-court hears

Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson granted a 35-year-old man, who allegedly stole sugar that belonged to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), bail when he appeared before her yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Rajesh Gurahoo, known as Nishon, of Corriverton, pleaded not guilty to the charge of larceny from a vessel.

It is alleged that on February 25, at the Demerara Terminal Wharf, Gurahoo stole 35 bags of sugar valued $274,000, from the vessel “MV Helgoland”, which is the  property of GuySuCo.

However, Gurahoo’s lawyer Neil Bollers stated that his client was in police custody for more than eight days because they wanted him to confess that he had conspired with others to steal the sugar from the vessel. He said that the vessel was robbed by other persons and  the only reason that the police arrested Gurahoo was because they suspected that he was the “inside man” in the heist. The defence attorney applied for bail on the grounds that it was impossible for his client to have stolen that much sugar.

Meanwhile, the prosecution stated that the company had not made any reports about a robbery. They stated that Gurahoo was caught throwing the bags of sugar into another vessel. The prosecution noted that a security guard had seen Gurahoo doing this and he had fired several shots at Gurahoo.   The prosecution also stated that Gurahoo was later found hiding in one of the vessels.

The magistrate subsequently placed Gurahoo on bail in the sum of $200,000 and transferred the case to Court Five for March 27.