Trio charged with $8M Chinese Store burglary

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Three men charged with stealing over $8.3M worth in jewellery, clothing and other items from a Regent Street Chinese store were remanded to prison by city Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond.

John Helliger, 21, a Labourer of Lot 333 Meadowbrook Gardens, Georgetown; Ingram Williams, 59, a Labourer with no fixed place of abode; and Steve Jordan, 40, a car wash attendant of Lombard Street, Werk-en-Rust were not required to plead to the indictable break and enter and larceny charge.

The Court heard that between January 20 and January 21 at Alexander and Regent Streets, the three men broke and entered the Yi Zhen Trading Store and stole 800 watches, 1300 bracelets, 500 wristlets, 20 handbags, 10 boxes of female slippers, 100 jeans, 1000 pieces of female clothing, 200 skirts, 400 torch lights, 100 male slippers and a television set.

The items which amounted to $8,317,000 belonged to Yi Zhen.

Police Prosecutor Renetta Bentham said that about 17:00 hours on Tuesday, Zhen closed the store, leaving everything intact and went to bed. She said it was around 03:00 hours the next morning the store owner was awoken by a cellular phone call.

The caller informed her that her store had been broken into. When she arrived there, she noticed that the glass door was shattered, the steel shutter was prised open and her goods had been ransacked.

According to Bentham, the police caught the men with some of the articles and they were taken to the Alberttown Police Station and charged.

Bentham objected to bail citing the serious nature and prevalence of the offence. She said they confessed to the break-in.

Bail was refused and they will appear in court again on January 30 for report.