Ray’s Jewellery on Front Street. (File photo)
PHILIPSBURG--Two suspects, ages 29 and 25, will go on trial on December 7, on the alleged involvement in the armed robbery of Ray’s Jewellery International on Front Street, on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 7.
A large quantity of jewels was taken by masked and armed men who raided the store. Fort Willem residents J.G.D. and S.J.F. were allegedly involved in the robbery. Their vehicles – a car and a scooter – were used to transport the perpetrators to and from the crime scene, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The two are also suspected of fencing stolen jewellery and of possession of illegal firearms.
D. and F. both denied their involvement in the robbery. D. claimed he had parked his car near the former building of Social and Health Insurances SZV at the corner of W.J.A. Nisbeth Road and E.W. Voges Street around the time of the robbery, which was committed around 9:30am.
D. went shopping for a Mother’s Day present at Penny’s department store, but did not find what he wanted as the product was sold out, he told the judge.
His lawyer called for the police to secure surveillance-video-camera images in the area as evidence of her client’s innocence.
Police found clothing worn by the perpetrators in the robbery at D.’s house. Two pieces of jewellery that were found in his home, did not come from the robbery but belonged to his sister, D. claimed. The two bracelets had a value of US $9,000 each, the prosecutor said Thursday.
F., who was arrested one day after the robbery, on May 8, while he was driving in a car which was used in the robbery, also proclaimed his innocence.
As her clients will have to wait for three more months before their cases will go on trial, attorney-at-law Shaira Bommel pleaded with the court to lift or suspend their pre-trial detention. However, the judge found sufficient grounds to keep the two suspects behind bars.
