AFABAYO Yakhana, 26, of 3 Hadfield Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown, is charged for stealing a Samsung Galaxy S5 Smartphone valued $130,000, property of Brandon MacDonald on August 18 at WortmanvilleThe fate of the Hadfield Street mason is to be determined by the decision of Magistrate Ann McLennan on Friday.
According to reports, MacDonald had parked his motorcycle outside a shop and left his cellphone and other items on his bike and went inside to make a quick purchase, but upon returning his phone was discovered missing. Yakhana was the only other person who was observed around the shop at that time.
On his first court appearance on August 21, Yakhana pleaded not guilty to the charge and was placed on $75,000 bail.
Yakhana yesterday led his defence and was called into the witness box to give his sworn testimony. According to him on the day in question, he had just disembarked a Route 40 bus and was standing in front of a shop in Kitty with his grocery bag from the market. He said that because of the load he left the bag in the shop and went to a nearby taxi base to hire a taxi and returned with the car and went home.
“When I went back to the shop next morning they said I thief some Samsung phone and then the police arrest and search me but they ain’t find no phone,” Yakhana said. He said further that he was taken to the police station and charged.
According to him, he would normally do odd jobs for the shop owner and that was the reason he was there.
The mason then called the taxi driver Dexter Millington who drove him home as a witness. According to Millington, he was approached by the accused on August 18 for the hire of his services but requested that he be dropped by the shop to pick up his bag before heading to his destination. The taxi driver said that it took Yakhana about 6-7 minutes to retrieve the bag.