A man was asked to post $80,000 bail last Friday after he denied using a fraudulent licence plate on a car.
Nailasie Johnson, 22, of Lot 68 Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara, appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, who read him the charge of using an imitation of an identity mark.
It is alleged that on November 30, 2019, on Regent Street, Johnson was in a dark blue 212 car, bearing the licence plate number PYY 1220. A man driving a similar vehicle with the same licence plate noticed Johnson’s vehicle and alerted a police officer. Johnson was arrested as a result.
Johnson told the court that he had purchased the car from a man, who was supposed to look after all of the paperwork for the vehicle. Johnson said that he wanted the car to look fresh, so he changed the original colour of the vehicle and changed the licence plate number.
Police prosecutor Quinn Harris told the court that the original colour of the car was yellow and its number plate was HB 928.
He emphasised that it was possible that the car was stolen and sprayed over to prevent the true owner from recovering it. He said a further investigation will be done to verify if the car was indeed stolen or not.
Harris also informed the magistrate that the penalty for the offence is two years’ imprisonment and a $1 million fine. He went on to state that it is what is usually done when criminals want to carry out robberies or even executions.
In Johnson’s closing plea for bail, he told Magistrate Daly that the man whom he purchased the car from had been owed a sum of $187,000 by the original owner of the car, who handed over the vehicle as a result.
Johnson was subsequently placed on $80,000 bail and ordered to report to the senior officer at Alberttown Police Station every Monday at 9 am until the completion of his trial.
