Duo charged over Kitty $58M heist freed owing to lack of evidence

Two years after being charged with executing a daring $60 million robbery at Wallison Enterprise in Kitty, Georgetown, Delroy Jackson and Peon Lee have been cleared of all armed robbery charges.
Magistrate Rhondell Weever on Thursday accepted the no-case submission presented by Attorney Dexter Smartt on behalf of the duo. He submitted that the prosecution had not proven a case against his clients, so the defence has nothing to respond to.
The pair had initially pleaded not guilty to a charge which alleged that on August 5, 2021, they robbed Wallison Enterprise of GY$38 million in cash and GY$20 million worth of raw gold —property of Francis Santos Lumes — while armed with a gun and in the company of others.
It had further been alleged that they robbed Lumes of gold jewellery and cash amounting to GY$224,000; Fernanda Carmichael of an iPhone valued at GY$350,000, and Williams Batista DaSilva of a phone valued at GY$160,000.

Magistrate Weever agreed with Smartt’s argument, and concurred that there indeed was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction against the men.
In his submissions, Smartt cited the length of time the case had been pending in court, and criticised the prosecution’s handling of the case at a slow pace. The prosecutor had called only one witness on Thursday, with the remaining 15 still pending, this publication was informed.
In her remarks, Magistrate Weever emphasised the harm caused by prosecutors picking and selecting which witnesses to call at a trial, calling it an unjust technique to delay proceedings, while noting that such conduct is unfair to the court and defendants.
On August 5, 2021, several armed men who pretended to be customers executed a daring daylight robbery on Wallison Enterprise at Lot 23 Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
After committing the robbery, the armed men bound and gagged the cashier and two other staff members, whom they locked in a room. However, moments after escaping in a white motor car, the cashier managed to free herself and raise an alarm.
Investigations led to the arrest of Keyon King, who was at the time a Sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF); Jackson and Lee, who were both security officers attached to the business at the time; and later to Dequan King, the driver of the getaway car.

While Keyon King and Dequan King have pleaded guilty and been respectively sentenced to three years and two and a half years’ imprisonment, Jackson and Lee had always maintained their innocence.
In October 2022, Waterkant News in Suriname reported that Dequan King, who was also wanted for murder in French Guiana, was arrested on the evening of October 9, 2022 by the Regional Assistance Team in Paramaribo, in collaboration with the National Security Directorate. He was later extradited to Guyana.
Dequan King had told the magistrate who sentenced him that he had not been involved in the robbery, but had only transported the robbers to the location in his taxi.
He said he fled to Suriname after local Police issued a wanted bulletin for him.
And while in Suriname, King had said, he was arrested for a crime for which he did not disclose the nature.
Wanted bulletins had also been issued for two other men who were caught on CCTV robbing the business.
A wanted bulletin had also been issued for Antonio Maraj, who had faced several armed robbery charges in Guyana and was shot and killed in French Guiana in 2022. Information suggests that Maraj’s slaying had been gang-related. Police had said Maraj was one of the persons caught on CCTV recording during the Wallison Enterprise robbery in Kitty.
Moreover, a wanted bulletin had been issued for Jamal Hazel. There are no reports of him ever being arrested for questioning in relation to this robbery-under-arms incident. Hazel, an ex-soldier, is last known to be residing at Guyhoc Park in Georgetown.
Police had found the car belonging to Keyon King parked outside a house at Lot 435 Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara. Upon searching those premises, Police had found and seized several household items. It was reported that neighbours had told Police that the man who lived there had left for the interior.
Following leads, detectives had turned up at the home of Keyon King at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), where a search was conducted in the house, but nothing substantial was found.
However, during a search in the yard, the detectives noticed a “disturbed” piece of land and decided to dig. They unearthed a buried bucket in which was found GY$15 million in GY$5000 notes, and an additional GY$3 million in GY$1000 notes. The bucket was reportedly wrapped in two black garbage bags, while the money was neatly packed in transparent bags. As such, Keyon King and his wife were arrested.
During interrogation, King told investigators he was part of the initial plan to rob the gold establishment, but had not been among those who had committed the act. The ex-GDF Sergeant also said his wife was not aware of the robbery, and as such, he requested that she be released. (Feona Morrison)