Five men jointly charged for the $43M Securicor van robbery were yesterday refused bail and further remanded to prison by Magistrate Brassington Reynolds.
Presiding over the hearing at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court, in the absence of Principal Magistrate Jerrick Stephney who has jurisdiction over the Mahaica Magisterial district, Reynolds yesterday denied bail applications made by the attorneys for two of the accused men.
Two Securicor guards: Neville Holder, of 196 Kuru Kuru, Linden-Soesdyke Highway; and Keith Caesar, of 43 Norton Street, Lodge; as well as Mark McDonald, of 43 Melanie Damishana, Squatting Area, a driver with the security firm, are jointly charged with Moses Denhart, of 28 Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge and Godfrey Clarke Smith, of Albouystown, for two counts of simple larceny.
An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday for another person implicated in the heist, Rohan Khan, who is still to be arrested.
Appearing for Smith yesterday was attorney Neil Boston, while Senior Counsel George Jackman, appeared for Holder. Both made representation on behalf of their clients for bail. However Magistrate Reynolds noted that in the absence of the substantive prosecutor to properly advise him as to the degree of the accusations against the men, he was not prepared to entertain their applications.
According to the particulars of the charges against the men, the robbery was committed last Thursday at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, where they allegedly stole $43,820,000, the property of Scotiabank. The men are also alleged to have stolen two Taurus handguns, a 12-gauge shotgun, a cellular phone and a hand held radio set, all the property of Securicor.
On Monday, Caesar’s reputed wife 44-year-old Yvette Dodson, also known as `Yvette Caesar’ and Khan’s reputed wife, 38-year-old Nazareen Hack, of Lamaha Railway Embankment, both appeared before Senior Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on charges of receiving stolen articles. They were charged for receiving the money, knowing it to have been feloniously stolen property of the Scotiabank.
It is alleged $11,940,000 was found at the East Bank home Dodson shared with Caesar, while $3.8M was found in Khan’s house. Denhart was also allegedly found in possession of approximately $43,000 at the time of his arrest.
The five men are to appear next Tuesday at the Mahaica Magistrate’s Court, while Dodson and Hack are to return to court next Friday.