Man tells court: They give me too much ah pipe

ONE of two men charged with stealing $30,300 worth of copper tubes from state-owned Petrotrin on Monday said he stole 25 pieces and not 39, as claimed by the company. “They give me too much ah pipe. They put 39 pipes, but it was 25 I thief,” Aswald Pilgrim told San Fernando magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine.

Pilgrim, 22, and Randall Ramlogan, 20, appeared before Antoine jointly charged with stealing the copper on Friday from Petrotrin, Pointe-a-Pierre. Pilgrim, a security guard, initially pleaded guilty but only to stealing “25 pieces.” As a result, the magistrate entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. His co-accused pleaded not guilty.

The charges states the duo stole 39 pieces of copper tubes together valued at $30,300, the property of Petrotrin. Pilgrim represented himself yesterday while attorney Subhas Panday represented Ramlogan. Pilgrim has nine pending charges, seven of which arose from an incident in 2014. Police charged him with a series of offences, among them robbery and possession of a firearm and ammunition. Pilgrim was also charged with burglary and robbery in 2013. He does not have any previous conviction.

Panday told the court his client lives in Marabella and does woodwork and tiling. Ramlogan too, does not have pending matters or previous convictions.

Antoine granted $60,000 surety bail to Pilgrim, to be approved by a clerk of the peace and a cash alternative of $10,000. She granted $40,000 surety bail to Ramlogan. She adjourned the matter to May 15.