-magistrate appalled at  police ‘unpreparedness’

Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton yesterday ordered that three boys be kept in police custody when they appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court for allegedly beating a woman in her head with a toy gun and robbing her at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC).

O’Neil Jeffrey

The trio was not required to enter a plea to the joint indictable charge of robbery under arms.

According to the charge,  on January 24 at the DCC, 17-year-old O’Neil Jeffrey of Lot 72 Charlotte Street, 17-year-old Dwight Black of Lot 60 D’Urban Street, Lodge, and 19-year-old Devon Boucher of Lot 71 Barrack Street, Kingston, used a gun to rob Anita Mearns of a cell phone, a hand bag, $130,000 in cash, three bowls and three pounds of plucked chicken, with a total value of $153,000.

The trio’s lawyer Sasha Roberts applied for reasonable bail for them stating that they were very young, they had no previous convictions, they posed no risk of flight and  if released they would return to court for their trial.

She stated that her clients have no knowledge of the incident and they were wrongfully arrested and charged by the police.

Devon Boucher

However, Prosecutor Joel Ricknauth objected to the bail application, stating that on the day of the incident the trio had gone into the DCC, used a gun to beat Mearns in her head and about her body and robbed her of the items. He said that the police later discovered that the gun used was a toy gun.

Mearns, who was also present in court, exhibited a bandaged head which the prosecutor stated was the result of the beating and she had to be assisted to walk by several relatives.

The prosecutor also stated that the addresses of Black and Jeffery differ from the ones they had given the police shortly after they were arrested.

The prosecution went on to say that shortly after the incident, after certain descriptions of the attackers were given to the police, the teens were picked up by the police and the toy gun and all the stolen items were recovered.

Dwight Black

The magistrate then asked Prosecutor Ricknauth where the items were recovered and he responded that “a taxi driver handed the bag with the stolen items to the police and he alleged that the number one accused (Black) had given it to him.”

The magistrate then inquired if a statement was taken from this taxi driver but the prosecutor told the court that none was.

She also asked whether an identification parade was conducted in the matter and he also told her that none was.

The magistrate then asked the prosecutor if any advice was sought from the Director of Public Prosecutions into the matter and once again the prosecutor told her that none was.

The magistrate, who appeared appalled at the prosecutor’s responses, stated “this is a classic case of unpreparedness…if the police is ill-prepared with such matters do not come to my court.” She then stated that she will defer making a ruling on the trio’s bail applications and suggested that the necessary advice be sought in the matter by the prosecution.

The trio is scheduled to make another court appearance today.