Troy Abrams, the surviving accused in last November’s armed attack on America Street moneychangers, was yesterday found guilty of robbing one of the men and he was sentenced to five years in prison.
Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan handed down the sentence at the conclusion of Abrams’ trial in Georgetown.
Abrams, 41, was found guilty and sentenced for robbing moneychanger Ryburn Fraser, while he was acquitted for the robbery of Ossoffo Ward.
He had initially been charged along with Anthony Primo, 30, of West Ruimveldt, with carrying out the attack, during which gunmen on motorbikes descended on Fraser and Ward and robbed them of over $2 million in local and foreign currency on November 3rd, 2015, at America Street.
Primo died in last month’s fire at the Camp Street Prison.
While handing down her decision yesterday, Chief Magistrate McLennan said that the evidence presented by Prosecutor Deniro Jones was enough to convict Abrams on only one charge.
She found that the testimony given by Fraser was compelling, since he identified Abrams.
During testimony, Fraser had told the court that he recognised that it was Abrams who had robbed him, since he had conducted business with him before.
During the identification parade, Fraser had picked him out of a line-up. This bit of testimony, the Chief Magistrate said, was sufficient enough, since Fraser identified the robber based on recognition as he had seen him already. As a result, she found Abrams guilty for robbing Fraser.
However, the magistrate said she found Ward’s testimony in relation to the identification to be too weak to convict Abrams of robbing him. Ward had told the court that under 20 minutes or less he had observed Abrams and had identified him as the man who robbed him based on a scar that he had on his face. The magistrate said that the court found his evidence to be inconsistent, given the fact that the witness had said that Abrams was wearing a rag covering his mouth, where the scar was and the fact that it was too dark to recognise the scar. In circumstances, she found Abrams not guilty of robbing Ward.
Magistrate McLennan said she found the evidence led by the defence to be insufficient and noted that it gave little weight to their case. The defence had told the court that Abrams was at his girlfriend’s house at East Ruimveldt all day and at the time of the robbery they were watching the movie ‘Soul Food.’ Under cross-examination by Prosecutor Jones, Abrams’ girlfriend could not remember the name of the movie, which the court would have found to be important and pertinent to remember.
Moreover, the magistrate noted that there could have been enough time for Abrams to commit the crime and return to his girlfriend’s residence, considering the short distance from America Street.
Magistrate McLennan before sentencing Abrams told him that he was sentenced based on the seriousness of the offence and the need for it to serve as a deterrent for other persons.
