PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jun 12, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Monday condemned the attack and robbery of a popular Roman Catholic priest, who has been working with young people to help rid Trinidad and Tobago of crime.
Father Clive Harvey was robbed at gunpoint as he prayed at the Holy Rosary/St. Martin’s, Church in East Port of-Spain by three men at around 6.00 am (local time) on Monday. Harvey is the parish priest there.
In a statement, Prime Minister Rowley said that the attack on Father Harvey “by able-bodied, gun-toting men sadly represents the worst that exists within our communities.
“Notwithstanding what difficulties one may be facing in life there are limits beneath which the human form should not sink. Unfortunately, there are people who have chosen criminal conduct as a way of life and such persons, regardless of their circumstances, should be condemned in the strongest terms, as I so do now.”
Rowley said that these “miscreants have parents and I hope that somewhere in this country today there are a few parents who are hanging their heads in shame as they reflect in private as to what more they might have done to prevent any of our citizens from behaving in this despicable way”.
A statement issued by the Archdiocese of Port of Spain noted that Father Harvey was tied up and robbed by three men who threatened to kill him.
It said that the priest, who previously served as chaplain at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and parish priest in the volatile Laventille/Morvant area, and is actively involved in social and community programmes, had spent the night at the church to prepare for a seminar at the Seminary of the St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, Mt St Benedict.
The statement said that Father Harvey was tied up while the men ransacked the presbytery and took TT$1,000 (One Tt dollar =US$0.16 cents), a mobile phone and other items.
“The assailants also threatened to kill the priest,” the statement noted, adding that the priest managed to escape and made his way to a parishioner’s home where he contacted Archbishop Joseph Harris and the police.
