Newsday Headlines

“O GOD, what we do?” These were the last words uttered by 17-year-old Amanda Pamponette of Valencia as she was being chopped to death around midnight on Thursday by four armed men, who were seen earlier hiding in the bush near her boyfriend’s home which is also in Valencia.

A 17-YEAR-OLD student yesterday appeared alongside three other men before a magistrate in Chaguanas charged with the September 22, rape of a mother and her 17-year-old daughter of Longdeville.

Public Services Association President (PSA), Watson Duke, yesterday encouraged Forestry Division workers to take “a day of rest” on Monday.

ARLENE BLACKMAN, 67, the principal of Blackman’s Private School in Maraval yesterday appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate charged with willfully assaulting two school children last week Tuesday.

PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said she has approved a sum of US$91,000 (TT$585,130) to pay for an air ambulance to transport former Prime Minister Patrick Manning to the prestigious Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington DC for additional medical treatment for the stroke which he suffered two weeks ago.

CHAGUANAS WEST MP Jack Warner yesterday suspended his high-publicised petition to lobby for the resumption of the death penalty, a mere two days after he launched it amid much press coverage which included the mother of three murdered fishermen, crying uncontrollably at the launch at Warner’s constituency office.

POLICE officers last night charged Arlene Blackman — Principal of Blackman’s Private School in Maraval — with two counts of Cruelty to Children, under the Children’s Act, Chap 46:01, Section III(I), for allegedly placing the head of two students in a toilet bowl at her school and flushing it.

CEDROS and Icacos cattle owners were yesterday granted a reprieve by the Ministry of Food Production to secure their livestock following Wednesday’s roundup of stray and wild cattle in the sprawling coconut estates and dense forests by Defence Force personnel and Ministry officers.

One of the more openly critical voices against the appointment of Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justice of Appeal Wendell Kangaloo to the ranks of Senior Counsel last year, Karl Hudson-Phillips QC, has been appointed, along with 11 other attorneys, to review whether the appointment of Senior Counsel should be abolished, or for the appointments and obligations of the position, to be regularised.

AN interpretation of the local Land Tenant Act which protects tenants who, already using land for a single purpose, but wish to put it to other use, such as erecting a house, has been endorsed by the Privy Council.

THE POLICE Service Commission (PSC) at its meeting yesterday called on Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs for an updated report on the leasing of a light aircraft for the Police Service.

SPANISH company, Agbar, has been awarded a $5.2 million consultancy contract for four months of work by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to make recommendations over the future operations of WASA, the Spanish firm announced yesterday.

A man in custody at the La Horquetta Police Station has reportedly failed in an attempt to commit suicide in his cell.

A MAN, who was convicted and sentenced in absentia on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder, has been deemed a fugitive from justice by the United States authorities who believe that he may be living in this country. As such, the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain yesterday issued a press release calling for assistance in locating and apprehending this fugitive.

ALL LEADERS of the parties making up the People’s Partnership (PP) coalition Government are to hold a meeting today to discuss general issues in relation to the coalition, sources said yesterday.

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other Government officials will soon receive a petition intended to serve as a reminder of their duties and of the wishes of the people, chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) Jack Warner said yesterday.

TODAY a new bmobile Synergy Soca Star will be crowned at the Jean Pierre Complex in Port-of-Spain. Seven finalists will compete for various prizes include the grand prize of a Daihatsu Terios SUV.

SECRETARY General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Sat Maharaj yesterday described a decision by the Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with the Ministry of National Security, to round up and even kill stray, wild cattle in the Cedros area as inhumane.

“No Government emergency ambulance, with their personnel, should abandon any patient in distress.”

CONCERNED over some 2,000 wild cattle running rampant in Cedros, a group comprising soldiers, veterinarians, officials from the Emperor Valley Zoo, butchers, public health officers and officials from the Ministries of Health and Agriculture will today swoop down in the area to round-up the wild cattle.