Three convicted for robbing, wounding Land Court judge

Jun 18, 2016 News

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…two others freed

By Feona Morrison

One of the country’s most talked about court cases came to an end yesterday. It was the case of the five men accused of robbing and wounding Land Court Judge, Nicola Pierre, at her home in the gated community of Felicity, East Coast Demerara.
Nicholas Narine; Damien Millington and Warren McKenzie all of Agricola, East Bank Demerara, were convicted of robbing Land Court Judge, Nicola Pierre and her husband, Mohamed Chand, by Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court.
The trio was also found guilty of unlawfully and maliciously wounding the Land Court Judge and her husband with intent to maim, disable, disfigure or cause them grievous bodily harm.
They were jointly charged with Premnauth Samaroo of Campbellville, Georgetown and Anthony David, of Hadfield Street, Georgetown.
However, these two men had all the charges dismissed against them after the Magistrate found that there was insufficient evidence led to convict them for any of the offences.
The five men were all freed on a charge of discharging a loaded firearm at Ron Peters.
Sentencing for the convicts was deferred until July 23, after the Magistrate requested Prosecutor Nigel Hughes to report on whether they have antecedents.
Magistrate Ally-Seepaul delivered her ruling in a silent, but packed courtroom consisting of family members of the convicts and members of the media.

Sufficient Evidence
As it relates to the three who were convicted of robbing and feloniously wounding the Judge and her husband, the Magistrate said that she did not believe their stories. She said that she was satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to establish the offences of robbery under arms and felonious wounding committed on the Judge and her husband.
During the summing up of the evidence, the Magistrate stated that there was evidence that Damien Millington was positively identified by Mohamed Chand. He later gave a caution statement in which he confessed that he was a part of the robbery.
In his defence, Millington told the court that he refused to sign the caution statements and that he was not there when the robbery occurred.
Magistrate Ally added that she disbelieved his story since he was pointed out in court by the victims
The Magistrate said that the evidence against Nicholas Narine is that he was positively identified on an identification parade by both victims as being one of the men who robbed and attacked them in their home.
“His defence is that he was not there. I have considered his defence and I find it as not believable. I have considered the circumstances under which the victims, Mohamed Chand and Nicola Pierre, would have had the opportunity to see and observe him in the room, and also the circumstances of the identification parade, and I am satisfied with their identification of Nicholas Narine. This witness was also identified in the courtroom by both witnesses.”
According to the Magistrate, the evidence against Warren McKenzie was an oral statement given to police, and the fact that he was identified by both robbery victims in the courtroom as one of the persons who robbed and attacked them in their home.
“Warren McKenzie said that he never gave an oral statement to the police and that he did not commit the robbery or any of the offences he was charged with.”
She relied on identification evidence and the oral statement he gave to police to convict him.
The Magistrate explained from the evidence, he had the most verbal interaction with the victims during the commission of the robbery. She said that she is convinced that the victims would have had a better opportunity to observe him and were able to point him out in court from among the five defendants.
“In addition to that identification, there is also the oral statement he gave to police at the Brickdam Police Station. From which it is clear he was admitting to being part of the robbery though he is denying knowing that it is a Judge that he was robbing at the time.”

No Link
After an examination of the evidence, the Magistrate underscored that there was not satisfactory evidence to link the offence of discharging a loaded firearm with the remaining offences.
Hence, all the accused were dismissed of this charge.
In the particulars for the offence of discharging a loaded firearm, the Magistrate explained that it was stated that the offence occurred in Montrose, East Coast Demerara which is the same village that the robbery and felonious wounding offences occurred.
However, the Magistrate pointed out that Ron Peters, during his testimony, stated that the offence of discharging a loaded firearm occurred in Felicity, East Coast Demerara.
The Magistrate added, “Whether Felicity and Montrose are the same villages or villages that are far from each other, was never cleared up in the evidence. While the theory of the prosecution is that the same persons who would have committed the robbery would have shot at Ron Peters during their attempt to escape.”
Ally Seepaul affirmed that the evidence led in court did not establish this offence beyond a reasonable doubt. She related that there was no evidence to show that the items recovered at the scene of the shooting were showed to the victims of the robbery who may have or may not have identified the items as their property.
But the Magistrate added that the victims of the robbery stated in their evidence that they were subsequently shown some of their stolen items. The Magistrate stressed that it was never established during the evidence that it was the items that were found at the scene of the shooting.
The Magistrate said that the only evidence to the shooting was Premnauth Samaroo who was identified by Ron Peters as the person who shot at him.
“It is interesting to know that when Ron Peters was giving his evidence in chief he never stated that he attended any identification parade or that he identified Premnauth Samaroo or anyone as the shooter. This evidence only came under cross examination.”
But the Magistrate noted that the witness did not provide the court with an explanation as to why he did not mention this crucial piece of evidence during his testimony. She said that the witness never explained whether he had a lapse of memory or whether it was deliberately done.
She told the court that although an honest witness can be mistaken it would be dangerous for the court to rely on this evidence.

Summary
In delivering a summary of the evidence, the Magistrate recounted that the Land Court Judge and her husband were at their Montrose, East Coast Demerara home with their 11-year-old son on July, 9, 2015.
She recalled that the family had retired to bed and were sleeping when a group of men invaded their home and attacked and robbed the couple.
“During this incident both Nicola Pierre and Mohamed Chand were able to see their attackers as some of the men spoke to them by threatening them and demanding money and other valuables from them. The lights were also on in the house and in particular, in the room where the attackers were with Nicola Pierre and Mohamed Chand and these attackers were without any masks.”
Magistrate Ally-Seepaul stated that there was a female security guard at the couple’s home but she was unable to assist the family since she was disarmed by the group of men.
She pointed out that the injuries suffered by the Land Court Judge resulted in her suffering a broken jaw and her husband losing an eye.
According to the Magistrate, the victims later required corrective surgeries for their injuries.
Magistrate Ally-Seepaul continued, “The men eventually left the home and shortly after gunshots were heard in the area. Ron Peters was a security guard in the village of Felicity, East Coast Demerara at the time.
“He saw a group of men walking on the road in front of the house he was securing and he made eye contact with one of the men and this led to an exchange of gunshots.”
She recounted that Ron Peters saw one of the men shooting at a car and returned fire.
The Magistrate added that police were called on the scene and an investigation was launched.
At the end of that investigation, she said, five men were arrested.

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