Terry Andrew Joseph, accused of being one of the two suspected pirates that eluded capture after attacking fishermen in the Pomeroon River and off the Waini Coast earlier this month, was yesterday arraigned on a charge of armed robbery at sea.
Joseph, 28, said to be a seaman of Lot 6 Farm Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara, was not required to plead to the indictable charge when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
He was remanded to prison after being charged with robbing Shameer Shafiq of personal items, valuing over $14,000, while on sea. The charge was based on the allegation that on September 8, in Essequibo, while armed with a gun, he and others robbed Shafiq of his gold watch, cellular phone and cash.
No details of what transpired on the date in question were presented to the court. However, on September 13, three other men, Richard Mangal, Eon Sampson, and Gary Joseph, were charged with robbing several fishermen, including Shafiq, of over $6 million in a series of pirate attacks that spanned two days.
The three were allegedly held with five boat engines, a quantity of fish glue, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, six cellular phones and a boat that was used during the robberies, after the police launched an operation in the Barima/Waini area. A wanted bulletin was subsequently issued for Terry Joseph, who was said to be one of two men that escaped from police.
Although the three men were charged with multiple robberies, Joseph was only charged with the robbery of Shafiq yesterday. He was remanded after prosecutor Stephen Telford successfully applied to the court for the denial of his pretrial-liberty.
The case was transferred to the Charity Magistrate’s Court, when it is to be called on October 15.
