Donna Paris pleaded not guilty to a simple larceny charge which stated that between February 26 and November 8, she stole a quantity of spare parts and vehicle tires to a total value of $9.4M from Car Care Auto Sales, property of Wilfred Branford.
The matter was transferred to the Providence Magistrate’s Court for November 30.
Paris’ lawyer Paul Fung-a-Fat in his bid to secure reasonable bail for his client stated that Paris was placed on $25,000 station bail subsequent to her alleged implication and arrest in the matter. He said that since then his client has reported regularly to the police station.
He noted that his client is a poor and very sickly woman and this may have led to her being implicated in the matter.
He explained that because of his client’s ill health she would usually sleep on her job site as a security guard at the company and it may have been during this time that the real culprits took advantage by carting off the items mentioned in the charge from the company’s storage bond.
However, Prosecutor Krishnadat Ramana stated that Branford operates a car accessories company on D’Urban Street, Lodge, where he had employed Paris as a caretaker for over four years.
He said that in February Branford transferred Paris from the head office to the company’s storage bond as a trustee and deliverer of tires, spare parts and car accessories.
The prosecutor stated that since then Branford noticed that items from the storage bond had gone missing and so he conducted an inventory on the stocks and discovered that several other items were also missing.
He then reported the matter to the police station and Paris was arrested and later charged.
Ramana noted that during the police investigation Paris had admitted to stealing the items and even took the police to a house in East Ruimveldt where two of the stolen tires were recovered and are currently lodged at Brickdam Police Station.
