– sentenced to 21 years in prison
At the Albion Court yesterday, Magistrate Chandra Sohan sentenced three men to 21 years imprisonment each after they pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery under arms and possession of firearm and ammunition. However, since two of the sentences will run concurrently, the defendants will only serve eight years in jail each.
The court heard that on April 21, Gavin Foster, 25, of 28 Ujaama Housing Scheme, LBI, East Coast Demerara; Wilfred Sandy, 26 of Number 51 Village and Wayne Winter, 19 of 61 Albert Street Number 71 Village, Corentyne robbed Kampta Rambarose of $10,000.
They also robbed Azad Taki of $167,000 and Chandishwar Permaul of $40,000 along with Digicel phone cards worth $8,000 and GT&T phone cards valued $5,000, belonging to Taki.
Police Chief Prosecutor, ‘B’ Division, Inspector Fazil Karimbaksh told the court that the men hired a blue 192 Carina car, PKK 75 from Raj Taxi Service & Car Rental and used it to commit the robberies. They entered a shop belonging to Rambarose at Number 48 Village around 6.30 pm, stuck him and his wife up, removed the cash from a drawer and escaped.
Around 7.45 pm the men stopped at A. Taki Filling Station & Variety Store and robbed the pump attendant, Permaul during which there was a scuffle. Meantime, one of them proceeded to the snackette where Taki was and stuck him up with a gun while demanding the cash.
Karimbaksh said police received reports of the robbery and set up a roadblock in front of the Albion Police Station. The men were stopped and searched and found with the stolen articles as well as a .38 snub-nose revolver and four live rounds of ammunition.
The defendants told the magistrate that they were sorry for their actions while Foster explained that he had gone to Berbice to “sport” and he ran out of money and seized the opportunity to commit the robberies. He also told the court that he had purchased the firearm for $15,000 from a junkie in Georgetown.
Before handing down the sentence, Magistrate Sohan reprimanded the men and told them that “it is a shame” what they have done and that it was not a mistake.
He reminded them that it was not one but two robberies they had committed “one after the other.” He urged them to “take time to consider what you have done and when you are released you would not continue…”
They were then sentenced to five years for each of the three robberies and three years for the possession of firearm. These sentences will run concurrently and a three-year sentence for the possession of ammunition will run consecutively.
