Just days after being charged with receiving stolen property, Kerry Dick was yesterday back before a city court on an escaping custody charge.
Dick, 21, of 15 Pike Street, Sophia was charged on Friday for receiving a stolen electrical power saw from Wazim Ferreira, who last week admitted to stealing the machine from his uncle.
Dick had pleaded guilty with explanation but had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf after the court heard his version of the events.
The accused said that Ferreira had come to his house with complaints that he was hungry and so he gave him $1,000 to purchase food. He related that when Ferreira left the house, he left a power saw behind.
According to the defendant, he left home and when he returned two days later, he received information that police had been looking for him in relation to a matter of receiving stolen property from Ferreira. He said he later returned the power saw to the man’s uncle.
Dick was placed on $5,000 bail and the matter was adjourned to January 26 and transferred to court 11.
When the defendant appeared in court yesterday, it was alleged that he, on November 18, 2015, at the Alberttown Police Station, had escaped lawful custody pending investigations into a criminal charge against him for smoking cannabis.
The second charge against him stated simply that on November 17, at Georgetown, he smoked cannabis. The accused denied both allegations.
Dick told the court that last Wednesday he was picked up by a police officer who took him to the Prashad Nagar Police Station and informed him that he was being charged with receiving stolen articles. He added that less than 24 hours after he was placed on bail, the officer returned and picked him up on what he said was a charge for smoking cannabis.
The defendant also alleged that the rank threatened to kill him if he ever saw him on the streets.
The Chief Magistrate advised the accused to report any threats to the Police Complaints Authority and placed him on $15,000 bail, as no objections were made by the prosecution.
The matter was transferred to the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court 10, where it is also scheduled to be recalled on January 26.
Last Wednesday, Ferreira was charged with breaking into his uncle’s home and stealing a sanding machine and a power saw, valued at $65,000 each. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $50,000 with an alternative of six months in prison.
That same day, Robert Feneiro, 65, was charged with receiving the sanding machine Ferreira admitted to stealing. Feneiro pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $35,000 by the court with an alternative of three months in prison.
