Tabaquite residents threaten to march on National Security Ministry

The frustration of Tabaquite residents turned to fury after crime in the area escalated on February 16, resulting in the death of 21-year-old Mathew Chancellor, who was gunned down during an early-morning crime spree.

Residents are now threatening  to march on the Ministry of National Security in Port of Spain if the Brasso Police Station is not reopened.

Emphasising the escalating crime, Tabaquite resident and Caratal/Tortuga councillor Sharen Badal-Ahyew said there were three other incidents overnight: a home was broken into, limers on the Tabaquite Bandstand were robbed and a white Nissan Tiida was stolen and later found abandoned on Todd's Road.

She said a farmer was also robbed while in his garden around 10 am on February 16.

"If nothing is done, we are taking this protest to Port of Spain. We are going in front the Ministry of National Security office, we are going to meet with the senior officer of the Central Division. We are taking this to the next level now. They must give us some answers. We are totally fed up at this point."

On February 5, a maxi-taxi driver and his wife were held at gunpoint in their Tabaquite home as bandits robbed them. A few weeks earlier, a 75-year-old man and his four wives were tied up and robbed during a home invasion.

Former Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo chairman Henry Awong said the crime spate is not only a direct result of the Brasso Police Station's being closed but believes the ongoing state of emergency (SoE) plays a role.

"With the SoE in place, the focus is on the high-risk areas, where they calling the Beetham, Port of Spain, Enterprise and so on. The bandits and murderers are now moving to quiet communities like Tabaquite, and the people here are easy targets. So the focus has to be on communities like Tabaquite and small communities as well."

The Brasso Police Station was redesignated for the Child Protection Unit, which did not last long. The station was merged with the Gran Couva Police Station.

In a release, Tabaquite MP Anita Haynes said the concerns raised then were rearing their head now as the officers are unable to respond effectively to the Tabaquite and Brasso community.

"Despite the promise of increased patrols, police are simply unable to respond quickly enough due to the large geographic area the available patrols must cover. Moreover, the terrible road conditions slow response times even further. Unfortunately, members of the criminal element are capitalising on this gap.”

Apart from calling for the station to be operationalised, she called on Government to analyse crime data and develop robust solutions.

Acting Snr Supt of the Central Division Ian Carty told Newsday he spoke with acting Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin on the matter. While he did not want to give a timeline, he said the station will be reopened soon, describing it as "imminent."

Chancellor's murder

Based on accounts from relatives, community members and a survivor of the attack, Chancellor innocently lost his life while trying to steer clear of a dangerous situation that erupted at the bar where he was liming on the night of February 15.

Chancellor's 30-year-old cousin, who did not want to be identified, was with him when the attack happened. He said he was liming at a nearby bar when a fight broke out inside shortly after midnight. Seeing the violent outburst, he said he, Chancellor, Chancellor's younger brother and another cousin all decided to leave.

The four men began walking home, but when they were near Cito Road, a car pulled up and gunmen got out, announcing a robbery.

After being struck in the face with the gun, Chancellor's cousin said, they all tried to run away in different directions.

"Same time I hearing shot pelting behind. Boom, boom boom, boom. I hear about four shots. I say, 'Like somebody dead there.'"

After the group reconvened, they realised Chancellor was missing. That's when a neighbour told them someone was lying on the ground behind the outdoor bathroom of a house near where the attack happened.

"He was done cold, like he dead already."

A resident of the house where Chancellor's body was found, Yule Garcia, 77, said she was asleep when she heard the shots. She said her son told her there was a body behind the outdoor bathroom, near a fig tree.

Garcia said she knew Chancellor and lamented he did not deserve such a fate.

"He's a child don't interfere with nobody. He's a child does work for his dollar, a real respectable little young man."

Pained by Chancellor's loss and grateful his other son survived, their father, Maxwelo, said it was high time something is done about the lack of police presence in the community.

"I can't live like this. I have five more children here, right.
"I can't be unsafe. I is a government worker. A law-abiding citizen. Why it is I have to be feeling like this? Why is my children not safe on the road no more? Why it is people literally not safe in their own house in Tabaquite?"

He said Chancellor was saving up with the hopes of migrating, picking up as many shifts at work as he could. That's why, he said, he last saw his son two days before, as he was staying with his grandparents to make his commute easier.

Attesting to the crime levels currently gripping them, Garcia, a resident for some 60 years, said it has her feeling "to just leave Tabaquite and go."

Garcia's grandson Justin Guerra was among two killed in February 2023, after an altercation at the same bar where Chancellor had been liming.

Another resident, Lazarine Moonassar, 70, who was born and raised in Tabaquite, complained that life had changed significantly in the once quiet community. She said some residents have imposed a curfew for themselves to stay safe.

"Long ago we never used to close our house. You don't close your door.
"Now I have burglarproofing as though I living in jail and the bandit running free. I is a pensioner and I have to hide up in my house. Sit down in my gallery in burglarproof. You have to watch who coming by you. You can't open your gate for any and any body.
"This is not supposed to be. This is a country area. We need to be comfortable in our homes."

The Central Division head told Newsday investigations were ongoing into the incident, but there were no new leads up to the evening of February 16.