UG students found guilty of $8M armed robbery… Duo sentenced to community service, counselling

Guilty: Darion Bess

Two University of Guyana students, found guilty of an $8M armed robbery, two weeks ago, have been given sentences of community service by City Magistrate Judy Latchman after they appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts yesterday. Darion Bess, 20, of Lot 429 Guyhoc Park, Georgetown and Joel De Mendonca, 21, of Lot 17 Providence, East Bank Demerara, were both found guilty of robbing Golyn and Sons Fashion, on Regent Street, of a quantity of cell phones worth $8,968,000 on July 25, 2014. The convicts were order to perform six hours of community service for the next twenty-five Mondays. In addition, they were also sentenced to a maximum period of counselling, as deemed fit by a probation officer. Failure to complete the sentences will result in them being imprisoned for 48 months. Magistrate Latchman, before handing her verdict, considered all mitigating factors. She took into consideration the fact that the men had no negative antecedents and that the probation report that was tendered in their favour. De Mendonca was instructed to perform his community service at the National Library, while Bess will be doing his at the Palms. The men were found guilty of the offence last month. Morris Gibson, 22, of Lot 334 East Street, South Cummingsburg, had also been charged with the duo. However, the charge was dismissed against him earlier on in the trial. The Magistrate had based her ruling on the sworn testimonies given by the defendants and store clerk, Mohanlall Narine. Police Inspector Vishnu Hunt presented the prosecution’s case. The court had heard that on the day in question, around 09:00hrs, Gibson approached the store clerk, inquiring about the prices of various cellular phones and a fan. Whilst he was doing so, Bess entered the store, approached the store clerk and pointed a gun to his head then ordered him to pack all of the cell phones. The store clerk complied. Bess then left the store and joined a waiting car on King Street and escaped. The matter was reported to the Brickdam Police Station. About an hour after the report, ranks who received information about the robbery, dashed to Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, and intercepted Bess and Gibson. At the time Bess was carrying a haversack on his back, which when checked by the ranks revealed a quantity of cellular phones. Both students were arrested and through police interrogation they led ranks to the home of De Mendonca in Providence. When the house was searched, four cellular phones were found. De Mendonca had confessed to being the driver of the motor car, which fled the scene with Bess and Gibson. Even though all the cell phones were not recovered, the ones retrieved were identified by Narine as items belonging to the store. Bess and De Mendonca first appeared before Former Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and denied the allegation. They were represented by Attorneys Adrian Thompson and Peter Hugh respectively.