A North West man was yesterday remanded to prison after he appeared in a city court accused of a break and enter and larceny, assaulting police officers and resisting arrest.
Calvin Caesar, 30, of Port Kaituma, North West District, told Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, before whom he appeared, in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court 1, that he was guilty and he offered to give an explanation.
Caesar was accused of breaking and entering the home of Clifford Hunt between June 22 and June 23, at Port Kaituma and carting off a quantity of electrical appliances and other items amounting to a total value of $441,000.
The defendant was also accused of assaulting two police officers and resisting being arrested on June 24.
The court heard from Prosecutor Bharat Mangru that the complainant secured his home and left for a trip to Georgetown.
Upon his return, the prosecutor said, Caesar discovered that his home had been broken into and the items mentioned in the charge were missing.
After a report was made and an investigation launched, findings pointed to the defendant, which led to his arrest, Mangru added.
Mangru further objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the offence and the fact that more charges of a similar nature are likely to be filed against the defendant.
The prosecutor further noted that the accused attempted to flee from the police during his arrest and in the process bit two of the officers.
A medical certificate was also before the court to prove the injuries which the police sustained, Mangru said.
But Caesar who was unrepresented at yesterday’s hearing disputed the police case, arguing that a group of unidentified men barged into his home, held him hostage and dealt him a good beating, while they accused him of theft.
“I just see a man push he face in from me back door…he didn’t even show me a badge or nothing…and he asking me if I know Romel and weh de laptop deh,” the defendant told the court. He added that the police officers had no form of identification and they were dressed in civilian clothes.
The defendant further accused the lawmen of commanding him to sit on the floor while they ransacked his house during a search. He said a knife was found which one of the men claimed ownership of.
Caesar further related that the individual who accused him of break and enter pounced on him from behind, grabbed his neck and choked him while the others began to send punches to his stomach and ribs.
He also told the court that he did not attempt to escape from the police but after the men tore down his clothes line and began to use the rope to bind him without an explanation, he tried to resist being tied up, thus he bit one of the police officers’ thumb.
Further, the defendant said that during the commotion, he fell to the ground where he further bit the foot of another policeman. “I ketch a bite pon he finger and one pon de other one foot,” Caesar said.
After listening to him, the magistrate asked Caesar if he had broken and entered the property of Hunt, which he denied. She then recorded a not guilty plea on his behalf.
“Is a man give me the thing fu sell…,” Caesar added. “I didn’t know was thiefing thing…and the police come to me house,” Caesar argued. He explained that the item which was given to him by a man was sold to another by the name of Romel. It was Romel who implicated him in the matter, the defendant stated.
Bail was refused and Caesar is expected to appear at the Matthews Ridge Magistrate’s Court on August 10.
