for our irreversible pain can never harm anyone else,” Ramos’ statement read. “Sandra had endless potential. My hope was that someday the person who was responsible would be held to account, and that day is here.”

Costilla’s murder was the first in a long string of killings that spanned more than 15 years. Most of Heuermann’s victims, many of whom were sex workers, disappeared between 2000 and 2010, with their remains later discovered in the sandy scrubland along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Costilla’s remains were found in the Hamptons in 1993, while the remains of an eighth uncharged victim, Karen Vergata, were recovered on Fire Island in 1996. Heuermann formally admitted to killing Vergata during his guilty plea in April, though he has never been formally charged in her death.

The emotional sentencing hearing saw 13 victim impact statements delivered by grieving family members, who confronted the killer directly before the judge handed down his sentence. “A million years isn’t enough. Nothing will ever make this right,” said Jasmine Robinson, cousin of victim Jessica Taylor. Amanda Funderburg, sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy, recalled the 15-year-old received a taunting phone call from Heuermann days after her sister’s 2009 disappearance. Facing the killer, she said plainly: “I hope you suffer.”

JoAnn Mack, mother of victim Valerie Mack, reminded Heuermann that he had stolen all of her daughter’s future dreams. “Justice has been done, but it can’t replace what has been taken,” she told the court. Liliana Waterman, who was just three years old when her mother Megan Waterman disappeared, spoke outside the courthouse after the sentencing, saying she had waited her whole life for this moment: “She can finally rest in peace. He can’t hurt anybody else.”

When given the opportunity to address the court, Heuermann declined to issue a formal apology, offering only cryptic remarks: “There are words I could say. I am responsible for all that was said in this room. The words I would say have no meaning.” When Judge Mazzei asked directly if he felt even a small amount of remorse, Heuermann nodded and mouthed “yes,” a gesture District Attorney Tierney dismissed as hollow. “There is no doubt this defendant is sorry. He is sorry he got caught,” Tierney told reporters.

Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael Brown, claimed the former architect has cried during discussions of his crimes and that his remorse may hold some sincerity, noting that Heuermann appeared outwardly unremarkable and even charismatic during their meetings—a stark contrast to the brutal violence he inflicted. As part of his guilty plea deal reached in April, Heuermann agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit to help law enforcement identify and apprehend other active serial killers.

The case that became known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings first came to public attention in 2010, when investigators searching for missing sex worker Shannan Gilbert (whose death was later ruled an accidental drowning) stumbled upon the first set of remains along Ocean Parkway. The case went cold for more than a decade until 2022, when detectives followed up on a decades-old witness report of a suspicious pickup truck seen near the disappearance of one victim in 2010, a lead that ultimately pointed them to Heuermann.

Investigators secured a critical break when they matched DNA recovered from a discarded pizza crust Heuermann threw away in a Manhattan trash can to degraded genetic material from hair fragments found on the victims’ remains. Additional evidence, including cellphone tracking data that placed Heuermann near meeting spots with multiple victims shortly before their disappearances, and a “blueprint” for the killings found on his personal computer—complete with checklists for limiting noise, cleaning crime scenes and destroying evidence—solidified the case against him.

Heuermann has been held in solitary confinement in a Suffolk County jail for the past three years, where he has reportedly read crime novels and even exchanged brief correspondence with Keith Jesperson, the infamously named “Happy Face Killer.” He is set to be transferred to a state maximum security prison in the coming days. In a statement after the sentencing, Tierney called Heuermann a monster, adding that no words could ever lessen the harm he caused.

Heuermann’s ex-wife and two adult children released a statement saying they would not attend the sentencing out of respect for the victims’ families. For the relatives of the victims, Tuesday’s sentencing brings a long-awaited end to decades of uncertainty, even as it cannot reverse the lifelong damage Heuermann inflicted on hundreds of grieving family members.

On Tuesday, a chaotic altercation between police and a mentally ill man in Penal ended with the suspect escaping custody, after law enforcement deployed a taser three times and the man assaulted one officer. The encounter was not a random stop: it began when the man’s family reached out to emergency medical technicians, who in turn requested police support to respond to the situation. Officers already knew the man from previous interactions and arrived with the goal of encouraging him to take his prescribed medication.

What started as a routine intervention quickly escalated. When officers attempted to talk through the medication plan, the man responded with aggressive, obscene language. Police moved to place him under arrest for the public order offense related to his language, but as an officer reached to secure his right hand, the man pulled away with violent force. Officers formally added a charge of resisting arrest as the situation spun out of control.

As additional officers stepped in to de-escalate and detain the man, he began throwing wild punches at the responding team. One punch landed directly on the head and face of a serving officer. Refusing to comply, the man continued to advance with physical intent to harm, prompting one officer to draw and use a conducted energy taser to subdue him. Even after three separate taser deployments and blunt strikes to his knees from officers, the device and defensive tactics had little to no slowing effect on the man. He managed to break through the officers’ hold and break into a run, fleeing into the local area.

Police launched an immediate foot chase across neighborhoods in Penal, but the suspect managed to evade capture by slipping into a dense, bushy access track. Extensive initial searches of the area failed to locate him. For the injured officer who was struck in the head, emergency transport was arranged to the Siparia District Health Facility, where the officer received required medical attention for their injuries.

A thick cloud of collective grief descended on Erin Seventh-day Adventist Church on the day of Mercedez Layne’s funeral, as hundreds of people packed the venue and spilled out onto surrounding streets to say goodbye to the 12-year-old girl whose life was cut violently short 11 days prior. Relatives, classmates, teachers, and local residents joined Mercedez’s immediate family in honoring the young primary school student, who dreamed of one day working as a nurse before she was beaten to death and her body abandoned near her Los Iros home.

Against the quiet hush of the mourners, Mercedez’s white casket stood at the front of the sanctuary, topped with a wreath of soft pink blooms accented with pale blue and lilac. Inside, the child was dressed in her favorite pink gown and a delicate gold tiara, a final tribute to the little girl who loved dressing up, dancing, and sharing jokes with the people she loved. One by one, mourners stepped forward to lay roses on the casket, holding back sobs as they shared quiet memories of her bright, joyful energy.

In a joint eulogy, Mercedez’s older sisters Shakayah and Shereeka Layne painted a portrait of their sibling as a vibrant, beautiful child who brought light to every room she entered. Beyond their grief, they acknowledged the unthinkable cruelty that stole Mercedez from their family.

“But today, as we remember Mercedez, we cannot ignore the heartbreaking reality of how her life was taken from her. Mercedez was only 12 years old, a child, who should have been making bracelets, playing with her friends, and dreaming of her future. Instead, her life was stolen in an act of unimaginable cruelty and violence. She was robbed of her chance to grow up, to achieve her dreams and experience so many things that so many of us may take for granted,” the sisters said. “The manner in which she was taken from us has shaken her family and the nation. It has left us with questions that will never be answered and pain that may never fully heal. There is anger, heartbreak, and disbelief. No child should ever have to endure what Mercedez endured.”

One of the day’s most emotional moments came when Mercedez’s classmates from St Francis RC Primary School took the pulpit to share a tribute crafted as an acrostic of their friend’s name. With voices thick with tears, the young students remembered Mercedez as a respectful, energetic friend who made every school day brighter. Their tribute moved the entire congregation to tears.

Overflow crowds of mourners gathered in tents set up in the church’s parking lot and along the roadside outside, all gathered to pay their final respects to the young girl whose death has shaken the entire nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

Local and national leaders used the funeral to call for urgent, renewed action to protect vulnerable children across the country, particularly young girls. Siparia Borough Corporation Mayor Doodnath Mayrhoo told the crowd that no one should have had to gather that day to bury a 12-year-old child. “I should not have been here today. Today, none of us should be here. Today, Mercedez should have gone to school,” he said.

To honor Mercedez’s legacy, Mayrhoo announced plans to install a permanent mural of the young girl at the Irwin Park Sports Facility in Siparia, pending approval from her family and the borough council. The mural will celebrate her life and serve as an ongoing reminder of the collective responsibility to protect all children. Mayrhoo described Mercedez’s life as having been “snuffed out by a predator”, and urged parents and guardians to prioritize caution when arranging transportation for children, warning against allowing minors to travel alone in unvetted taxis.

A representative from the Ministry of Education echoed the call for action, noting that Mercedez’s death is a profound loss for her family, her school, and the entire nation. The official called for renewed commitment to building safe spaces where children can learn, play, and grow without fear of harm.

La Brea Member of Parliament Clyde Elder said that the tragedy has touched every corner of the country, even for those who never knew Mercedez personally. “You didn’t have to know Mercedez personally to be impacted by this. I have made a vow to the family to be there for them in their time of need. Let us not take our children for granted. Where there is good, there is bad,” he said.

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles paid tribute to Mercedez’s lasting legacy, noting that even in her short life, she left a profound impact on her community and the nation. “Many of us would like to have a legacy like Mercedes. She led a very important, eventful and positive life. She made an impact on the community of Erin. I will remember the impact she has had on Trinidad and Tobago in a positive way. Thank God that he gave you a child who was a blessed child and an angel. May she rest in peace,” Beckles said.

Officiating pastor Stevenson Halls used his sermon to urge mourners to put their trust in both legal and divine justice, clarifying that God bore no responsibility for the tragedy. “God didn’t do this. That is the devil,” he told the congregation. Following the service, Mercedez’s casket was carried to the Erin Public Cemetery for interment, where her family and friends laid her to rest.

A high-profile child sexual abuse case against a 47-year-old Arima mechanic has ended in a full acquittal after critical gaps in police investigative work and damaging admissions from the accuser undermined the prosecution’s entire argument, leading the jury to reject all charges in less than an hour of deliberations.

The defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his accuser — his then-minor stepdaughter — had maintained his complete innocence from the moment he was arrested and charged in April 2022. He faced two separate charges under Trinidad and Tobago’s Children Act, alleging he incited his stepdaughter, who was under 16 at the time, to engage in sexual activity at a remote spring along Blanchisseuse Road on December 21, 2021, and sexually touched her at his home the following day. He entered a not guilty plea immediately after being charged, and his trial got underway one week before the acquittal before High Court Justice Nalini Singh.

Prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions called multiple witnesses to build their case, including the accuser, her mother, lead investigating officer PC Kirk Vasquez, a police photographer, a supervising sergeant, and the owner of the vehicle prosecutors claimed was used to transport the girl to the alleged first crime scene. But as the defense team, led by attorneys Russell Orlando Warner and Kashif Gibson, began cross-examining witnesses, major, irreversible flaws in the state’s investigation came to light.

Under questioning, PC Vasquez conceded a long list of investigative failures that destroyed the credibility of the case. He acknowledged he never traveled to the Blanchisseuse Road spring that was the site of the first allegation, never arranged for any photographic documentation of the location, and could not even confirm basic details about whether the area was secluded, as the accuser’s account claimed. For the second alleged incident, which prosecutors said took place on an outdoor couch at the defendant’s home, Vasquez admitted he never interviewed nearby neighbors, never spoke to people living in the upper floor of the defendant’s house, and never interviewed the accuser’s brother — who was reportedly in the same room when the abuse was alleged to have occurred. Most notably, the lead investigator also confirmed no DNA evidence was ever collected or tested to support the accuser’s claims.

The accuser herself made equally damaging admissions during cross-examination that revealed a clear motive for her to fabricate the allegations. She confirmed she had stolen approximately $19,500 from the defendant, breaking a prior promise she had made to him, and that he had threatened to report the theft to police. She told the court that fear of that police report “operated in her mind” when she went to the station to file her sexual abuse claims. She further admitted the defendant had seized her tablet computer, and she feared he would find inappropriate private online messages she had sent and share that information with her mother — a concern she also acknowledged influenced her decision to file the allegations.

The defense emphasized that these confirmed motives, paired with the deep failures of the police investigation, made the accuser’s claims completely unreliable. Additional evidence also worked in the defendant’s favor: the court heard he had no prior criminal arrests, charges, or convictions, and both the accuser and her mother confirmed he had long acted as a caring father figure who treated the girl as his own biological child.

After closing arguments concluded, the nine-member jury began deliberations and reached a verdict in just 40 minutes, returning not guilty verdicts on both charges against the defendant.