The seven persons accused of the $7M Bel Air Gardens robbery were yesterday further remanded to prison by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
The lawyers representing Chandraradha Rampersaud, Shawn Hinds, Jermaine Mitchell, Rabindranaught Seemangal, Aubrey Simon, Rayon Jones and Hardat Kumar renewed their applications for bail when their clients made their second appearance at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. But all bail applications were denied by the acting Chief Magistrate, who cited the serious nature of the offence.
They were further remanded until September 8, which was set for reports and fixtures and advice on the application of the Administration of Justice Act (AJA).
The allegation against the accused is that on July 12, at Bel Air Gardens, being armed with a gun, they robbed Annie Ramsood of GYD$1.4M and US$29,000 (equivalent to GYD $5.8M), totalling GYD$7.2M.
Additionally, being armed with a gun, they were all further accused of robbing Ramsood of a blackberry cell phone and a quantity of cash, totalling $427,000. The jointly-charged defendants were not required to plead to the two indictable charges of the armed robbery.
In addition, Mitchell, Simon, Hinds and Seemangal were arraigned for having in their possession eight rounds of 9mm ammunition and one 9mm pistol without being the holders of firearm and ammunition licenses in force at the time. The jointly-charged quartet has denied these charges.
Finally, a lone Simon is also accused of attaching a false number plate to a vehicle. Simon denied that on July 12 he had a false ID number plate, being PKK 3700, on a motor vehicle, knowing same to be false.
Rampersaud, 50, is a domestic worker and she resides at Lot 8 Pigeon Island, East Coast Demerara; Hinds, 40, is a former policeman and taxi driver and he resides at Lot 552 East Ruimveldt; Mitchell, 20, a carpenter, resides at Lot 2115 North East La Penitence; Seemangal, 20, resides at Lot 100 Shell Road, Kitty; Simon, 21, is a final year student of the University of Guyana and resides at Lot 1414 Princess Street Lodge; Jones, 19, lives at Lot 7 Hardina Street, Werk-en-Rust; and Kumar, 30, lives at Lot 23 Owen Street, Kitty.
