‘I was on streets on robbery night’ - court hears (From South Wales Argus)

‘I was on streets on robbery night’ - court hears

11:10am Thursday 21st March 2013 in News

A WOMAN accused of the robbery of two Newport doctors was out buying drugs and working as a prostitute on the night of the incident, a jury was told.

Rhiannon Gibbons said she had gone out with her codefendant, Edward Donovan, on the night of September 8 to buy heroin and had later ended up at a ‘crack house’ in Newport.

Gibbons, who Donovan said sometimes worked as a prostitute, said she had left the ‘crack house’ on two occasions during the night to offer her ‘services’ to ‘punters’, for which she was paid in cash.

She said a guy had later turned up at the ‘crack house’ and sold some things to Donovan, which she was not involved in, before Donovan told her they were going to Cardiff to help the man sell a car.

But she said the man, who was driving the car, later crashed it into a ditch before setting it on fire.

Gibbons, 27, of Newport Hotel, Chepstow Road, and Donovan, 51, of Windmill Square, Commercial Road, both of Newport, are currently standing trial, both charged with two counts of robbery, wounding Dr Prana Das with intent, the unlawful wounding of Prana Das and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to Dr Nishebita Das.

They deny the charges.

Items stolen during the incident included Nishebita Das’ BMW, later found burnt out, cash in sterling and foreign currency, a Nokia mobile phone, a gold-plated ornamental eagle and thousands of pounds’ worth of jewellery.

The jury previously heard the incident left Prana Das suffering bleeding to the brain, from which he is unlikely to recover.

Gibbons told the jury she was “pretty shocked” when arrested on suspicion of robbery and said when she heard about Prana Das’ injuries she was “really shocked and devastated”.

Proceeding.