Shane Superville
Senior Reporter
shane.superville@guardian.co.tt
Officers of the Eastern Division were kept busy for most of Friday night into yesterday morning after two separate incidents, including the murder of a 36-year-old Valencia man, were reported.
Police said a neighbour of Dominic Callender, alias “Saskie”, was at his Sapphire Drive, KP Lands, home at around 11.15 pm when they heard gunshots. The neighbour went outside shortly after and found Callender’s body on the ground outside his white Hyundai H100 truck.
They called the police, and officers of the Valencia Police Post visited the scene and took Callender to the hospital, where he was declared dead at 11.30 pm. Officers of the Special Evidence Recovery Unit (SERU) were also called in and found 17 spent 5.56 shells and four spent 9 mm shells.
Callender’s van was also towed to the SERU compound in Cumuto for further forensic analysis. Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II are continuing inquiries.
Hours earlier, around 9. 10 pm, two women and a man who were walking towards a shop on Robinson Road, Damarie Hill, Guaico, were shot. They were rushed to the hospital, where they were warded up to late yesterday.
One day earlier, on Thursday night, gunmen shot at a man as he drove through a forested portion of the Tabaquite Road in Rio Claro. Police said the man was driving his silver Nissan B14 around 11.45 pm when he noticed three men standing at the side of the road.
Two of the men had guns, while the third held a flashlight and called on him to stop. As the man drove past, he heard gunshots and felt a burning sensation on his right hand, eventually stopping when he got away from the attackers. Rio Claro police and officers of the Mayaro CID visited the area and took the wounded man to the hospital, where he was treated.
Police found six spent shells of 5.56 ammunition, three spent shells of .40 ammunition, and three live rounds of ammunition at the scene. Sources said while investigations were ongoing, the violence may be reprisals to the shooting of a man in the Eastern Division last week, whom police suspect is an underworld figure.
The Eastern Division extends from Matelot in the north to Rio Claro in the south, covering the entire east coast of Trinidad. It was traditionally considered to be one of the safest divisions of all ten police divisions in T&T; however, senior police sources said that the growth of the population due to an increase in the number of squatting settlements has attracted criminals from different parts of the country.
“The demographics of the Eastern Division are changing, and there’s a serious need to re-evaluate the capabilities through manpower and the availability of police vehicles. “There are squatting areas that have doubled in size in Valencia, and there are criminals who come from all over to hideout.”
The officer said that as some settlements were bordered by the forest, it was ideal for the activities of criminals who used dirt tracks through different areas. “These are very large areas; look at places like Tattoo Trace in Valencia, which literally continues into the forest where anything can be going on.”
Toco/Grande MP confident police will maintain law and order
Contacted for comment, Toco/Sangre Grande MP Roger Monroe offered condolences to the family of Callender and wished the victims of the Damarie Hill shooting a quick recovery.
He described the latest incidents of violence as unfortunate but was confident the police would continue to work towards maintaining law and order. Monroe also called on criminals to turn away from such lifestyles.
“I want to urge people who find themselves within the vicinity of crime and criminality to refrain from that, especially to maintain peace in the eastern communities.
“I also want to remind people to use their time in a more meaningful, productive way and to remind them that crime has very limited endings.”