Four men held for Pennywise heist appear in court

FOUR men who were held for the deadly Pennywise Super Centre, La Romaine heist have appeared in court on gun charges.

Christopher Noreiga, 24, and Brent Walcott, 23, both of Ballantyne Street, Five Rivers, Arouca, appeared virtually before San Fernando Magistrate Armina Deonarinesingh on Tuesday.

The two were found in some bushes in La Romaine after the robbery attempt.

Noreiga and Walcott faced joint charges of trafficking in firearms and possession of ammunition. The charges were laid indictably and the two were not called upon to plead. Their matters were adjourned to September 29.

Two other men who were held during a search by police of a house in Corinth Hill have also appeared in court.

Rennico Khan, 32, of Midas Lane, Corinth Hill Extension, Ste Madeleine and Kemo Mc Sween, 26, of Union Hall, San Fernando, both appeared on charges of possession of arms and ammunition.

Khan also faced another charge of resisting arrest, to which he pleaded guilty and will return to court on Wednesday for facts and sentencing. Mc Sween will also return to court on Wednesday.

Snr Supt Richard Smith told Newsday on Tuesday that notwithstanding the laying of charges, investigations are very much ongoing and more arrests could be made soon.

He said files were sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution and investigators are awaiting instructions.

Over the weekend, police released a soldier who was arrested after he reported his vehicle stolen by six men who used it to try and escape from police after the heist. Four suspects were later shot dead by police.

On September 19, security officers Jeffrey Peters, 51, Jerry “Bat” Stuart, 49, and Peola Baptiste, 57, were transporting money collected from several businesses on the Pennywise compound when they were ambushed.

Peters and Stuart died. Baptiste remains warded in critical condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope.

In the hail of gunfire, another security, Allister Harris, 47, was shot but survived. A nine-year-old boy from Siparia who was passing as police chased the bandits was grazed by a bullet.

Police cornered the suspects at a house in La Romaine and in an ensuing gun battle, four of the suspects were killed. They have been identified as Greg Dodough, Deaundre Montrose and brothers Kyle and Keyon Ramdhan.

Kyle was on bail at the time of the Pennywise incident, having been charged with attempted murder.

On April 25, Keyon survived a shooting incident that claimed the life of Hakeem "Skinny" Peters, 25, of Lezama Trace, South Oropouche.

Keyon was reversing a Nissan Versa car out of the family's yard at Delhi Road, Fyzabad, when gunmen ambushed him and Peters who was in the front seat.