kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Two Venezuelan men were sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour yesterday after pleading guilty to last week’s armed robbery at a Claxton Bay pharmacy.
In addition to their sentence for robbery with aggravation, Jose Gregorio Jist Diaz and Alexander Jose Toledo Quijada were also sentenced to nine months imprisonment by Couva magistrate Michelle Maharajh-Brown for illegally entering the country.
A third suspect, Sean Blanco, a local, pleaded not guilty to the offence. He was denied bail.
The prosecutor, Sgt Lincoln Bonnet, told the Couva Magistrate Court that around 2.10 pm on December 18, a sales clerk was on duty at Basics and Beyond Pharmacy and Convenient Store along Cedar Hill Road, Claxton Bay when three gunmen entered and announced a robbery. The clerk was robbed of $2,000, groceries valued $700, an iPhone 6 valued $4,000, a gold Citizen wristwatch valued $350, his wallet and its contents valued $645. The gunmen then ran off along Cedar Hill Road and escaped.
A report was made to Couva police Blanco was arrested the following day.
Investigations led police to Sundarsingh Street, Penal where they found Diaz and Quijada. When asked if they understood English, the suspects replied “very little.”
They found Quijada wearing a gold Citizen wristwatch that matched the one stolen from the sales clerk. They were both arrested and taken back to the Couva Police Station. Last Saturday, they were interviewed separately with the assistance of an interpreter.
On Thursday, the men were placed on identification parade and were identified. The sales clerk was also able to identify his wristwatch through certain markings. The men were then charged and taken to court.