TikToker Alianna Samaroo pleads guilty to threatening PM

News Jada Loutoo 13 Hrs Ago

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. - File Photo by Faith Ayoung

AN Arouca woman who appeared in a TikTok video calling on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to kill Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar pleaded guilty before a Chaguanas magistrate and will be sentenced on December 18.

Alianna Samaroo, 30, of Laurel Hill Extension, Five Rivers, entered the plea on December 3, when she appeared before Magistrate Marissa Gomez.

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