The following article appeared in the Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday.
‘Free’ after 39 years
By FRANCIS JOSEPH Thursday, May 24 2007
SEVENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD Christopher Ventour walked out of the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital a free man yesterday afternoon after spending the last 39 years there. But Ventour only tasted freedom for 20 minutes – there were no relatives or friends to meet him, nowhere safe for him to go, so on the advice of his lawyers, Ventour was readmitted to the hospital for “safe-keeping.”
Ventour was found guilty, but insane in 1968, for killing a young man in La Brea. He was the longest serving prisoner in Trinidad. His brief taste of freedom came yesterday after Justice Mustapha Ibrahim ordered in the morning that he be released forthwith in keeping with a Cabinet minute dated January 5, 2006. Ventour walked out of Ward 20 shortly after 4 pm with his lawyers Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen. He looked frail and weak. He had to be assisted by a hospital orderly. He walked slowly and at times appeared as if he was about to fall. There was a fluid bag hooked up to him due to a bladder problem. The first thing he did was to smoke a cigarette given to him by another inmate who was elated that Ventour was being released. Approached by reporters, Ventour said he was happy to be out of the hospital after 39 years. He insisted he was going home to his wife, although his lawyers reported that she had died a long time ago. He could not say how many children he has, although he said some live in the United States and others were “all over the place.”
Ventour said he intends to stay out of trouble. “I feel very happy to know I am leaving,”Ventour told Newsday. He said he hopes that his mental problems of 39 years ago would not affect him in the future. He said before he was arrested for murder, he used to hear voices in his head. Whenever that happened, he used to react and get violent. It was during one of these violent times, that he killed a young man, a crime for which he was tried and found guilty, but insane. He said he asked for help when he heard the voices, but no one took him on.
‘Free’ after 39 years
By FRANCIS JOSEPH Thursday, May 24 2007
SEVENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD Christopher Ventour walked out of the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital a free man yesterday afternoon after spending the last 39 years there. But Ventour only tasted freedom for 20 minutes – there were no relatives or friends to meet him, nowhere safe for him to go, so on the advice of his lawyers, Ventour was readmitted to the hospital for “safe-keeping.”
Ventour was found guilty, but insane in 1968, for killing a young man in La Brea. He was the longest serving prisoner in Trinidad. His brief taste of freedom came yesterday after Justice Mustapha Ibrahim ordered in the morning that he be released forthwith in keeping with a Cabinet minute dated January 5, 2006. Ventour walked out of Ward 20 shortly after 4 pm with his lawyers Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen. He looked frail and weak. He had to be assisted by a hospital orderly. He walked slowly and at times appeared as if he was about to fall. There was a fluid bag hooked up to him due to a bladder problem. The first thing he did was to smoke a cigarette given to him by another inmate who was elated that Ventour was being released. Approached by reporters, Ventour said he was happy to be out of the hospital after 39 years. He insisted he was going home to his wife, although his lawyers reported that she had died a long time ago. He could not say how many children he has, although he said some live in the United States and others were “all over the place.”
Ventour said he intends to stay out of trouble. “I feel very happy to know I am leaving,”Ventour told Newsday. He said he hopes that his mental problems of 39 years ago would not affect him in the future. He said before he was arrested for murder, he used to hear voices in his head. Whenever that happened, he used to react and get violent. It was during one of these violent times, that he killed a young man, a crime for which he was tried and found guilty, but insane. He said he asked for help when he heard the voices, but no one took him on.
Then Ventour asked, “The man I killed? He dead yet?” Then he took another puff of his cigarette. Ventour was convicted before Trinidad and Tobago’s first female judge – Elizabeth Borne – and he was represented at his trial by Aeneas Wills. In 1998, doctors recommended that Ventour be released, but nothing was done. On January 5, 2006, Cabinet agreed that Ventour and other persons be released, but they remained warded at the hospital. On Monday, Justice Ibrahim ordered the release from St Ann’s of six prisoners – Simon Habib, Junior Collins, Wayne Allen, Roger Sobers, Winston Solomon and Lennard Sylvester. Ventour was not released on Monday because of a mix-up with his name. When the matter was called yesterday, Justice Ibrahim wasted no time in ordering his release. The judge gave the State until June 6 to decide on another prisoner Miguel Francois. Failure to take action by then will result in Francois also being released by court order.
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