January 2020 may not be the bloodiest in the past five years but what makes the 46 killings recorded significant, is that even as the country bade farewell to 2019, a year which recorded the second-highest number of killings in recent history, the bloodletting spilled over into 2020.
Just after midnight as many families were celebrating the start of a new decade, killers were continuing their rampage.
The first victim, Reynold Chinapoo of California, Couva. He was shot several times.
While the reality is that in January 2018 there were 61 murders, January 2017- 52 murders, and January 2016- 49 murders no one can deny that the country now feels a deeper sense of despair that the criminal element now seems to be going after anyone and everyone. Citizens are living in fear.
In the first week of the new year, 6 people were killed. On January 5th three members of the Chuniesingh family were killed at their Arima home-Damian Chunisingh, his sister Polly-Ann Chunisingh, 31, and uncle Randy Chunisingh, 55, murdered at their Arima home. Their hands were tied and their throats slit.
On January 6th, Jezelle Phillip was fatally stabbed by a man she knew. That killing took place at the Baby Pre-School on George Street.
On January 7th Bangladesh national Jamil Ahmed who had moved to Trinidad seeking a better future was killed at his gyro stall in Siparia.
The list continues
January 10—Gabriella Du Barry gunned down by a man she knew at her Avocat Village, Fyzabad home.
January 10—Cassian Greenidge, a fruit vendor, of de Gannes Village, Siparia shot and killed
January 11—Tracey “ratty” Ottley shot and killed in Windy Hill Arouca
January 11—Hassan Mansano shot dead in Aranguez
January 13—50-year-old Brian ‘Biggie’ Hackette killed in a robbery in Princes Town on Saturday night.
January 14—Vishal Ramoutar AKA “Marshy” of Williams Street, Arouca shot and killed
January 15—Dr Rudradeva Sharma and Akeem Marine murdered in Claxon Bay; after a car accident
January 15—3 killed in Wallerfield: 15-year-old Jordan Archibald, Dimitri Archibald and Nyron Samuel, both 19 years of age.
January 16—28-year-old Kevin Parkinson who was shot 12 times in a drive-by shooting on January 4, in Malabar succumbs to his injuries
January 16—19-year-old Kedel Esdelle of Malabar shot dead
January 16—Christopher Caleb a barber from Arima gunned down outside his shop along the Eastern Main Road in Maturita
January 17—Fenwick Young shot and killed in La Horquetta
January 19—37-year-old Kevon King of Bayshore East, Marabella, was shot and killed at Monty Street, Marabella.
January 19—31-year-old Akim Patrick McDonald, of Old Trainline, St Margaret’s shot and killed
January 19—Kurt Edwards stabbed to death at Lamont Street, Longdenville
January 22—17-year-old Daniel “Sandman” Dember shot and killed at a mini-mart along Chrissie Trace, Enterprise.
January 23—Cuban landlord Kenneth Maillard murdered in Tunapuna
January 24—50-year-old Ashram Boodram of Hibiscus Drive, Cucuhawan Trace, Debe. Dies from gunshot wounds
January 26—Marvin Pierre, 46 and Jason Fernando, 41, of Block 22, Laventille shot dead on Laventille Road
January 26—86-year-old Calvin Glasgow of Iris Lane, Southern Main Road, Curepe killed during home invasion
January 27—31-year-old Naiee Singh, a Loan Officer at Venture Credit Union shot to death by a man she knew
January 27—Jamal White shot dead in La Horquetta
January 27—23-year-old Roger Khan shot and killed as he slept in his Ecclesville, Rio Claro home.
January 28—22-year-old Isaiah Cox of Flamingo Boulevard, Maloney shot dead
January 28—41-year-old Jason Calliste gunned down in front of his home at Cedar Grove Road, Rambert Village.
