UG students found guilty of $8M armed robbery

Jul 19, 2015 News

…sentencing deferred pending probation report

Two University of Guyana (UG) students who were found guilty of an $8M armed robbery on Wednesday last, are to know their fate in two weeks, pending a probation report.

Darion Bess

Darion Bess, 20, of Lot 429 Guyhoc Park and Joel De Mendonca, 21, of Lot 17 Providence Park, East Bank Demerara were both charged with robbery under-arms and found guilty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court at the conclusion of their trial.
The duo was found guilty of robbing Golyn and Sons Fashion Store, on Robb Street of a quantity of cellular phones worth $8,968,000, on January 25, 2014.
City Magistrate, Judy Latchman presided over the matter and ordered that a probation report be prepared for the men.
Morris Gibson, 22, of Lot 334 East Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, was also charged with the duo. However, the charge was dismissed against him earlier in the trial.
The Magistrate based her ruling on the sworn testimonies given by the two accused and the store clerk, Mohanlall Narine.
De Mendonca had testified that he saw Bess running from the store on the day in question. He had said that Bess swiftly got in the car and urged him to hurry.
DeMendonca also testified that he knew nothing about the robbery until Bess told him he had just robbed the store. He said that at the time he ordered Bess to exit his car.
As it relates to the four cell phones found at the back of the car, DeMendonca said he did not know how they got there but conveniently implicated Bess.
The Magistrate told the court that she did not believe that DeMendonca knew nothing of the robbery.
The store clerk had given his account of the robbery and seeing Best get into DeMendonca’s car. However, he said he did not see Bess get out again.
During the court hearing, Attorney Peter Hugh, who represented DeMendonca, told the court that his client has no previous convictions. He said that DeMendonca is an Accounting and Business Management student at UG.
Hugh asked the court to exercise lenience and discretion in these circumstances. The Attorney pointed out that everyone is entitled to second chance.
Hugh is of the view that placing his client with hardened criminals will make the situation worse than it already is. The lawyer indicated that if he is not satisfied with the decision made by the court, he will appeal the matter.
Meanwhile, Bess’ Attorney, Adrian Thompson told the court that his client is a first time offender with a medical condition. He also told the court that his client is a student at UG.
On the day in question, about 9:00 hours, Gibson approached the clerk at the store inquiring about the prices of various cellular phones and a fan. Whilst he was inquiring, Bess entered the store, approached the clerk and pointed a gun to his head then ordered him to pack up the cell phones. The clerk complied.
Best left the store and joined a waiting car on King Street and the party escaped.
The matter was then reported to the Brickdam Police Station. About one hour after the report, ranks who received information about the robbery, dashed to Peter’s Hall and intercepted Bess and Gibson.
At the time, Bess was carrying a haversack on his back which when checked by the ranks revealed a quantity of cellular phones.
Both students were arrested and through police interrogation they subsequently led ranks to DeMendonca’s house in Providence.
DeMendonca confessed to being the driver who fled the scene with Bess and Gibson. When the house was searched, four cellular phones were found.
Even though all the phones were not recovered, the ones retrieved were identified by Narine as the assets belonging to the said store.
The students first appeared before former Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and denied the allegation.
This matter will be called again on August 3, for sentencing.