A teacher was yesterday arraigned on armed robbery and unlicensed gun and ammunition possession charges.
Calvin Sergeant, 24, of 41 D’Urban Street, Wortmanville, was remanded to prison when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton, who heard that the accused was positively identified by the victim of the robbery, who chased him down in his car.
It was alleged that on Wednesday, August 15, at Meadowbrook, Georgetown, being together with another armed with a gun, Sergeant robbed Floyd Rawlins of a gold chain valued $200,000.
Sergeant, said to be a physics and chemistry teacher at the Business School, was not required to plead to the indictable charge of robbery-under-arms when it was read to him at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. It was also alleged that on the same day he had in his possession a .38 revolver and five live rounds of .38 ammunition, without licence. To these latter two charges, Sergeant pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution objected to the accused being granted bail, noting the seriousness and prevalence of armed robbery offences and that the unlicensed gun and ammunition were found in Sergeant’s pants’ waist by police after a search was conducted on his person.
Prosecutor Burgett Grant also noted that Sergeant was positively identified by Rawlins after the alleged robbery was committed. She said Rawlins was standing in his girlfriend’s yard when he was attacked by Sergeant, who, in the company of another person, relieved him of his gold chain.
According to Grant, the men then fled on bicycles, but were subsequently pursued by the Rawlins, who drove his car behind them and struck both of them down. The court then heard that Sergeant landed on the front of the vehicle and the chain was found. Grant said that while Sergeant was knocked unconscious, the other man he was with escaped.
But attorney George Thomas, who speared for Sergeant, claimed that at the time of the robbery, his client was a pedestrian in the Meadowbrook area when he was struck unconscious by a car. Sometime later, Thomas said, his client awoke in the East La Penitence Police Station. After regaining consciousness at the station, counsel said that his client was slapped with the charges.
Thomas also alleged that Sergeant was severely beaten by the police while in custody.
As a result of the claim, Sergeant was invited into the well of the court, where the magistrate examine him for marks of violence and noted that there was a laceration to his upper left shoulder. Magistrate Octive-Hamilton, however, said that the court could not speculate about the source of the injury, especially since Thomas said that the man was struck down by a car.
“I do not know if that injury I’m seeing is from the accident the lawyer referred to, or if indeed the accused was beaten by the police,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sergeant said that while he did not have any visible injuries, he was “felling a lot of pain after being slapped, kicked and cuffed by the police.”
Thomas told the court that his client was never in possession of any gun and ammunition, and knew nothing of the charges levelled against him.
In asking for bail, he said Sergeant had no antecedents, posed no risk of flight and had been cooperating with police.
After hearing the submissions on both sides, the magistrate informed Sergeant that he would be remanded to prison.
The case will be called again on September 18 at Court One for reports and fixtures.
