A second person has been charged in connection with the fire that occurred at Durban and George Streets, Georgetown on June 24, 2021 and destroyed three buildings.
Slapped with three counts of arson, Anthony Sookhoo, a 19-year-old construction worker of Lot 101 Leopold Street, Werk-en-Rust Georgetown, has been arraigned before Georgetown Magistrate Dylon Bess, before whom he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The house and vulcanising shop were reduced to ashes, while the pawn shop’s western walls were scorched
The first charge stated that on June 24, 2021, at 1 George Street, Werk-en-Rust Georgetown, he unlawfully and maliciously set fire to a dwelling house valued at $18M and containing articles valued at $6M, property of Collin Bentley.
The second charge detailed that on the same day and at the said location, he unlawfully and maliciously set fire to a dwelling house owned by Nalini Baboolall, valued at $38 million, and containing articles valued at $16 million belonging to Kevin Phillips.
The third charge detailed that on June 24, 2021, at 1 George Street, Werk-en-Rust Georgetown, he unlawfully and maliciously set fire to a dwelling house valued at $250M, and containing articles worth $30M, property of Hardat Maniram.
Sookhoo has been placed on bail totalling $1.9 million, and has been instructed to make his next court appearance on January 13, 2022.
In July, Calvin Lawrence, 22, of Lot 101 Leopold Street, Werk-en-Rust Georgetown, was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan who read him the same charges. He was, however, remanded to prison.
The Police Prosecutor related that Nalini Baboolall was the owner of the wooden two-storey building located at 1 George and Durban Streets, Werk-en-Rust Georgetown, while Maniram had owned the four-storey building which housed the Elegance Jewellery and Pawn Shop. That building was located east of Baboolall’s property.
Phillips had rented Baboolall’s property. The ground floor had housed his vulcanising shop, while he and his family and Venezuelan migrants had lived on the upper flat. According to the prosecutor, Phillips had said that at around 01:00h on the day in question, he was awakened by the incessant barking of his dogs. Upon checking through the vent of his windows, he had seen two men running from his premises. Soon after, he had heard his neighbour screaming, “Fire!”
Following investigations by the Police, Lawrence was arrested. The Prosecutor disclosed that the defendant was arrested after Phillips had identified him and another man called “Vishal” from closed circuit television (CCTV) footage from Elegance Jewellery and Pawn Shop.
Phillips had told the Police that Lawrence and “Vishal” were regular visitors to his vulcanising shop. “We tried to contain the fire, but we couldn’t do that…We tried to save something, but we didn’t get to, since everything is just burnt. We sell electrical bikes, and all of them were destroyed. We also have people who had their bikes in the shop, and those were destroyed,” Phillips had told reporters shortly after the blaze. (G1)
