Five persons yesterday appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court for allegedly attempting to break into a Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) ATM machine and were all granted bail in the sum of $150, 000.
Davindra Singh, a 30-year-old technician of Better Hope, East Coast Demerara; Prem Mohabir, 30, of Kitty; Naomi Doobay and her husband Suresh Doobay of Blygezight, East Coast Demerara and Robindranauth Doobay of Bel Air Village, East Coast Demerara pleaded not guilty of the charge of attempting to commit a felony by way of simply larceny when Magistrate Priya Beharry read it to them.
They all denied that they, with intent to defraud, conspired with one another and others, to commit a felony by way of simple larceny between July 28 and August 12 at an ATM machine in Georgetown.
The prosecution stated that GBTI has ATM machines around Guyana and that cameras were inserted in the ceilings of the building that they are placed in.
They said that Singh, Naomi and Mohabir were recorded on those cameras affixing instruments near the ATM machine in order to break into it.
They noted that two of the defendants were caught by the cameras inserting forged ATM cards in the machine.
The matter was reported and a search of the home of Suresh and the others revealed several similar instruments to those that were planted around the machines.
They were all arrested and told of the offence. Vic Puran who represented all of the defendants stated that “assuming that a crime was in contemplation, the mechanics were not in place”.
He said that all his clients were placed on $100, 000 station bail each and that they had reported almost daily to the police station after they were released.
The lawyer then applied for reasonable bail for the defendants.
The prosecution made no objections to the bail applications for the defendants and they were subsequently granted it in the sum of $150, 000 each.
They will return on September 15.