Two teenagers and a 29-year-old bus driver accused of threatening a man with a gun and robbing him of his friend’s car were remanded to prison when they appeared in court yesterday.
The bus driver, Compton Semple, 19-year-old Romario Butler and a 16-year-old boy, all of ‘B’ Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and were arraigned on an armed robbery charge.
The court heard that the three approached Roy Vaux with a gun at the Georgetown Seawall, on June 5, last and robbed him of his HTC cellular phone, two rings (one silver and one gold) and $37,000 cash before driving off with the friend’s car he was in. The $2.5M Toyota Spacio, registered PPP8740, belonged to Keith Richards.
Accused: Romario Butler
The three were not required to respond to the charge since it was laid indictably.
Attorney at Law Ronald Burch-Smith, applied for bail on Butler’s behalf. He said that his client is employed as a store clerk at an establishment located on Charlotte Street.
The lawyer told the court that Butler’s family was surprised that he was charged. He said that the teen is not a flight risk and would not tamper with the witnesses if granted bail. “This is a nineteen year old boy with no prior charges,” Burch-Smith insisted.
The 16-year-old was represented by Kendaise Rodney, while Semple was unrepresented. They too made bail applications.
Police Prosecutor, Inspector Michael Grant, however, applied for the three to be remanded.
During Butler’s hearing, he asked the court to consider the serious nature, gravity and prevalence of the offence, as well as the fact that a dangerous weapon was used in the commission of the crime, and remand the trio to prison.
Grant said that Butler confessed to playing a part in the robbery and explained that the police were able to recover the shell of the car with the teen’s assistance.
They were all remanded to prison and are slated to appear before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on September 30.