Taxi driver remanded over Kingston gunpoint robbery

A hire car driver accused of robbing a woman of a quantity of cash at gunpoint outside the Black and Decker Hard-ware Store was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

The allegation against Jagdesh Baksh, 36, of 31 Second Street, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara is that on March 3 at George-town, being armed with a gun, he robbed Nazila Sookdeo of $320,000, property of the said Sookdeo.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the indictable charge of robbery under arms when it was read to him at the Georgetown Magistrates’ court.

Sergeant Lionel Harvey in presenting the prosecution’s facts of the case said that on the day in question at approximately 13:00 hours, the virtual complainant had just exited the Black and Decker Hard-ware Store in Barrack Street, Kingston when she was robbed.

According to Harvey, the accused and two other men drove up in motor car PNN 515 and parked alongside the woman’s car which she was about to enter.

The prosecutor related to the court that the defendant then held the woman at gunpoint and demanded the cash which out of fear she quickly handed over.

The court then heard that Baksh and the other two persons made good their escape by driving away.

Harvey said that the complainant subsequently raised an alarm and the police were called in and after investigations, Baksh was arrested and charged with the offence.

Attorney Gordon Gilhuys who represented the accused said that his client has no knowledge of what transpired on the day of the incident. Gilhuys said that Baksh  is “totally innocent” of the charge levelled against him.

The attorney said that according to his instructions, his client is the owner of the vehicle in question which he hires to persons desirous of renting it.

The lawyer said further that Baksh had rented the car and some days later he saw a notice in the newspaper informing that it had been involved in a criminal act.

Gilhuys said that his client immediately contacted counsel who accompanied him to the Brickdam Police Station where he gave a statement explaining that the vehicle was his and had been rented out.

The lawyer expressed shock that his client was later arrested and charged for the offence.

Guilhuys later made an unsuccessful application for his client to be admitted to reasonable bail. Baksh has to return to court on April 4.