A 16-year-old schoolboy appeared before Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on a charge of simple larceny at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday and was placed on $20,000 bail.
The youth of Grove, East Bank Demerara said he was not guilty and being falsely accused by Veronica Balkarran of stealing a Motorola cell phone valued $50,000. The accused said he was outside a Chinese restaurant on the night of January 18, when a minibus pulled up with a police officer and a young lady, who accused him of stealing her cell phone. He was taken to the police station where he tried to tell the police officers that he did not commit the crime.
The accused appeared in court alone, since his mother was at home sick and could not accompany him. He was placed on $20,000 bail although police prosecutor Sherwin Matthews was opposed to this.
Matthews said this was not the first time the accused has appeared in court on larceny charges and should therefore not be placed on bail.
The matter is set to come up again on January 30, in Court Six of the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
