Eight years jail for $7M Bel Air heist accused

- after guilty plea

By Javone Vickerie

Rabindranauth Seemangal, one of the six persons charged in last year July’s $7 million Bel Air heist, was yesterday sentenced to eight years imprisonment after changing his plea to guilty.

In admitting his guilt, Seemangal, 22, of Lot 100 Shell Road, Kitty, who was in tears, told Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry that he committed the robbery because he had two babies and his wife to maintain and no job to do it.

Rabindranauth Seemangal

“I was with the wrong friends at the wrong time,” he also said at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, where he revealed that during his 14 months incarceration since being charged, he realised what he had done to not only his family but the victims.

Seemangal was charged with two counts of armed robbery, based on the allegations that on July 12, at Bel Air Gardens, being armed with a gun, he and co-accused Chandraradha Rampersaud, Jermaine Mitchell, Aubrey Simon, Rayon Jones and Hardat Kumar robbed Annie Ramsood—Rampersaud’s daughter—of $1.4 million and US$29,000 (equivalent to $5.8 million), totalling $7.2 million. They were also accused of robbing Ramsood of a BlackBerry Smartphone and a quantity of cash, valued $427,000 in total. Seemangal was also jointly charged with Mitchell and Simon with having in their possession a 9 mm pistol and eight rounds of 9 mm ammunition, without being the holders of firearm and ammunition licences. He had originally pleaded not guilty.

However, yesterday Seemangal told the magistrate that as a result of his imprisonment since being charged last July—due to him being unable to post bail—he realised what he did and he requested to change his plea. He also said that during his incarceration, his wife and children have been hurt by his actions.

Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry granted Seemangal’s request to change his plea, and the charges were re-read to him and he pleaded guilty.

Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos, who is the special prosecutor in the case, said that Seemangal must admit why he committed the offence and he requested that he come clean.

When given the opportunity to speak about his reasons for committing the crimes, Seemangal said that he had no job and two babies and a wife to maintain at the time. “I am sorry for what I’ve done,” he said, while pleading with the magistrate to be reasonable in sentencing.

The magistrate noted that the prosecution’s files stated that on the day in question, he terrorised Ramsood’s family with a loaded weapon and took the cash and duct taped the family members, including children between the ages of two and three. She also noted that he ordered one of the other accused to kill the children if they screamed.

Seemangal admitted that the statements were true and that he did in fact terrorise the family and take the cash.

De Santos said he was satisfied with Seemangal’s statement when asked by the magistrate.

He also disclosed that when the accused requested to plead guilty, he was asked to cooperate with prosecution and to give statements and testify against his co-accused. However, Seemangal said that he did not wish to give evidence against them, explaining that he was confessing for himself.

Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry subsequently sentenced Seemangal to a total of eight years imprisonment; four years for the armed robbery charges and an additional four years for the firearm charge, along with a $100,000 fine.

Meanwhile, the trial of Seemangal’s co-accused will continue today in Court One.