Mother of murdered Maloney man wants return of SoE

Three days after the state of emergency (SoE) was lifted, a Maloney woman is asking for it to be reinstated to save people from criminals, after her son, Marvin James, was gunned down by bandits on Saturday morning.

James, 30, was shot dead when he was confronted by bandits in Aranguez, near the Tooltime Hardware at around 4 am after his car stalled.

Newsday understands James was returning from a party in San Juan with friends when the car stalled.

The friends left him to drop someone else home and James called a wrecker. But bandits attacked James and chased away the wrecker driver as he approached.

Members of the North Eastern Division Task Force later found James's body.

Speaking with Newsday at her Maloney home on Saturday, James's mother Leotha Henry said she did not understand why the bandits had to kill him.

She said while the SoE might have been unpopular to some, it prevented the movements of criminals, and called on the authorities to bring it back to save other lives.

"It hurting me to see these people take my son's life just so. If you all wanted the car, take the car, but why did you all kill him?

"I find the government should put back the state of emergency, because too much senseless killing is going on right now. Too many people are getting killed for nothing.

"It's heart-wrenching to know that my son was liming and he ended up in this situation."

Henry also lamented the state of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, where criminals did not seem to hesitate to murder innocent citizens.

She added that she did not know what to tell James's five-year-old daughter, who called her earlier on Saturday asking for her father.

James worked as a technician and handyman for the University of Trinidad and Tobago and was described as a devoted family man who put his daughter first.

In an unrelated incident, a 29-year-old Marabella man was shot and killed while getting a haircut on Saturday afternoon.

Police said Kendell Williams, of Gandhi Street, was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Fernando General Hospital.

A police report said at around 1.30 pm, he was getting a haircut at the roadside at Bay Road, a short distance from his home.

A man walked up to Williams, started shooting, and ran away. No one else was injured.

Williams, who was unemployed, was taken to the hospital, where he died.