Six held at Supply roadblock charged with attempted robbery

The six men held at a roadblock after the attempted robbery of a poultry farmer at Supply, East Bank Demerara, were yesterday charged with the crime.

Steve Hercules, a taxi driver; Mark Prince, 39, a taxi driver of Lot 22 La Parfaite Harmonie; Nabadingi Gobin, 34, a trader of Charlotte Street, Georgetown; Renhart Khan, 31, a fish vendor of Cooper Street, Albouystown; Edward Skeete, 30, a trader of Independence Boulevard, Albouystown, and Mervin Blackman, 27, a fish vendor of Lot 89 Daisy Street, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, were read a joint charge when they were brought before Magistrate Sunil Scarce, at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.

The charge stated that while armed with guns, the six men attempted to rob Michael Chang Yuen on April 10th, at Supply Village.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Attorney George Thomas, who represented the men, made a bail application on their behalf.

Police Prosecutor Adduni Inniss, however, objected to bail being granted to the men.

Magistrate Scarce subsequently denied bail to the men and remanded them to prison.

The matter is expected to be called again on May 10th.

The six men were arrested in a stolen car along the Grove Public Road after a roadblock was erected following a report of an attempt to rob Yuen, a Supply poultry farmer.

On Tuesday, the six men were read four joint charges for the unlawful possession of firearms and four joint charges for the unlawful possession of ammunition.

They were charged with unlawfully having two 9 mm Glock pistols, a .32 Taurus pistol, and a 9 mm Berretta pistol on April 10th, at the Grove Public Road, East Bank Demerara, without being the holders of firearm licences.

They were also charged with three counts of having unlawful possession of 11 live 9mm rounds of ammunition and another count of having unlawful possession of six live .32 rounds of ammunition, all without being the holders of licensed firearms.

Hercules pleaded guilty to all of the charges and was sentenced to eight years in jail for the offences.

Hercules was also read a separate charge which stated that on April 10th, at Grove Public Road, he fraudulently inscribed identification number HC 4543 on a silver grey Premio, which was registered as PVV 6204.

The remaining five accused were also charged with conspiring with Hercules to change identification mark or number PVV 6204 to HC 4543 on April 10th, at Grove Public Road.

Hercules was also charged on Wednesday with the theft of the Premio, valued at $3,600,000, and other articles in an armed attack on Sean Liverpool in March this year. He pleaded not guilty.

Additionally, Khan was charged on Tuesday with an over $28 million robbery, which was committed at Craig, East Bank Demerara, in May last year. He pleaded not guilty as well.