One of the men implicated in the kidnapping of accountant Andre Barnes last Friday, was charged and remanded to prison yesterday.
Renaldo Marques, 24, of Lot 54 Louisa Row, Werk-en-Rust, was not required to plead to the indictable charges of kidnapping and giving false information to the police, when acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson read them to him at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
It is alleged that on March 12, Marques abducted Barnes, of Supply, East Bank Demerara, with intent to hold him for a $50M ransom. It is also alleged that on the same day Marques gave false information to a police corporal so that he would not charge him with abduction.
Prosecutor Stephen Telford stated that Marques is a known character to the police. He objected to Marques’ bail application, and requested that a date be set for a report on the matter since legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions is to be sought. The magistrate ordered that bail be refused for Marques and that he make another court appearance on April 19.
Meanwhile, Marques was also separately charged yesterday with possession of a firearm and ammunition. He pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.
He denied that on the same day of the abduction, at North Ruimveldt, he had a Jennings 9mm pistol and 10 live rounds of ammunition in his possession, without being the owner of a firearm licence in force at the time. Marques, who was unrepresented in both cases, stood in the docks silently as the charges were read to him.
Reports are that Barnes was abducted from outside his girlfriend’s home by three masked men, one of whom was armed with a gun. The men allegedly demanded Barnes’ girlfriend get out of Barnes’ car.
The men later drove away with Barnes but soon after changed to another vehicle, which they used to transport Barnes to the West Ruimveldt home that he was later found in by anti-crime agents of the Tactical Services Unit and other officers.
They had promptly tackled the matter after Barnes’ mother reported the incident to them, after the abductors had demanded that her family pay a ransom of $50M in six hours for the safe return of Barnes.