Tag Archives: Thema Williams

In November 2022, part of the Manzanilla-Mayaro road—the once scenic route along the east coast “through the coconuts”—collapsed.  Part of it reportedly collapsed before, in 2014. In that same year, a commentary by Rajiv Jalim, described as a climate change advocate from Trinidad and Tobago, analysed coastal erosion on that …

Murder, murder everywhere but certain elites continued blindly to cling to the status quo and sections of the business community uttered platitudes. Then, as the murder count soared past 500 with a multiplicity of murders, the Government finally “did” something. That something was a whole day meeting with the heads …

The correlation between intelligence and education is a fascinating subject, although one I don’t feel well positioned to explore at present. Perhaps Earl Best, a lifelong educator and highly competent editor, would accept that challenge. However, I do believe I am on strong ground when I say that being able …

There is a thing that it seems will not go away. It is described in Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’, in which she told the extremely painful story of the desire of Pecola to have the bluest eyes and blond hair. Pecola’s self esteem is destroyed by the arrival of …

The biblical Moses was hidden in the bulrushes by his mother, fearful of an edict that all male Hebrew babies were to be drowned. The bulrushes were the reeds along the banks of the river Nile. Despite his origin, Moses was saved and eventually became the person trusted to receive …

We washed and put away our sailor costumes last weekend. That induced a stronger nostalgia than usual for the carefree days of Carnival generally and, in particular, for Carnival Tuesday as All Stars sailors. The nostalgia was a brief antidote to the keen awareness that murders—albeit unrelated to Carnival—remained an …

This week, I continue examining the bogus organisation of sport in our country illustrated by the fate of gymnast Thema Williams, my pro bono client in the High Court, whom the Court declared had been a victim of bias. I now describe the specific event, which took place shortly after …

Tuesday last, 26 November, was the one-year anniversary of the High Court’s declaration that gymnast Thema Williams was a victim of ‘entrenched biases’ when the then officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation ‘made a flawed and unjustified decision’ to withdraw her from the Olympic Test event in Rio …

Former Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) president David Marquez, first vice-president Akil Wattley, second vice-president Ricardo Lue Shue and his wife and assistant treasurer Donna Lue Shue will have to pay their own legal costs, after High Court Judge Frank Seepersad today dismissed their attempt to stick gymnast Thema …

The Thema Williams judgment sits as one more example of corruption among those entrusted to dispassionately look after our best national interests. Brick by brick we dismantle the foundations of trust, essential to the proper functioning of our society. From 2009, when the first local polls tracked the public confidence …

In 50 years of practice, I do not recall ever giving an interview on the courthouse steps about a case in which I had appeared before the court. Public interest in the Thema Williams matter did not permit my usual reticence. It has always been my position that my role …

“Unlike an act of violence, the physical effects of which would wane with time, [Thema Williams] was deprived of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Her future was materially altered when the flawed decision to substitute her was made and her missed Olympic opportunity is likely to weigh upon her …