A coconut vendor was on Friday released on $100,000 bail after he was charged with stealing $2 million in clothes from a Kitty Market stallholder.
Clifton Dowden, 50, of Sophia, Greater Georgetown, appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, where he was charged with simple larceny.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge that between the September 19 and September 21, at Barr and Alexander streets, Kitty, Georgetown, he broke into the stall of Persaud (only name stated) and stole a quantity of clothes valued at $2,000,000.
Police Prosecutor Christopher Morris told the court that Dowden was seen by two off-duty city police officers who were in the vicinity at the time the alleged crime was committed. Police Prosecutor Morris said that the officers saw the man at the stall with a bag containing the clothes. He said that the officers told him to put the clothes back in the stall but the man ran away instead. He was later arrested.
Police Prosecutor Morris objected to bail. He reminded that the man was caught in the act. However, Dowden told the court that he was assaulted by the police. The court heard that during the two weeks he was incarcerated he was beaten by police ranks. The Principal Magistrate then ordered a rank to check Dowden’s body for marks of violence. No marks were seen on his body.
Dowden was placed on $100,000 bail and is expected to return to court on December 27. The condition for bail is that he reports to the police station on the first Friday of every month.
