Shortly after he was remanded on an armed robbery charge, an amputee was on Monday tackled by police officers at the city courthouse after he resisted an escort while insisting that he could not go to jail.
Dennis Johnson, 23, who is a shop owner, was arraigned before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus.
The charge against him states that on May 20, at Caneview Avenue, Georgetown, while in the company of another and while being armed with a knife, he robbed Alwyn DaSilva of a car, HC8838, valued $3, 600,000, and a cellphone valued $4,000.
Johnson denied the charge and asked the magistrate to be allowed the opportunity to tell her what happened.
The man, who is missing his left foot, said that he was arrested by ranks of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and taken to the CID headquarters before he was taken to the Brickdam Police Station and placed on an identification parade. He said that after the parade had ended, he was told that he was being placed on $10,000 station bail.
He then told the Magistrate that he had never seen DaSilva before June 4 while at the police station. He said that at the station the man looked at him before going to a police officer and moments later he was called back to join another ID parade. He said that Da Silva told the police that he had been robbed by him.
The Police Prosecutor, however, explained that DaSilva had hired Johnson to take him to a destination. Upon arrival, the man claims that Johnson held a knife at his throat and he was assisted by an accomplice, who helped relieve him of his car and cellphone. DaSilva had made a report to the police but no arrest was made although the car had been recovered.
According to the prosecutors, on June 4 DaSilva was at the police station for another matter when he noticed Johnson and recognised him from the robbery. He then indicated same to the police, who arrested him. The prosecutor then said that for this reason and because the man has had previous charges, he would be objecting to bail.
Johnson then indicated to the court that he had been charged with possession of a firearm and robbery before but the matter had been dismissed. He added that he is not involved in criminal activity but that sometimes he would sell small quantities of narcotics.
Principal Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus then remanded him to prison until June 18. While exiting the courtroom to go into the lockups. Johnson started saying that he couldn’t go to jail when he is innocent and started resisting the police escort. However, three police officers went to assist the officer who had been escorting the man down the stairs. The officers then tackled the man as they tried to calm him down. His parents who were at the court also started shouting for the police to unhand the man. The matter was quickly resolved.
