myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

It is with great dismay that I am posting this type of message after having not been active on the forums for quite some time. On Saturday afternoon a brutal cutlass attack on an elderly British couple resulted in their hospitalization in Trinidad.
While I will not go into details of the incident the initial report can be found here:

http://newsday.co.tt/news/0,104858.html

As a Trinidadian national I am ashamed and saddened at this recent incident especially since no one has been apprehended neither were there any witnesses willing to come forward.

I do not know what else to say about this incident save for a total boycott of the island by tourists which may hopefully cause the authorities to wake up and put measures in place to prevent and deter violent crime in both Trinidad & Tobago.

I wish the couple a quick and speedy recovery.

what else is there to say? nothing... just: wake up authorities and get the island safe all over! can't be that hard one imagines, since all incidents in the past have happened around the low lands...
all the best for the recovering couple!
speechless
steph&alibaba

just heard on the news that they caught one of the guys....! more of this please and less bad news anyway!

Let's hope so. Would be great if it also turned out to be same people as last time too - but I think that's way too much to hope for. Let's hope the Police actually get enough evidence to catch / convict.

L.

I've kept quite because I've done nothing but write/answer emails and telephone calls since I heard about this first thing Sunday morning and frankly am just too disgusted to voice my thoughts and feelings publicly.

I wish I could share your confidence about someone being caught. They've just rounded up some sucker who will be thrown in the cells for a few days and then quietly released, hoping that nobody notices.

This is very worrying - and part of a terrible trend on Caribbean Islands. We were in St Lucia a few weeks back and witnessed the immediate aftermath of a machete attack on a woman. She was in a very bad way.

We are about to make another trip to the islands, and having second thoughts! Our determination to 'keep coming back' is being tested. It seems the T&T police inspire little confidence.
Wyn

In T&T, the police is part of the problem. Witnesses don't want to come out, because they don't want to
die the death of a heroe being a state witness.
I wish one day a potential victim would pack out the old artillerie and blow them suckers away, when they come for him with their blades... that is the only language they understand.
Trust me... THAT would solve the problem for a LONG time.

I am not surprised by the deafening silence for a while by contributors to the forum on this incident. Why? We have said it all before. If our Prime Minister’s only response to the murder of a 10 year old in Laventille is that “ there is more in the mortar than the pestle (local for I know the real story), what do we expect from some of the less educated. That statement and the term “ gang related killing” being used over and over by those charge with responsibility to protect us, suggest that a certain value has been placed on human life in our country. The only reason why the Minister of health and the Minister of Tourism are more involved in this matter than the Minister of National Security is because the only concern is damage control. Remember all that was said after the murder of the couple in Bon Accord followed by the slitting of the German lady’s throat in the same vicinity? What has changed?
Money could be found to buy 200 cars for the recent summit of the Americas. Seven million was found to engage in make work projects before the last THA elections while police in Grange are living and working among rats in 2009.
Nothing but the lack of political will stands in the way of Tobago having a police service equipped with adequate cruisers, motor bike officers patrolling the highways, foot and bicycle patrols near beaches and targeted communities, a well equipped and staffed command centre with an emergency number and the required back up services. Until those with criminal intent see that the sight of police officers on the road and on the beat become a regular feature in this land nothing will change I’m afraid.

I am guilty m'lud ... I have sat back too and read this and just taken it all in ... perhaps I am still not yet clear enough in my mind to make a constructive reaction to this awful incident so please accept my advance apologies for my reaction.

Whether I have read Sky News, T&T News or absorbed the comments posted here or in response to the newspapers ... it's down to the T&T Police in a screamingly loud way ... it just seems that after such incidents they go arrest a few 'usual suspects' and let them go when there is no evidence to back it up.

Firstly ... this kind of incident can happen anywhere in the world ... Tobago will never be exempt.

Secondly ... tourism in Tobago is going to collapse if these incidents are not seen to be dealt with and seen to be taking effect by the THA ... quickly ... this point is very important.

Thirdly ... Tour operators, whether you run a Resort or an establishment, you are a Trip Operator, you own a Restaurant, let Sunbeds or you are just a casual dude that depends on the business that visitors can bring ... get your act together and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ... it's your livelihood and Tobago is small enough to sort this rubbish out.

I love Tobago ... I am a die-hard supporter and I am sick of having egg on my face when I try telling my friends and associates that it is the place to be ... ... it's your problem Tobago ... SORT IT OUT.

Please.

Regards

What a sickening brutal attack on two people who by press reports loved Tobago having made frequent visits,
People who know I visit the island are commenting on it and saying how they wouldn't go there if this sort of thing happens. How does one reply? It will affect tourism especially if there is a possibility the FO publish a warning to avoid the island if attacks are repeated. The T & T House of Assembly must act and act fast with law enforcement otherwise Tobago will be a no go area for tourism.

I too have taken a while to get my head around this terrible incident - friends in Tobago mailed me on Sunday. Since it hit the UK media family and friends have been contacting me urging us to cancel our trips in October and February. I'm sure this response has been experienced by all of us who love the island.

I totally agree with everything Paul has said. It is absolutely essential the powers that be are seen to act - and act quickly. Our friends on the island have little hope of this happening which in itself is so sad.

The idea of our February trip being our last is not a pleasant thought but if the pervading attitude of inaction continues we will be looking elsewhere for a little piece of paradise.

Hi
This attack was highlighted on the main BBC Television News last night Tuesday 4th August so I would think it will hit Tobago tourism pretty badly , asfar as the British people are concerned that is.
All very sad for the people of Tobago
Geoff

We are on the island at the moment and can only express our sadness about the latest attack on a British couple and the current security situation. Our thoughts are with the couple who were attacked and hopefully they will make a full recovery.

I have expressed my views and local information to Steve by e-mail and I know he will update us all with reliable information about the island through the website when appropriate.

The island is very quiet, very few tourists and with the new FO advice the future is looking bleak for local businesses dependent on tourism. Some hotels are almost empty.

It is a case of a watchful waiting to see if the politicians are really going to tackle a serious issue with action and not just words.

Regards,

Bob.

Unfortunately, all your appeals to THA and other authorities are likely to be unanswered.
We all hope and hope is the last thing to die, but please refer to my contribution to the thread
"plot to kill tourism" of May 6th 2009. I allow myself to "copy and paste":

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Folks,

i vaguely remember a statistics i heard back then in 1996 when i first came to the island.
It said something like only 30% of the population of Tobago work in a normal job. Out of these 30%, approx. 70%
have jobs in the government sector. The small rest of it, approx. 4,500 people, work in the private sector which of course is only partly tourism as such.
I don't think much of that has changed over the years.

Even though there may be most of the families with somebody working in the tourism industry, the majority of funds
for Tobago comes from Trinidad out of the "oil and gas money". Some Tobagonians may not like "Trinis" and may show
that openly, but they have absolutely no clue how they would survive without the permanent cashflow coming from
Trinidad, after agriculture was basically abandoned in the 1960s and 70s.
Some of them may not like tourism and they give a darn about what is going on there AND they may not like Trinis and Trinidad. But they still live reasonably well and consume what the central government gives them.
Right now, and since years, the ruling party in both the central government and in the Tobago House of Assembly is the same. That makes it very easy and people tend to forget how it could be if the political constellation was different.

Knowing those circumstances it is easy to understand why you will find a certain percentage of people in Tobago being averse to tourism for different reasons. I don't want to believe though, and here i definately agree with Steve, that
there is any organized plot against tourism in Tobago. (I may ask the question if there is anything organized in Tobago )

Tobago would not fall into poverty with a reduced amount of tourism, the government in Trinidad will pay anyway. In this comfortable financial cushion, some Tobagonians, including some in important positions, may not be inclined to do much to make Tobago more beautiful, safer and more attractive for tourists. Unfortunately.

And: Tobago will never be another Barbados. Fortunately !

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This is, once more, what we have to face and understand when we are appealing for changes and getting frustrated
of not seeing any such changes happening on the island we all love.
And i second John Martyr's contribution from the bottom of my heart.

One thing more to consider, something I heard from different locals.

They say, "if I go to the police to tell them something about a crime, about sombody specific, the police often call them first and therefore they don't find them, but I get troubles from them because I did tell the police!"

I've heard that far too many times from different locals.

Wow...I have not been on the board in a while and I did not read this news in the U.S. I am sad beyond belief. Crime is one thing, but such brutality from one human being to another is heart-breaking. See, it is not crime per se that will necessarily divert tourism. But when crime is so personal and so brutal that is another thing. Because folks can't keep thinking that this could be them, or someone they know. It definitely makes me think twice, and I love Tobago and its people. And not because I'm afraid I'll be a victim...more because I don't want to go to a place where it looks like foreigners are being targeted so brutally. What hate these people must have in their hearts to hurt someone like this. And the posts I read from people who live in Tobago about the inadequacy of their own police force makes me think it is only going to get worse. I don't want to go to Tobago if the only way I can be safe is to be cloistered in a tourist area surrounded by armed guards, either, so that is not the answer.

So sad. It seems that things are getting worse and more violent. I can understand robbing, but why must such vicious violence accompany it? I had started to believe that what happened to me (violent crime in Tobago in May 2008) was an anomaly, just some really bad luck, but it seems that sadly, I am wrong and that things are getting more vicious and brutal against visitors. Too bad. Beautiful island, beautiful people.

Yet another tragic crime commited in Tobago, i have my own opinion about this and i feel it's the same people who killed the Swedes last year and i feel its a racial thing and a revenge of some kind. Neither crime included robbery, infact expensive jewellry and cash was left untouched, both sets of victims were elderly white people (woman in late fifties, man in mid sixties) and both were chopped around the face and head in the same way, niether were tourists, but they were both semi-resident and spent half the year living here, and both had recently returned to tobago after being away. I think that whoever did this has a racist thing against white people who've bought land here and it's their sick twisted way of getting revenge, or scarring other white foreigners to sell up and leave. Whoever it is they are not interested in robbery but just seem to wish to violently attack older white people. And not tourists. I heard today that someone has been arrested, i hope it's the perpetrator and they will bring back hanging especially for these people. But people have to question the leadership of Tobago. This crime tap started dripping four years ago, and a lot of people in the hoteliers and tourist industry asked them to fix the problem, then it started to trickle and then leak, but still nothing was done and a lot of people including scotland yard told them how to fix it, but they did nothing, so now it's gone and bust they dont know what to do.

Put police booths on the beaches
recruit police officers from trinidad, not tobago where they have family connections with the criminals
introduce a zero tollerance policy for crimes against visitors wether foreign or from trinidad
bring back the task force patrols
increase the private security patrols around residential areas and tourist villas

Yes, I believe the police have been linking the attack on the Greene's with the murder of the Swedish couple last year. There are a lot of similarities.

Yesterday the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian was reporting...

Police have launched a massive search for two Trinidadian men in connection with the attack on British couple, Peter Greene, 65, and his wife Murium, 59, at their Tobago home last weekend. Investigating officers have described one of the men as a “psychopathic serial killer,” who they believe may have been responsible for similar killings and attacks in Tobago as well as Trinidad. He has been referred to as “public enemy number one,” while his accomplice has been described as a “secondary suspect.”

Today they are saying...

Police have made a major breakthrough in the brutal attack on a British couple, after a 25-year-old Tobago man allegedly confessed to officers that he was involved in the incident. Late last evening, the suspect was charged with attempting to murder Peter Greene, 65, and his wife Murium, 59, at their Tobago home last weekend. A release from the Police Service yesterday confirmed that the suspect of Argyle, Tobago, was charged with the offences. He is expected to appear before a Scarborough magistrate on Monday. A file on the investigation was faxed to the office of acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown-Antoine from Tobago yesterday. After reviewing the evidence, Brown-Antoine gave instructions for the suspect to be charged with attempted murder.

The man, police sources said, had been in police custody since Monday but only decided to “come clean” on his alleged involvement when interviewed by three homicide detectives who flew in from Trinidad to handle the case. He, however, refused to speak with officers from the Tobago Division and other law enforcement agencies in Tobago who had initially started the probe. Police were only able to crack the case when acting Deputy Police Commissioner Gilbert Reyes instructed that acting ASP Johnny Abraham, Insp Stanley Ramdeen and PC Sunil Ramoutar of the Region II Homicide Bureau of Investigations take over the case. On Wednesday, the officers arrived in Tobago and started their inquiries. They visited the crime scene and reviewed statements taken from neighbours and other police officers.
On Thursday night, the officers were able to secure an alleged confession statement for the suspect.

I am not going to make detailed comment on either report because, quite frankly, I believe very little that I believe in the local press and I am still so angry and disgusted that I am likely to say something I will regret.

It's positive Steve ... but that's about it.

I never read anything about DNA in these reports ... is it used? ... does Tobago Law recognise it? ... Crimes of this nature surely have DNA all over them ... does anyone know?

Meanwhile my thoughts are with the victims.

Regards