Fyzabad soldier denied bail on murder, robbery charges

The soldier from Fyzabad charged in connection with the deadly heist outside Pennywise Plaza in La Romaine on September 19 has been denied bail.

On Monday, Ishmael Salaam, 24, made his first court appearance before senior magistrate Armina Deonarinesingh, who remanded him into custody to reappear on Tuesday.

In September, the police charged four men with various offences which stemmed from the same incident. They are set to reappear in court on Tuesday.

Attorney Criston J Williams represented the accused solider and Sgt Malloo prosecuted.

Over the weekend, the police charged Salaam with two counts of murder, one count of robbery with violence and two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The dead victims are co-workers Jeffrey Peters and Jerry Stuart of Allied Security Ltd. They were shot and killed while transporting money in a van out of Pennywise Plaza. A third co-worker, Peola Baptiste, was shot and wounded.

Two other people were also injured. The shooters fled in a car.

Shortly afterwards, during a shootout at Pond Street in La Romaine, the police killed four suspects. They were brothers Kyle Ramdhan, Keyon Ramdhan, Greg Dodough and Deaundre Montrose, all of Fyzabad.

The police also recovered the money, guns, bulletproof vests and other items.

The same day, the soldier, a member of the TT Regiment based at the La Romaine camp, reported that six men robbed him at gunpoint of his SUV. The men used the SUV as a getaway vehicle. The police had detained but released him without charge.

After the shootout, police arrested Christopher Noreiga, 24, and Brent Walcott, 23, both of Ballantyne Street, Five Rivers, Arouca. Noreiga and Walcott were later jointly charged with trafficking in guns and having ammunition.

Two other people, Rennico Khan, 32, of Midas Lane, Corinth Hill Extension, Ste Madeleine and Kemo Mc Sween, 26, of Union Hall, San Fernando, were also charged with having guns and ammunition.