Three men were sentenced today for abducting a taxi-driver and committing two armed robberies. Those jailed are 33-year-old Rawle Franklin, also known as “Rawle Dog”, 22-year-old Hamza Samuels called “Bad Coolie”, and 18-year-old, Emmanuel Hale, both of ‘D’ Field Sophia, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
The trio was arrested last August, after being involved in a shoot-out with members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, after allegedly committing a spate of armed robberies.
Earlier today, Magistrate Rushell Liverpool at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Courts sentenced the trio to five years’ imprisonment for abduction committed on Joshua Singh, under Section 4 of the Kidnapping Act Chapter 10:05.
The third charge stated that on August 18, at Ogle, ECD, while being in the company of others, they robbed Madan Ramdeo of a cell phone and cash totalling $73,000. The other charge stated that on that same day, at Red Road Sophia, they robbed Jenny Mingo of $293,000 in items. For these two charges, Magistrate Liverpool sentenced them to five years’ imprisonment, however, she deducted one year off of the sentence for the time the defendants spent on remand.
Notably, the two sentences will run concurrently.
According to reports, Franklin, Samuels and Hale were involved in a series of robberies committed on August 18, 2022, after they reportedly stole a car and placed the taxi driver, Singh, in the trunk. It was reported that Singh remained there until cops intercepted the vehicle and this led to a shoot-out with the defendants.
Franklin and a fourth suspect were injured during the confrontation with the cops. While Franklin recovered, the other suspect succumbed to his injuries.
