STEVEN Hercules, one of six men who the police arrested following a failed robbery attempt on the East Bank of Demerara last week, was on Wednesday hauled before the court to answer to a carjacking charge.

On Tuesday, Hercules, a taxi driver, was jailed for eight years after he confessed to arms and ammunition charges, one week after he and five other men were stopped by the police at a roadblock.

Hercules appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and denied that on March 25, 2018 at Princes Street, while being armed with a gun, he stole a motorcar along with other items amounting to $3.7M, property of Shawn Liverpool. He was remanded to prison until April 30.
Last Tuesday night, the men made a failed robbery attempt at the home of a Chinese national prior to their arrest at the roadblock.

Hercules, along with Nabidigi Gobin, 33, of Charlotte Street, Bourda; Reynard Khan, 31, of Cooper Street, Albouystown; Mark Prince, 39, of Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara; Edward Skeete, 30 of Independence Boulevard; and Marvin Blackman, 27, of South Ruimveldt, made their appearance before Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.

The six men were jointly charged with having two 9MM Glock pistols along with 22 live rounds, one Beretta pistol with 11 live rounds, and a .32 Taurus pistol with six live rounds in their possession on April 10 at the Grove Public Road, E.B.D. without being holders of firearm licences.
Hercules confessed to the charges while the other defendants denied the allegations. He was charged separately for using a fake number plate, HC 4543, on registered motor vehicle, PVV 6204. He also confessed that he was paid $50,000 to transport a bag with firearms to Georgetown.

Hercules told the court on Tuesday that he picked up the other defendants, whom he claimed he had never met before, along his journey so as not to raise suspicion to police, since he wanted the car to look like a regular taxi. Following his guilty plea on Tuesday, Hercules was sentenced to eight years in jail and fined $800,000 for the arms and ammunition charges.