Four persons were brought before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Friday after they were charged in connection with the Shamdas Kirpilani robbery.
Three men and one woman appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts where they were not required to plead to the indictable charges.
Howard Rambarose of 6 Meadow Bank, Greater Georgetown, Rajesh Singh of 216 Layne Avenue, and Alistair Naughton of Guyhock Park, were all charged for robbery under arms. They all stood silently as Chief Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry read the charge which stated that on December 20 at Georgetown, being armed with a gun, they robbed Mahesh Chetranie Gy$ 17,250,000 property of Shamdas Kirpilani.
Joan Persaud, however, was charged with receiving the sum of Gy$370,000 knowing same to be stolen money.
Persaud was also not required to plead.
Police Prosecutor Bharat Mangru told the court that Singh is employed at Kirpilani on Regent Street and is entrusted with the responsibility of depositing money in the Bank of Baroda.
On the day in question, he and manager of the store, Chetranie, uplifted the money and boarded the company vehicle to make the deposit at the bank. While in the vicinity of Avenue of the Republic, they were “stuck up” by Rambarose and Naughton, who relieved them of the money and made good their escape.
Rambarose was represented by Attorney Clyde Ford while Attorney Nigel Hughes entered an appearance on behalf of Singh.
Attorney Hughes stated that his client has been an employee at Kirpilani for the past six years and there has never been a complaint against him. On the day of the incident, Singh was taken to Brickdam where he signed a statement, his cellphone was taken away and he was released.
The attorney went on to say that on Christmas eve, ranks went to his place of work and arrested him, taking him to Eve Leary headquarters.
Beaten
There, he was told to sign a statement and was then beaten with a police baton. He further stated that when he visited Singh on Christmas morning, there were visible marks of violence on his body.
Hughes then proceeded to show the court pictures of the accused’s battered body.
Hughes pointed out that he heard no mention of conspiracy to commit a felony and was perplexed at what the prosecution has put forward.
He said that his client was one of the victims robbed at gunpoint and he cannot seem to understand how is it that Singh is being slapped with a robbery charge, slapped with “robbing himself?” and stated that the prosecution cannot point to any solid evidence other than the confession statement that implicates his client.
Attorney Ford made a bail application for Rambarose stating that his client has an alibi. On the day in question, the attorney said that his client was on his way to court to appear before the Chief Magistrate for a matter which was dismissed on Monday last.
Bail Prosecutor Mangru objected to bail, citing the seriousness, prevalence and the fact that the suspects might try to evade the law.
When asked by the Chief Magistrate if any of the suspects were identified by means of an identification parade, the response was negative.
Prosecutor Mangru said that money was recovered from Rambarose and Naughton but stated that the bills were not marked prior to the robbery when asked about it by Beharry.
Chief Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry overruled the objections in regards to Singh and Persaud granting bail in the sum of Gy$ 500,000 and Gy$ 100,000 respectively.
However, the other two men were remanded to prison.
The matters were adjourned to January 14
