The United Progressive Party (UPP) is demanding an investigation into a land swap deal between a private firm and the government owned National Housing Development & Urban Renewal Company Limited.

In the swap, Cove Head Development Limited reportedly exchanged property at Dredge Bay for 19 parcels of land at Friars Hill, which was formerly owned by the West Indies Oil Company (WIOC).

UPP Political Leader Harold Lovell contends the government got a bad deal because, in his opinion, the land at Friars Hill was undervalued, and given government plans to develop infrastructure in the area, he believes Cove Head Development Ltd would be able to sell the land at a significant profit.

The sole beneficial shareholder of Cove Head Development Limited is Hyacinth Harris, with whom Prime Minister Gaston Browne shares a son in his late twenties. Further, Austin Smith is a director of both Cove Head Development Limited and the National Housing Development & Urban Renewal Company Limited.

“I am asking for an investigation into the value down at Dredge Bay; the value and potential value at Friars Hill; who valued the land; who sold who; how did it all transpire, and what will the prime minister or prime minister’s son’s mother be making. Because I’m not fooled by that,” Lovell said.

Browne, however, has fiercely defended the deal as good value for the government housing company and distanced himself from his son’s mother.

“I had a child with her almost 28 years ago… We have not been in a relationship for over 15 years. “My son is an independent businessman who got his start from me several years ago,” Browne declared.

According to the prime minister, Cove Head Limited held several parcels of land and two buildings at Dredge Bay for over 15 years as part of its housing development project. He added that the company had constructed several homes at Dredge Bay 15 years ago.

More in today’s Daily Observer.

The government of Antigua & Barbuda has abandoned plans to construct the much-touted Falmouth to Old Road Highway, citing a fear of starting and not being able to finish the project.

On Friday, Minister of Works and Housing, Eustace “Teco” Lake told OBSERVER media: “I took that off the table a while back with my project coordinator. The cost of doing it is expensive … I don’t have the money or the time to develop it fully. I just want to be careful with what I’m doing because at the end of the day I’m spending the people of Antigua & Barbuda’s money and not my money.”

Lake added, “It should be pursued, but it’s a matter of when we pursue it.”

On Monday the government received a US $20 million British grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) which had long been earmarked for a road rehabilitation programme.

Earlier this month, Lake announced that the programme, originally envisioned to cover 49.2 miles of road network, would be scaled down to focus on repairs to Friars Hill Road and the expansion of Sir Georg Walter Highway (Airport Road) into a four-lane highway.

The minister said that land would have to be acquired to complete the four-lane highway. “Anything on your right hand side coming down [from the airport would have to be acquired].”

Lake argued that the acquisition “has to be on the right hand side” as opposed the left side which is the airport property.

He added, “It would be nice for [the owners] to give it to me nicely and the government pays them for it but if push comes to shove I need it; I don’t have a choice.”

His argument for the focus on Friars Hill Road and Airport Road was that commercial activity in those areas is projected to increase in the coming years.

According to the minister £13.9 million (US $17.2 million) of the US $20 million grant is in hand while the rest has already been put to use.

(More in today's Daily Observer)

Scores of foreign journalists accompanying Prince Henry of Wales on his tour of Antigua & Barbuda are expected to bring a major boost to the country’s international profile as a result.

From the moment the 32-year-old British royal stepped onto the tarmac at VC Bird International Airport yesterday afternoon, the frenzied motions of approximately 35 – 40 international media personnel became apparent.

Media Liaison Officer for Government House, Jacquie Browne told OBSERVER media that 17 foreign news groups were present for the Prince’s arrival, and just as many are likely to follow him around Antigua and over to Barbuda.

According to Browne, the British press, includes the Press Association (UK), The Express, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The Sun.

Present also were reporters from the Associated Press (AP), US Reuters, Thompson Reuters, the United States (US) based National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Vantage News, Hussain Gallery, Rex Shutter Shock, Channel 5, New Pix International, and Silver Hub Media.

Yesterday, Prince Henry, also known as Harry, attended a welcome reception hosted by the Governor General Sir Rodney Williams. Today, he will attend a Youth Sports Festival at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, a charities’ showcase at Government House and a reception hosted by Prime Minister Gaston Browne at Barnacle Point.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

The government is back peddling on its October announcement that it would buy out the Jolly Beach Resort.

The Cabinet now says it’s best option is to find an investor and not for the government to own it. 

Minister of Information Melford Nicholas was the one providing the update this morning at a post-Cabinet briefing.

“Ultimately if there’s another private sector partner that comes along, another investor, that has an interest in it, I don’t see that it is beyond the government to consider liquidating its interest in it to be able to serve some of the debt obligations it has as the result of the resolution of ABI,” Nicholas said, referring to the portion of ABI Bank left over after government’s deal with Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank to bail out ABI.

Government’s total equity in Jolly Beach holdings come from the resolution and from Jolly Beach debt in taxes and to government owned utility company APUA. It’s not been made clear what that all amounts to nor has the current market value of the struggling resort.

In October, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the government would “buy all the shares” in Jolly Beach and would place it in the hands of the National Asset Management Company, NAMCo, – an entity proposed as an umbrella company to manage government investments.

But now, Nicholas says NAMCo will only take on the existing equity in Jolly Beach,  while a buyer is being sought.

“The intention is that when NAMCO is fully operational – comes into being, equity will be transferred into the holdings of NAMCo, so NAMCO will hold the equity on behalf of the government, but it is not that we’re saying, as a matter of policy, that the government wants to buy and to own Jolly Beach,” Nicholas said. 

Additionally, It was made clear that there is yet no investor expressing interest in Jolly Beach, and Social Transformation Minister Samantha Marshall, who was also at the briefing, said that the government will only buy out the resort if it becomes absolutely necessary.

The resort is owned by the Jolly Beach Corporation which is owned by Antigua Overseas Bank which itself is in receivership.

Mellanson Harris and Marvin Joseph will be in their 60s by the time they have served 45 years of the life sentence imposed on them yesterday by High Court Justice Darshan Ramdhani.

At that time, the convicts who were on death row, will qualify for a review of their sentences in relation to the time being spent for the 1994 murders of US and UK visitors William and Kathleen Clever, Ian Cridland and Thomas Williams who were gunned down on the Computa Centre Challenger vessel moored just off Barbuda.

The judge asked the men to stand in the prisoner’s box, before declaring “Marvin Joseph … Mellanson Harris you are sentenced to life imprisonment. You shall serve a minimum of 45 years as representing the punitive element of this sentence. All time spent on remand or under detention shall be deducted from this period. On the expiry of this period, you shall be reviewed by a court in accordance with Section 3 (b) of the Offences against the Person Act for the possibility for early release.”

The men, who have been behind bars since 1994 were stoic, while relatives of the Clevers were in tears for most of the proceedings.

The judge noted, “This is perhaps one of the worst cases of public criminal violence … They were bound, gagged … they initially offered no resistance thinking that the men were going to rob them and then escape … This is a case where the seriousness of the offence is exceptionally high, and committed in a heinous manner.”

He also noted that although the quartet was helpless, they were murdered and it must have been a traumatic experience to listen to the attackers plan their death and then take them out execution style one at a time.

Harris and Joseph who were 21 and 20, respectively, at the time of the killings, were initially sentenced to death following their conviction in 1996. While they were incarcerated, they were measured for their coffins and they observed the preparation of the gallows while awaiting the imposition of the death penalty as the date drew near.

This was the mandatory sentence at the time, but years later, the Privy Council ruled it as unconstitutional, stating that each case should be treated on its own merit and the convict must be given an opportunity to mitigate and plead with the court prior to sentencing.

Although the Privy Council’s ruling was made more than a decade ago, the two convicts were only called up for resentencing in 2013.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

Prime Minister Gaston Browne is dismissing the British media reports that he embarrassed Prince Harry.

Browne says remarks he made about the British royal honeymooning in Antigua was exaggerated by the foreign press who accompanied harry on the trip. 

The party at Barnacle Point was attended by hundreds who were specially invited to celebrate the prince’s visit to Antigua.

By morning, British Media had taken a full swing at the Prime Minister’s statements, saying Prince Harry felt embarrassed and unamused.

OBSERVER media’s Rory Butler reports that Browne told the member of the Royal Family what happens in Antigua stays in Antigua.

Despite the much ill-conceived publicity that Antigua and Barbuda is receiving because of these articles, Prime minister Browne shrugged it off as a cultural misunderstanding.

Browne says the British media also took the reigning Miss Antigua and Barbuda, Leanda Norville’s comments out of context.

According to the Daily Mail UK, Norville said the prince was a gentleman and that she wants to be his princess. 

“Everyone at this party does. His girlfriend seems like a nice lady, but I would be a good girlfriend for him.”

Businessman Morrad Modle Ghonim, also known as Ayoushe, was this week convicted in a Los Angeles court for the 1992 killing of his 17-year-old ex-wife – a crime that was unsolved for almost two decades.

Ghonim, migrated from the US, remarried former Miss Dominica, Nadira Ghonim, and opened a beauty supply store here in 2011. He was convicted, on Monday, of hiring a hitman to murder his young wife, Victoria Ghonim, in a park.

Reports from news agencies in the US stated that jurors deliberated over four and a-half days before finding the 44 year old guilty.

The teen was shot on July 23, 1992, while sitting in a car with her husband and six-month old son in La Mirada Creek Park, CA.

The husband claimed the shooting was the result of an argument his wife had with nearby people, but the 42-year-old triggerman, Leon Martinez, reported he was hired and paid for the hit.

The murder remained cold until DNA linked Martinez to the crime in 2009. Ghonim and Martinez were both arrested in 2010, but the case against Ghonim was dropped due to a lack of evidence at that time.

The gunman was arrested in October 2010 and convicted in March of first degree murder.

More in today’s Daily Observer.

The soldier who was accused of breaking into Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s home in August while he and his family were overseas on vacation, in August, no longer has a charge to answer.

Xavier Baltimore, 22, walked free, yesterday, when the police dropped the charges against him.

The Defence Force officer was charged with break-in on August 23.

 Police Commissioner Wendel Robinson confirmed the case was withdrawn yesterday, on his advice, after the prime minister and his family indicated they had no interest in pursuing the matter in the court.

He told OBSERVER media, “I wrote to the Chief of Defence Staff that the virtual complainant does not wish to proceed criminally. I advised the Chief of Defence Staff that the Police Administration is available to provide a statement, evidence or witnesses for any internal administrative action the Defence Force may consider.”

Prime Minister Gaston Browne confirmed he did not wish to pursue the prosecution of the soldier, who hails from Golden Grove.

“The intent is not to turn him into a hardened criminal. If he did it, we all make mistakes as human beings, and I hope he will use this as a learning experience, assuming he was guilty. For us, we have no interest in incriminating him. We, however, expect the Defence Force to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary action, and hopefully he will stay on the straight and narrow path,” Browne said.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

Antigua Power Company (APC) will be providing the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) with electricity for at least 15 more years.

Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst said this was part of the settlement from an over $220 million suit the power supplier filed against the government.

“The suit was filed against the Baldwin Spencer administration, and we have had to defend it since coming into office in June
2014. So, one of the things we had to do is to make it affordable to the people of Antigua & Barbuda,” Hurst said.

He also said APC was owed an additional $40 million in unpaid electricity supplies.

The matter in question has been ongoing for approximately four years. 

APC demanded $228 million in damages, after the company successfully sued the government, following claims that a contract to supply the island with an additional 50.9 megawattsof electricity was breached.

More in today’s Daily Observer.

The government of Antigua & Barbuda has determined that the Antigua & Barbuda referendum, slated to be held some time next year, will not meet the same fate as the Grenada Constitutional Reform Bill

Grenadians Thursday voted overwhelmingly to reject the CCJ as their final appellate court to replace the London-based Privy Council.

They also discarded six other pieces of legislation that would have reformed the Constitution the island received when it attained political independence from Britain 42 years ago.

However, Head of the National Coordinating Committee, Dr Clarence Henry said it is difficult to tell whether Grenadians rejected the CCJ outright, because there was more than one clause attached to the Bill.

“The Bill also provided for the changing of the name of the Supreme Court in Grenada; it also sought to entrench a Code of Conduct in the Constitution to minimise corruption among public officials. It also made provision for public officials on taking office, to swear allegiance to Grenada and not to Her Majesty the Queen…the electors were not given a choice or the option to vote for the CCJ and not for the other clauses or vice versa. The elector was either required to vote for the Bill in its entirety or don’t vote for it at all,” Dr Henry said in a release.

The day following the devastating defeat, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he would not enter a referendum unless he is convinced his government would be victorious.

At a press brief following the loan signing for the port, on Friday, Browne said, “After we would have conducted a poll this year or later next year, and we do not have the majority, then the referendum will be put on the side.”

Browne said unless a poll indicates at least 70 percent are willing to make the change, then there will be no referendum, at least any time soon.

“So unlike the government of Grenada, who went into a referendum blind, we will not do so. We will be informed by science. And if the science says the people don’t want it, it will be postponed for another time,” Browne declared.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

LIAT pilots have blamed a region-wide flu outbreak and the Zika virus for crew-affected illnesses that the airline said is costing it millions in revenue and affecting thousands of passengers.

OBSERVER media was recently afforded the opportunity to peruse documents that showed just how the absence of pilots and cabin crew — due to the illness — has taken a toll on the carrier’s already stretched resources.

According to the documents, so far, for this month alone, roughly 175 flights have been cancelled due to pilots calling in sick.

“To put this into perspective, LIAT operated around 1,600 flights so the pilots’ sickness caused the cancellation of 11 per cent, causing around 6,500 passengers’ flights to be cancelled,” the document revealed.

“In addition these cancellations caused significant delays and disruptions to over 15,000 passengers,” it added.

According to LIAT, the average number of flight cancellations for most airlines is around one per cent. But as a result the LIAT data, over 1,000 passengers have had to stay overnight in hotels because of the cancellations in November after approximately 200 pilots called in sick.

“This equates to around 14 per cent sickness with the industry average being between three and five per cent,” the leaked LIAT document stated.

It also revealed the number of sick days reported by cabin crew stood at 83 so far this November. “This equates to around 11 per cent sickness with the industry average being four per cent.

In total, LIAT estimates that these disruptions caused by crew sickness cost over EC $1 million in the past few weeks.

Captain Carl Burke who heads the association of LIAT pilots – LIALPA — has denied that the pilots reporting sick was the result of some form of industrial action.

He said LIAT’s recently publicised sick leave policy has forced more pilots to obtain certified sick leave for their illnesses.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

A surface low pressure system near the Northeast Caribbean is forecast to potentially cause flooding across much of the Eastern Caribbean through Tuesday. Climatologist Dale Destin says Antigua and Barbuda is expected to see peak rainfall totals today – Monday.

The system could cause one to four inches of rainfall, with locally higher amounts, from the Dominican Republic to Trinidad and Tobago.

With this type of rainfall, Destin says, minor flooding is expected and moderate or worse flooding is possible. Hence, flash flood watches and warnings may be required for a number of areas over the next 12 to 36 hours.

The police are looking for a man in his 20s who allegedly stabbed to death his ex girlfriend shortly after 9 pm Monday.

The suspect’s name was not released though lawmen said they know who they are looking for.

The deceased is 22 year old Sherice Henry. A relative who was at the hospital where Henry was pronounced dead, said it is believed the young woman was kidnapped from a supermarket and taken to a Perry Bay house where she was beaten and later stabbed.

An Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team was summoned and she was rushed to hospital in a very critical condition, the relative reported.

More details will be provided as the information comes to hand.

Sherice Henry

The 20-year jail sentence imposed on 76-year-old murder convict, Umberto Schenato has left relatives of his victim — ex-wife Edda Schenato — angry to the point that one of them threatened him in open court.

Justice Darshan Ramdhani was still reading his decision when the incident occurred.

While it appeared the judge did not see the threat made and did not react, the police and court orderly officer immediately went to the man and escorted him outside.

No action was taken against him up to press time and he had not been detained. Throughout the hearing, the convicted  Schenato stared from the judge to the victim’s crying daughter, Jacquie Sartori, who was flanked by another female relative and the male relative who made the threat.

That relative lifted his hands to his own neck, nodded to Schenato and began motioning his hands from side to side. He did this twice before it caught the attention of the police.

He later told OBSERVER media he didn’t really mean harm, but was overcome with emotion after hearing the dreadful facts for the first time when the judge gave a summary of the evidence.

Judge Ramdhani said the killer will be eligible for early release after 14 years, but only if he is found to be properly rehabilitated and of good behaviour.

The three and a half years spent on remand are to be counted as part of the sentence imposed yesterday by the High Court.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

Blood-curdling screams for help shattered the silence of the Perry Bay community Monday night as 22-year-old Shariece Henry was allegedly hacked to death by her former partner with whom she shared a four-year-old daughter.

Up to last evening, the suspect, identified by the police as Omarley “Drop Sleep” Henry, continued to evade lawmen and residents who have been looking for him since the incident occurred shortly before 8pm on Monday.

The victim was stabbed and chopped to the face, chest, head and hands and relatives reported that some of her fingers were severed. Her agonising screams during the attack got the attention of a witness who called the emergency operator 911.

According to the police, the Christian Street, Gray’s Farm woman went to collect her daughter from her father’s home in Perry Bay.

While there, they became embroiled in an argument. After the screams were heard, the suspect was seen leaving the house. He sped off in a vehicle which he allegedly abandoned in the Greenbay area and continued his escape on foot.

The victim’s relatives reportedly rushed to the house and found her in the blood-spattered room. Lying on the ground nearby were three sharp weapons and a grinding stone/machete sharpener. The victim was rushed to hospital in an ambulance and was pronounced dead around 8:30 pm.

More in today’s Daily Observer.

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is issuing a strong caution to residents, pleading with them not to share an audio file allegedly containing a confession in the killing of Shareice Henry.

The office said those disseminating the information, including a transcribed version, run the risk of perverting justice in the matter even as police continue the manhunt for the suspect in the killing, Omarley “Drop Sleep” Henry.

Henry allegedly chopped the 22-year-old woman to death on Monday night.

 “I would strongly advise that members of the public cease and desist from passing that type of material around. It has the potential to negatively prejudice the accused in this matter, and by that I mean, you’re setting up defence counsel for the man to raise an application in court for the matter to be halted, stayed, or not even go to trial or later appealed,” Crown Counsel Adlai Smith said.

Smith noted that under the Constitution a person accused of an offence is entitled to a “fair trial” within a reasonable time, with emphasis on ‘fair trial’.

“If there isn’t a fair trial then you have a problem, and there’s no justice. The purpose of the office of the DPP is to ensure there is a fair trial and preserving the stream of justice. One can apply for an Order for contempt of Court for persons disseminating that type of information,” he said.

He pointed to the case of Boodram v the Attorney General {1996} regarding the role of the DPP and a fair trial. It states that it is clear that the law provides an (individual) with steps he can take on his own either as criminal proceedings or with leave of the DPP, or he can initiate civil proceedings. In fact, he himself can bring contempt proceedings in instances where pre-trial publicity including media coverage is adverse to the accused.

Smith said, “I understand persons may want justice, whichever way that might fall, one way or the other, but at the same time in your quest to achieve what you believe is justice you may be defeating the purpose altogether by disseminating that audio.”

He also said, “You don’t want a situation where you cannot find 12 fair-minded impartial people as jurors in Antigua to try the matter, and hence we have to go overseas and spend money or have jurors imported to do it. Let the law take its course.”

(More in today’s Daily Observer)

After days on the run, the man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, has turned himself in.

Mount St John’s Medical Centre (MSJMC) was abuzz with activity yesterday afternoon, as murder suspect Omarley “Drop Sleep” Henry was rushed there shortly after surrendering to police and telling them that he had ingested a poisonous substance.

Henry, who is in his 20s and who has been on the run since Monday evening, remained in hospital under police guard up to last night. He was said to be conscious, stable and alert, but weak.

Earlier, police said that the Perry Bay man is the main suspect in the chopping death of his daughter’s mother, 22-year-old Shareice Henry of Christian Street Grays Farm.

She was found in critical condition, on Monday evening, lying on the floor of the suspect’s home with multiple wounds to the upper body. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at MSJMC.

Pastor Clifford Haynes, one of Omarley’s aunts, and attorney Ralph Francis all played a role in getting the suspect into police custody. Hours earlier, a relative made a tearful appeal for the suspect to surrender because she feared he would be killed by the police if he remained on the run.

The pastor told OBSERVER media that he was at work, in Ottos, when the suspect’s aunt showed up and asked for his help.

More in today’s Daily Observer.

The largest cruise vessels in the world– Oasis class– will find a berth in Antigua, in 2017, according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne.

“My government is committed to spending a further US$50 million within the next year to build a third pier. So that by next year this time we expect to be here celebrating the arrival of the Oasis class ships,” Browne declared.

He made the pledge yesterday at a grand day-long ceremony held to re-commission the US$30 million expanded Heritage Quay pier and welcome of the Anthem of the Seas – the largest ship ever to dock in Antigua.

There were two major ceremonies, Friday, one on board the ship to mark its arrival and another with several hundred people on the pier to celebrate its re-commissioning.

The Royal Caribbean International vessel that arrived is the fifth largest in the world and belongs to the Quantum class — the second largest class of passenger ships behind only the Oasis class.

At the first ceremony, onboard the ship, the prime minister said up to half a billion dollars will be invested in the St John’s Deep Water Harbour through a range of developments, including the planned port overhaul.

(More in today’s Daily Observer)