Stephon Howard, the 23-year-old vendor of East La Penitence, Georgetown who recently set fire to mattresses while in custody at the Brickdam Police Station, was Tuesday remanded to prison for attempted robbery.
Howard appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel-Isaacs Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It is alleged that Howard attempted to rob Jermaine Simon at Norton Street, Georgetown, on June 29. He was said to be armed with a knife and had a firearm in his possession.
Howard, however, denied this claim.
The prosecution objected to bail given the seriousness and prevalence of the offence. It was also noted that CCTV footage and eyewitness statements were available, pinning Howard to the crime.
The man was denied bail and the matter has been adjourned to July 26.
It was also noted that Howard was charged several other times for similar crimes.
Howard and another man, Sean Dos Santos, had been accused of killing Abdool Fazal Saheed during a robbery in 2017. They were both acquitted in November 2021.
More recently, at the weekend while in custody, Howard claimed that he discovered a lighter and a piece of toilet paper inside of his cell, and due to mosquitoes biting him, he lit the piece of toilet paper Sunday morning and placed it on the cell door.
About 10 minutes later, he reportedly realised that the toilet paper had fallen on the mattress on the floor of the cell. The mattress ignited into flames which Howard successfully extinguished by throwing water from a plastic bottle he had.
