A Sophia man, who allegedly robbed another man of his jewellery and money while armed with a cutlass, was granted bail yesterday after his accuser indicated that he was approached to accept compensation and drop his complaint.
Denzel George, a 23-year-old mason of Sophia, denied the charge, which alleges that on December 9th, 2019, at South Sophia, while being armed with a cutlass, he robbed Akeem Hodge of a gold chain, valued $60,000, a gold band valued $40,000, and $30,000 in cash.
The charge was read by Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court Three.
The prosecutor objected to bail being granted to the defendant, citing the prevalence of the offence and the fact that Hodge positively identified George as one of the men who committed the crime. He revealed that George was in the company of several others when they robbed Hodge around 7.35 pm on Sunday night.
The prosecutor added that before relieving Hodge of the articles mentioned, George allegedly hit him about his body with the cutlass several times.
Hodge then indicated to the magistrate that he no longer wished to proceed with the case and was willing to accept compensation from George’s family, who had approached him earlier and told him that they were willing to pay him the money.
The magistrate asked the prosecutor if he was still willing to prosecute the matter in light of what Hodge had said. Citing the seriousness of the offence, the prosecutor said that he would but later changed his mind and said that he would have to seek his superiors’ advice before saying whether or not they would proceed with the matter. As a result, he requested an adjournment.
The magistrate adjourned the matter until January 13th and granted George bail in the sum of $50,000. She told him to report to the Prashad Nagar Police outpost every Friday at 7 am.
