Double murder pushes toll to 7 in 6 days

A crime scene investigator. - File photo

Trinidad and Tobago recorded a second double murder in three days, pushing the murder toll to seven in six days, a worrying sign considering the almost halving of the murder toll in 2025.

Around 8 pm on January 6, three men were shot near the community centre in Belle Vue, Long Circular Rd, St James.

Residents reported hearing gunshots and upon investigating found three men lying on the ground bleeding from gunshot wounds.

One man died at the scene and the other two were taken to the St James Medical Complex where one died. The other victim remains warded in critical condition.

The dead men have been identified as 24-year-old Jair Gilkes and 21-year-old Miguel Joseph.

Newsday spoke with Joseph’s family at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on January 6, after they identified his body.

Describing him as a loving, hard-working person, relatives say they remain in shock and suggested he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Joseph’s mother Simone Joseph said he left home hours earlier to visit his girlfriend and was walking back home when the shooting occurred.

She said Joseph, who works as an AC technician at the Port of Spain General Hospital, had a day off from work and decided to spend it with friends and family.

“He decided to go and check his girlfriend. She lives very close to the community centre where everything happened.”

“The last conversation I had with him, I called him and asked him where he is and he said he by his girlfriend. That was the last time I heard anything from him.”

His girlfriend stood nearby as his mother spoke, with tears streaming down her face.

She said the family doesn’t know the other victim, why Joseph was in his company, or why they were shot.

“I don’t really know what happened,” she added while wiping away tears.

Acknowledging she was the last person that the family knows who saw him alive, his girlfriend quietly said, “He left and said he was heading home.”

Asked to describe what she heard, the girlfriend broke down.

Joseph’s mother gave her version of the events instead.

She said she heard the volley of gunshots as well but never imagined that her son was a victim.

“I was home and I heard all the bullets buss, because that happened in Belle Vue and I’m in Dibe so it’s not far.

“My sisters and everybody else live close by and they start to bawl and were shouting out my name. They said, ‘Simone, Simone! Miguel just get shoot!’”

She arrived in time to see her son clinging to life and saw him in his last moments.

“When we reach there, he had life still and was still breathing, but they took him to hospital and he was pronounced dead on arrival.”

With TT having recorded seven murders already, Joseph’s mother’s shoulders dropped as she lamented the crime rate in TT and called for divine intervention.

“There is no difference between crime under the last government and this government. It’s the same thing. I believe the only person who can stop crime is God. I don’t believe no man could stop crime.”

She added she does not ever believe the legal system will give her the justice she craves for her son

“I expecting justice but I know I will never see it. I will get it from God, but I won’t get it from any man.”

With Joseph’s twin brother at her side, Simone Joseph recalled the type of person her son was.

“He was real joyous, happy and everybody loved him.”

Noting the tight bond they shared, Joseph’s identical twin added, “I’m not dealing with the situation well at all, but I’m trying.”

His mother held his hand and shook her head.

“We all are…,” she said, as her voice trailed off with grief plainly showing on her face.