When calypsonian Brother Valentino sang “Trinidad is nice, Trinidad is a Paradise,” he described a carefree living enjoyed by citizens. But mourners bidding farewell to murdered businesswoman Denise Martin at her South Oropouche home yesterday were told that Trinidad was now the killing fields.
The anguish felt by friends and family was summed up in a teary goodbye from Martin’s boyfriend, Shamshudeen Mohammed, who leaned over her casket to give her a final kiss. Martin’s six-year-old daughter also said goodbye with a kiss.
On Wednesday, Martin, 28, was with Mohammed at his Fyzabad home when gunmen walked into their yard. Martin was shot in her head while Mohammed was wounded in the leg. They were both taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where Martin died on Thursday.
With this year’s murder toll already at 300, Pastor Winston Mahabir said the population could not keep track of the violence being inflicted by criminals. Mahabir chastised the police, saying their role was not only to arrest criminals, but to prevent crime.
And while the Government forks out billions of dollars annually for national security strategies, he said the only way to combat crime was to change the people’s thoughts.
“The very twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago that was touted as a paradise has now become the killing fields where the population can’t keep track of the violent crime of murder, much less for ‘petty crimes’...
“We look at crime and we throw our hands up and begin to complain about crime. Our population is fed up about crime. But I want to say that to combat crime, it is not to deal with the actions of crime, but rather to deal with the thought that provokes the actions,” Mahabir said.