Suspected pirates remanded for hijacking vessel

Mar 20, 2018 News

Remanded to prison: Rajendra Parsaram and Vishnu Jangbir

One week after a fisherman was charged and remanded to prison for robbing a vessel of $4.6M in items, four fishermen were yesterday brought before a City Magistrate for the same charge to be read to them.

Appearing before Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus were Sanjay Jangbir, 18, of Lot 117 Rosignol, East Coast Demerara; Vishnu Jangbir, 22, of Lot 117 Rosignol, East Coast Demerara; Rajendra Parsaram, 19, of Lot 93 Mon Repos Pasture; and Mahindra Sancharan, 25, of Lot 650 Block ‘A’ Mon Repos.

It is alleged that the four men on February 19, in territorial waters of the Corentyne, Guyana, while being armed with two guns and cutlasses, they robbed the vessel Ana Teresa, owned by Vickash Balkisson , of a 75-horsepower Yamaha outboard engine, valued $2M; 2,500 pounds of seine valued $2M; eleven 45-gallon plastic drums filled with gasolene valued $450,000, two 24-volt Power Master batteries valued $60,000 and food items valued $150,000, property of the virtual complainant Vickash Balkisson.

The four accused were not required to plead to the indictable charge.

The men were all represented by Attorney-at-law Paul Fung-a-Fat who asked that bail be granted to his clients for them to seek medical treatment, since they have been in custody for six days and were badly beaten by police officers.

The lawyer added that his clients were beaten repeatedly by officers to confess to the allegation and for them to sign confession statements.

He further argued that none of the stolen articles were found in his client’s possession.

Remanded to prison: Mahindra Sancharan and Sanjay Jangbir

However, Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield strongly objected to bail being granted to the accused men citing the serious nature of the offence and the fact that two firearms were used to commit the offence.

The prosecutor added that when the accused men were arrested they all gave caution statements admitting to the offence.

The prosecutor’s objection was upheld by the Magistrate and the men were remanded to prison.

They were instructed to make their next court appearance on March 27 at the Springlands Magistrates’ Courts.

Thirty-year-old Shareem Sharif also appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus last week and was remanded to prison for the same offence. He was instructed to make his next court appearance on March 20 at the Springlands Magistrates’ Courts.

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