2 to face robbery charges… if they are found

In the Magistrate Court this morning, two accused gunmen were sentenced in absentia for two robberies that took place back in 2005. The two, twenty-six year old Maxwell Andersen and twenty year old Christopher Waight Betancourt were convicted of two counts of Robbery, Grievous Harm, and Keeping Unlicensed Firearms and Ammunition. While the men were not in court and the police will have to hunt them down, Magistrate Sharon Fraser sentenced them to five years for each count of Robbery and one year for Grievous Harm. The two also got a fine of ten thousand dollars for the firearm and an additional ten thousand dollars for ammunition offences. If they are ever caught, both Anderson and Betancourt will have to pay-up the fine by January thirty-first, 2009 or serve one year for each count with the stipulation that the sentences are to run concurrently.

Thirty-seven year old cyclist Douglas Lamb, who is employed as a sales collector for Santiago Castillo Limited, testified in court that he was robbed of a knapsack containing one thousand five hundred dollars and five thousand dollars in cheques while he was at the Sum Up Grocery Store on Dolphin Drive on December twenty-first, 2005. According to Lamb, one of the robbers entered the store and bought a coke and as soon as he moved from the counter, another man entered wearing a stocking mask and armed with a pistol. Lamb said the gunman put the nozzle of the gun under his right ear and told him not to move. The gunman then told his accomplice to take the knapsack. Both robbers then fled from the scene.

The second robbery occurred hours later around one p.m. at Hamze Store located on Blue Marlin Drive. Thirty-six year old Samir Hamze, the owner of the store, testified that he was getting the key to close the store when a suspicious looking man entered. Hamze said he drew his licensed nine millimetre pistol, pointed it at the man and told him to leave. As he began to lead the man to the door, he was surprised by another man hiding behind the freezer who attempted to grab the gun. Hamze says a struggle began between him and the man who had a point thirty-eight revolver in his hand. Hamze fired three shots and one of the bullets grazed the gunman on his upper left arm. The gunmen hit him repeatedly and Hamze says he eventually let go of the pistol. The assailants fled with the pistol but were busted about an hour later by cops on a mobile patrol on North Creek Road when they stopped a Toyota Corolla driven by Betancourt with Anderson seated beside him. The police found cash in the back of the car and Hamze’s pistol inside the dashboard. The two were subsequently charged.