Land Court Judge robbery…Defence presents closing arguments

May 24, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

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—accuses police of framing defendant
—claims ID parades were flawed

Attorney Adrian Thompson made closing arguments following the closure of the defence’s case when the

trial of the five men accused of robbing Land Court Judge Nicola Pierre continued before Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court.
Yesterday, the lawyer was very vocal in accusing the police of framing one of his clients. Counsel argued that his clients had no involvement in the robbery since they were at home. Thompson also argued that no proper description of his clients were given by the victims in the matter and pointed out that the identification parades done via Skype were flawed.
Warren Mc Kenzie, 22, of Lot 18 Brutus Street, Agricola; Damien Millington, 22, of Lot 118 Caesar Street, Agricola; Nicholas Narine, 18, also of Caesar Street Agricola; Premnauth Samaroo and Anthony David, 28 of 63 Hadfield Street, Stabroek are jointly facing five charges.
The first charge alleges that on July 9, 2015 at Montrose, East Coast Demerara (ECD), the men being in the company of others and armed with a handgun, robbed Mohamed Chand of five wrist watches, a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone, US$8,000, a wedding ring, four Oakley sunglasses and one leather wallet.
The second charge alleges that the intruders robbed Pierre at gunpoint on the same day. She was allegedly relieved of a several gold rings, diamond jewellery, a clump of gold, a quantity of gem stones among other

items, all totaling about $1M.
In addition, the men are also charged with discharging a loaded firearm at Ron Peters- a security guard on duty at the Land Court judge’s home when the robbery occurred. The defendants are also accused of feloniously wounding Pierre and her husband Mohamed Chand.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are currently on remand.
Attorney Thompson has been representing Samaroo, Narine and David throughout the trial which commenced on January 11. The other two defendants are still unrepresented.
During his closing arguments, Thompson submitted that Prosecutor, Attorney Nigel Hughes has failed to lead evidence to convict his clients for the offences. As such, he asked that the court find them not guilty.
As it relates to Samaroo, the lawyer told the court that police framed his client. He added that the prosecution led evidence to support that this defendant was arrested in front of the Sparendaam Police Station and that he was identified by Ron Peters.
Thompson argued that the description Peters gave of Samaroo in his statement to police is insufficient for someone to properly identify his client.
“Samaroo was first charged. If you look at Samaroo and compared him to the description in his (Peters)

statement…It could not have been Samaroo.” The Attorney added that the witnesses who testified in his client’s defence gave testimonies which supported a statement his client had given to police.
Thompson added, “I cannot see why he was charged with felonious wounding and the statement does not support the offence. There is no evidence that Premnauth Samaroo assaulted with intent to maim, disable or disfigure any of the virtual complainants.”
He continued, “I am asking this court to find the defendant not guilty for this offence because the prosecution has failed to lead evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Nicholas Narine, the lawyer stated, was picked out by the Land Court Judge and her husband on an identification parade held at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary via Skype video call. Thompson urged the court to place no weight on the identification parade because the witnesses were not given a proper view of his client.
“Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Reid admitted that this was the first time they did identification parade via Skype…but the method in which they did it was a problem. They used laptops to connect to Skype…the witnessed did not get a view of all the suspects at once. They (the police) focused on Nicholas Narine alone”
Thompson continued, “ASP Reid conducted an identification parade and indicated that Narine was in the number one position. ASP Reid said that Narine attended three identification parades but ASP Reid only brought documents to support two of them.”
Thompson contended that the identification evidence the prosecution led against Narine is insufficient to prove his guilt. The Attorney also argued that there is no evidence that Narine discharged a loaded firearm at Ron Peters.
According to Thompson, he is still questioning on what basis the police arrested Anthony David. The Attorney maintained that his client was at home with his family when the robbery occurred. He added that David informed the police of his whereabouts but was still arrested and charged.
During the trial, Thompson said that the prosecution produced evidence that David gave a statement to ASP Mitchel Caesar, Head of Major Crimes Unit Investigation.
However, the lawyer said that the statement was allegedly made at CID Headquarters and documented in the personal Diary of Caesar. He questioned why the statement was not recorded in the station diary or on a charge sheet.
Thompson stressed, “This is not Constable Caesar…this is ASP Caesar…He knows the procedure…He is a supervisor. As such I am asking the court to find Anthony David not guilty as charged. He has five charges as if he assaulted the virtual complainants. He did nothing. But he is in prison and there is absolutely no evidence against him.”
This trial continues today with a response from Prosecutor Nigel Hughes.

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