Car theft accused says he made down payment

A 21-year-old man who appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged with stealing a motor car said in his defence that he had bought the car from a man in what appeared to be a legitimate sale and had even made a down payment.

Raphael Baggot of Lot 183 Kuru Kururu, Linden/Soesdyke Highway pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him and Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle subsequently released him on $150,000 bail.

It is alleged that on December 11 last at Georgetown he stole a motor car valued $2.9M belonging to Peter De Freitas.

Attorney-at-law Nigel Anthony who appeared for Baggot said that his client is an aeronautical engineer and an agreement was made between him and another man.

He said that when his client registered the vehicle he found out that it was stolen.

Baggot told the court that the girlfriend of the person who he bought the vehicle from said that he was in Antigua. He said that man called him sometime later and said that he would have returned from the island by the end of December. Baggot said that during the transaction the man showed him the registration and the power of attorney and as such he believed that he was entering into a legitimate sale.

He later said he made a down payment of $420, 000 on the car. When the Magistrate asked if he was given a receipt for the money he paid, Baggot said that the arrangement was that the front of the car which was damaged had to be fixed first.

Police prosecutor Sherwin Matthews said that the car in question was found in a garage sprayed over.

The magistrate later released Baggot on bail and adjourned the matter for January 31 in Court Six.