Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson sentenced a man who admitted robbing a Canadian national of his bag to a two-year jail term while another man charged with robbing another Canadian national was remanded to prison.
Twenty-two-year-old Dexter Hunte pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery when he on Monday appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. He admitted that on Thursday he robbed Robert Cochran of a bag containing a Canadian passport and several pieces of clothing, totalling $55,000.
However, Shawn Gibson also known as Junior Warde, 33, of North Ruimveldt pleaded not guilty to the charge of simple larceny when it was read to him in court. He denied stealing a bag containing a Canadian passport, a quantity of cash and several other items, totalling $105,000, property of Lawrence Plotinknoff, on Thursday.
Prosecutor Munilall Seetaram told the court that on the said day Cochran, Plotinknoff and another friend were drinking at a bar in Stabroek Market when Hunte and two others entered the same bar. He said one of the men arrived armed with a cutlass and started to bang it on the table where Cochran and his friends were sitting. Hunte then snatched Cochran’s bag containing the items mentioned in the charge and ran out of the shop in an eastern direction on Brickdam.
Cochran, Plotinknoff and the other friend gave chase and alerted a policeman who was in the area at the time. Hunte was later apprehended.
While the men were chasing after Hunte, Gibson said, he saw two men fighting over Plotinknoff’s bag that was left behind. He said he only took the passport and had later sold it for $1,000 to a man on Regent Street. He said he had recovered Plotinknoff’s passport a short while after he was arrested.
Hunte pleaded for mercy telling the court he was a father of four.
Gibson, in his plea, pointed out to the magistrate that Plotinknoff had gotten back his passport.
Hunte was jailed for two years while Gibson was ordered to appear in court again on May 25.
