Trinidad and Tobago: 2024 marks deadliest year, records highest 615 cases of murder

Trinidad and Tobago: A total of 615 murders were recorded in Trinidad and Tobago in 2024, making it the deadliest year ever in the history. According to the statistics, the year has surpassed the highest ever mark of 605 murders recorded in 2022.  

After the revelation of the numbers, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a statement on the crime rate by criticizing the media and noted that the government cannot play politics on crime rate as they are already making attempts to curb the crime.  

“We must find ways and means of having justice on time and do not just console people that the crime rate is going down as everybody knows that this is not happening. The point is we want people to feel safe and secure in the country,” PM Rowley noted. 

Crime incidents in Trinidad and Tobago 

In the last week from December 23 to 29, 2024, six murders had occurred in Trinidad and Tobago, increasing tally from 609 to 615. In San Juan, a 27-year-old Adana John was murdered by masked assailant, leaving the citizens in utter shock.  

According to the reports, John was on his way to home and suddenly got stabbed by a man for multiple times. The incident occurred at 8 am on Christmas morning (Wednesday, December 25, 2024) and John collapsed on the road in front of the Nice City Restaurant. She was declared dead by the doctors in Eric Williams Medical Complex.  

On Monday evening, a man in Cunupia was murdered by two men following an argument at the main road. According to the police, three people were arguing and suddenly two of them grabbed the third one and slit his throat and escaped the place. However, the man was not identified by the officials, but it was outlined that he was of African descent.  

On the same day at Rodney Road, Chase Village, the man was shot dead by an armed man at 9:20 pm. The victim identified as Kester Philip from Carapichaima was walking to his home where he was surrounded by an unidentified killer. However, he started running along Rodney Road but was shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead by Chaguanas Health Facility.  

Another incident had occurred at Hutton Street, St Joseph where 18-year-old Rafeal Gomez was also murdered by stabbing multiple times. Another unidentified man from Laventille Road, San Juan was shot dead on Tuesday morning.  

Two incidents of injuries have also been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago in this month where 29-year-old Venezuelan national was shot in the upper left leg at John Street. Another incident in which 49-year-old man was stabbed multiple times were also recorded in this week. He was admitted to the hospital and now is in critical condition.  

Reports of Previous Year 

As mentioned, 2022 marked the second deadliest year in the history of Trinidad and Tobago with recorded murder cases of 605. The year 2023 had recorded 577 murder cases in total, while 2019 had recorded 536 cases in the country. In 2018, the tally of cases was 517, in 2017, it was 495, in 2016, the mark was 462, in 2021, and the mark was 448.  

Notably, 2020 had remained the year of least murder cases in the history of Trinidad and Tobago with a tally of 393. While combining all these cases from 2016 to 2024, the country recorded 4648 murder cases in all these years.