No drug barons dealt with since Dole

THE POLICE have not taken down any drug barons since Dole Chadee, said retired justice Selwyn Romilly.

"It would be nice if the police would deal with the drug barons. But since Dole Chadee we have not heard of one other drug lord prosecuted or arrested," he pointed out.

He was speaking on Thursday night at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine Faculty of Law panel discussion mindset change and crime prevention: how seeing the other can reduce crime and ignite economic growth, at the Noor Hassanali Auditorium, UWI.

Chadee, whose real name was Nankissoon Boodram, was hanged on June 4, 1999, together with eight of his gang members, for the 1994 murders of four members of the Baboolal family of Piparo.

Romilly said in his presentation that travel advisories have been issued warning people not to visit TT because it is dangerous and the police are not able to solve crimes. He added that in the newspapers many crimes are reported, but few are solved.

"Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith started off very well. It seems things have fizzled out a bit."

He continued: "I am afraid to walk the street at night."

Romilly explained that he lives on De Verteuil Street, Woodbrook, and when he is a few yards from his house he starts to run for fear of his safety.

"Even though I am Trini, they can tell I have some foreign influence."

Romilly was the first black judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and also created history as the first black person appointed to any court in British Columbia and only the second black person appointed to any court in Canada.