A man has been sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, while his alleged accomplice has been released on $30,000 bail, for stealing a skip bin (garbage bin) that belongs to Cevon’s Waste Management and is worth $68,400.
When 38-year-old Anthony Wong and 40-year-old Basdeo Omadatt, aka Zakire Alikhan, appeared on Monday before Senior Magistrate Clive Nurse in that Georgetown magistrate’s court, Wong was answering a charge of simple larceny while Omadatt was answering a charge of receiving an item known to be stolen or unlawfully obtained.
In presenting the facts to the court, the Police prosecutor detailed that at approximately 14:30h on January 4, 2024, an employee of Roraima Airways in Bel Air Park, Georgetown went to dispose of something, but did not notice the bin.
A recognisable male was seen removing the bin on surveillance footage, and as a result, a report was made to the Police, and this led to the arrest of Omadatt,
who told the Police that Wong had given him the bin. The Police thus detained Wong, based on the information they had received. Wong, the prosecutor said, admitted to stealing the bin, which was later recovered and lodged at the Police station.
Both Wong and Omadatt pleaded guilty to their respective charges, but Magistrate Nurse only accepted Wong’s guilty plea. After taking into account Wong’s early guilty plea, Magistrate Nurse determined that a nine-month prison sentence was appropriate for the crime.
After pleading guilty, Omadatt offered an explanation to the court. He said he is a waste management worker, and that the bin was given to him.
“If I did know the bin was stolen, I would have never do anything with it,” he declared.
In light of the explanation, the magistrate changed Omadatt’s guilty plea to not guilty, and bail was granted him in the sum of $30,000 pending the hearing of his trial.
Magistrate Nurse has warned Omadatt that the sentence for him will be more severe if he is convicted. He has to return to court on February 5 for statements and fixture of trial date. (G1)
