Duo remanded on $270,000 robbery charge

John Caesar and Cornelius Perry, called “CJ”, will be spending the next few weeks incarcerated after they were remanded to prison by Chief Magistrate Anne McLennan on Tuesday following allegations that they stole $270,000 at Tabatinga, Lethem, Central Rupununi.
The prosecution contended that the duo, along with an accomplice, Ray Wilson, stole the money from Clifton Lepes on January 21, 2018 and used personal violence in the execution of the robbery.
Twenty-five-year-old Caesar, a chef from Lethem, and Perry, a 19-year-old bridge worker from the South Rupununi Savannah, both pleaded not guilty to the crime. Police Prosecutor Stephen Telford, however, disclosed that the chef was found with some of the money while there were eyewitnesses to the robbery.
He objected to bail for Perry on the grounds that he lived 60 miles away from Lethem and once released on bail, he would likely flee the jurisdiction and cross over to neighbouring Brazil given the porous borders in the deep south of Guyana.
“He may not appear in court for the trial,” Prosecutor Telford said at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
In his bid to solidify his case for the defendant to be denied his pre-trial liberty, Telford revealed that Caesar has an attempted murder matter for which he was committed to stand trial in the High Court. Assistant Superintendent Telford further disclosed that the defendant was charged, with another relative, for attempted murder during the execution of a robbery.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was issued for Ray Wilson, who made a swift escape when Police had gone to arrest him. It was disclosed that he escaped through one door as Police entered through the other door.
Caesar and Perry will make their next court appearance at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court on February 6.