Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson remanded a Nandy Park man charged with stealing over 1M when he on Monday appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Christopher Menezes, 33 of 79 Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara pleaded not guilty to the charge of simple larceny. It is alleged that between September 26 and November 9, Menezes stole over $1.1M from Senior Customs Officer Yonette Heyliger.
Menezes lawyer, James Bond, applied for bail on the grounds that his client was no flight risk. However, Prosecutor Denise Griffith objected to bail on the grounds that Menezes has a matter pending in the High Court where he was also accused of stealing Heyliger’s car. She noted that the police had had a difficult time apprehending Menezes.
In response, Bond said the case in the High Court was recently filed and had nothing to do with the current case. He said that he had spoken to the police about allowing Menezes to be with his family until they migrated to the US and then he would turn himself in but that they had arrested him. He said his client does not know whether his wife and children have left the country.
“The police is at present carrying out an investigation, should the police wait until it is convenient for the defendant to go to the station?” Griffith asked. She said that it was not fair to Heyliger or the investigating officers to wait for Menezes to complete his business before focusing on the case. Griffith said too “he [Menezes] wanted to frame her” since he had placed a gun in Heyliger’s wardrobe. Heyliger told the court, “He tell me that he find me money that I dey hide when he dey going foh hide he gun.”
Bond then submitted that because of the case at the High Court Menezes’s passport was seized and is currently in police custody so he could not leave the jurisdiction.
He then said that the case was about an alleged larceny of $1.1M which was a bailable offence.
However, Heyliger’s lawyer Nigel Hughes said Menezes had found the money his client had put away while he was attempting to hide a gun.
He said Menezes then allegedly called Heyliger to tell her that he had found the money and that he later deposited it into a Republic Bank account. He then allegedly promised the woman that he would return the money.
Hughes noted that soon after Menezes disappeared with Heyliger’s car and that he was later located in Berbice with his wife and children even though he had represented himself to Heyliger as a single person. “He was apprehended as a result of a vehicle chase with the marshals that were going to hand him his court order,” Hughes said. He added that a criminal report of the theft of the vehicle was made to the police and that Menezes had hidden Heyliger’s vehicle and that he fears that it is being stripped of its parts and repainted.
Hughes had also told the court that Menezes may be leaving the country permanently in January since, from information gathered, he may be expecting his travel documents very soon.
Menezes was ordered to return to court on January 13.
you the lawyer can find out if his family has departed.
….the “criminal lawyer’s” defense arguments is as pathetic as he and his client ,, the question now to be asked and contemplated is ,, don’t this “senior customs officer” have a bank account ??? why does she need to hide money in her home ,, considering the rate of crime in GY ??? how did she come to have all this cash on hand?????
investigative minds want the scoop on this “senior customs officer” !
custom officer got lots $$ stashed…wow…..
bandit wanted bail badly….smells fishy…..
keep the bugger lokced away…and investigate the custom officer too..
her accounts and assets….
Senior Custom Officer too boot….wow…….
This case believe it or not, based on what I’m reading is predicated on DOMESTIC ABUSE, it appears that these two people had an intimate relationship where the accused represented himself as a single and available person, and entraped the victim into a relationship. The victim upon learning of his family and their plans to migrate seeked to get even because she felt “USED”….WOW, “OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE, WHEN WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE”. And don’t anybody try and correct me if I didn’t get it right, OK.
Oh no Lindenbanna, for once you onto something and ur right, though not about the domestic abuse thing. Ya stretching da one lil too long.
Anyhow, it is indeed a tangled web. There’s more in the mortar that we ain’t hear yet. Sounds like the scorned lady fell into the same hole she digged for de man, Hmmmm!!!!
go matlock
It seems as though this guy had an intimate relationship with the customs officer under the pretence that he was single. So guess what? who cares whether his wife & kids have left the country or not, let the case go on and let the deceitful/dishonest guy pay his due.
this is one real jim kack bring ram goat story
Keep this man and his family in Guyana.They are giving Guyanese a bad name in the US and Canada.
Lock him up and give him a criminal record.
This appears as an allegation of theft. Why does a Senior Customs Officer have over $1 million in cash at home. She is a public servant, not a business person. In all fairness for her credibility and the credibility of the GRA, this public servant should be questioned by her employers, as to the source of this cash and why it is not in a bank. There should be an internal investigation into her assets. I would suggest that with immediate effect she should be transferred from her current portfolio to assess if any worms will come out of the woodworks. The GRA should then issue a public statement to the effect that they are satisfied with the source of the cash and clearing this public servant of all wrong doing. Anything else will just leave the rumour mill spinning.
Sase,,,,You cannot do that, where is the justification for investigating this employee?, she has a “PRIVATE” life and there is no law against her having this money in HER house, maybe she don’t trust banks, I know I don’t,,,,,not in Guyana. Even if you have your suspicions, you cannot justify any of what you are proposing, this is called harrassment.
Customs Officer with one million+$$ in her home!
I am packing up and getting me a job as a customs officer in GY.
The winters are longer and colder I need some sun in my bones.
Debbie,,,, for 5G’s, 1 Million GT, you can come for a weekend in Texas and get a tan. lol….
as far as i’m concerned all of yall should mind ur own damn business…some of yall talking bout 1 mill guyana dollars like is alot of money…tht ain worth much in guyana nevertheless the money is the woman own & if she decide to keep it in her house then y shud yall say say she at fault and tell me y should she be investigated??…simply because she has 1 mill ( oh please) since when tht is a crime…sometimes the best business to mind is ur own business…
Seems like Barnie fife to me {JUST KIDDING}