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Homicide investigators were very busy over the past 24 hours investigating the murders of eight people throughout the North and Central districts. Up to press time, the murder toll for the year thus far reached 187

The most recent murder occurred shortly after 6 pm when the brother-in-law of recently slain car dealer Sheron Sukhdeo was gunned down in Chaguanas.

Police said Philip Basant was murdered in the same spot along the Caroni Savannah Road where Sukhdeo was also killed just over one month ago. Basant had reportedly just walked out of his home and was gunned down by occupants in a vehicle that pulled up to him.

Basant is the younger brother of Sukhdeo’s widow, Rachael. Up to press time, Basant’s body was still at the scene and police were investing.

Colleagues of the two police officers who were involved in a shootout on Wednesday night at Grand Bazaar, Valsayn, yesterday shared mixed emotions over the incident. However, their main emotion was that of regret for not doing more to help one of the officers, who confessed to his seniors what he was going through emotionally and mentally since the start of this year.

The woman police constable who was rescued by security guards at Grand Bazaar last Wednesday when two of her colleagues opened fire on each other, was not interviewed, up to yesterday.

Not only has the woman not been interviewed, but neither has the corporal who was shot three times in the shooting and is now on sick leave. Police sources could not say whether or not the sergeant involved in the shooting was quizzed by investigators. The constable was with the corporal at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant around 9.35 pm when they were confronted by a Central Division sergeant, who made allegations against the corporal. The constable, who was caught in the middle of the row, was rescued by estate constables from Telecom Security, who took her to safety before the sergeant fired the first shot at the corporal and an all-out gun battle ensued.

A total of 28 spent shells was found following the shooting along with eight live rounds. The men were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex and their guns handed over to investigators. The two men were once friends and fell out after an affair with one of the men’s wives. Last August the two had a war of words in the Chaguanas area and one allegedly threatened to shoot the other. The rift culminated on Wednesday. While at hospital, one of the officers apologised to the other.

Supt Sheldon David of the Northern Division and the Professional Standards Bureau, are probing the shootout on the order of acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams.

Acting Attorney General Stuart Young has accused some lawyers of facilitating gang members and their illegal activities as he called on the police to act expeditiously to bring these lawyers before the courts in handcuffs.

Young made the statement yesterday in Parliament while going through the list of amendments made in the Senate on the Anti-Gang Bill.

As a member of the bar for the past 20 years, Young said he was “saddened to learn” that there are currently people at the bar and who practice in our criminal courts as attorneys “have been facilitating gang members and gang activity.”

He said these attorneys have been participating in illegal communication with their clients “in running their empires.”

The mother of 18-year-old kidnap victim Darrell Cuffy has poured out her pain on Facebook, pleading to God that her son be returned safely home. Elizabeth Payne shared a notice by Crime Stoppers offering a $50,000 reward for Cuffy, asking anyone to please help in any way, that their reward will be more than money and it will also mean saving lives.

Cuffy was snatched by a group of men on the night of April 25 in Fairways, Maraval. According to police reports, about 8.50 p.m., Cuffy was driving his dark blue BMW in the community when he was intercepted by men in a CRV motor vehicle.