The allegation is that on November 27 at Georgetown, Sherwin Clark, 19, a student of the Government Technical Institute of 100 Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara (EBD); Desmond Baptiste, 26, a mason of 4145 North Ruimveldt; Junior Dover, 26, a miner who gave his address only as Mahdia; Jermaine Burnett, 26, a clothes vendor of 74 Corps Park, La Bonne Intention; Allison Nedd, 20, of 33 Campbellville Housing Scheme and Tressa Johnson, 19, of 181 Prospect, EBD, robbed Dexter Daly of items valued $38,000 and at the time of the robbery, immediately after or before, used personal violence on him.
The defendants all pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery with violence when it was read to them by the acting chief magistrate.
When given a chance to respond, the defendants all related conflicting accounts of what had transpired.
According to Burnett, at the time of the alleged incident he was in a hotel, “waiting on ah girl to pick ah fare,” and so he knew nothing about the robbery.
Nedd told the court that on the day in question, all the other defendants, except her, had “indeed approached the boy [the VC], banked he, beat he and tek away he cell phone, a gold ring and de money wah he had on he.”
As Nedd spoke, all the other defendants appeared visibly shocked and began telling even more conflicting stories, each trying to exempt him/herself.
They shouted at Nedd to “shut up” but she ignored them as the magistrate paid keen attention to what she had to say.
Nedd told the court that Dover who was armed with a sizable piece of wood approached the VC and dealt him several blows about the body after which the others began to rob him of his valuables.
Dover, who had initially said he was at home with his girlfriend Tressa Johnson and knew nothing about the incident, then promptly asked Nedd if it wasn’t she [Nedd] who bit the VC’s ring off of his finger.
The fallout among the defendants caused a loud outburst of laughter among those in the courtroom.
The VC told the court that on the day in question at approximately 11 pm, he was walking along Regent Street near King Street when he was approached by Nedd and Johnson.
He said the women tried to strike up a conversation with him and before he knew it, the males who were not far off advanced and began beating and demanding money and valuables from him.
The prosecutor, who corroborated what the VC said, told the court that the two women in the gang were “strategically placed [and] would approach the unsuspecting victims, especially males, try to start a conversation and moments after, the males in the gang would advance and execute the crime.”
The prosecution said that all the items were recovered and are lodged at the Brickdam Police Station.
The blame game and finger pointing among the divided defendants went on for some 15 minutes until the magistrate stopped them.
She then remanded Burnett and Dover to prison while the others were granted bail in the sum of $60,000 each.
Burnett and Dover began using expletives loudly towards the magistrate as they were being escorted through the chute.
Burnett who told the court that he did not know his address in Mahdia was told by the magistrate that he would be sent to a place with an address
(Camp Street Prison) so he could be found by the police when he was required to return to court.
Though the others who were granted bail used no indecent language, they too began pleading loudly with the magistrate for leniency explaining that there was no way they would be able to afford to pay the bail.
“Is just like if we an all get remand, cause none ah we can’t afford duh bail,” Clark said.
The decision by the acting chief magistrate, however, was final and despite their pleas for mercy or a reduction in the bail, they were all placed in the chute and taken away.
The case was transferred to Court Two for December 17.
