Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 03/Mar 22:03

Two murders, man crushed by music truck

Two murders took place over the Carnival period, one on March 2 in Ste Madeleine, and the other in Vistabella on Carnival Monday. The first happened on Sunday evening when 29-year-old Trey Bernard of Malibu Crescent, Harmony Hall, Marabella, was shot while going to collect money for Carnival activities at Midas Lane, Corinth Village in Ste Madeleine. Bernard and a female friend used a rideshare service to meet someone known as Sparrow in Ste Madeleine. When they arrived at the destination, Bernard came out of the vehicle and after waiting a few minutes, a man dressed in a white t-shirt and ski mask drove up in a white Tiida car, came out and fired at Bernard and then got back into the car and drove off. The rideshare driver also drove off and dropped off Bernard's friend in Cocoyea where an off-duty police officer saw her crying, questioned her and took her back to the scene where Bernard was found dead. The second murder took place on No 25 Central Road, Vistabella, where Lennox Williams, 64, was fatally stabbed during an altercation around 3 am. No further details were available up to press time. During Carnival Monday festivities, Selwyn Little, 74, was crushed to death when a music truck rolled over him around 3.50 pm while he was playing with sailor mas band Jammerz International. Eyewitnesses said he was in a band carrying a banner when the incident happened. San Fernando Mayor Robert Parris was present at the time. “Apparently the truck lost control and Little was a little person and they (the truck driver) didn’t see him and they hit him. So he tragically lost his life here. Little was from Mon Repos and played with the Joey “Pal” Lewis band. He was very popular around this time in terms of Carnival,” the mayor said. Parris said the parade experienced a “little delay” in order for the district medical officer and the police forensics team to carry out their work and then the parade continued as normal. The truck driver has been detained. Speaking to media at the scene, ACP Wayne Mystar said, “The driver indicated to us that the brakes gave way and unfortunately Mr Little was crushed. The vehicle will be impounded. We will examine to see if the vehicle was supplied with a pass and satisfied all requirements to be on the road. "The licensing officers will also have to do their procedures, inspecting and checking the brakes and so on, to see if the vehicle was really working.” Asked what procedures would be put in place for Carnival Tuesday, Mystar said the onus was on bandleaders and organisers. “They have to ensure, especially with these trucks, that they have the necessary mechanisms. The masqueraders also have to make sure to not get too close to the sides of the trucks and its wheels. It is unfortunate something like this has to happen to reinforce what we have been saying.” Mystar said discussions were ongoing with the mayor to have the route adjusted. In an unrelated matter, on March 2, 11-month-old Levi Logan was pronounced dead at the Arima Health Facility shortly after 7 am, half an hour after he was brought. Police reports are that his mother Emily Gadar, 20, found Logan with vomit around his mouth with a comforter in his mouth. She removed the comforter, saw more vomit and that he was breathing irregularly, and called an ambulance which took him to the facility. Enquiries are ongoing. Then at 10.55 pm on March 2, the decomposing body of Andy Williams, 62, was found after his neighbour reported a stench coming from Williams's home in Bayshore, Marabella. The man was last seen alive by another neighbour around 4 pm on February 27. Speaking to Newsday on Carnival Monday at approximately 2 pm, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said he had not received any reports of serious disturbances to the Carnival festivities. “The people are in a festive spirit and numbers. The police and defence force are out there. Our aerial and maritime assets are all working together so the people of TT can have reported to me, as they are reporting, that they feel comfortable, they feel safe, and they are conducting their Carnival affairs as Trinidadians do, and so far, no major reports have come to me about any disturbances of that festivity,” Hinds said. (Reporting by PAULA LINDO and INNIS FRANCIS) The post Two murders, man crushed by music truck appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.