While most of the country came to know Randall Warren Hector as the first murder to occur during the State of Emergency (SoE), the state prosecutor was yesterday remembered by his family, friends and the legal fraternity as a humble, jovial and God-fearing man.
After the funeral service, Israel Khan, SC, pleaded for protection for attorneys and judges saying “Oh God, they are killing us.”
It wasn’t long after expressing his final thoughts about 2024, a year he said was marred by bloodshed and a record-high murder toll, that 43-year-old Hector became a victim of the very thing he prayed to God about and tried to protect people against.
He was gunned down outside the Stanmore Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church on Stanmore Avenue, Queen’s Park West, Port-of-Spain, on December 31, in front of his wife, Sherraine, and children, ten-year-old Randall Giovanni and nine-year-old daughter Rayna, after attending an Old Year’s night service.
His assassination sent shockwaves throughout the legal fraternity, leaving other attorneys worried.
Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) president Lynette Seebaran-Suite again called for justice.
Paying tribute at Hector’s funeral service at the University of the Southern Caribbean, Maracas Valley, St Joseph, Seebaran-Suite said, “We cannot let his legacy be erased by the elements that are set on destroying our nation with heinousness and complete disregard for the sanctity of life. We need the society to stand with his family, to fight to do what is right and to ensure that there is justice for a man who stood for justice.”
After spending 22 years together, first meeting at law school, his wife Sherraine praised her husband.
“Randall was a man of God. Randall was a loving person. His love drew you in, as it drew all of us in today. He was a devoted husband. He loved his children, always playing with his children, educating his children, teaching his children.”
An emotional Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard also paid tribute.
“We were professionally very close. He was very loyal and an absolutely brilliant individual, very nimble in terms of processing of thoughts, very analytical but more importantly to the extent that I can comment on, that he seemed to be very, very spiritual.”
Court of Appeal Judge Carla Brown-Antoine added, “He served this country with distinction, honour and dedication and he paid the ultimate price.”
Hector joined the legal fraternity in October 2006.
The head of the church he was a member of, pleaded with criminals to put their weapons down.
President of the South Caribbean Conference of the SDA, Pastor Leslie Moses, said, “I call on the assassins and the gang leaders, lay down your guns, chill out, chillax and let peace reign!”
After Hector’s murder, attorneys from the DPP’s office had stayed away from physical court sessions over safety concerns. Judges are also now taking heightened precautions, following threats recently made by someone on TikTok.
On Tuesday, Minister in the Ministry of National Security Keith Scotland revealed he had a scheduled meeting with Chief Justice Ivor Archie that day and planned to meet with Gaspard as well.
Asked about the meeting and his safety as well as that of state prosecutors, Gaspard said, “I would speak about that another time. It would be inappropriate for me to discuss any other matter at this funeral.”
But Khan, president of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), later said lawyers are frightened, as criminals are sending a signal to the country that they will kill and kill again.
Khan said, “What the lawyers are doing is just taking one day at a time. All I wish to say to the general public is, ‘Oh god, they are killing us and he’s doing nothing to stop it!’... God forbid the next thing they do is kill a judge.”
