A businessman was yesterday charged with defrauding a woman of over $500,000 by a selling her a car for which he still owed payment.
The charge against Safraz Bacchus, 36, states that on May 17th, at Charlotte and King streets, with intent to defraud, he obtained from Yolanda Persaud $550,000 cash by falsely pretending he was in a position to sell motorcar PKK 8727, knowing same to be false.
Bacchus pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Police Prosecutor Quinn Harris made no objections to bail being granted. The court heard that Bacchus advertised the sale of the car on Facebook for $800,000 and Persaud, who knows him, expressed her interest in purchasing it. They then had a meeting where the complainant test drove the motorcar and again stated she wanted to purchase the car. On the day in question, they met at the location mentioned in the charge and she gave him $550,000 and collected the car keys from Bacchus.
Later in the same month, the complainant’s friend was driving the car when he was stopped by Vishnu Boodram, who claimed the vehicle belonged to him. Boodram directed the friend to drive to the police station, where Persaud was contacted and told by Boodram that he is the owner of the car and the defendant purchased the vehicle from him but did not pay the entire amount.
Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman granted Bacchus his release on $300,000 bail and adjourned the matter until November 12th.
