Opposition MP wants Hinds fired over crime rate

An Opposition MP has called on the Prime Minister to fire National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds immediately.

Couva North MP Ravi Ratiram, in a media statement on Monday, called Hinds incompetent, accusing him of sleeping on the job and costing this country a price too dear to pay.

Ratiram’s comments came in light of the two double homicides within 24 hours, one on Sunday in the Couva North constituency and the other in the Couva South constituency on Monday.

Ratiram also chastised the Rowley Government, accusing it of failing to protect its citizens from criminals.

He charged that after spending "billions upon billions behind national security," the Government had done absolutely nothing in the past seven years to address the unacceptable level of serious crime effectively.

Ratiram said the "undeniable proof" of this lies in the Government’s bloodstained record of over 3,550 murders during its time in office.

On Sunday morning, the bodies of Randy Ramdass and his girlfriend Anita Jagdeo were found with gunshot wounds in a white Nissan AD Wagon in a trace off Factory Road, Chaguanas. The couple reportedly left their homes on Saturday to meet someone in connection with selling a parcel of land.

Ratiram visited the crime scene and spent time with the families of both victims.

In offering his condolences, Raitram said he felt "an enormous sense of loss as his MP’s office shared a close relationship with the deceased."

At the home of the Ramdass family on Sunday, Ratiram recalled speaking to media personnel.

Of the Prime Minister, Ratiram asked: "How many more must die before you take action and recognise that the Ministry of National Security is failing in its responsibility to ensure that citizens are safe?

"This morning, citizens awoke to the news of another horrendous double murder in Central where the bodies of two male victims were discovered at Rivulet Road in Couva. The victims, who are yet to be identified, were found bearing multiple chop wounds."

Newsday learnt that the police later found a driver’s permit on one of the victims, who was identified as Darrin R James, 51, of Market Street in Chaguanas.

The Opposition MP said he had made numerous calls for improved lighting in several areas of his constituency to repair and/or maintain CCTV cameras.

His cries for proper resourcing of the protective services have fallen on deaf ears and closed eyes, he said.

The autopsies on Ramdass and Jagdeo are set for Wednesday at the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James.