A woman charged with simple larceny and unlawful wounding was yesterday remanded to prison when she appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The allegation is that on March 12 at Georgetown, Denise Hillman stole one shoulder bag, two gold chains and a quantity of documents valued $271,000, property of Lydia Basdeo.
The other charge alleges that on March 16 at Georgetown, Hillman unlawfully and maliciously wounded Sophia Shepherd.
The woman pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to her by the acting chief magistrate.
Prosecutor Stephen Telford in his address to the court said that on March 12, Basdeo was at the Royal Castle Restaurant in the City Mall when the accused accosted her and relieved her of her shoulder bag which contained the other items mentioned in the charge.
The prosecutor said that Hillman was caught on the surveillance cameras located in the mall.
Regarding the wounding charge, the prosecutor said that the accused who is a known shoplifter to Shepherd picked up an item from Shepherd’s store and when asked to pay for the item the defendant refused.
According to Telford, Hillman left the store and later returned with a knife which she used to stab the virtual complainant on her hand.
The prosecutor objected to the woman being granted pre-trial liberty on the grounds that she is a known character for such offences. He added too that Hillman is wanted to answer charges at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court for similar matters and may flee the jurisdiction.
When given a chance to speak, the defendant told the court that she is being “set-up, framed and blackmailed” by the police. The mother of five said the police attempted to “strike a deal” with her and because she refused, the police slapped her with the two charges.
“I am innocent, they just want victimize me,” she exclaimed.
Hillman, who said that she has the ability to read lips because of her military background, told the court that she saw the prosecutor and the officers who instituted the charges saying, “deh gun make sure that I get remand. Deh ain’t want me get bail.”
The accused who said that she was being represented by attorney-at-law Adrian Thompson asked the magistrate to put down her matter until the arrival of her attorney who was not at court at the time the case was called.
The magistrate granted Hillman her request but the attorney never showed up. She was later remanded to prison and was ordered to return to court on September 28 for statements.
