Teenager on trial for double robbery

(CNS): A 16-year-old boy appeared in Grand Court Monday accused of robbing the same West Bay convenience store twice in just over a month last year when he was just 15. The boy, who is from West Bay and cannot been named because of his age, allegedly held up Eddie’s Minimart No2 on Birch Tree Hill Road on 19 March and 21 April 2016. Crown counsel Greg Walcom, who is prosecuting the case, said it was based on circumstantial evidence, including CCTV, and the recovery of some of the stolen goods at his home. And an electronic tag he was wearing in relation to another matter placed him in the area.

Facing a jury, the young man has denied being the masked robber who forced the sales clerk through threats to hand over more than $1,000 in cash and several cell phones on the first of the evening hold-ups and an undisclosed quantity of cash and cigarettes in the second.

The owner of the store told the court that she sold the small grocery and laundromat business last summer. She said that after the second robbery her only employee, who was the victim on each occasion, quit because of the crimes and the owner said she was unable to manage the store alone.

The case is being presided over by Justice Charles Quin before a jury and continues on Wednesday in Court One.