Fewer than three weeks after a Port-of-Spain magistrate urged mechanics to request certified copies from clients bringing vehicles for repair, a San Fernando mechanic has landed in jail.
Andrew Kwesi Charles, 24 of Cocoyea Village, San Fernando, was remanded in custody yesterday when he appeared before Magistrate Gloria Jasmath in the Port-of-Spain Eleventh Court charged with motor vehicle larceny.
Charles, who was represented by attorney Imran Juman, will reappear before a San Fernando magistrate on Monday.
It was only on December 24, 2012, that acting Senior Magistrate Sharon Gibson presiding in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Court appealed to mechanics and vehicle owners alike to ensure a certified copy was presented once overnight repair work had to be done.
At the time, Gibson made the statement in relation to two mechanics who had been charged with motor vehicle larceny after they were found conducting repairs on stolen vehicles that had been taken to their respective garages.
Charles was charged with being in possession of a stolen Toyota Hilux van valued at $195,000, on January 7 on Coffee Street, San Fernando. The car was said to be the property of businessman Colin Marshall.
Charles was not called upon to plead after Sgt Greer Britton-Lawrence did not make a recommendation.
Revealing that Charles had six pending robbery matters, Juman said the young mechanic lived with his extended family in San Fernando, had a stable job and was seeking to be enrolled into several programmes offered by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education.
Juman said Charles "was unfortunate to be in the vehicle at the time" and it was because of his trade that he had been arrested.
Referring to Charles' pending matters as serious in nature, Jasmath said she would not grant bail as he had allegedly committed this latest offence while on bail.
Instead, she remanded him in custody and later transferred the matter to the San Fernando Magistrates' Court.