Firemen accused of stealing from crashed plane granted bail

Four Guyana Fire Service (GFS) ranks appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court Wednesday accused of stealing items from passengers on board the Fly Jamaica aircraft that crash-landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) earlier this month.

Those charged are Aubry Frank, 30 of Kuru-Kuru, Linden/Soesdyke Highway; Jamie Kingston, 30 of Durban Street, Lodge; Royden Kennedy, 27 of Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD) and Collis Williams, 37 of Coverden, EBD.

Frank, Kingston and Kennedy were jointly charged for having in their possession a $20,000 perfume, a $30,000 Tablet, a $4,000 Samsung charger along with a $600 charger on November 9, 2018.

They pleaded not guilty to the charge and were represented by Attorneys-at-law Clyde Forde, Eusi Anderson and George Thomas, respectively.

The lawyers requested bail but Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield objected based on the seriousness of the charge and the circumstance under which the crime was committed.

The Chief Magistrate overruled the objection and released the trio on $100,000 bail each; they are slated to return to court on December 3, 2018.

Meanwhile, Williams was slapped with a simple larceny charge to which he pleaded not guilty.

It is alleged that on November 9 at CJIA, he stole from the Fly Jamaica Aircraft, two cell phones valued $146,000 from the Captain, Basil Furgerson. He was represented by Attorney-at-law Clyde Forde.

Williams was also released on $100,000 bail and ordered to attend the Providence Magistrate’s Court on December 13.

The four firemen were interdicted from their duties following the allegations.

The Guyana Fire Service was the first to respond to the CJIA when the plane crashed landed.

After the mop-up, some personal items belonging to crew members and passengers were discovered missing and subsequently found in the possession of the firemen.