Lawyers to make no case submissions in dive shop burglary case

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By Latrishka Thomas

Lawyers representing the three men accused of burglarising a dive shop earlier this year are now planning to challenge the committal of the matter by arguing that their clients have no case to answer.

In May 2020, 19-year-old Mauriceson Valentine and 20-year-old Dashaughn Richards were jointly charged with breaking and larceny of more than $30,000 worth of equipment from DiveCarib in English Harbour, while 30-year-old Alvin Goodwin was charged with receiving the stolen goods.

Yesterday, Goodwin’s counsel, George Lake, stated that having received the file late last week he noticed the mental element of intention to commit a crime, which is required for a charge of receiving, was not present anywhere in the evidence.

He therefore decided to make a written submission on the matter.

Attorney Wendel Robinson, who represents both Valentine and Richards, stated that the list of exhibits appears to have some discrepancies.

One such discrepancy, he said, is that a knife set taken from Valentine’s home is not on the list and may have been taken by a female officer.

Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh, upon verifying that the item was not on the list, ordered that the item be returned.

Not withstanding this, Robinson stated that he, too, may be making a submission based on other concerns.

The lawyers were given until Friday to file the submissions and the prosecution was given the following week to respond.

The magistrate will issue her decision on November 9.

Yesterday was to be the final adjournment date for the trio, due to the fact that there had been several prior adjournments.

The Dockyard Drive establishment was burgled on May 8, prompting the owners to offer a US$1,000 reward for information leading to the retrieval of the goods.

A police source told Observer that at the time almost all of the items had been recovered by officers investigating the incident.

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