BY TASHIEKA MAIR, Star Writer
western bureau
A MAN, WHO along with four others allegedly held up and robbed a man before torching a section of his home, was remanded when he appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
However, the accused man, Al Curling of a Rosemount address in St. James, is strongly contesting the charges of arson and robbery with aggravation.
His attorney, Carl Miller, told the court that his client has a solid alibi for the night in question. According to him Curling was at work at the time of the incident.
The allegations are on January 27 the complainant and another person returned to his home in Rosemount.
He recalled that the veranda light was kept on and as he was about to open the grille leading to the porch, five men armed with guns attacked him.
ROBBED
The complainant said one of the gunmen held him by his shirt collar and pointed the gun at his chest before removing $9,500 and his $4,000 cellular phone from his pocket.
The man then held him by his waist, took out a lighter and handed it to another man and told him to set the house ablaze. It is said that the victim was bound with tape outside, while a bed which was in the house was set on fire.
He managed to escape and the fire brigade was summoned. The complainant's bed, a refrigerator and the walls of the bedroom were damaged. The estimate of the damage is about $60,000.
On February 2, the complainant was at the Mount Salem Police Station when he saw Curling, who had gone there on another matter, and a group of men enter the station. He pointed out Curling as the man who had had robbed him and ordered the torching of the house.
Curling will return to court on March 2.
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