A man charged with damaging a telephone cable belonging to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) yesterday told a court that he was accused of the crime when all he did was stop to pee.
“I was passing to go to the La Penitence Market and I rest my cutlass on the culvert to pee and I see two man coming up to me and dem seh I damage the line. I pull up my pants, I ain’t even get to pee,” Terrence John, 52, told Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, where he was charged with damage to property.
It is alleged that on July 22, at Smyth Street, he unlawfully and maliciously damaged a length of telephone cable, valued at $800,000.
Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt told the court that GT&T personnel while passing along Smyth Street noticed John chopping the cable and reported the matter to a passing police patrol and the man was subsequently arrested.
John, of 113 John Street, Werk-en-Rust, who said his occupation was helping out poor people, initially pleaded guilty to the charge.
However, a not guilty plea was entered for him by the court after he denied chopping the cable. “I ain’t know nothing about the line,” he said.
When asked whether he had any other matters in any other court, the man replied saying that he did not.
Bail was, however, refused by Magistrate Latchman and John was remanded to prison until July 31, when the case will be called at Court 1.
