Ex-army man admits to multi-million-dollar gold heist

Former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant Keyon King on Friday pleaded guilty to the multi-million-dollar gold heist of Wallison Enterprise located at Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

In August, King, 32, of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo was charged alongside two of the company’s security officers Delroy Jackson called “Bug”, 36, of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara and Peon Lee called “Nino Brown”, 35, of Mocha, East Bank Demerara.

The trio had appeared before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on four charges related to the robbery and was remanded to prison after denying committing the crime.  During this appearance, King had pleaded guilty but later reversed the plea under the pretext that he was confused.

On Friday, however, King during a report hearing before Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus pleaded guilty to the charges. King admitted that on August 5, while being armed with guns and in the company of others, he robbed Wallison Enterprise of $38 million in local currency and $20 million worth of raw gold, the property of Francis Santos Lumes.

He also admitted to the three armed robbery charges committed on Fernanda Carmichael of a cell phone worth $350,000, Francis Santos Lumes of gold jewellery and cash amounting to $224,000, and William Batista DaSilva of a $60,000 cell phone.

His attorney, Latoya Roberts during a plea of mitigation, asked the court for leniency.  The Magistrate deferred sentencing to November 11.

Police made a breakthrough in this investigation following the discovery of a total of $18M which was found buried in King’s backyard.