Agricola duo remanded over cellphones robbery

Two men were remanded to prison yesterday after denying a charge that they robbed a woman of two cellphones.

Trevor Barrow, 21 and Charles Rawlins, 20, appeared before city magistrate Judy Latchman on a joint charge that they robbed Althea Bailey while being armed with a gun.

It was the police’s case that Barrow, of 96 Cato Street, Agricola and Rawlins, of 15 Third Street, Agricola, on January 12, at Agricola, East Bank Demerara, armed with a gun, stole two cellphones, valued $45,000.

The two young men were teary-eyed and vehemently refuted the charge when it was read to them.  Rawlins, a father of four children and the more vocal of the two, spoke to Bailey, begging her to take the police to Agricola where the cellphone was. “I could carry yuh to the boy, who got de two phones dem,” he exclaimed before saying that he would jump through the window. “Right now I could jump through de window… ’cause I going to jail fuh a *** blackberry wha me ain’t know nothing bout!” he shouted as he broke down into tears. He and Barrow were then cautioned by a police officer to stop shouting and disrupting other courtrooms in the building.

Subsequently the two men were remanded to prison and their case was adjourned until January 27, 2014. As they were being escorted back to the holding cell, a scuffle broke out in the reception area of the city court building but two officers were able to subdue the men and eventually take them to the cell.