TWO plumbers were on Monday remanded to prison by Sparendaam Magistrate, Zamilla Ally-Seepaul after they were caught red handed robbing a women whom they had trailed from a City bank.Kempton Glenn, 25, of Lot 13, North-East LaPenitence and Robin Holder, 24, of 124 East LaPenitence, Georgetown were charged jointly for two counts of armed robbery and possession of gun and ammunition.

The first charge alleged that on May 19, at Atlantic Village, East Coast Demerara, the duo while being armed with a hand gun, robbed Marlene Brumigin of some $180,000 in cash after trailing her from a City bank.

They also robbed Stacy Ashby of items valuing $180,000 on the said day.

The men were also charged for having a .32 pistol with nine matching rounds in their possession without being the holder of a firearm licence.

The duo denied all the charges, while their lawyer Moti Singh requested that the men be released on reasonable bail, since they were badly beaten and needed medical attention.

According to Singh, his clients were returning home from work in Plaisance on their motor cycles when confronted by a van load of police officers.

The lawyer further pointed out that the defendants were badly beaten by persons and were even knocked down by a motor vehicle.
However, according to Lance Corporal David Goodridge, the two men were caught red-handed in the act of the crime and had trailed Brumigin from the bank to her home.

Goodridge noted that Holder had been previously charged for armed robbery and strongly opposed to the men being granted bail.

The prosecution objected to bail on the grounds of witness tampering, the possibility that if the men are granted bail they might commit more robberies.

The court heard that the two accused are wanted in Georgetown for similar offences and ballistics tests are currently being done on the weapon they had in possession.

Bail was refused and the men were remanded until June 27.

On May 19, about 14:00 hours, Brumigin was about to enter her home after transacting business at a bank in Georgetown, when she was attacked and held at gunpoint by the two men, one of whom was armed with a handgun. The other was on a CG motorcycle.

The woman raised an alarm, but the men took away a bag with a sum of cash as the men were about to escape, residents who responded to the alarm, including two off-duty policemen, confronted the perpetrators and snatched away the stolen bag with the money.

The two bandits still tried to ride away but were stopped in their tracks when a motorist drove into them, sending them crashing to the ground.

A .32 Taurus pistol with nine rounds was recovered by the police, who have also seized the motor cycle.