Witnesses testify in ‘Cobra’ armed robbery, property damage trials

The second and third of seven witnesses in the robbery under arms trial of Tyrone “Cobra” Rowe, who is accused of committing the offence against Mark Hunte, testified on Friday in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

The allegation is that on May 16, Rowe, 17, of 268 Independence Boulevard, Albouystown, being armed with a gun, robbed Hunte of two gold chains and a gold band valued $160,000.

Deborah Wilson and Conrad Macey testified in court about what they saw on the said date.

Tyrone Rowe

After their testimonies, Magistrate Sueanna Lovell told the accused he was free to question them based on the evidence they would have given. Rowe said he had one question for each witness.

“When this robbery and shooting happen, you see me?” he asked Wilson, who responded no.

He then asked Macey, based on his testimony, if the complainant had two holes in his body from being shot or one. Macey explained that at the time he assisted the injured Hunte to the Woodlands Hospital; he saw only one injury but later learnt that there were two wounds; one caused when the bullet entered the victim’s body and the second where it exited.

The unrepresented Rowe who was hand-cuffed and shackled, then calmly returned to his seat on the prisoners’ bench in the court.

Meanwhile, Rowe’s trial over the allegation that he broke a one-way mirror belonging to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) continued yesterday with Detective Sergeant of Police Cedric Gravesande testifying. Gravesande is attached to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Brickdam Police Station.

The allegation is that on September 4, 2010 at the Brickdam Police Station, Rowe unlawfully and maliciously damaged a one-way mirror valued at $1.4 million, the property of the GPF.

In his evidence-in-chief Gravesande told the court that he had investigated the matter and that he had cautioned and arrested the teen after the incident. He also told the court that he had collected a piece of the broken glass which he had packaged and initialled. The package containing the piece of glass was then shown to the court, the accused and the witness for him to identify his initials.

On examining the package the magistrate said, “I see a whole lot of markings other than C.G written on this parcel.”

Inspector Winter then asked the court to have the parcel tendered as an exhibit in the matter.

Rowe was then given a chance to question the witness, to whom he posed four questions.

The matters have been set to continue tomorrow.