Three persons were yesterday charged with the murder of a security guard during the multi-million dollar armed heist in Lethem last weekend.
Alvin Kissoon, Calvin King and Theresa Lovell (no addresses given), who were allegedly held by police with the stolen cash, were refused bail and remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on the capital charge. They were not required to plead to the charge when it was read to them at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that on January 18, at Lethem, they murdered John Christopher during a robbery at the Lethem Post Office.
Police Prosecutor Kerry Bostwick said that between January 18 and 19, the three accused entered the post office and attacked two security guards who were on duty, broke into five safes and stole over $9.8M before escaping.
Bostwick noted that during the robbery, they tied up the two guards and proceeded to beat them. One of the guards subsequently died.
The prosecutor told the court that an investigation was launched and the three accused were intercepted with the cash, a quantity of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) phone cards and two pay slips.
The accused were subsequently remanded until March 5, when the case is to be heard at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court.
Police had said that the three suspects were held on Saturday at a Mabura checkpoint, where their car was stopped and searched and cash was found hidden under the rear seat. The interception occurred about 12 hours after the robbery happened.
Police, who initially identified the dead guard as “John Friday,” had said pieces of cloth were stuffed into his mouth after he was tied up by the robbers.
The other watchman, Rudolph Bernard, 62, who was chopped in the head, was admitted as a patient of the Lethem Hospital.
He was not rescued until Saturday morning.
Bernard had told Stabroek News that he was doing checks at the work site when he heard noise and what appeared to be persons fighting outside, not knowing it was his colleague Friday, who was being attacked by the bandits.
He did not go to see where the noise was coming from but when he returned to his post, he heard someone pelting a tractor that was parked in the compound. He went to investigate and it was then that the bandits pounced upon him.
He said the men started to beat him and he tried to fight them off but he could not. His attackers tied his hands and feet and they cut his shirt and stuffed it in his mouth. “One of them put me on his shoulder and carry me to a room inside. I try to drag myself to the door but my foot was tie,” he recalled, while adding that he did not know his head was burst until he saw blood coming from it while he was in the room.
When he was certain the bandits had left, he began to kick and scream for help but no one came to his aid, he said.
According to Bernard, he had to lie in the room tied until morning, when he heard a woman calling for them followed by screams. The police were then summoned and they went into the building and rescued him.
