A man was remanded to prison when he appeared in court before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Tuesday charged with break and enter and larceny and armed robbery at a traffic light.
Anferry Cantzlaar, who was represented by Attorney Paul Fung-a-Fat, pleaded not guilty to both charges read to him by the magistrate.
It was alleged that between March 19 and 20, the defendant broke and entered the home of Rachlyn Morgan in West Ruimveldt and stole a BlackBerry phone worth $40,000 and a Jialing motorcycle worth $180,000, amounting to a total of $220,000. The court was told that Morgan secured her home on the night of March 19 and went to bed. At approximately 6 am the next day she awoke to discover that the items were missing. Morgan further observed that her eastern door was open. The matter was then reported to the police.
Acting on information the police visited a house in East Ruimveldt where the motorbike was discovered. The police also stated that a witness came forward and related that Cantzlaar had attempted to sell him the stolen motorbike. According to the court Cantzlaar at the time of the arrest orally confessed to the crime. However, the defendant vehemently denied the claim in front of the magistrate.
It was also alleged that on February 9, the defendant stole a total of $45,000 which included a BlackBerry Curve valued at $24,000, a BMX bicycle valued at $12,000 and a silver chain valued at $9,000 from Azim Baksh. It was related that Baksh was riding east along Mandela Ave when he stopped at the traffic light. As he was waiting for it to change, the defendant allegedly approached him with a cutlass, placed it to his head and relieved him of the aforementioned articles after which the defendant fled the scene. The matter was then reported at which point the claimant identified the defendant as he was known to him. When questioned by the magistrate, the accused admitted to being charged before under similar circumstances but said he was never convicted.
Prosecutor Michael Grant said he believed that Cantzlaar was previously convicted, but he was unable to verify the conviction at the time. Grant also made mention that Cantzlaar is to reappear in court on March 28, for other charges to be read to him.
Cantzlaar was remanded to prison and April 11 was the date set for continuation of the current case.
