Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer

OCHO RIOS, St. Ann:

Two former security guards charged with the robbery of over $150 million that was stolen from a Guardsman armoured vehicle in St. Ann in March 2005, were each sentenced to 27 years in prison yesterday.

The long jail sentences were imposed on Harvey Green of a Bay Farm Road address in St. Andrew and Copeland Samuel of Waltham Park Road, also in St. Andrew. The charges were illegal possession of firearm and robbery with aggravation.

The judgement was handed down on Thursday during a special sitting of the Gun Court held at the St. Ann's Bay courthouse and presided over by Justice Marva Bishop. Attorney-at-law Jeniece Nelson-Brown and Crown Counsel Maxine Jackson prosecuted the case.

Describing the robbery as "the mother of all robberies", Justice Smith said she was imposing sentences that would serve as a strong deterrent to those who might be harbouring similar intentions. The men were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment at hard labour for robbery with aggravation and 17 years for illegal possession of firearm. The judge ordered that both sentences run consecutively so both are expected to spend 27 years behind bars.

The two former employees of Guardsman Ltd. were originally charged with seven offences arising from the incident. However, when they appeared in court on Monday, January 8, they pleaded guilty to only two of the charges.

Other charges dropped

The prosecution then decided to drop the other charges.

The case arose from an incident on the night of March 2, 2005, when a team of four security guards collected a quantity of cash from the Guardsman office in Ocho Rios. They were in the process of transporting it to Kingston when they were held up and robbed by their colleagues.

Reports are that on reaching a section of the Haddon main road near Walkerswood, the guard travelling in the front seat of the vehicle held up the driver while his accomplice travelling in the rear disarmed the crew master.

They were later joined by two men travelling in a motor car, one of whom took charge of the armoured vehicle and drove it on to a section of the Windalco property with the car travelling behind.

When the vehicle came to a stop, the driver was handcuffed to the steering wheel but the crew master managed to jump from the vehicle, escaping into the dark woodland.

A large quantity of cash was stuffed into the car in which all four men fled the scene. The armoured vehicle was later found with $30 million in cash and a manhunt was launched for the two guards who were taken into custody last year.