Under heavy Police guard, five men on Monday appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court charged with the murder of 47-year-old money changer Aaron Latchman and his 18-year-old daughter Arian on July 4, 2019, at their Robert Street, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara home.
Mark Futino known as ‘Marco’, 25, a labourer of Parika, EBE; Paul Chan known as ‘Long Hair’ and ‘Anthony’, a 37-year-old conductor of Dennis Street, Sophia; Troy Abrams known as ‘Rastaman’, a 44-year-old vendor of Middle Street, Agricola, EBD; Lloyde Sadloo, 37 of Mocha Arcadia, EBD; and Sean Thomas known as ‘Yankee’, a 41-year-old electrician of William Street, Kitty Georgetown, appeared before Magistrate Alisha George charged jointly with murder during the furtherance of a robbery.
The men hid their faces upon entering and leaving the courtroom; they appeared to be uneasy and nervous as they stood in the prisoner’s dock awaiting the charge to be read to them which they claimed was “cooked up” by the Police.
Relatives of the men were also in court proclaiming their innocence.
The men were not required to plea to the charge and were remanded to prison until August 15, 2019.
Mr Latchman plied his trade on America Street in Georgetown and was returning home at about 15:30hrs on July 4 when he was intercepted by two armed bandits who robbed and shot him.
Residents told the News Room that the man’s 18-year-old daughter Arian, who was a medical student, was home alone at the time.
It appeared as if Arian was shot and killed upstairs of the house while her father was murdered in the yard after he put up a fierce fight with the gunmen.
The bandits escaped with a bag containing a large amount of cash in a waiting car.
Mr Latchman was shot three times – twice to the right shoulder and once to the left – while Arian was shot once to the chest resulting in their deaths.
Police made a major breakthrough in the case when they initially arrested four of the men during an early morning raid in Georgetown last week.
A White 212 car was found in the possession of one of the suspects and it is believed that this is the car that was used to transport the gunmen to and from the crime scene.
