“LIFE in Trinidad and Tobago has no value... Only sick minds would say ‘kill them all’.”
This was the lament yesterday of a relative of Isaiah Olivierre, who was among six people shot and killed by police at a Freeport house on Wednesday.
The relative said the families of the six killed have met and will be challenging the police over the killings, insisting the deaths were “executions”.
“Where are the body cameras? And I am saying it out loud—is there a killing squad?” Olivierre’s relative, who did not want to be named, told the Express at the Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park.
“We cannot sit quietly by and see those things happen and be okay with it,” he added.
Just before daybreak on Wednesday, a group of men staged a home invasion at the Otis Lane, Calcutta No 2, Freeport, home of 68-year-old Edward Taylor—a man enfeebled by three strokes and a heart condition.
They took jewelry and cash.
About six hours later, police went to a house at Razack Trace, Freeport.
Police said when they announced their presence, they were shot at and returned fire, killing six people.
The Forensic Science Centre was packed yesterday morning with dozens of relatives of the six people killed—Saleem John, 19, Kadeem John, 23; Jovan Simon, 31; Nicholas Caesar, 27; Olivierre, 21; and a 16-year-old girl, Salome Ranghill.
Their bodies were positively identified by midday but due to a large a number of bodies at the centre, the post-mortems on all six are set to begin on Monday.
The Express interviewed the relatives of Olivierre, Jovan Simon and Nicholas Caesar.
The relatives of the other three said they did not want to “repeat the trauma” of talking about the incident.
Olivierre’s uncle said: “The family members came together this morning and as we met here we offered support for each other and a lot of parents and family members say (the deaths) is not sitting right with them.
“They were treated like animals and we cannot sit quietly by and see those things happen and we expect justice to take its course.”
He said if the six were criminals they should get justice.
“But what happened Wednesday was not justice. That is not the way we should be going about the law in Trinidad and Tobago and we will take our time and get what we have to get.
“The families are going to stick together and support each other, as something has to happen,” he said.
“One man lost two sons and a next young lady was innocent in the whole thing and, well, we are not saying who is right or who is wrong, but the police action was criminal.
“So I want to know who authorise that. They have to answer. What process did they take? Were the accused, arrested and taken in?... spoken to about their rights and what they are accused of?
“No... nothing like that, they just shoot up and kill everybody in cold blood. This is justice in T&T today and we as citizens must sit back as parents and as loved ones and say, okay. We will seek legal advice and we are going to unite and fight,” he said.
“When we say one gangster kills another, and we say you live by the sword, so you die by the sword—but like law enforcement acting the same way because like life in Trinidad and Tobago has no value.
“Fowl and thing have more value (and) only sick minds would say ‘kill them all’ but the ones saying that will never come here in ‘Forensics’ and come and see mammy and daddy crying because as far as we know, they were innocent when they died,” he said.
A relative of Simon said he never limed with people who were into robberies and crime. “He know that if he do it, he will get caught and that would jeopardise his whole lifestyle,” said the man who asked not to be identified.
“As far as I get to understand, Jovan went to the house there about 15 minutes before the police came. Something though is not adding up right now. So they killed everybody in the house. The house is rented house... right?... So if the owner of the house was there, they would have killed him, too?” he asked.
He said the home invasion some of them were accused of occurred at 6.15 a.m. and police got to the house after receiving coordinates for the getaway vehicle at Razack Trace, Freeport, at 11.30 a.m.
“Almost five hours have passed and different people could have done the crime and they could have parked the car (at Razack Trace) because with five hours in Trinidad, I could done be heading to another country already because Trinidad small,” he said.
‘He had his lil ways’
Relatives of Nicholas Caesar asked if the police had a shootout how come no officers were injured and there were no bullet holes in the police vehicles they used.
“He was a nice person,” said a relative of Caesar.
“He had his lil ways and thing, but he was always willing to be helpful.
“He was a normal fella. He was staying at Razack Trace, Freeport, but I didn’t know his friends.
“He moved out of the family home at Preysal, Couva, and the last time I spoke to him (Monday) he said he wanted to come back home.” He described Caesar’s killing as an “execution”.
“They used book sense to cover this up because if it was a shootout, why no police or police vehicles get shot? No neighbour wall have any bullet holes and why all six was dragged out of one room?” the relative said.
