MILTON Van Lewin, allegedly nabbed in a Mount Sinai, West Canje Berbice home with a Taurus pistol and ten matching rounds of ammunition earlier this week, has been refused bail when he appeared before Albion Magistrate Marissa Mithelholzer on Friday, and has been remanded to prison.The 27-year-old chainsaw operator of Sand Hills, Berbice River pleaded not guilty to two separate summary charges of being in possession of a firearm and ammunition respectively without having the relevant licences. He will, on December 5, return to the New Amsterdam Magistrates’ Courts for report and fixture of his matter.

Defence Lawyer Horatio Edmondson has said his client was a mere visitor to the home where the items were found — where convicted criminal Raymond La Fleur lived. According to Edmondson, his client had merely visited the home of La Fleur on the night of November 14, and was awakened by the police, who enquired about the owner.

However, Edmondson offered, Van Lewin would submit himself to the conditions of the court with respect to bail.

But citing legal authorities while conceding that another person had occupied the residence, Inspector Orin Joseph said that when the defendant was contacted on the day in question, he was asked to point out which part of the house he had occupied, and he took policemen to the bedroom where the weapon and matching rounds of ammunition were found.

The magistrate refused Van Lewin bail after he could not give proper details of his place of residence, although he had told the court that he worked at Abary Creek, and the New Amsterdam Court was closer to his home.

Van Lewin was arrested on Tuesday after police had gone to Mount Sinai following a report of larceny of goats. Rondel Marks, also known as Romel Hoppie, was fatally shot by police on that fateful morning.