PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has acknowledged that the number of murders sweeping across the country is “too high and unacceptable” as Trinidad and Tobago recorded yet another bloody weekend with the deaths of at least 12 people.

“This level of unacceptable violent crime has been with us for quite some time,” Rowley said on his return to the country from visits to the United States, Ghana and Britain, adding “the general behaviour and lack of respect for human life in Trinidad and Tobago have come down now to the level where one is beginning to question general conduct.

“In recent times, I’m seeing a lot of people are being killed without firearms being used and without it being (about) drugs, where it was aggravation of one kind and another.

“One could put them under the question mark of ‘senseless’, but at the end of the day the level of violence in Trinidad is just too high and unacceptable,” Prime Minister Rowley told reporters.

Our society is labelling itself as a violent society. And one can lose one’s life for the slightest thing. And that is not a matter that the government can come and say, ‘Look, I’m going to flick a switch and turn it off ‘,” he said.

Over the weekend at least 12 people were killed in various incidents including 26-year-old Patrice Thomas-Fletcher, a mother of two, who shortly after attending a party to celebrate her birthday on Saturday night, was found dead on the floor in her Enterprise apartment in Central Trinidad.

Police said the woman’s throat had been slit and a man is assisting their investigations.

The police are also reporting that three men of Central Trinidad were killed in two separate incidents on Saturday and Sunday.

Dhanraj Rajpaul, 41, was found slumped over the steering wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer car. He had been shot repeatedly and on Sunday Dirk Ramkissoon, 32, was standing in the front of a friend’s home when a man approached and fired several shots. He died at the scene.

On Sunday, Juri Chanka Choon of Cunupia was at his home when he was attacked by a man who beat him to death. Police said one person is assisting their investigations.

A 41-year-old man, who police said witnessed a murder in 2014, was gunned down while purchasing items at a shop on Saturday night.

Police said Clint Phillip of Valencia, south of here, was in the company of another man when a gunman walked up to them and fired several shots.

Phillip was killed on the spot while the friend suffered gunshot injuries and was later rushed to hospital.

Investigators said that Phillip had complained about threats to his life after turning State witness in two murder cases.

Seven other murders were committed within the three-day period including a father and son. Police said Lloyd Ramkissoon, 47, and his 19-year-old son, Ryan Ramkissoon, were shot dead during an argument with a neighbour in Siparia.

An off-duty police officer shot and killed Simon Cummings during a failed robbery attempt at Zhong Hua Chinese Restaurant in Bamboo Settlement on Friday night.