THREE men, charged with robbery under arms, were refused bail by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Monday. Darien Best, 19, a former employee of Church’s Chicken; Morris Gibson, 21, employee of Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) and 20-year-old Joel Mendonca (no addresses given), all pleaded not guilty to the charges, one of which said, on January 24, at Robb Street, Georgetown, being together armed with a gun, robbed Mohanlall Narine of a quantity of cellular phones, valued $8.19M, property of Golyn and Sons.
The trio also denied that, under the same circumstances, they robbed Narine of one Samsung Galaxy cellular phone and a gold and diamond ring together valued $630,000.
Police Inspector Michael Grant, prosecuting, said two of them, Gibson and Mendonca, pretending to be customers, while Best walk in with a gun, pointed it to Narine and demanded the articles mentioned in the particulars of offence. They put the items in a haversack and made good their escape in a car that was waiting at Robb and King Streets.
The prosecutor said ranks, acting on information went to Eccles and found Best and Gibson and Best had the same haversack containing the booty in his possession.
Defence Counsel, Lyndon Amsterdam, for Gibson, said his client did not go to purchase a cellular phone but a fan.
The lawyer said Best had the gun and questioned whether Gibson’s presence at the scene should make him an accomplice.
The prosecutor still maintained his objection to bail and based it on the seriousness and prevalence of the crime and the case was put off to February 29.