Three men who on Monday last were remanded to prison by Magistrate Priya Beharry when they appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court accused of stealing a quantity of items valued $150,000 and damaging one minibus door valued $25,000 were yesterday set free.

Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson before whom they appeared yesterday dismissed the charges of simple larceny and malicious damage to property against the men for want of prosecution.

The magistrate told the trio that because the matter was dismissed did not necessarily mean that they are innocent, adding that they may not be “so lucky if they were to be charged again.” She also admonished them to stay out of “trouble’s way”.

When asked about the virtual complainant in the matter who had been absent from court for the second time, the prosecution responded that the VC had not been summoned and no other efforts were made to ensure that he attended court.

After listening to the prosecution, the magistrate then informed the accused persons that she was going to dismiss the matters against them.

The men who were visibly pleased that the charges were dismissed against them were high in praise of the acting chief magistrate. They continually kept saying “thank you” to the magistrate even after being taken through the chute.

The allegation was that on November 20 at Georgetown, Marvin Williams, Dexter Conway and Raulston Kennedy stole items valued $150,000 and damaged one minibus door valued $25,000, property of Darshanie Dhanraj.

The trio pleaded not guilty to the charges of simple larceny and malicious damage to property when they made they made their initial appearance before Magistrate Beharry.

At the time, the prosecution told the court that the defendants were “fingered” as the perpetrators in the recent robbery at Gizmos and Gadgets store.

According to the prosecutor, on the day in question, “after robbing the store, the trio then proceeded to rob the VC’s vehicle, damaging the door in the process.”

The prosecutor said that there was a high-speed chase by the police and the men were intercepted some time after. They had failed to stop although ordered by the lawmen to do so.

The prosecutor had objected to bail on the grounds that the defendants had the pending Gizmos and Gadgets matter as well as other matters for Williams and Conway.

The defendants had argued forcefully, however, that they had nothing to do with the incident and were innocent of the charges laid against them.