Union leader on son's Beetham shooting: 'They're misguided'

TRADE UNIONIST Michael Anisette has labelled the three gunmen who shot his son on the Beetham Highway, as misguided.

Speaking with Newsday, Anisette, leader of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union (SWWTU) said his son, Dwayne King, 40, of Waterhole Cocorite, was headed to do business when he was shot around 8.30 am.

Police reported that the gunmen came out of a Toyota Fielder and opened fire on King and another man who were in a Nissan Tiida. The shooting took place on the west bound lane of the highway near the waste-water treatment plant. The gunmen then returned to their vehicle, bumped other cars to get out of the traffic before abandoning the car, which was stolen, at Bhagwansingh's Hardware about 200 meters from the shooting.

Anisette thanked the doctors and nurses at the Port of Spain General Hospital who he said did great work with limited resources. His son was shot three times he said, in the shoulder, leg and groin.

Asked about his views on the shooting, he said: "They are misguided people, there are people who they allowed people to instil certain values in them. They are not independent thinkers they have been influenced by people. Everyone knows this is gang thing you know who want to have stripes to say they did this and that. That is the reality. We need to find a way to address those issues."

Anisette said the answer to the crime problem is not more guns. He said: "You can set up how much task force you want that won't solve the problem. We have to deal with the root cause. How do we engender a sense of love in the people and develop independent thinking so that nobody could mislead them? We can't blame them (shooters), we live in a world where vengeance, arrogance, ignorance and greed is the norm. It is about me and not us."

He added that his son almost dying in gun violence has "resolved in my mind" the need to stand up and speak out against crime. He said he will be a voice against crime in the country now more than ever to bring about a better TT. Asked if he would consider migrating given this attack on his family, Anisette said he would not run as he was born in TT and the problems facing the country must be solved by those living here.

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