Five taxi drivers were yesterday charged over a botched attempt to steal a bag of money from a parked car on Monday.
It is alleged that Rolex Johnson, 37, of Lot 11 Grove, East Bank Demerara; Leroy Lloyd, 25, of Lot 12 James and Curtis streets Albouystown; Kurt Kendall, 27, of Lot 474 Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara; Collin Goodridge, 47, of Mahaicony and Chetram Sooknandan, 35, of Grove Squatting Area attempted to steal from a vehicle belonging to Navindra Latchman on September 22, at Church Street.
All five men denied the charge when it was read to them by Magistrate Ann McLennan.
It is the prosecution’s case that Latchman had parked his vehicle, bearing registration GMM 575, on Church Street in front of an insurance agency. At the time, he had a bag containing an undisclosed amount of money having made a withdrawal from a bank.
According to Police Prosecutor Sergeant Gordon Mansfield, when Latchman entered the business on Church Street, Johnson was seen attempting to enter the vehicle, while Lloyd, Kendall and Goodridge were seen standing in the vicinity of the vehicle and Sooknandan was in a car waiting.
Mansfield told the court that the men were apprehended by a police patrol in the area at the time. The matter was then reported and the five men were slapped with a simple larceny charge.
Mansfield had no objections to bail but requested that the five men be ordered by the court to report to the Brickdam Police Station every Friday at 4 pm and that bail be set at a substantial amount.
Subsequently, the magistrate granted each defendant $160,000 bail and adjourned the matter to October 28 for report and fixture for trial.
