Remanded armed robbery, accused awaiting trial for abduction

Thirty-five-year-old Stravo Evans, the Middle Road, La Penitence, Georgetown man who was remanded to prison last Friday for two counts of robbery under arms, is currently awaiting trial at the Demerara High Court for abduction.
According to the list of cases to be heard at the Demerara High Court, published by the Supreme Court of Judicature’s registrar, Evans and two other men—Simeon Williams and Oliver Franklin—are to be tried jointly for one count of abduction.

The pending High Court trial for Evans and the two other men has to do with an armed robbery that was committed in broad daylight on the Bourda Post Office at Regent Street, Georgetown, on April 1, 2015.
Police had said that at around 07:45h on April 1, 2015, Policeman Andre July went to the Bourda Post Office in a Pitbull minibus and as he stopped, five men approached him; one of them was armed with a gun.

The men then pushed Darwin Hinds and the policeman out of the bus after which one of them drove away in the vehicle to Cemetery Road, Georgetown. According to reports, while at Cemetery Road, Georgetown, a car drove up alongside the minibus, and the accused men and other persons removed money and other items before making good their escape.
As a result, the trio was arrested and subsequently charged with robbing July of one G3 rifle and 21 rounds of 7.62 x 51 ammunition belonging to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and $42.5 million, property of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC).
It is also alleged that while being together and armed with a gun, they robbed Hinds of a Pitbull minibus valued at $3.4 million belonging to the GPF and that they wrongfully restrained and abducted July and Hinds.
While Guyana Times is unaware of the legal status of the robbery and wrongfully restrained charges, Evans, Williams, and Franklin have been indicted for abduction and are awaiting trial at the Demerara High Court.
Last Friday, Evans was remanded to prison after he was charged with two counts of robbery under arms committed on Nitisha Klass and Kevin Frazer on September 13, at Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD). The charges were laid contrary to Section 222 (c) of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act Chapter 8:01.
He was arraigned at the Golden Grove/Diamond Magistrates’ Courts before Magistrate Sunil Scarce, who read the charges to him. Evans pleaded not guilty to both charges. Bail was refused and he was remanded to prison until October 31.
Meanwhile, in October 2013, Evans, who was indicted for the January 2010 murder of Pascal Johnson of Grove, EBD, was freed by Justice Navindra Singh after he was unanimously found not guilty by a mixed 12-member jury.
It was the prosecution’s case that Evans shot and killed the 28-year-old man on January 3, 2010, at Laing Avenue, Georgetown. (G1)