Trio remanded over Channel 9 thefts

Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday ordered that two men, who are accused of breaking into HBTV Channel 9 and stealing several video cameras and computers, and another man, who was allegedly found with some of the stolen items, be remanded to prison.

Eighteen-year-old Christopher Luther of Go Slow Avenue, La Penitence and Ivan Garraway, 20, of Freeman Street, both entered not guilty pleas to two charges of break and enter and larceny when they appeared before the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Komal Maraj, the 23-year-old owner of an electronic repair store and car wash bay of De Abreau Street, Kitty, pleaded not guilty to the charge of receiving stolen property.

Luther and Garraway denied that on December 9, they broke and entered the Transmission Room of HBTV Channel 9 and stole two video cameras, one computer, a DVD player, an audio mixer, all totalling $800,000 in value.

The two also denied that on December 15, they broke and entered the Editing Room of HBTV and stole a computer hard drive, a Sony camera, a keyboard, a mouse, a computer monitor and a Central Processing Unit (CPU), with a total value of $437,000.

Meanwhile, Maraj denied that on December 10, he received from Luther, a computer keyboard, a mouse, a CPU and a computer monitor, with a total value of $317, 000, the property of HBTV, knowing same to have been feloniously stolen.

Attorney-at-law Adrian Thompson, who represented Maraj, applied for reasonable bail for him on the grounds that the articles that were purportedly found in his client’s possession were brought to his electronic repair store for repairs by Garraway.

The lawyer stated that Garraway is a former employee of his client and that there is no evidence to show that his client bought the stolen items.
He noted that his client has resources to purchase new electronics instead of buying stolen ones.
Meanwhile, Luther and Garraway’s lawyer Mohamed Zafar stated that Luther lives in a stable home with his mother who is a member of the Guyana Defence Force.

He said that his clients had no previous brushes with the law, that they have cooperated fully with the police and that they would return to court if released on bail since they pose no risk of flight.

The defence attorney then applied for reasonable bail for his clients.
However, the Chief Execu-tive Officer of HBTV Channel 9, Charles Griffith, who was also present in court, requested that the court order that the company’s computer hardware and their main video camera be released to them. He stated that the company is currently handicapped since they do not have their main equipment.

Griffith told the court that Luther had been dismissed as a security guard for the company.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Stephen Telford told the court that the items recovered can be released since the police had already photographed them.
He said that a computer keyboard, a mouse, a CPU, a video and cables camera were recovered at Maraj’s Kitty home.

He noted that Luther and Garraway are friends and that on the days in question, they broke and entered the Editing and Transmission rooms at HBTV and stole the items that they had later sold to Maraj. He further noted that Luther and Garraway had fought and overpowered the security guards on one occasion, and had escaped with the articles mentioned in the charges and added that they were caught on company’s surveillance cameras committing the offences.

The prosecutor had also noted that Luther and Garraway had fully cooperated with the police and had even given the police caution statements admitting to the offences.

He objected to the trio’s bail applications on the grounds of the prevalence of the offences and added that “I believe there are jobs available that the defendants can do other than being involved in criminal activities”.

The magistrate then ordered that the cases be transferred to Court Three for December 18.