Zoisa Fraser

An 18-year-old cosmetologist hurrying home to tend to a client’s hair was yesterday shot dead by a lone gunman moments after he snatched her cell phone.

It could be another six months before the Com-mission of Inquiry (CoI), set up to answer the many lingering questions about the death of Dr Walter Rodney, concludes its work, according to commission lead counsel Glen Hanoman.

  There is evidence to suggest that Monday’s breakout from the lockups at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court Complex – which resulted in one escapee being shot dead – was planned after prisoners realized that the metal bars and mesh on a ventilation window were not properly secured.

Files on the police’s investigation into the 1980 death of political activist Dr Walter Rodney and the operations of his party, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), were admitted into evidence when the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) held its first public hearing yesterday.

Now at the start of his pre-retirement leave, Assistant Commissioner of police Eric Bassant is already planning the next chapter of his life: the priesthood.

Repeated assessments have revealed that there is a “low prevalence” of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) here, according to Human Services Minister Jennifer Webster who says that given the potential impact it has on the safety and human rights of citizens, strategies and programmes have been developed to combat it.

Psychological therapy for policemen and women especially those who have been involved in traumatic events such as a mass shooting is not readily available, but according to psychologist Dr Faith Harding it is a necessity as police work is associated with a lot of stress and frustration, the effects of which can be felt in the home environment.

The role of the community in preventing the downward spiral of children in danger of falling through the cracks was highlighted yet again in the case of 14-year-old Andy, who was killed last week after a truck ran over him as he lay sleeping on the Foulis, East Coast Demerara roadway.

Local master drummer Curt Primo died on Thursday morning after what his relatives have described as the failure of staff at the Woodlands and Georgetown Public hospitals to treat his respiratory ailment with the urgency it deserved.

Ten years after its completion, there is little evidence that work is being done to implement the 71 recommendations for the improvement of the police force made in the Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC) report, despite renewed interest by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Justice Desiree Bernard yesterday sat on the bench of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for the last time, during the special sitting held in her honour where she was hailed as a champion for the rights of women and children and a regional trailblazer in the legal profession worthy of emulation.

The cops at the centre of a shocking baton rape allegation have denied committing the act, according to Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell.

-probe intensifies two months after reported attack Two months after an alleged horrific baton rape of Colwyn Harding by a cop, the police force and the Ministry of Home Affairs issued their first statement on the matter  yesterday pledging a full probe with the latter warning of “condign” action against anyone found culpable.

A four-month-old baby girl was on Monday kidnapped from a Buxton, East Coast Demerara daycare centre by a teenager who pretended to be an aunt and following police investigations, the suspect was arrested and the infant reunited with her mother last evening.

With uncertainty still clouding who shot Detective Corporal Seburn Elias on Monday, ballistic tests on warheads that would be retrieved from his body during an autopsy today are expected to determine whether it was one of his colleagues or the fleeing prisoner he was pursuing at the time.

Eight months after a High Court jury found him not guilty of the 2010 murder of Charlestown resident Mark Caesar, Dexter Marshall mysteriously died on Tuesday night shortly after he began exhibiting very strange behaviour.

The opposition parties say they’ve taken note of the “excessive force” being used to apprehend alleged bandits resulting in deaths, but according to Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell, the police’s actions are justified as they do not “use more force than is necessary”.

The recent moves by the government to give approval for the creation of a SWAT unit to deal with the upsurge in crime and to confirm acting police commissioner Leroy Brumell, according to AFC member Moses Nagamootoo is nothing more than a “political ploy”.

Trumpeting the need for a cheap energy source to support investment and development, President Donald Ramotar yesterday said that the millions spent so far on the stalled Amaila Falls Hydropower Project have not been wasted and once again pledged to make it a reality.

Zoisa Fraser talks to the Chief Counsellor for the Salvation Army who was himself once an addict Years of drug abuse destroyed his life but with a stroke of luck and determination, Steve Sookraj was able to repair the damage and is now on the path to success.