Category Archives: Death Penalty

Court, Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, Domestic Violence, Gender, General T&T, Kidnapping, Sex Crimes, Violence

Be careful when you hunt rapists

By Raffique Shah
February 08, 2021

Raffique ShahTHE outrage expressed by many people over the most recent case of the abduction and murder of a young woman is understandable.

We cannot believe that there exist among us depraved people who are capable of committing atrocities, inflicting extreme violence on women with seemingly consummate ease and callous detachment. It’s as if they are cast in some science fiction horror movie, acting out their darkest obsessions and cruellest fantasies, except the victims are real live people who end up very dead, sometimes mutilated and tortured before they die.
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Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Politics

Brutifying Our Sensibilities

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 20, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThis is not a criticism against Edmund Dillon, Minister of National Security, or the present government. It is more an attempt to place a finger on what the recent murders are doing to our national psyche, how they are affecting our emotional state and damaging our self-conception.
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Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Law, Murder

Clueless on crime

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By Raffique Shah
December 16, 2016

Raffique ShahA tragedy of our time is when we are outraged by the gore of one of the daily dosages of murder, we erupt into a cacophony of protest, condemnation and cries for the return of the hangman, such expressions lasting no longer than the proverbial sno-cone in the midday sun.

I predict that before the dirt settles on Shannon Banfield’s grave, seasonal parang music, alcohol and black cake will numb the senses of all but her loved ones whose pain will, understandably, last forever. And an avalanche of Carnival-related activities will further distract us from the atrocities that are committed daily on the killing fields of Trinidad more than Tobago.
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Death Penalty, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

A Politician’s Cry

20 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 08, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeInitially, Jack wept publicly because he wanted to persuade black people that he felt their pain. Like Brigadier John Sandy, his enabler, he just could not stand how black people were killing one another so he joined his UNC colleagues to impose a State of Emergency that threw black people in prison, for the most part. I noted then, “Jack wept just as Peter wept after he betrayed Christ.”
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Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Law, People's Partnership, Politics, Violence

Joker wild in Cabinet

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By Raffique Shah
January 21, 2012

Raffique ShahJUSTICE Minister Herbert Volney invariably comes across as a joker in the theatre of the macabre…a kind of black humour specialist.

He seems not to know whether his role is to make people laugh, cry or have a compelling urge to throttle him. He cannot decide if he is an entertainer, intimidator or Soca Monarch contender.
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Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Law, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Violence

PNM’s Retrograde Death Penalty Politics

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 05, 2011

HangingMonday, 28 February 2011 will not only live in infamy but it will also be recorded as one of the darkest days in the history of public policy decision-making process in T&T. This historic, albeit unforgettable, day witnessed the opposition PNM voting against the constitutional amendment to resume hanging as the most effective penalty/punishment/deterrent for murder.
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Complaints, Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, International, Law, People's Partnership, Politics, Violence

Corrupting the Minds of the Young

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 08, 2010

Jack WarnerI was in Italy when the scandal about the cheating of the Pakistani cricketers broke. When I got back to England last Monday, it was the only thing one read about in the English newspaper; the major story one heard on television. One would have thought that the Pakistanis had violated English honor and brought the gentleman’s game into absolute disrepute. It was not so much that the Parkistanis had cheated on the outcome of the game. They were accused on cheating of discrete aspects of the game such as bowling one or two deliberate no-balls which we are told resulted in the loss or gain of hundreds to thousand of dollars to criminal elements.
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Court, Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Law, Violence

Hang them high, high. high and then some

19 Comments

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
September 07, 2010

HangingIn normal, civilized and sane times, one can postulate a solid, airtight defence against the imposition of the death penalty for murder. No problem.

However, times, albeit living conditions, in T&T are abnormal, uncivilized and insane to the nth degree; ergo, any defence against the death penalty under these current circumstances is not only absolutely null and void but also totally immaterial and irrelevant.
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Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Law, Violence

Nightmare at Woodford Square

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By Raffique Shah
September 04, 2010

HangingIT’S still dark, wee hours this Sunday morning, the steady drizzle having no impact on the growing crowd that is gathering at Woodford Square. I am dressed in a Rasta wig, fake-Shabaaz beard, jacket sans tie, looking more like a vagrant than the men at the ticket booths at the two entrances to the Square. It’s going to be a good day for hangings. People are queuing, some jostling, others scalping, but all more than willing to pay the $100 entry fee to witness the country’s first public executions since the days of slavery.
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Complaints, Crime in T&T, Death Penalty, General T&T, Security, Violence

Police, Coast Guard, fail fishermen in distress

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By Raffique Shah
August 22, 2010

Patrol BoatTWO murderous incidents that occurred last weekend exposed different sides of arms of the Protective Services, much of which is not flattering. In the first, sea-bandits attacked fishermen in a virtual orgy of violence that saw some six vessels seized by armed, masked men. The helpless fishermen, three of whom lived in my neighbourhood, were tossed into the sea miles offshore, and left to swim for their lives. The bandits-cum-killers conducted their ‘orgy’ from Pointe-a-Pierre to Otaheite.
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