3 years jail for ex-army man in multi-million-dollar gold heist

Former sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Keyon King, who confessed to the multi-million-dollar gold heist of Wallison Enterprise located at Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown, was on Friday sentenced to three years imprisonment.

King, 32, of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo was sentenced by Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on four charges related to the robbery.

He was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each charge; the sentences will run concurrently. In August, he was jointly charged with 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 men pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded to prison.

However, in October, King appeared before Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus and opted to plead guilty; he was represented by attorney-at-law Latoya Roberts.

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.

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