Three of the five men charged with robbing and feloniously wounding Land Court Judge Nicola Pierre and her
The three accused found guilty
husband Mohamed Chand were on Friday found guilty of the offence while the other two were freed when they appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Zamina Ally-Seepaul.
Damien Millington, 22, of 118 Caesar Street, Agricola, Nicholas Narine, 18, also of Caesar Street, Agricola, and Warren McKenzie, 22, of 18 Brutus Street, Agricola, Georgetown, were all convicted while Anthony David, 28, of Lot 63 Hadfield Street, Stabroek, Georgetown, and Premnauth Samaroo were acquitted.
The five men were facing charges which stated that on July 9, 2015 at Montrose, East Coast Demerara, while being armed with a gun, they beat and robbed Pierre and her husband of a quantity of gold and diamond jewellery, a nugget of gold, a quantity of gem stones, among other items, including several Nintendo games to a value of $1 million.
In addition they were charged for robbing her husband of five wrist watches, a Samsung Galaxy S5 cell phone, US$8000 in cash, a wedding ring, four Oakley sunglasses and one brown leather wallet all valued $2.6 million.
The Police also said that on the same day, the men discharged rounds at Ron Peters, the officer on duty at the time, with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.
Magistrate Seepaul while making her ruling stated that the evidence provided by the Prosecution was not sufficient to convict David and Samaroo.
The Magistrate said that David was charged with the offence based on an oral statement given to the Police. She noted the dangers of relying on an oral statement as it is not admissible in court. As such she stated that the evidence against him was not sufficient and the court was not satisfied with the evidence.
Samaroo was acquitted of all charges based on the fact that the evidence given did not establish that he was guilty.
However, the evidence provided against Millington, Narine and McKenzie were admissible as such they were found guilty as charged.
Millington was positively identified by the victims as one of the perpetrators during an ID parade.
He also admitted to the offence during a caution statement, as such he was found guilty of robbery under arm and felonious wounding but was found not guilty of discharging a loaded firearm with intent to cause bodily harm.
Narine was also positively identified by the victims and Magistrate Ally-Seepaul said that the court was satisfied with the evidence that was established against him.
In addition, McKenzie was found guilty as he admitted knowledge of the robbery to Police officers.
The court heard that on the night in question, he had the most verbal interaction with the victims and was positively identified by them.
Magistrate Ally-Seepaul said that the evidence provided against him was sufficient to establish the offence of robbery under arm and felonious wounding, however he was found not guilty of discharging of a loaded firearm with intent to cause bodily harm.
The three men will appear in court on June 23, 2016 for sentencing.
On the night in question, heavily-armed men stormed the house of the judge after overpowering a Special Constable on duty at the time.
Both Pierre and her husband were beaten into an unconscious state after which they were robbed.
As a result of the beating, Pierre sustained a broken jaw and other injuries while her husband received sever injuries to his eye.
Both victims had to undergo reconstructive surgery overseas as a result of injuries sustained.
McKenzie was shot when Police officers raided an East Bank Demerara house.
During the raid, a weapon matching the one used in the robbery of the judge was found.
