Robber uses mom’s car for liquor store stick-up

(CNS): A George Town man accused of being the getaway driver in an armed heist at Blackbeard’s liquor store in Grand Harbour last December appears to have used his mother’s car for the crime. Andrew Lopez is charged with the robbery alongside Randy Connor and Bron Webb, who were all were arrested in connection with the hold-up some fifteen minutes after they fled the scene in the black Ford Escape SUV. The crown told the court Tuesday that the men not only used Lopez’ mother’s vehicle but drove it back to his house, where the police found the car’s engine still warm and the suspects surrounded by the stolen booty and clothes very similar to those worn by the robbers.

Randy Connor

Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Richards QC outlined the case against the three defendants, who have all pleaded not guilty, as well as Devon Wright, the fourth man who is currently not on trial. She said that the crown would prove that the men were party to the joint enterprise at the liquor store through forensic and circumstantial evidence as well as CCTV footage from the store and the national network.

Richards said the men held up the store and customers at around 7:30pm on the evening of 17 December last year. The jury saw CCTV footage from the store, which showed the three masked men burst in, armed with a gold-coloured shotgun and a small handgun. After demanding cash from the cashiers and putting a gun in the face of a customer, the men fled with over $5,000 in cash and the woman’s purse, which contained several personal items and money.

As a result of the quick action of the young female cashier, who ran to the door and saw the men leave in the black SUV, and other witnesses outside the store, the Uniform Support Unit was dispatched from George Town. Some fifteen minutes after the 911 call was made they tracked what they believed was the car parked under a tree outside Lopez’ home in Morningside Drive in the Prospect area.

As armed officers approached the house, they saw a man peeping from the door, which was suddenly slammed when they approached. One officer placed a hand on the black Ford Escape and found the vehicle was still warm.

The officers found two men half undressed in a store-room outside the house and two other men were soon rounded up as they tried to run off. Surrounded by incriminating evidence, including the stolen purse from the woman in the store, an almost exact amount of money as what had been stolen, clothes, masks and other personal possessions from the female customer, which were all in plain sight, the officers arrested the men.

They sealed the house and searched the area, collecting evidence and DNA swabs from the car as well as the clothes.

When the search moved inside the house the next day, a gold coloured shotgun containing live ammunition was found in the attic of a room attached to house, which was confirmed as Lopez’ room, the DPP told the jury.

Richards explained that the crown’s case was that the men had just returned from the robbery minutes before the police arrived and were in a state of undress, with all the evidence in plain sight as they examined their loot.

She said that when they were interviewed by the police after their arrest, all of the men denied being the robbers and gave untruthful answers, saying they were elsewhere, except for Webb, who said he was asleep at Lopez’ house and only woke up when the police had arrived and arrested everybody.

Lopez claimed he had not used his mother’s car for several weeks before the night of the robbery, but with just two other models on island, which were eliminated, the police were able to track the movements of the car during the course of the day of the robbery using the national CCTV system.

The SUV was used by Lopez’ mother until some time after 5:40pm on the evening of the Blackbeard’s robbery, when she and Lopez swapped cars in the parking lot of Kirk’s Home Centre. His mother left in the white car he had been using and he got into the Ford Escape.

The trial continues in Grand Court One Wednesday, presided over by visiting judge, Justice Francis Belle.