Owner of the Ocean Breeze Hotel, Shameir Mohamed yesterday took the stand as the trial into the July 12, 2011 $7M Bel Air Gardens robbery continued at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that Jermaine Mitchell, Rabindranaught Seemangal, Aubrey Simon, Rayon Jones, Hardat Kumar and Chandraradha Rampersaud on July 12, at Bel Air Gardens, being armed with a gun, robbed Annie Ramsood of $1.4M and US$29,000 (equivalent to $5.8M), totalling $7.2M. Additionally, being armed with a gun, they were all further accused of robbing Ramsood of a BlackBerry smartphone and a quantity of cash valued $427,000. Some of the men were held after allegedly trying to elude police in the hotel compound. Shawn Hinds had also been charged in the case but the charge was dropped on December 12 last year.
In his testimony yesterday, Mohamed related to the court his encounter with Jones, Seemangal and Mitchell, whom he saw exiting a car in his hotel’s compound. He testified about his identifying the men and their later encounter with the police.
Mohamed was called by the prosecution and cross-examined by defence attorneys Omeyana Hamilton and Randolph Kirton. The lawyers challenged the witness’ evidence of having been able to properly identify the defendants to the police.
Mohamed was then re-examined by Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos, who is the special prosecutor in the case.
Kirton represents Jones, while Hardat Kumar is represented by Hamilton.
Prosecution witnesses Kevin Liverpool and Police Sergeant Phillip Bowman were also supposed to testify at yesterday’s hearing. De Santos, however, informed the court that they would not be able to testify as Liverpool was ill and Bowman was at the Providence Magistrates’ Court giving evidence in another matter.
Meanwhile, Seemangal made a request for a further reduction of bail but was denied by the court. The unrepresented accused told the court that his family has only been able to amass close to $300,000. Seemangal was placed on $1M bail on two counts of armed robbery.
When asked by the presiding magistrate for a response on the issue, the prosecution contended that from the evidence presented in the case so far, the defendant is “drowning in the matter as some of the evidence has already shown” and as a result will not return to court.
The magistrate then informed Seemangal that he had been admitted to reasonable bail, given the allegation levelled against him. He is the only one of the three accused who has remained imprisoned since September 28, 2011.
The matter was adjourned to July 5.
