A 33-year-old carpenter, who allegedly robbed a man of $1 million in phone cards at gunpoint, was remanded to prison yesterday when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Mark Herbert of Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery under arms.
It is alleged that on April 6, Herbert used a gun to rob Clyde Jaikissoon of a quantity of phone cards worth $1 million, property of Rampertab Etwaria.
Speaking in court yesterday, Herbert said: “De police try fuh beat me up fuh me own money.”
He said that on the day in question, “I went going on Broad Street fuh buy a joint,” when a man approached him and asked him where he could purchase a ‘joint’. However, he said, at the same time he saw the police approaching and the other man dropped the phone cards on the road.
“I de had $42,000 in meh pocket. But deh leh de man dat de tief de phone cards ride away,” Herbert told the court.
However, the prosecution objected to Herbert’s bail application, stating that the phone cards were found on the road next to where he was standing.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that Herbert be remanded to prison and transferred the case to Court Five for April 23.