Man gets five years for hijacking minibus

Berbice : A Berbice man has been sent to jail for five years for his involvement in the hijacking of a minibus earlier this year.
On Monday in the New Amsterdam Court, Mark Lee Young pleaded guilty of stealing one minibus valued $2 million at Number 19 Village, East Coast Berbice on February 3. On February 27, Young’s accomplice Nignauth Premraj was sentenced for robbing two passengers who were in the minibus at the time. However, Premraj was not charged for stealing the bus. The court was told that on February 3, Young being armed with a fire arm stole one minibus from Chetram Sirkissoon of Rose Hall Town.
Young also pleaded guilty of robbing Koordyal Ramshair, a passenger in the bus and a clerk attached to DDL of $14,000. He also took away Ramshair driver’s licence. Young pleaded guilty of robbing Chetram Sirkissoon of $260,000, property of James Ross, a New Amsterdam businessman.
The bus was later discovered abandoned about four miles away. Before handing down the sentence, Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo asked Young if he had anything to say.
“Madam, these police frame me fo plenty things I didn’t do. I thief the bus yes, and take the money from some people inside the bus. But I din rob nobody at Rosignol. I never thief no gold.” He said too that he is innocent of another matter involving a television station.
Young is currently on remand for  robberies he allegedly carried out on the Little Rock Television Station, and for a $15 million jewellery store robbery at Rosignol earlier this year. Addressing the court, the man said it was retribution that caused a police officer to have been seriously injured in a recent accident. It is that police officer he is accusing of wrongfully charging him.
“Not because I does do certain things; he could just put any charge on me. If I do something and they catch me, I gon plead guilty. But he can’t want to charge me for everything. Magistrate Nagamootoo sentenced him for five years on each of the four charges. Premraj had earlier received similar a sentence but pleaded with the magistrate for the sentence to run concurrently.