A MAN involved in an armed robbery in Mitsero was yesterday jailed for nine years after being found guilty by the Nicosia Assizes.
Suresh Crishantha Rangajeewa Warnakulasuriya, from Sri Lanka, had pleaded not guilty to robbing the Co-operative Society of General Services (SEGYP) in Mitsero on July 8, 2004 along with another three men. Suresh had acted as the getaway driver and lookout outside the building during the robbery.
Another man from Sri Lanka, Usantha Kamal Samarawickrama, had earlier pleaded guilty to involvement in the robbery and was handed a seven-year sentence. Another two men who took part in the robbery, known to the police as Rohan and Arvin, managed to escape back to Sri Lanka.
According to eyewitness accounts, three men had gone into the SEGYP offices on the day wearing hoods, with two of the men holding fake pistols. One – the accused – stayed outside to act as look out. The robbers managed to get away with around £11,000 and a mobile telephone worth £500, but were soon located by police officers, who spotted Warnakulasuriya’s car, which was used in the robbery.
Police gave chase and a high-speed pursuit followed, before Warnakulasuriya jumped out of the car as it was still moving, attempting to escape on foot. Police officers managed to catch up with him and he was immediately arrested.
The three remaining men managed to escape, but Samarawickrama was later caught. The other two men fled back to Sri Lanka.
Warnakulasuriya initially denied being involved in the robbery, telling officers back at the station that he had been kidnapped by five men and forced to drive them to the SEGYP offices. He later retracted his statement, telling officers that the robbery was committed by two Sri Lankan men and two Bangladeshi men – something that later emerged to be false as all those involved were Sri Lankan.
Warnakulasuriya added that he only decided to go along with them to the robbery after his compatriots teased him and called him a coward for not going with them.
A report by the welfare services, which was handed to the three-panel court as evidence, described Warnakulasuriya as a man who has had a difficult life. His father died when he was just a year old and he had a difficult upbringing. He had come to Cyprus in 2002 where he attended a local college and was worked to pay for his tuition.
The welfare service pleaded with the court to hand a lenient sentence to the accused because of his youth, clean record prior to the incident, the fact that he didn’t have a protagonist’s role in the robbery and because he jumped out of the moving vehicle because he wanted no more part in the robbery.
Chief Judge Marios Christodoulou, however, was unimpressed with the pleas, and ruled that a stern punishment was needed to suit the crime.
“Although the accused didn’t actually enter the building himself and threaten the people and steal the money, he was in the court’s decision a significant part of the crime because he allowed his car to be used in the incident. He also drove the culprits to and from the robbery and lied to the police during questioning about the involvement of two Bangladeshi men,” said Judge Christodoulou.
“It is a serious crime which must fit the punishment and we rule that the accused serve four years for the crime of intending to commit an armed robbery and nine years for participating in an armed robbery.” The sentences will be served concurrently.
