Man remanded on transformer theft charge

– arrest warrants issued for two others
One of the three men charged with the theft of a Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc transformer appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday at the Georgetown Magis-trate’s Court, and was subsequently remanded.

Davin Jones
Davin Jones

It is alleged that between October 27 and November 17, 2008 Davin Jones conspired with other persons to steal commit a felony when they reportedly stole one KVA transformer belonging to GPL and valued at $4,140,000.

Jones, 34, a network designer and father of two who lives at 37 Camp and Croal streets, Georgetown was not required to plead to the charge when it was read to him because of the absence of Ganesh Ramlall and Rajesh Sanchara with whom he was jointly charged.
Attorney-at-law James Bond, who represented Jones, maintained that his client was innocent.

According to Bond, “My client is being made a scapegoat of.” He said further, “My client has been running up and down to the Brickdam Station for the past weeks and to date no statement has been taken from him. He was previously placed on $100,000 bail.”

Bond later made an application for bail to be granted in a reasonable sum on the grounds that the allegations made against his client are baseless; his client is not a flight risk and has been cooperating with the police. He added that the fact that the other two accused were not in court “speaks volumes to the innocence of my client.” He said his client wanted to clear his name as soon as possible.

Police Prosecutor Denise Griffith had no objection to bail. She argued, however, that whether or not the other two defendants were in court had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Jones was charged or whether President Jagdeo had ordered an investigation into the matter.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Ramlall and Sanchara.

Meanwhile, Jones was refused bail and remanded to prison. He will return to court on February 4.