Jermain Daly and Akeem Charles, who were charged with robbing two fellow minibus passengers, will be spending the next 56 months in prison after being found guilty.
The sentence was handed down to the men by Magistrate Judy Latchman in a city court, where they were on trial for two counts of robbery with aggravation.
It was alleged that on May 25, in a route 42 minibus on the Agricola Public Road, Daly, 22, and Charles, 20, robbed Bibi Razia of $40,000 worth of items and Bibi Khan of a gold chain valued $80,000. It was reported that they had robbed the two women as they disembarked the minibus they were travelling in.
Magistrate Latchman said she believed beyond a reasonable doubt that Daly and Charles were indeed present in the bus on the day the robberies occurred and that the two had feloniously appropriated items from Razia and Khan.
The magistrate added that considering the seriousness of the crime and the fact that it was calculated as well as the fact that the men had used violence in the process, she had no choice but to be stern in her sentencing.
The youths were represented by attorney Adrian Thompson.
The trial had seen testimonies from both victims as well as the driver of the bus. All three individuals had positively identified the defendants and told the court that they had the chance to view their faces fully.
Shazim Deane, the driver of the bus, revealed that on the day of the attack, the two men had asked to be let off the bus at the Flower Mill at Agricola Public Road. Charles then disembarked the bus, leaving Daly in the back seat. Daly, he said, started cuffing Bibi Khan in the face before snatched her chain. After gaining possession of her chain, he added, Daly tried to snatch her bag but the woman held on tightly. Charles, meanwhile, snatched the bag from Bibi Razia, who was seated behind the conductor.
The two men then ran through an alleyway, which made for a quick escape, except for the fact that they were later spotted by the driver of the very bus they had robbed. Deane, who saw the men riding a bicycle heading to the Houston Industrial Site, pointed them out to patrols that were passing at the time, leading to their arrest.
In their search, police had recovered $14,520 as well as Khan’s gold chain in Charles’ front pocket, while Razia’s bag was recovered on the Agricola Public Road.
