Four fishermen charged in piracy attack

Four fishermen, all residents of the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) were on Monday remanded to prison by Senior Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus for piracy.

Sanjai Jangbir, 18; Vishnu Jangbir, 20; Rajendra Parsaram, 19 and Mahindra Sancharan, 25 were all jointly charged with the indictable offence. It is alleged that on February 9 while in the Cuyuni River, the men, armed with knives and guns, robbed the vessel of Anna Teresa of $4.6M worth of items belonging to Vickash Balkissoon.

The men were represented by Attorney Paul Fung-a-Fat. He told the court that his clients were beaten by the police to confess to the allegation and to sign confession statements.

Nevertheless, Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield objected to the defendants being released on bail citing the seriousness of the charges.

The Magistrate ruled in the prosecution’s favour and remanded the fisherman to prison. The matter was transferred to the Springlands Magistrates Court for March 27.

Meanwhile, last week 30-year-old Shareem Shariff was charged with the same matter and he was remanded to prison.  His matter was transferred to the Springlands Magistrates Court for March 20.