Gold heist accused secures High Court bail of $450,000
One of two men currently facing charges over the Wallison Enterprise gold heist was placed on a High Court bail of $450,000.
Peon Lee, called ‘Nino Brown’, 35, of Mocha, East Bank Demerara, who was previously remanded by Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court was granted bail by Justice Brassington Reynolds.
It is alleged that on August 5, Lee along with two men, while being armed with guns and in the company of each other and others, robbed gold trader, Francis Santos Lumes, of $38 million in cash and 60 ounces of gold valued at $20 million. They also faced charges that they robbed Lumes of a total of $224,000 in cash and jewellery; that they robbed cashier, Fernanda Carmichael, of an iPhone worth $350,000 and that they robbed goldsmith, William Batista DaSilva, of a phone valued at $60,000.
According to Lee’s attorney, Bernard DaSilva, Lee was released on the condition that he reports to the Providence Police Station on alternate Fridays. His next court date is set for January 20. Lee is charged along with Delroy Jackson, 37, of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara and Keyon King, 32, of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo. King is a former sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force, while Jackson and Lee were security guards at Wallison Enterprise. King has since pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years for each of the four charges to which he had admitted. His sentences will run concurrently, resulting in him serving three years in total.
Police had said that the bandits entered Wallison Enterprise compound under the pretext of selling gold. Once inside the building successfully, they then held the two employees, 20-year-old cashier, Carmichael, and 45-year-old goldsmith, DaSilva, at gunpoint ordering them to the safe which contained the valuables.