News Releases

UWI students did not commit crime

For Release Upon Receipt - February 16, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – A report appearing on CNC3’s 7.00 p.m. newscast on Tuesday 12 February 2013 unfortunately and erroneously identified the two assailants in the February 7 robbery of students at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mt. Hope as students of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine. Police investigations have since confirmed that this was not so. The Office of the Campus Registrar at the UWI has confirmed that neither of the identified assailants are registered UWI students. The St. Joseph police have since arrested one of the thieves.

Last Thursday, twelve students and their tutor were in a class seminar at the EWMSC Mt. Hope around 9.30am when two armed men entered, announced a hold up and robbed nine of the students of valuables including laptop computers, cell phones, jewellery and cash. None of the students or the tutor was harmed. The students and their peers have since received counselling from the university’s counsellors.

In light of this incident, campus administration has been collaborating on ways to boost the security effort in and around its campuses, amidst the challenges at the EWMSC which operates primarily as a hospital with fairly open access to the public. Campus Principal and Pro Vice Chancellor, Professor Clement Sankat said “The present crime situation is a state of affairs that affects each and every one of us. As such, we must all do our part to ensure each other’s safety.”

Detective Corporal Campbell of the St. Joseph Police is continuing investigations.

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About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

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