UG students charged for armed robbery

Jan 28, 2014 News

Three students of the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus who were on Saturday held in connection with the $9M armed robbery of a city store, yesterday appeared before the Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
Darion Bess, 19; Morris Gibson, 21; and 20-year-old Joel DeMendonca, the defendants, were separately indicted on two counts of Robbery Under Arms.
According to the police, on January 25, last, the three students used a gun to rob a Robb Street store clerk, of a quantity of cellular phones worth $8,968,000. The store is owned by Golyn and Sons Fashion Store.
The second charge detailed that they used a gun to further rob, Mohanlall Narine, the said store clerk of two gold and diamond rings valued at $500,000 as well as his $130,000 Samsung Galaxy cellular phone.
Bess who resides at Lot 429 Guyhoc Park; Gibson of Lot 334 East Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, and DeMendonca who resides at Lot 17 Providence Park, East Bank Demerara were yesterday told that they were not required to plead.
Prosecutor Inspector Michael Grant explained that about 9:00 hours that day, Gibson approached the clerk at the store inquiring about the prices of various cellular phones and a fan.
Whilst he was inquiring, Bess entered the store, approached the clerk and pointed a gun to his head then ordered him to pack up the cell phones. The clerk complied.
Inspector Grant said that Bess left the store and joined a waiting car on King Street and the party escaped.
According to the Prosecution, the matter was then reported to the Brickdam Police Station. About one hour after the report, ranks who received information about the robbery, dashed to Peter’s Hall and intercepted Bess and Gibson.
He claimed that at the time, Bess was carrying a haversack on his back which when checked by the ranks revealed a quantity of cellular phones.
Both students were arrested and through police interrogation they subsequently led ranks to DeMendonca’s house in Providence. Grant added that when questioned, DeMendonca confessed to being the driver who fled the scene with Bess and Gibson. Grant said that when the house was searched, four cellular phones were found.
Inspector Grant stated also, that even though all the phones were not recovered, the ones retrieved were identified by Narine as the assets belonging to the said store.
However, the Prosecution’s facts were disputed by Defence Attorney Lyndon Amsterdam who said that the prosecution failed to mention that his client Gibson had bought a fan from the store.
The lawyer said that whilst he would not deny that his client was indeed in the store, that in no way indicates that his client played a part in the robbery since according to him he was merely a customer.
Amsterdam’s submission was met with objections from the Prosecution who claimed that the serious nature and prevalence of the offence were grounds for the trio to be ordered held.
Inspector Grant also requested that the court remand the trio since a firearm was allegedly used in the commission of the offence.
The Chief Magistrate upheld the objections of the Prosecution and the three university students were refused a court bond. Their next scheduled court appearance is February 13.

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