Duo granted 150K bail each for Lusignan Chinese supermarket robbery

Two persons accused of robbing a Chinese supermarket in Lusignan along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) were on Monday granted $150,000 bail each when they appeared at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court.
Ryan Goodluck, 29, a vendor of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD), and Jamal Seymour, a 26-year-old carpenter of Campbell and Sussex Streets, Albouystown, Georgetown, both appeared before Magistrate Ruschelle Liverpool.
They were charged with robbery under arms contrary to Section 222 (c) of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01; they have pleaded not guilty.
At Monday’s court proceedings, the Police prosecutor raised serious objections to the defendants being granted their pre-trial liberty based on the serious nature and prevalence of the offence.
More so, on the argument that the two accused do not live on the ECD nor do they have any social activities or ties there, that there is video evidence and confession evidence, and that the accused were previously charged with a similar offence, which is pending before the courts.
However, these objections were overruled by the presiding Magistrate, who told the prosecutor that these were not sufficient grounds upon which bail could be declined. In the end, bail was set for each of the accused at $150,000 and the case was postponed until November 6.
Following last Tuesday evening’s robbery, Goodluck and Seymour were arrested the following day.
According to the Police, the two men carried out an armed robbery at the Chinese-owned supermarket.
The breakthrough in their capture came as a result of information and feedback received after the release of CCTV screen grabs of the suspects on the Police’s Facebook page.
One of the men is believed to be the mastermind behind the robbery, while the other is suspected of being the one who held the cashier at gunpoint.
During an operation to nab the suspects, Police conducted searches at the homes of the two men on Wednesday last, the Police reported. During the search, law enforcement discovered the clothing worn by the suspect who brandished the firearm during the robbery.
According to a statement from the Guyana Police Force (GPF), four armed men approached the business establishment on two XR motorcycles.
CCTV footage seen by this publication showed that the perpetrators brazenly parked their bikes in front of the supermarket before storming inside, brandishing firearms, and threatening two cashiers, 50-year-old Xie Zie Ying and 46-year-old Xie Zi Xia.
They then confiscated a stack of phone cards and an undisclosed sum of cash before returning to their motorcycles, which they mounted and rode off the scene.
On September 1, the Police reported that they had arrested a third suspect in the robbery, Akeem Griffith, of Sussex Street, Albouystown, Georgetown. The Police also recovered a motorcycle used in the robbery. This suspect is in custody assisting investigators.
Goodluck is no stranger to law enforcement, having been among six persons charged and remanded to prison for a $13.4 million heist at GTT’s Giftland store in September of the previous year.
Goodluck, along with Andrea Dover, Priecy Roberts, Ashley Mansfield, Jamal Haley, and Osman Brummell, had appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Courts, where they faced armed robbery charges.
They all pleaded not guilty and were remanded to prison. This publication is unaware of the legal status of this matter.
It was reported that on September 8, 2022, at Giftland Mall, two individuals posed as security guards from Amalgamated Security Services Limited (ASSL) and stole $13.4 million in cash and $6 million in checks from the GTT store located on the mall’s second floor.
The suspects were apprehended after Police tracked down the getaway car, a white Toyota Raum, which was owned by Priecy Roberts. During questioning, Roberts allegedly admitted to being the getaway driver and led the Police to recover $500,000 from his share of the stolen money.
Dover, a cleaner at Giftland Mall’s GTT branch, reportedly confessed to her involvement in planning the robbery but claimed she wasn’t the mastermind.
She identified Haley, known as “Biggs,” as the mastermind and revealed her role in providing key details about GTT’s cash movements and the layout of the building. She received $800,000 for her participation, which was found hidden in her sister’s backyard.
Police later located Haley and arrested him, along with his accomplice, Goodluck, who had a significant amount of cash in his possession.
Both men reportedly confessed to their involvement in the robbery. Additionally, Biggs handed over $1.1 million to the Police, which he had given to a bus driver for safekeeping.