Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday remanded to prison two men accused of breaking into a woman’s car and stealing a computer projector valued $400,000.
Richard Craignan and Eyan Thompson both pleaded not guilty to the charge of simple larceny when they appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
According to the facts of the case on July 9, the duo broke into Annette Ferguson’s car and stole the item, which is the property of USAID. Ferguson, a Field Support Officer at USAID said the projector was stolen from the backseat of her car while it was parked in front of her church.
She told the court that she only became aware that the item was missing when a friend informed her that she had seen two men fitting Craignan’s and Thompson’s description, drive up in a yellow car, break into her car and drive off with the projector which was in a black holding case.
She told the court that the friend had even furnished her with the licence plate number for the yellow car which she learnt was attached to a local taxi service. The woman told the court that she made a police report and soon after police informed her that the men had been found at Broad Street, Charlestown in the same car with the item in the backseat.
In his defence, Thompson said he was at Craignan’s home located in Broad Street, when several men came, took them to a garage and dealt them a severe beating before taking them to the police station where they were later charged. He said they were initially informed that they were being charged with stealing a laptop computer but afterwards were told that it was a projector.
Craignan then told the court that he had been charged over 20 times for matters of this nature and that every time he is released on bail, he is dragged back to court for another crime that he allegedly committed.
In her submission Prosecutor Alexis David Hossanah objected to bail on the grounds of the prevalence of the offence. She also told the court that Craignan poses a flight risk since he has matters of a similar nature pending against him in court.
The duo was ordered to appear in Court Two on September 2.