Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry yesterday decided to continue with the case of Luis Hopkinson, a convict accused of armed robbery, after he had earlier claimed that he was incarcerated at the time the offence was committed.
Initially the magistrate had ordered an investigation into the claim of the accused and subsequently the prosecution made available documents and statements to verify that on the date of the robbery Hopkinson was actually out of police custody due to a misunderstanding by officers.
It was alleged that on December 24, 2011 in Georgetown, being armed with a dangerous weapon, the accused robbed one Mr. Deochand of jewellery and a cell phone, totaling $805,000 in value.
Superintendent of Prisons Phillip Bandoo yesterday testified from documents that the accused had another matter pending in December last year and was taken to the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court on December 22 and the charge was dismissed there.
The accused was then released from police custody as it was unknown to the officer that the man was still serving a three-year sentence so he was out of police custody up to December 28, 2011, Bandoo stated.
The magistrate then said that there was no rush in hearing the case since he was already on remand. The trial will commence at a later date.
The defendant had first pleaded not guilty to the armed robbery charge, explaining that he is currently serving a three-year sentence in prison so it is impossible for him to be the person who committed the crime.
He said that he has been incarcerated since September 22, 2010 so he didn’t know what was going on.
