Bond for Arouca TikTok user who threatened PM

PLACED ON A BOND: TikTok user Alianna Samaroo who was placed on a bond after she pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening the prime minister. -

AN Arouca woman who appeared in a TikTok video calling on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to kill Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and pleaded guilty before a Chaguanas magistrate was put on a $20,000 bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three years.

When she completes the bond, no conviction would be recorded against her.

If she breaches the bond, she would be brought before the court for sentencing.

Arianna Samaroo, 30, of Laurel Hill Extension, Five Rivers, entered the plea on December 3, when she appeared before Magistrate Marissa Gomez. She was sentenced on December 18.

Gomez had accepted Samaroo’s guilty plea to a charge under the Emergency Powers Regulations 2025.

Samaroo also issued an apology to the Prime Minister and the court, saying she was “deeply sorry” for the video she posted on social media.

“I admit that what I said was wrong. I did not think about how serious those words were before I spoke.”

She said she never meant to threaten anyone or cause harm.

“I was not thinking clearly, and I now realise that my words could have frightened people and caused serious concern. I take full responsibility for what I said.”

She also apologised to Persad-Bissessar.

“I feel ashamed that my actions brought attention to me in this way, and I regret the stress and fear my words may have caused.

“I do not support violence in any form. This experience has taught me a hard lesson about being careful with my words, especially online.”I am willing to learn, to change…I am taking responsibility and trying to do better.”

Police said that on October 30 at Phyllis Lane Extension, Chaguanas, Samaroo posted a TikTok video under the username “alianna265” in which she urged Maduro to kill Persad-Bissessar and members of the Cabinet.

Samaroo, a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 11, was granted $50,000 own bail. She had been detained for seven days before being charged by WPC Erica Haddaway-Ramsey of the Special Branch. She was arrested at an apartment in Chaguanas and was represented by attorneys Roshni Balkaran and Shiva Boodoo.

Her mother, Elizabeth Vasquez-Rosales, issued a public appeal for forgiveness, saying she hoped the arrest taught her daughter not to disrespect the PM or Parliament.

CoP Allister Guevarro warned that social-media users who issue threats or attempt to destabilise the country will face prosecution. In a November 25 media release, he said the Cyber and Social Media Unit of the TT Police Service is monitoring online activity and gathering evidence.

Guevarro’s statement followed Opposition Senator Dr Amery Browne’s report that a man threatened to shoot him and his family in a Facebook post. The man has since been charged with three counts of threatening to kill the senator and four counts of misusing a cellular phone.

Police also arrested a Diego Martin woman on November 12 under a Preventive Detention Order for allegedly inciting violence against Persad-Bissessar in a separate social media post.

Guevarro stressed that claims of “freedom of speech” will not protect offenders. “Freedom of expression is a right,” he said, “but that freedom ends where criminal conduct begins.”