Black Immigrant Daily News

A man who got into the grounds of Windsor Castle armed with a crossbow told police he wanted to “kill the queen,” prosecutors said during a court hearing Wednesday.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 20, is charged under the Treason Act with intending to “injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, or to alarm her Majesty.” He has also been charged with threats to kill and possession of an offensive weapon.

Chail was arrested at the royal residence west of London on Christmas Day 2021 when the queen was staying there.

Prosecutors allege the former supermarket worker from Southampton in southern England was wearing a hood and a mask and carrying a loaded crossbow with the safety catch off.

They say he told a police officer “I am here to kill the Queen,” before he was handcuffed and arrested.

Prosecutor Kathryn Selby said the Supersonic X-Bow weapon allegedly carried by Chail had the potential to cause “serious or fatal injuries.”

Prosecution lawyers maintain Chail wanted revenge on the British establishment for its treatment of Indians and sent a video to about 20 people claiming he was going to assassinate the queen.

To get close to the royal family, he had tried to join the British Army and the Ministry of Defense Police, prosecutors allege.

Chail appeared remotely for Wednesday’s hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court from Broadmoor, a high-security psychiatric hospital.

He was not asked to enter a plea, and was ordered detained until his next court appearance on September 14.

The allegations against him are not being treated as a “terrorism offense,” Selby said.

Charges under the Treason Act of 1842 are rare. In 1981, Marcus Sarjeant was charged under the act after firing blank shots at the queen as she rode on horseback in the Trooping the Color parade in London. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.

The last person to be convicted under the separate and more serious Treason Act of 1351 was William Joyce, a World War II Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw-Haw. He was hanged for high treason in 1946.

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Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon. – Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon said the wood and wood-product manufacturing apprenticeship programme launched on Tuesday will breathe new life into a dying industry.

She was speaking at the Ministry of Trade at Nicholas Towers, Port of Spain.

“We consider this to be a dying sector,” Gopee-Scoon said. “We want to revive it because of the potential to supply hotels, restaurants, etc. with furniture, but also to export to neighbouring communities where there are a number of hotels and so on. So I think that the approach is a good one.”

She added that the industry would also be useful in other fields such as ship repair.

Gopee-Scoon explained that, according to Central Statistical Office statistics, the wood and wood products subsector contributed about 0.02 per cent to GDP in 2020, and exports were estimated at about $24 million.

The industry employs about 4,000 people, with 14 companies registered with the TTMA.

TTMA president Tricia Coosal said the non-energy manufacturing sector, of which the wood and wood products industry is a subsector, is the third largest contributor to TT’s GDP. The sector employs 52,000 people overall.

MIC Institute of Technology chairman Clement Imbert said that before the launch of the programme, interest in the industry was limited because of a lack of demand. He said with government incentive and support, the wood and wood product industry will get a boost in human capital.

“There are not very many (students), because a lot of products, they now come down in what you call the CKD form. You buy a piece of furniture, you have to screw it up together. So we had (fewer) than 20 students who enrolled in this programme, but with the incentive we have now to bring them up to the modern use of technology, we expect to get a very good response,” Imbert said.

The programme which will be overseen by the MIC Institute of Technology and developed by the ministry, will enrol 50 students in a two-year, three-phase programme. The first phase, in the first nine months, will teach technical courses such as design, production and reading of workshop drawings, and practical courses such as life skills and maths.

The second phase, six months long, will include furniture restoration, entrepreneurship and innovation in woodworking.

The third phase, of nine months, will require students to specialise in furniture production, “antique” furniture production, cabinet-making or upholstering.

Trainees will be required to be over 17 and have completed the building construction level 1 or level 2 programme in either HYPE or MUST.

They should also have equivalent-level certification at another training institution such as NESC or YTEPP.

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In this undated photo, the Harbour Master is docked at Scotland Bay as a crew of volunteers disemback to clean up the area for International Coastal Cleanup Day.

Four Trinidadian crew members of the Harbour Master have been fined approximately $14,000 (EC$5,500) each after pleading guilty to causing grievous harm to Anderson Peters and harm to Kiddon Peters. The charges are to be paid immediately or they will face prison sentences.

Peters, world champion javelin thrower and a sporting icon in Grenada, was thrown overboard last week from the Harbour Master, a party boat owned by Trinidadian businessman Adrian Scoon, the son of Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon.

The men, John Alexander, 55, a deckhand from Arima; Mikhail John, 35, a sailor from San Juan; captain Noel Cooper, 42; and Sheon Jack, 28, a sailor from Cocorite, pleaded guilty in the St George’s Magistrate Court.

The Now Grenada website reported that each man was fined $8,792.53 (EC$3,500) on the charge of causing grievous harm,with a one-year prison sentence if found in default.

They were also each fined $5,024.30 (EC$2,000) on the charge of causing harm, with a six-month prison sentence if found in default.

They will remain in custody until the fines are paid.

Lance Wiggins, 45, a sailor from Cocorite, was charged with the same offences but pleaded not guilty and was allowed to leave the court. Another man, policeman Abiola Benjamin, 40, of Maraval, was also initially arrested and charged but the charges against him were dropped before he went to court.

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A woman holds the hand of a school child as they made their way through a crowded High Street San Fernando. – File photo/Marvin Hamilton

Vaccination against covid19 among school-aged children remains low, although the reopening of schools is just weeks away.

At the Ministry of Health’s weekly covid19 media briefing on Wednesday, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram urged parents and the wider population to be vaccinated.

He said, “When we look at the vaccination figures across the board, we have not seen any increase in vaccination uptake. It has remained extremely low. Even within that five-11 age group, we see that it has been very, very slow in terms of the number of people coming forward to vaccinate their children.”

Parasram said with schools coming back on stream there were still vaccines available for that age group, and parents should take the opportunity to vaccinate their children as it gives them extra protection against severe disease.

Schools re-open on September 5.

Trinidad and Tobago’s vaccination rate stands at 51.1 per cent. There are 715, 973 fully vaccinated people and 684, 027 have had only one dose or no doses.

The number of people who have received boosters stands at 167, 786, he said.

There were 221 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, with one death, he added.

Total active cases now stand at 6,988, of whom 228 are in hospital.

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Saint Lucia has urged a return to peace and stability in the Taiwan straits.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation, and Diaspora Affairs issued a brief statement on the issue.

“Saint Lucia always firmly adheres to the principles that govern international law and order. Saint Lucia, therefore, supports the right of the people of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to self-determination and calls for the return of peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits,” the statement said.

It came against the backdrop of rising tensions between mainland China and Taiwan.

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China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has carried out military exercises around the island this month.

Beijing is furious over a recent visit to Taipei by United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Five US lawmakers also visited Taiwan on Sunday and Monday.

But China has declared that Taiwan has no right to conduct foreign relations.

Angered over the Pelosi visit, Beijing launched ballistic missiles and deployed multiple aircraft and warships in recent days to simulate sea and air attacks.

And the Chinese military said it conducted combat alert patrols and military drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan on Monday, a day after the arrival of the US congressional delegation to Taipei.

The military maneuvers have sparked concern that China could invade Taiwan.

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