Slain attorney prosecuted gang suspect – 2024's last murder may be linked to SoE's cause

ATTORNEY Randall Hector, who was shot dead outside a church on Stanmore Avenue, on Old Year's Night (December 31), had once been retained by the state to prosecute a gang leader on gun charges.

Police have listed the possible motive for his murder as “gang-related.

In January 2024, the gang leader was charged with possession of a firearm after he was allegedly held with a loaded gun. He won the case in September.

On December 28, the gang leader escaped a gun attack as gunmen tried to ambush him after he signed the bail book at the Besson Street Police Station.

Gunmen armed with automatic rifles lay in wait in a panel van parked opposite the police station. When he and his entourage left the station, the gunmen opened fire on them.

One of his “bodyguards,” identified as 34-year-old Trevor Williams of Clifton Towers, Laventille, was shot dead in the attack, while the gang leader escaped unscathed.

On December 30, two days after the shooting, government imposed a state of emergency (SoE) on the country, which gave police and other supporting security services additional powers to fight crime and nab criminals.

The National Security Council made the decision around midnight on December 30.

Acting Attorney General Stuart Young and Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said at a media conference on December 30, the SoE was put in place to deal with the imminent threat of gang-related reprisals from the attempt on the gang leader's life. They said the use of high-powered weapons in the reprisals could be a threat to public safety.

The murder toll for the 2024 stood at 625, with one murder occurring less than two hours into the new year.

Young and Hinds said, based on information from police, the killing of five people at Prizgar Lands, Laventille on December 29, was one such reprisal.

Around 8.30 pm on December 29, Kambon Omowale, 39, Cleon Lubin St John, 37, Ryna Lessey, 23, Derron Calliste, 35 and Gareth Smart, 45, of Thomasine Street, Laventille, were shot dead by three gunmen while liming in front of a shop at Prizgar Lands Circular.

One of the cars police believe the gunmen used was found in St Paul Street, Port of Spain,  shortly after the shooting.

But on December 31, amid the heightened security of a national state of emergency, Hector was shot dead by masked gunmen while leaving the church.

Police said from 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm on December 31, Hector was attending an Old Year’s Night service. After the service he was walking out of the church with his wife toward his vehicle, parked on the western side of Stanmore Avenue, near Albion Street.

Just then two cars, an SUV and a black Nissan B15, pulled alongside Hector’s car and the occupants shot him several times before speeding off.

Hector was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he died.

Police recovered 15 9mm shell casings, 13 with markings Sig Luger 9mm and two with markings Tech Luger 9mm

In May 2014 Dana Seetahal’s car was intercepted by gunmen on Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook and she was shot dead. At the time of her murder, she was co-counsel along with Israel Khan, SC, Gilbert Peterson, SC, and senior state attorney Joy Balkaran as prosecutors against the men accused of murdering businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman in 2006.

A good father, good attorney

Reporters visited Hector’s home in Glencoe, but while relatives were not there, neighbours described Hector as a good father.

“That house was always full of life,” said one neighbour who didn’t want to be named. “His two kids were always playing. You could hear them laughing and talking almost every day.”

The neighbour said shortly after the shooting, relatives came to the house, then left in a car. The house had been silent ever since.

“The house doesn’t have any life in it any more,” the neighbour said.

Ian Brooks, SC, lauded him for his character and the benefit it brought to the law profession.

“He was a young, bright professional who brought honour and integrity to the profession.”

He said his selflessness and level of maturity endeared him to everyone.

“The fraternity feels a real sense of loss,” Brooks said. “We ought not to have reached this stage where a person who has given so much to society and the community would have been shot in front of his wife and children. It counts as a failure, not just for national security but for the people of Trinidad and Tobago as a whole, because criminals fail themselves when they commit these acts and we as a society allow them to fail."

Several attempts to reach Minister of National Security and Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard for comment were unsuccessful.