标签： Trinidad and Tobago

A 10-year veteran of Trinidad and Tobago’s municipal police force and a devoted mother of three has been lost to a fatal on-duty shooting that has shaken the southern city of San Fernando and sparked urgent calls for political accountability over rising violent crime.

Forty-two-year-old Anuska Eversley, an acting corporal based at the San Fernando Municipal Police Station, died early Sunday after being shot in the neck while on duty. A resident of Edinburgh 500, she leaves behind three children aged 18, 15 and 7. The shooting was also followed by the theft of multiple firearms and rounds of ammunition from the station’s secure strong room.

Eversley’s death carries an extra layer of tragedy: it came exactly three years after her brother was gunned down in a separate violent attack. On the same date in 2021, Daniel Eversley, known by the nickname “Ghost”, was killed in a shooting at a car wash in Forres Park, Claxton Bay.

San Fernando Mayor Robert Parris, who has known Eversley professionally for years, shared intimate memories that painted a portrait of a woman fully committed to both her career and her family. Two years ago, Parris said, Eversley reached out to him to calm her daughter’s pre-exam anxiety ahead of the national Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA). That small interaction forged a parental bond between them.

“After that incident, whenever we met, we talked as parents, about our children,” Parris recalled in an interview with the Express. “That’s how I knew she was such a dedicated mother.”

Across his 16 years working with the San Fernando City Corporation, Parris added, Eversley earned a reputation as an exceptionally efficient, reliable member of the municipal police force. In an official statement of condolence released Monday, Parris framed her death as an incalculable loss for the entire community.

“This is a devastating loss for our city. I have known acting Corporal Eversley for many years, and I remember her as a dedicated and committed officer who served with quiet strength, professionalism, and pride. Her passing has left a profound void within the Municipal Police and the wider San Fernando community,” the statement read.

Parris has called on Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander and Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro to launch a prompt, full investigation into what he described as a “tragic and disturbing event.” Senior law enforcement colleagues echoed Parris’ praise, with one senior officer noting Eversley consistently performed her duties to the best of her ability and was widely respected across the force.

Wendell Eversley, the victim’s uncle and a prominent local activist who survived being held hostage during the 1990 coup attempt in Port of Spain, has publicly called for the immediate dismissal of both the Minister of Homeland Security and the Minister of Defence over the killing. He called the attack on a police station “an indictment on the State,” noting it is the most severe incident targeting a police facility in the country since the 1990 coup bombing of the Port of Spain Police Headquarters.

Pointing to the stolen cache of guns and ammunition removed from the station’s strong room after the attack, Wendell Eversley raised alarming questions about national security. “Are we going to see another 1990? Look around and see. Are we all safe in this country?” he asked. He also questioned the government’s repeated promises to curb violent crime, noting that criminals appear to be gaining ground amid the current wave of violence.

With the ruling United National Congress approaching its first anniversary in power, Wendell Eversley questioned what the party could possibly celebrate after a sustained period of rising murder rates. “Inviting the public to come out. To come out and celebrate what? Celebrate blood flowing on the streets? Celebrating murders upon murders?” he said. In a social media video posted Monday, he added that the nation could no longer accept a daily reality of bloodshed. “It is time for the minister of Homeland Security and the minister of Defence to be fired. It is a sad day for Trinidad and Tobago, and mainly the State,” he said.

The Trinidad and Tobago Municipal Police Service (TTMPS) also released an official statement confirming Eversley first enlisted in the municipal police force on July 1, 2008, and had been assigned to the San Fernando unit in her most recent posting.

“The TTMPS and its partner agencies extend sincere condolences to her relatives, friends and colleagues,” the release said.

A life-threatening medical emergency at sea ended with a successful rescue last Thursday, after a team of off-duty medical providers and Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force members stepped in to save an elderly female passenger on the fast ferry MV Buccoo Reef. The incident unfolded around 7:30 a.m., roughly one hour into the vessel’s scheduled voyage from Port of Spain to Scarborough, when the woman suddenly began experiencing severe chest pain before losing consciousness. What followed was a coordinated, race-against-time effort that has since sparked calls for mandatory first aid training for all ferry crew members.

When the emergency was first announced over the ferry’s public address system, no crew members immediately stepped forward to assist. Akiela Chance, a Defence Force officer traveling on the ferry, was the first to respond to the passenger’s side. As she recounted to the *Express* on Saturday, “I was the female soldier present, and I was the first person to step in and assist the elderly lady while others stood by. I approached her and asked what the issue was and whether she had any known medical conditions. I was told she was experiencing chest pain.”

Chance worked with another passenger to carefully move the seated woman to the floor, adjusted her clothing to ease her breathing while preserving her privacy, and immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). She then instructed other bystanders to repeat the call for any medical professionals on board. A medical kit was retrieved, and 15 minutes later, Dr. Emillie Alpheus, an accident and emergency registrar at Scarborough General Hospital, arrived at the scene. Coast Guard Petty Officer Noko Baird soon joined to assist with continuing compressions before Alpheus took over lead resuscitation efforts.

Upon reaching the patient, Alpheus found the woman already unresponsive with no detectable pulse, and immediately requested an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) — a piece of life-saving equipment she was surprised to find the ferry actually carried. As Alpheus waited for the device and began chest compressions alone, a second physician, an American vacationing on the ferry who was certified in Basic Life Support, offered to take turns performing compressions, which are physically draining to administer continuously.

The team split roles: the visiting physician led chest compressions while Alpheus managed the patient’s airway, following the standard 30 compressions to two rescue breaths protocol. When the AED arrived, they delivered a defibrillation shock to the patient’s heart, then immediately resumed CPR. Mid-cycle, Alpheus detected the patient pushing against the airway device, and after completing the compression cycle, confirmed the woman had achieved Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) — meaning her heart had restarted. The elderly woman soon regained consciousness.

Following the successful revival, the captain turned the ferry back to Port of Spain, with Coast Guard vessels escorting the vessel to port. Ambulance crews were already on standby at the terminal, and immediately transferred the patient to a nearby hospital for ongoing care. As of the latest update, the woman remains hospitalized but is recovering steadily.

Alpheus, who shared that this was the second life-saving CPR effort she has led in two years, expressed gratitude for the positive outcome in an interview with the *Express*. “I just glad it was a good outcome. I am thankful for all who was around that was able to help and lend a holding hand — the other physician who was on vacation, the patient care assistant and the other members of staff from the Buccoo Reef. I am grateful that we were able to help this family. I got word from her relatives that she is doing well and from the doctors over there that she is doing better. So thankful for that and praises to God,” she said.

In an official statement issued the day of the incident, the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT) confirmed the medical emergency, activated emergency protocols, and confirmed that ambulance crews met the vessel on its return to port. The authority declined to comment on the patient’s specific medical condition per privacy guidelines.

A video of the rescue circulating on social media originally misstated the details of the incident, but the woman who recorded the video corrected the account in a public comment, clarifying that the woman suffered a potential cardiac event rather than a simple fainting spell, and that two off-duty doctors led the rescue rather than crew. She also noted that untrained crew members appeared disoriented during the emergency, writing, “They need to train boat crew in first aid. Everyone was moving like headless chicken. But God is good.”

Chance echoed that call for reform, telling the *Express* that all ferry crew members should receive formal, up-to-date first aid and emergency response training to be prepared for similar incidents at sea. Members of the public have also shared widespread wishes for the patient’s full recovery following the viral spread of the rescue video.

A brazen attack on the San Fernando Municipal Police Station that left on-duty officer Woman Police Constable Anuska Eversley dead and an arsenal of 56 firearms and thousands of ammunition rounds missing has triggered urgent warnings from top security experts, who say the stolen weapons are likely already in the possession of criminal networks and could spark a major surge in violent street and organized crime across the country.

The incident, which unfolded at a facility designed to be one of the most secure state-controlled sites in the region, has prompted searing criticism of existing national security protocols, particularly as the attack took place while the nation was already under a state of emergency that grants law enforcement expanded arrest and investigative powers.

Security consultant Dr. Garvin Heerah, in an interview with local newspaper *Express* following the attack and death of Eversley, called the incident a deeply troubling indicator of how rapidly organized criminal groups have grown in boldness, capability, and ambition. Unlike past criminal activity that largely operated on the margins of state control, Heerah emphasized that this attack marks a dangerous new phase: criminal networks are now willing to directly target state security infrastructure, kill active law enforcement officers, and seize military-grade weaponry to expand their own operational power.

“The killing of a police officer in this context is not merely an attack on an individual public servant, it is a direct assault on the sovereign authority of the state,” Heerah explained. He added that the breach represents one of the most sensitive and urgent national security threats the country has faced in recent years, while also exposing critical flaws in the multi-layered security systems that are supposed to protect law enforcement facilities across the nation.

Police stations and municipal law enforcement bases are required to be secured through a combination of physical barriers, procedural checks, and technological monitoring, making a breach of this scale particularly alarming. Heerah noted that the attack points to systemic vulnerabilities that demand immediate, comprehensive assessment and remediation at every similar law enforcement installation across the country.

Beyond the systemic failure, the loss of such a large cache of weapons creates an immediate public safety crisis. Heerah warned that the stolen firearms, now circulating among criminal elements, carry a drastically elevated risk of widespread violent crime, including gang-related reprisal attacks, escalating inter-gang conflict, and expanded large-scale organized criminal operations.

To address the crisis, Heerah has called on Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro to launch a full-scale, multi-agency investigation and response. He stressed that coordinated collaboration between intelligence units, investigative divisions, forensic services, and specialized tactical teams will be critical to unraveling the attack. Heerah also noted that advanced technological tools, including surveillance analytics, digital forensics, communications tracking, and cross-agency data integration, will be essential to identifying the perpetrators, reconstructing the sequence of the attack, and recovering the stolen arsenal before it can be deployed in future criminal activity.

Heerah framed the incident as a critical wake-up call for national security leaders, urging an immediate overhaul of security protocols at all state security installations across the island. “Immediate reviews of access control systems, armoury management procedures, personnel vetting, surveillance coverage, and rapid response mechanisms must be undertaken as urgent precautionary measures,” he said.

Leading criminologist Dr. Renee Cummings echoed these concerns, going a step further to argue that the attack amounts to a damning indictment of the country’s protective services, especially given the ongoing state of emergency that grants police maximum legal authority to prevent such incidents.

Cummings posed a sharp rhetorical question: “How does a failure of this magnitude occur during a period of maximum authority?” She explained that even with expanded police powers, basic security controls failed across every critical domain: armoury security, site surveillance, command oversight, and on-duty personnel protection.

She emphasized that the attack took place inside a facility that was supposed to operate as a hardened, impenetrable fortress, designed to withstand criminal attempts at intrusion. “When the State cannot secure the controlled environment of its own installation or safeguard an on-duty officer within it, its capacity to deliver public safety at scale is not credible,” Cummings said. “If the State cannot guarantee the controlled safety of one officer within its own walls, on what basis can it claim to secure the safety of an entire nation?”

In the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, a senseless act of violence at a southern Trinidad and Tobago police station left a decorated 15-year veteran officer dead and triggered a massive manhunt after more than 60 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition were stolen from the facility’s secure strong room.

Thirty-eight-year-old Anuska Eversley, an acting corporal with the Trinidad and Tobago Municipal Police Service (TTMPS), was found fatally shot in the neck by a colleague just after 4:40 a.m. at the San Fernando Municipal Police Station, located on King’s Wharf along Lady Hailes Avenue. The fellow officer, returning to the station’s charge room after an absence, discovered the space dark, the strong room ajar, and blood seeping from Eversley’s dormitory quarters, where her half-clothed body lay on a mattress. She had last been seen alive just before 11 p.m. Saturday while on duty.

The brutal killing has sent waves of grief and shock through the officer’s family, her colleagues, and the Trinidad and Tobago public. Grieving relatives gathered at the cordoned-off crime scene Sunday morning, weeping openly as one heartbroken relative cried out, “WHY Father, why?” in anguish over the loss.

Within hours of the discovery, Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro confirmed that a serving police officer had been taken into custody for questioning in connection with the attack, and all officers who were on shift with Eversley the night of the killing would be required to provide formal statements as part of the investigation. Addressing reporters at a press briefing at the Southern Division headquarters in San Fernando, Guevarra called the incident an immediate top priority for law enforcement, and spoke candidly about the heartbreak that would come from one of their own being involved.

“I would be very disheartened that an officer, sworn to protect the rights of citizens and uphold the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, could do something so heinous to one of his officers,” he said.

Initial official inventories of the stolen arsenal confirm attackers made off with 52 Glock pistols, six shotguns, four MPX-style rifles, and more than 4,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition. A multi-agency investigative response has been launched, involving homicide detectives from Homicide Region III, tactical teams from the Inter-Agency Task Force, the Multi-Option Police Section, the Southern Division Task Force, and air and coastal support units. Crime scene investigators have already begun processing the site, collecting forensic evidence and conducting fingerprint analysis, and the station remains on lockdown as the probe progresses.

Commissioner Guevarro told reporters Sunday that investigators have not uncovered any evidence to suggest the attack was a coordinated targeted strike on law enforcement by an external criminal group, adding that no further details would be released while the investigation is active. When asked about the massive security breach that allowed the weapons to be stolen from the station’s secure storage, Guevarro said all gaps would be uncovered during the investigation and the incident would serve as a learning moment to improve future security protocols.

Assistant Commissioner of Municipal Police Surrendra Sagramsingh clarified that approximately seven officers were scheduled for the overnight shift from Saturday to Sunday, though several were deployed to outlying substations, leaving roughly five officers on-site at the San Fernando main station. He confirmed that Eversley was not alone on the premises when she was killed, contradicting early unconfirmed reports that she had been working the overnight shift by herself.

Addressing public anxiety over the stolen weapons cache and the brazen attack on a police facility, Guevarro moved quickly to reassure the public that the incident is an isolated one, and that there is no cause for undue panic. He emphasized that existing emergency powers granted under the current state of emergency are sufficient for law enforcement to respond effectively, and that there are no plans to implement new curfews or expand emergency measures at this time.

“Let them know that of the resolve of the law enforcement, not just the TTPS or the municipal police,” Guevarro said, speaking directly to the perpetrators. “We will not sit idly by and allow this sweet country of Trinidad and Tobago to be overrun by any criminality behaviour. We have less than 500 serious criminals in this country holding 1.4 million persons to ransom; we will not allow that to happen, rest assured.”

Guevarro extended official condolences to Eversley’s family, friends, and colleagues, noting that the 15-year veteran left her home Saturday night to serve the public, and ultimately made the ultimate sacrifice for her community. “She lost her life while on duty. She had parents and she had children. I urge us all to take cognisance of the fact that police officers make the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.

As of Sunday evening, investigations remain ongoing, with law enforcement working to recover all stolen firearms and bring all those responsible for Eversley’s killing to justice.

Across Trinidad and Tobago, families raising children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are facing an escalating public health and social crisis, marked by crippling delays to critical diagnostic care and widespread systemic gaps that have left nonprofits to shoulder the burden of unmet need.

For many caregivers, the wait for an initial pediatric autism assessment stretches as long as two years, with some families as far back as 2023 receiving first appointment dates scheduled for 2027. These devastating wait times are just one of the multiple cascading barriers that autistic children and their families navigate daily, according to Dr. Radica Mahase, founder of Support Autism T&T. The advocacy and support organization has spent 11 years filling gaps in national services, born out of Mahase’s own personal struggle to secure a diagnosis and school placement for her autistic nephew. What began as a small, family-led effort has grown into a nationwide provider of support services, caregiver training and community outreach — yet despite its growing impact, the group has never received any government funding. It relies entirely on public donations, grassroots fundraising and contributions from individual supporters and small local businesses to keep its doors open.

Mahase has long called for a coordinated, cross-ministerial national autism strategy that brings together health, education, social services and labor departments to address the crisis systematically. While formal policies such as the national Inclusive Education Policy already exist on paper, Mahase says they have never been effectively implemented. If the policy were fully put into practice, early screenings would be available at the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) level, every school would have specialized special education teachers and aides, and consistent training for all classroom educators would be standard. None of these provisions are currently available nationwide.

Access to autism care across the country is deeply unequal, shaped largely by household income. Most therapeutic services are only offered through private providers, with costs that are out of reach for low- and middle-income families. Wealthier households can jump the line by paying for private care, but lower-income families face months or years of waiting, inconsistent access to support, or no access to therapy at all. Even when parents recognize developmental differences early, navigating the pathway from diagnosis to therapy to appropriate school placement is financially crippling, emotionally draining, and confusing. Mahase identifies cost, extreme wait times, fragmented uncoordinated services, and dismissive attitudes from some medical and education professionals as the biggest barriers to care. Many parents are told to wait for evaluation or made to feel they are overreacting to their child’s developmental needs, while widespread social stigma around autism also delays care-seeking.

Demand for support has risen steadily in recent years, pushing the already strained system to a breaking point. At Support Autism T&T’s Rahul’s Clubhouse, the organization receives constant new requests for help from parents and caregivers, reflecting a national trend of growing unmet need. “For years now, families have been left to struggle, parents have had to fight for every bit of support, and NGOs have been left to pick up the pieces and fill the gaps,” Mahase explains. “We’re reaching a crisis point now with more and more families looking for help, but the systems for diagnosis, therapy, school support, and services for autistic adults are still not strong enough. Autism cannot keep being treated like a side issue or something to talk about only in April (World Autism Awareness Month).”

Late or missed diagnoses carry severe long-term consequences for autistic children, Mahase emphasizes. Early diagnosis enables early intervention, which creates measurable, life-changing improvements in children’s speech development, communication skills, behavior and learning outcomes, while also helping parents adapt their support to meet their child’s needs. Without timely diagnosis, many children are incorrectly labeled as rude, badly behaved, lazy or difficult, and are denied the targeted support they need to thrive.

Within the national mainstream school system, the gaps in support are equally stark. Most schools lack specialized special education teachers and classroom aides, and there is almost no access to on-site therapeutic support. Overcrowded classrooms, one-size-fits-all standardized curricula and testing do not accommodate the needs of neurodivergent learners. Autistic students commonly face sensory overload from noisy, fast-paced classroom environments, lack of targeted accommodations, communication barriers, low expectations from educators, bullying and social isolation. Too often, Mahase says, children are punished for behaviors related to their autism rather than adjusting the classroom environment to meet their needs, shifting blame from systemic failures to the child.

Beyond the strain on children, the crisis places enormous emotional and financial stress on entire families, who must absorb the costs of assessments, private therapy, daily care and the constant work of advocating for their child’s basic rights. To address the growing backlog of undiagnosed children, Mahase is calling for mandatory universal autism screening starting at the ECCE preschool level. Right now, timely diagnosis depends entirely on luck: whether a parent recognizes early signs of autism, can afford private care, or is directed to the right services. “But screening cannot stand alone,” Mahase stresses. “There must be proper follow-up, intervention programmes, and support systems in place so families are not left with a diagnosis and nowhere to turn.”

As the United National Congress (UNC) administration prepares to mark its first full year in power, a Sunday Express on-the-ground investigation into Port of Spain’s long-marginalized Laventille and Gonzales districts reveals a landscape of widespread economic stagnation, deep-seated systemic stigma, and growing community hopelessness. Long considered strongholds of the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) government, the districts are currently represented by Members of Parliament Keith Scotland and Stuart Young. During the outlet’s visit two Fridays ago around midday, empty streets and shuttered community spaces painted a stark picture of the area’s current reality.

When approached at her open-air food stall in East Dry River, Laventille, 33-year-old vendor Kennipher Hector answered the question of where all the locals had gone with a simple explanation: just two days prior, a police-involved shooting had left one man wounded in the leg, and residents had responded by imposing an unofficial curfew on themselves, staying off the streets entirely. “Yesterday, I opened for business expecting the usual stream of regulars, and the whole area was dead silent—you could have heard a pin drop a mile away,” Hector recalled. She added that while shootings are a depressingly common occurrence in the area, this episode’s chilling effect on public life was unprecedented. She suspects the ongoing state of emergency (SoE) amplified fears, with many young men worried police will sweep up innocent residents alongside anyone suspected of criminal activity. That quiet emptiness led Hector to close up early that Friday to tend to cleaning, an unusual break from her normal routine.

Hector pointed to two interconnected crises at the root of Laventille’s struggles: chronic mass unemployment and persistent violent crime. She explained that without formal work opportunities to support their households, many residents are pushed toward illegal activity to make ends meet. A large part of the employment barrier, she argues, is the pervasive stigma that comes with living in Laventille. “Once you’re from this area, you’re already labeled untrustworthy, so you never get first pick at any job—you have to create something for yourself,” she said. That stigma pushed her to launch her own food venture, but even self-employment comes with crippling challenges: the area suffers from persistent unreliable water access, forcing her to rely on costly, irregular water truck deliveries when her stored water runs low or becomes discolored. Moving her business into central Port of Spain is not a viable option, she says, given exorbitant commercial rent and steep competition for new small business owners. The steady outflow of residents leaving the area for better opportunities has only made it harder for the few remaining local businesses to stay afloat, she added, and the same cycle of stigma and exclusion is already repeating for the next generation growing up in Laventille.

The sense of abandonment is equally palpable across the hillier Gonzales district, where few residents are seen outside their homes outside of commutes to work, with young people mostly clustering around the local Upper Quarry community centre. Eighty-three-year-old Claudette Lewis, a long-term Gonzales resident who survives on a state pension, said the feeling of hopelessness in the community has grown dramatically sharper since the UNC won last year’s general election. She noted that while her own daily routine has not changed much, young people in the area have been completely cut off from opportunities to live with dignity. “The whole area is dead. Nothing is happening here at all, and it feels like the entire city of Port of Spain is an afterthought for this government,” Lewis said. She issued a direct appeal: “We have a community centre sitting empty right here. The government should come in, reach out to our young people, and get them working on something that matters.”

Lewis explained that the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP), once the largest source of local employment for Gonzales youth, has been shut down since the new government took office. Without CEPEP, young people are left with two bad options: travel into central Port of Spain to compete for scarce jobs that rarely hire Laventille locals, or stay home idle. Many end up relying on their grandparents’ pension checks to get by, or pick up occasional informal work cleaning yards or doing small chores for elderly residents like Lewis. “This is no way for young people to build a life,” she lamented.

Wayne Lewis, Claudette’s 63-year-old son-in-law and a Tobagonian resident, joined the conversation to share his critical perspective on the political shift. He argued that the problems facing the community have actually worsened since the UNC took power, noting that the current administration has failed to deliver on the many campaign promises made by party leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar during her time in opposition and the 2025 election race. “A lot of people bought into what they said, gave them their votes, and now nothing has changed—it’s just gotten worse,” he said. He added that while he is able to fend for himself and cover his basic needs, he is deeply worried for the region’s young people who lack employable skills or formal work experience. He called the full shutdown of CEPEP unnecessary, arguing that the government could have simply replaced unpopular contractors rather than cutting the program entirely that employed hundreds of local workers. The irony, he noted, is that many of the local CEPEP workers who campaigned for the UNC ahead of the election were the first to lose their jobs when the government took office. Wayne also pointed to a sharp decline in water access: before the election, Gonzales had consistent running water seven days a week, with advance notice given for any scheduled outages. Today, the area only has water three days a week: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

During the visit to the empty Upper Quarry community centre, reporters encountered a small group of five young men gathered at a nearby home. Jerry Phillip, the 36-year-old group’s de facto spokesperson, explained that all the residents of their small neighborhood grew up together and consider one another family, with no gang activity in the area. Even so, he said, just having a Laventille address blocks most young men from getting formal work anywhere else. “We don’t have any gangs here, so employers have no reason to write us off, but they do anyway just because of where we live,” Phillip said.

Phillip acknowledged that formal work was also scarce under the previous PNM administration, but noted that just before last year’s election, local residents were hired to build a much-needed drainage line connecting the community centre to the area’s main staircase. “As soon as the election ended and the government changed, the project was halted immediately after we finished the drain,” he said. “We haven’t gotten any work or any support from the government since. The only time they come around now is to lock men up under the state of emergency.”

Beyond unemployment, Phillip also highlighted long-running unaddressed infrastructure failures: a major road connecting Gonzales to Morvant, St Barbs, and central Laventille has suffered a significant landslip, and the community’s main drain is completely clogged with garbage. He warned that once the annual rainy season arrives, the road will become completely impassable, a problem that local leaders have promised to fix for more than a decade without any action. “All we ever get is empty promises and lip service, nothing ever changes,” he said.

A grim discovery at a public cemetery in Trinidad has triggered a top-priority criminal investigation, after local law enforcement confirmed 56 bodies – 50 of which were infants – were found dumped in an unauthorised mass grave yesterday morning.

The find was first reported to police shortly after 10 a.m. by a local resident who was testing an air rifle at his private garden adjacent to Cumuto Cemetery, according to official statements from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). The witness told investigators he spotted a group of men digging a pit, and when he approached to ask what work they were carrying out, the men admitted they were disposing of children’s remains. As the man neared the site, the workers fled in a silver vehicle, the witness added. Shortly after making his report, the informant accompanied two detained suspects back to the local Cumuto Police Station.

Police quickly identified the two detained men as employees of a local private funeral home. Investigations so far indicate the pair were acting on instructions from their employer, who told them to dig the grave for what was described as a pauper’s burial. The men dug a pit roughly 1.8 metres by 0.9 metres on the cemetery’s northern perimeter, and dumped dozens of remains including the 50 infants, law enforcement confirmed.

TTPS Commissioner Allister Guevarro, who formally announced the launch of the investigation, emphasised the case has been assigned the highest possible priority. “This discovery is deeply disturbing, and we fully recognise what profound emotional shock this will cause to affected families and the entire nation,” Guevarro said in an official address. “The TTPS is pursuing this case with urgency, profound sensitivity, and an unwavering commitment to uncover every detail of the truth. Every set of remains must be treated with dignity and handled in full accordance with the law. Any individual or institution found to have violated that fundamental duty will be held fully accountable for their actions.”

Following the initial report, responding officers immediately secured the discovery site, where specialist crime scene investigators have begun detailed forensic examinations to gather evidence. Police confirmed the breakdown of remains: 50 infants, four adult men, and two adult women. Preliminary on-site assessments found that most adult remains carried official identification tags, with only one adult male’s remains untagged. Two remains – one adult male and one adult female – showed clear evidence of having already undergone post-mortem examinations before being dumped at the site.

Investigators told reporters that preliminary lines of inquiry point to this being a case of unlawful disposal of unclaimed corpses, though examinations are still ongoing to confirm the full circumstances of the discovery. The TTPS stressed in an official media release that this is an active, evolving investigation, and further forensic testing is currently underway to trace the origin of all remains and identify any violations of law or official burial procedures. Specialised TTPS units including the Homicide Bureau and Northern North Division are leading the ongoing probe.

Speaking to media on the background of unclaimed body procedures in the country, former health minister Dr Fuad Khan confirmed that the burial of unclaimed remains follows established, formal protocols in Trinidad, even though the practice is rarely discussed publicly due to its sensitive nature. Khan explained that under standard rules, unclaimed bodies are first publicly advertised for multiple cycles in major local newspapers. If no family member or party comes forward to claim the remains, they are either buried by funeral homes or made available for anatomical research at medical schools.

Khan noted that mass burials for unclaimed paupers are a standard, cost-saving practice, and that without this process, public morgues would quickly run out of storage space for newly deceased people, overwhelming the entire end-of-life care system. “This is a deeply sensitive topic, so details of these burial processes are not normally publicised – it is just carried out as a necessary part of the system,” Khan said. “It reflects the harsh reality that some people face at the end of life, when they have no family or money to cover an individual burial.”

As of press time, the TTPS has not announced any formal charges, and investigations into how the remains came to be disposed of in an unauthorised mass grave are continuing.