A man and a woman charged with carjacking a taxi driver at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, where they were allegedly caught after other operators foiled their getaway, were yesterday remanded to prison.
Robert Beckles and Sharda Thomas appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly, who read the charge that on October 26, at Diamond, armed with a gun, they robbed Lakeram Budburgh of a $3 million Premio, a $15,000 Blu phone and $10,000.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Police Prosecutor Bharat Mangru stated that on the day in question, Beckles and Thomas had hired a King of Diamond Taxi Service vehicle to go to 14th Street, Diamond.
When they arrived at the location, the taxi driver was asked to turn the car around, Mangru said, before adding that after exiting the vehicle Beckles placed a gun to Budburgh’s head and relieved him of the items mentioned in the charge.
As the defendants escaped with the car, Budburgh managed to borrow a phone and made contact with the taxi service’s base and alerted them to the robbery. Mangru added that this led to other taxi drivers of the service setting up a roadblock, which the defendants allegedly evaded by driving on the parapet. This resulted in a chase, which ended when the defendants crashed at the Friendship area.
Subsequent to the crash, Thomas was unable to get out of the car and though Beckles escaped, he was later captured with the aid of the police.
The defendants were later identified by Budburgh.
It was also noted by the prosecution that Beckles has several other matters currently in the East Bank magisterial district.
Magistrate Daly subsequently remanded both defendants and adjourned the matter to December 5.
