A 24-year-old man was remanded yesterday when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton on a charge of robbery under arms.
It is alleged that on May 8 at Station Street, Kitty, Dwayne Torres held Winston Lewis at knifepoint and robbed him of a 10-pennyweight gold chain valued at $90,000 and $5,000 cash.
The man’s lawyer told the court that his client was drinking at the virtual complainant’s home on the night of May 8. He left and returned the following day only to learn that there was an incident and his name was being called.
The lawyer said that Torres immediately left for the police station but was stopped on his way there by the police who were returning with the VC’s girlfriend who was initially held as a suspect. According to the lawyer’s instructions the VC’s girlfriend had never implicated Torres in the matter and no confrontation had occurred between the VC and Torres. He said further that Torres was in custody for ten days since the police could not “get their act together.”
At this point the matter was put down for a few minutes so the prosecution could contact the police officer who had investigated the matter since he was not the one who swore to the statements yesterday.
Police prosecutor Desiree Fowler then objected to bail on the grounds of the seriousness of the offence and the fact that the VC’s girlfriend had positively identified Torres as the one who inflicted several wounds on the VC and pushed his hand into the VC’s pocket and took out the items.
She also said that Torres is deemed a flight risk since he works in an unnamed interior location.
Torres’s lawyer objected to the prosecution’s statements since the investigating officer had to be contacted by phone and he had no written statements in the case file. The counsel also noted that the file was not taken to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice prior to the matter coming to the court, as is required. Magistrate Octive-Hamilton sternly admonished the prosecution for this lapse in procedure saying that she would not be accepting this “slipshod” work in the future. She then instructed that the file be taken to the DPP and the necessary statements be written by the officer who carried out the investigations.
The matter will continue on May 20 at Court 5.
