14 days' jail for man who threatened to chop off heads of PM and CoP

A Couva man who called the E999 emergency hotline to threaten to chop off the heads of both the Prime Minister and police commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher, has been jailed.

Ian Sookram was sentenced to 14 days' simple imprisonment when he appeared before magistrate Alexander Prince at the Couva court on Thursday. He was charged with misuse of the telephone, contrary to Section 106 (a) of the Summary Offences Act Chapter 11.02.

He pleaded guilty.

The court heard that around 1.30 am on November 25, Sookram, of 293 Lallan Street, Carolina Village, Couva, called the E999 emergency hotline and made the threats against Rowley and Harewood-Christopher.

Sgt Sunil Ramdial of the Couva Police Station made enquiries and arrested and charged Sookram.

He was also charged by PC Mehaboob of the Couva Police for using obscene language, for which Prince also sentenced him to 14 days' simple imprisonment.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

Sgt Ramdial told the court that in April, 2019, Sookram was also arrested and charged for threatening then commissioner Gary Griffith and his wife, Nicole Dyer-Griffith.

On those charges, Sookram was sentenced to 14 days' hard labour for the threat and 14 days' hard labour for wasteful employment of police time.