(Trinidad Guardian) The families of five murdered fishermen are calling on the police to arrest and charge all of the people who were involved in the July 22 pirate attack off Carli Bay.
Their demand came even as four people appeared in court on Friday charged with various offences linked to the case.
Coast Guard and other fishermen are still searching for the bodies of two other missing fishermen.
In interviews on Friday, relatives of the murdered men told Guardian Media that while they wanted to attend the court hearing but they were afraid.
“We are actually upset because everyone knows one man can’t kill all seven of these guys, we are really lost for words,” one relative said.
She said one person couldn’t kill all the fishermen on their own, considering the circumstances of the case.
The relative of another victim said she was too afraid of the men seeing her face to attend the hearing.
“I wanted to see their faces, to see how they look knowing they get caught but I have a family to live for and I don’t know if they have other people who they will send for us now,” she said.
They are calling on Police Commissioner Gary Griffith to provide them with some level of police protection.
The sea attack has left the entire fishing community in crisis and prompted a clash between Opposition MP Ramona Ramdial and Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General Fitzgerald Hinds in Parliament.
Ramdial also led a protest outside of Parliament where the group called for more to be done to help the families of the murdered men.
She had called several times on National Security Minister Stuart Young to visit the community and meet with the families.
Although he never showed up, Young took to his social media on Monday to slam Ramdial saying she was using the tragedy as “a political grandstand.”
“I refuse to use the loss and trauma that victims of crime suffer as a political tool or moment of political opportunity.
As Minister of National Security, from the time I was alerted to the attack on the fishermen last week I was in contact with the relevant heads of security. I requested that we deploy air and sea assets to join the search for our missing citizens. And I have discussed this phenomenon that, unfortunately, is not new, with the heads of security,” Young wrote.
The fishermen were beaten and thrown overboard after a group of men attacked the crew of six pirogues in the dead of the night.
The group stole six engines and four of the vessels were stolen. Within 24 hours police recovered one of the stolen boats and six engines in Sea Lots. They managed to track the engines through GPS devices installed on two of the motors.
In a separate exercise, on July 25 police shot and killed Sea Lots gangster Akanni “Dole” Adams whom they said was linked to the pirate attack. Police claimed vessels stolen from the Carli Bay fishermen were used by a group of killers who killed Vaughn “Sandman” Mieres, his wife, and two of his henchmen that same day. The kill squad, of about eight people, escaped from Las Cuevas by boat.
Pirate attack off in Gulf of Paria
The attack on the Carli Bay fishermen has been described as one of the most barbaric acts of piracy and sparked cries from across the country for justice for the murdered men and their families.
The men had gone out on one of their nightly fishing expeditions in six different boats.
Nine of them were forced to jump out of their boats by gun-toting bandits, who also beat them severely.
To date, the bodies of Hemraj “Alex” Sooknanan, 18, Brandon “Curry” Kissoon, 21, Shiva “Aries” Ramdeo, 27, Anand Rampersad, 39, and Leslie De Boulet, were recovered in the waters off Point Fortin, Cedros, and La Brea.
Still unaccounted for are Justin Kissoon, 19, and Jason Baptiste, 30.
Rampersad, a father of three, was stabbed twice.
Two other fishermen, Robbie Jaggernauth and Brian Seemungal managed to swim until they were rescued by a passing boat.
Three other fishermen, who were not identified, were left in their boats although their engines were stolen.
When the news broke that there was a mass robbery at sea the next morning, Coast Guard, police and dozens of fishermen began a search that has been ongoing since then.
Rampersad’s body was found first, on July 24, floating about a mile and a half away from the Carli Bay fishing depot. Later that day, De Boulet’s body was found floating near the Labidco Port in La Brea.
On July 26, the bodies of Ramdeo and Brandon Kissoon were also found close to the Labidco Port.
On Monday, exactly one week after the attack, Sooknanan’s body surfaced in the Erin area.
President of the Carli Bay Fishing Association Imtiaz Khan echoed the calls of the families for more arrests to be made.
“We don’t really know how to feel right now, it is so very unfortunate that these people have lost their lives for the things they worked so hard for.”
Khan said the families were gathering for a candlelight vigil yesterday in honour of the deceased men.
He said the group will also be praying that the bodies of Justin Kissoon and Jason Baptiste are found as their families are still seeking closure.
Four charged for Carli Bay attack
In the Couva Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Kareem Stanisclaus, of Sea Lots, in Port-of-Spain faced five murder charges.
Stanisclaus, 27, of Production Drive, was also charged with the attempted murders of Robbie Jaggernauth and Brian Seemungal.
He appeared before Magistrate Christine Charles charged with the murders of Anand Rampersad, Leslie De Boulet, Brandon Kissoon, Hemraj Sooknanan and Shiva Ramdeo.
The victims were among 12 fishermen from the Orange Valley area who were beaten, robbed and forced to jump overboard their fishing vessels on July 22. Two fishermen, Justin Kissoon and Jason Baptiste are still missing.
He was jointly charged with another Sea Lots resident, Shaquille Roberts, Mya Bowrin and Loyola John with six charges of robbery with violence while armed with a gun and cutlasses.
Stanisclaus is not eligible for bail and Roberts, 25, was denied bail pending a trace of his criminal record.
Bowrin was granted $100,000 bail in court with her mother as surety while John appeared in court on Wednesday and was also granted bail.