Malik Smith and Akandi Gibson.
By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
A 23-year-old man was arraigned in a Magistrate's Court yesterday over allegations that he was the person a prison officer shot in the shoulder outside of a bank last week after he had robbed a man of $4,000 cash, which belonged to a fast food chain.
His right arm in a cast and sling, Malik Smith stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt charged with one count of armed robbery stemming from the September 24 incident near Royal Bank of Canada on Prince Charles Drive.
Another man, 31-year-old Akandi Gibson, was charged with abetting Smith in committing the armed robbery; however, he claimed he could not see how he got mixed up in the matter given that the colour of the car he drove on the day in question was different from that of the alleged getaway car.
Concerning Smith, it is alleged that on the date in question, he robbed Kevin Major of $4,000 belonging to Dominoes Pizza while armed with a handgun.
According to initial reports, shortly after 11am on September 24, a man was about to enter the RBC branch in the Prince Charles Shopping Centre when he was approached by a male who robbed him of a number of deposit bags before getting into a champagne coloured Toyota Passo with another man.
As they were attempting to flee the area, they were confronted by officers from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDCS), who were in the vicinity at the time of the incident.
At some point, one of the suspects was shot by police while the second escaped into a nearby residential area.
The injured suspect was subsequently taken to hospital where he was detained under heavy police guard. Several deposit bags were recovered at the scene.
Neither Smith nor Gibson were required to enter a plea to their respective charges.
Gibson, however, claimed that while he had rented a vehicle that he would have used on the date in question, his rental car was purple, as opposed to the champagne colour police alleged to have been the colour of the getaway vehicle.
Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt fielded his claims, but ultimately adjourned the matter to December 12 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). Both Smith and Gibson were remanded to the BDCS in the interim.
They have a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail before December 12.
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