Carapichaima contractor killed in double murder

A Carapichaima-based contractor was among two people shot to death on May 15. Details were sketchy with police saying the contractor was known only by the alias Mario. He was killed during what police believe was a home invasion.

The incident took place around 2 pm at his Rodney Road home.

Police have not yet identified the second victim and are still unsure of the relation between the two victims.

As the country faced a wave of home invasions last year, UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar promised to implement "stand your ground" and anti-home invasion laws, if she won the general election.

The UNC also made the laws and legal gun ownership a pillar of their campaign strategy and claimed the current self-defence laws are inadequate.

Speaking on the campaign trail, she said, “The law will protect homeowners, businesspeople and occupiers when they use force, including deadly force, against any intruder who unlawfully and forcibly enters their residence.”

The party promised, if it won the election, to create a home invasion offence which will carry a penalty of 25 years imprisonment.

On May 8, while addressing the media after her first Cabinet meeting, Persad-Bissessar said the government had already has begun to work on the relevant legislation and encouraged law-abiding citizens to apply for their firearm users’ licences (FULs).

“We will be reviewing shortly the firearm license laws. Remember we’ve said we will consider giving legal firearms to law-abiding citizens? But they will only be given to persons who want it.

“If you don’t want it…Do not apply.”