(Trinidad Express) Former President of the senate Timothy Hamel Smith and former PNM Government minister Karen Nunez Tishera jumped the railing to get onto the compound of the Southern Academy of Performing Arts to try to sit in the auditorium for the funeral service of the late Basdeo Panday.
Surrounded by traffic wardens, Hamel Smith parked his Porsche Cayenne on the Rienzi Kirton Highway.
Nunez-Tesheira had attempted to get the attention of Dr Amery Browne but he did not engage in conversation with her.
Nunez-Tesheira was the first to climb over the railing.
Wearing sneakers and a suit, Hamel Smith followed and also climbed over.
However, when they approached the doors of SAPA, they were turned away by the ushers.
They were directed to the public viewing and seating area under a white tent on the SAPA compound with screens where members of the public were seated.
Dr Kirk Meighoo was among those in the public sitting area.
Also there were former ministers Sadiq Baksh and Nizam Baksh.
Dr Browne told the Express that he was disappointed over the incident. He said he had worked closely with the Panday family up to this morning on the seating in the auditorium and was disappointed by the “grandstand” at state funeral.
Asked about the events leading up to the incident, Nunez-Tesheira told reporters “Mr Hamel-Smith did not get an invitation. He tried in various ways, did not get an invitation. So when we came, everyone was very kind to us, the guards and police.”
She said “My former colleague who is now the minister of foreign affairs, in my view, ignored me and said I grandstand. I would tell you, he ignored me, in a way I would never have done…”
She said Dr Amery Browne could have directed someone to help her.
She claimed Local Government Minister Faris Al Rawi also saw her and did not do anything.
“How could you treat a former colleague and a president of the senate in that manner?”
It was then, she said that the two were left with no choice but to jump the railing.
She said the treatment was a reflection of the government.
She called it vicious and vindictive.
