By Leroy Smith
Two young men who had attempted murder charges read to them in December had those charges dropped upon advice from the DPP’s chambers and replaced with one other charge each.
Jason Howard and Curtis Vasconcellos were charged in mid-December for a shooting and robbery at the Club Privilege operated at the Hotel Tower on Main Street after they snatched a bag with more than two million dollars from an accountant.
Today (Wednesday, February 01, 2017) when the two reappeared in court before Magistrate Ann McLennon, the prosecution said the attempted murder charges for both men were ordered dropped. They, however, had two new charges of unlawful and malicious discharging of a loaded firearm with intent to disfigure or cause grievous bodily harm read to them.
The court heard that on December 14, 2016, the day of the of the robbery, the accused was unlawful and maliciously wounded Balmick Persaud with intent to harm, disfigure or cause grievous bodily harm.A police patrol which was in the area at the time observed the commotion and gave chase after the bandits who began firing at the police who were forced to return fire. Unconfirmed reports suggest that just under a dozen shots were fired by the police.
The two were not required to plea to the new charges.
On the day of the incident, the duo led the police who were in the area on patrol on a high-speed chase through city streets before ending up in a yard along the Front Road where the bandit tossed the bag containing 2.5 million and a gun they had in their position into the trench.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that just under a dozen shots were fired by the police.
Several police ranks were forced to strip down to pants only as they ventured into the reptile infested trench to search for the gun which the men tossed overboard.
The fact that the bandits chose a particular yard to seek refuge caused the police to cordon off the area and searched the entire yard and a house on the property.
It was during that search that they came upon several headlamps and rare lights for several models of vehicles. The police suspect that the items were either stolen or illegally obtained.
A woman was taken into the custody of the police after the items were discovered. However, persons in the area told the police that the suspects are not from front road area.
The duo, particularly Howard, still have a number of outstanding matters in the court.
