Murder victim's twin: My brother was not charged 44 times

Julia Caleb and Crystal King, sisters of muder victim Julien Caleb, wait on his death certificate at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday. PHOTO BY ANDREW GIOANNETTI. - Andrew Gioannetti
Julia Caleb and Crystal King, sisters of muder victim Julien Caleb, wait on his death certificate at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday. PHOTO BY ANDREW GIOANNETTI. - Andrew Gioannetti

THE twin sister of a man who was shot and killed outside his barber shop in Arima, last Thursday, is denying the police's claim that he was charged 44 times for varying offences.

Police said Julien Caleb, 44, was standing on the corner of Eastern Main Road and Kingdom Avenue, Arima, at about 8.10pm, when he was approached by a man and shot several times. He died at the scene. Caleb was the third murder victim from Malabar for this year, and the country's 17th.

Police told media, Caleb was known to them for a range of offences, including robbery, narcotics possession and sexual assault. But this was dismissed by his twin sister Julia Caleb, who spoke with Newsday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday, while she waited on her brother's death certificate.

"Wrong. Totally wrong," she said.

"Because you are 44 years and you have 44 charges. So you have charges since you a baby? And if you have all those charges, why you (Julien) on the road. Why the law have you on the road? (Those) are bogus charges. If he has one gun charge, he has plenty. If he has one robbery charge, he has plenty.”

Julia said her brother was imperfect and miserable, but far from the character portrayed by police. She said her family should have been interviewed to balance the police's comments.

"Everyone who knew him knew he was a miserable guy," she said, describing him otherwise as straightforward and assertive.

"As far as I can say, honestly, nobody had anything bad to say about him, more than his mouth was just peppery."

Julia said Caleb spent three-quarter of his life behind bars after being convicted of rape when he was 19 and was later cleared.

"My twin came out of jail four years ago. When he was about 19 years, this young Indian girl fell in love with him and they were having a relationship and (her) father beat she and force she to tell the police he rape she. So all that time he was in jail.

"And when she reach of age, she was finally able to go to the court and tell them the truth. That's why that case was dropped."

The police, she added, might have been inclined to add charges to his name because he would sometimes torment them.

"He would torment the police. The thing is, he studied the law. A time he was in a cell with some other cell mates, around the time it was coming up to the court (date), and he would've stood up to represent a couple of the prisoners. He spoke for a couple of them and he gave them advice on how to deal with the law because the law is a corrupted law.

"He was a miserable guy. He would harass the police. He would even harass the young girls and them, but not in the sense that he going to touch them or anything like that.

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"Murder victim’s twin: My brother was not charged 44 times"

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