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Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith says the police is sparing no effort and is doing all that can possibly be done to peg back the recent spike in homicides experienced over the past 36 hours.

He said the homicide rate has spiked with eight homicides in the past 36-48 hours, after a 3-day period of not a single homicide being recorded in the country.

These incidents which are unrelated have occurred across various divisions and are engaging the attention of the TTPS.

A Laventille man is expected to appear before a Port of Spain Magistrate today, charged with cruelty to a then four-year-old child.

The alleged assault happened during the period August 20, 2016 to December 4, 2016.

Kerry Wilson, 41, was charged last Friday, after being arrested by officers of the Child Protection Unit-Port of Spain Division.

According to police, an infant girl was allegedly dealt blows about her body with a hand. The victim was also allegedly hit with a belt and belt buckle, which resulted in her sustaining a broken leg and a black and blue eye.

IS there is serial killer in Trinidad and Tobago targeting specific people?

This was the question asked by former national security minister Jack Warner yesterday following news of the murder of king of comedy, Raymond Choo Kong.

The Express had contacted Warner for a comment on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s remarks on Sunday.

Warner said: “I have no intention of dignifying the Prime Minister’s foolish statement with a response, however if I was the Prime Minister the murders taking place in this country would concern me more than me going to the US. I want to make a point as well that he continues to bury his head in the sand like an ostrich over the division in the PNM but reality will strike home very soon, I am sure,” he said.

Although the murder toll for 2019 is lower than last year’s figure, Criminologist Darius Figuera is concerned as he has noticed several alarming trends, including ‘mass shootings’.

The toll for 2019, up to press time yesterday, stood at 281.

The comparative for the same period was 302.

And while this represents an estimated six percent decrease in homicides, this figure does not impress the criminologist.

“As it stands right now, we are still looking at a murder toll which would be in the 500 category,” Figuera said.

Statistically, there have been 281 murders over 196 days, which gives a daily average of 1.44 homicides.

If this rate continues unabated, by the end of 2019 there can over 520 murders.

At the close of 2018, there were 516 recorded murders - the second highest annual total in this country’s history.

Figuera told The Express that while he did not expect the figure to cross 2018’s figure, he expected it to be close.

AFTER almost two years, police on Monday failed to prosecute A&V Drilling CEO Haniff Nazim Baksh and his son-in-law Billy Ramsundar for assaulting a media photographer and damaging a camera.

Monday was the day a magistrate had set for trial, but neither a single witness nor the two state attorneys assigned to prosecute turned up in court.

Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, asked presiding magistrate Margaret Alert to dismiss the cases for want of prosecution. Alert, noting the charges had been laid since 2017, but the file only sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions two weeks ago, said the criminal justice must not be made into a mockery.