Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: A robbery suspect who was apprehended by police after a high-speed chase was charged with five counts of Robbery with Violence.
Braithwaite was denied bail when he appeared at the Couva Magistrates’ Court today and was remanded to prison. He was also charged with Dangerous Driving, to which he pleaded guilty and was fined $ 5,000, time allowed three months in default, and six months’ simple imprisonment.
He also answered to the charge of Using False Plates and was fined $10,000, a time allowed six months in default, and two years of hard labour.
According to police reports, around 9:55 pm on 7th September 2023, a man was in the garage area of his Balmain, Couva home when five men accosted him. One of the assailants pointed a firearm at the man and announced a robbery.
The man was later forced into the living room area of his home, where four other persons were seated. The five assailants demanded cash and jewellery and then tied all five victims’ hands behind them.
The assailants then ransacked the house and relieved the victims of cash, mobile phones and other personal items. All suspects then ran out of the house and escaped in an unknown direction.
PC Hassanali and PC Ramcharan quickly responded to the report of the incident. They proceeded to Balmain Village, Couva, where the officers observed a black-coloured Nissan Wingroad Wagon motor vehicle parked near the victim’s home.
Upon attempting to make checks on the same, the vehicle’s driver sped off in a westerly direction along Balmain Main Road, trying to evade the police.
The officers pursued the vehicle, which recklessly continued at a high speed, driving west along the eastbound lane in the direction of oncoming cars and posing a threat to pedestrians.
Central Division Task Force officers and Freeport Mobile Police intercepted the vehicle at Calcutta 2, in an area known as “Hell Town”. The lone occupant, a 22-year-old man of Laventille Road, Laventille and Haniff Trace, La Quesa, Freeport, was arrested and conveyed to the Couva Police Station, along with the vehicle.
Investigations are continuing, and police are actively pursuing leads that can lead to the arrest of the other four alleged suspects.
