(CNS): In her closing address in the trial of David Tamassa, Rennie Cole, Andre Burton, George Mignot and Ryan Edwards for armed robbery, Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Richards, QC, told the 12 member jury that the prosecution’s key witness and co-conspirator in the case, Marlon Dillon, was a "robber with a conscience". The jury was expected to begin their deliberations Wednesday following directions from the presiding judge, Justice Alex Henderson. The jury will decide whether Dillon will be alone behind bars for his part in the crime or whether the five defendants will also be jailed for the part the crown says they played in the Cayman National Bank daylight heist in June of last year.

(CNS) Six-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt is fit to run and says he will be aiming for a fast time tonight when he hits the track at the Truman Bodden Stadium in George Town. This will be the first time that the world’s fastest man has run a 100-metre race this year and his appearance this evening at the Cayman invitational, organised by Cayman’s own sprinter, Cydonie Mothersill, will form part of his preparation for the world championships in Moscow in August.  Bolt told the press Wednesday that he was feeling good and allayed fears that his recent injury would prevent him from taking part. "I am definitely going to try running my fastest,” he said.

(CNS): The deputy chair of the United Democratic Party, who is the honorary consul for Jamaica, appears to be breaking an international code that governs the special diplomatic post by becoming so closely aligned with a political party. Dr Joseph Marzouca, who was appointed to represent Jamaica in Cayman two years ago, took up the official position with the UDP earlier this year and has been appearing on the political platform ever since. However, according to the honorary consul international code, those holding the post should be “apolitical” and the doctor’s position has been questioned by an election candidate as well as Jamaicans resident in Cayman.

(CNS): Local authorities have confirmed that a prison officer received a serious head wound during a struggle with an inmate last week, and in another incident an inmate was injured in a jailhouse struggle when officers used force to get him back to his cell. Prison officials confirmed Tuesday that on the evening of Wednesday 1 May, a prison officer was assaulted by an inmate with a history of violence and aggression. Then on 3 May, an inmate, also described as “violent and aggressive”, received what was described as a superficial injury when he was forced back into his cell following a police interview.

(CNS): One of the country’s fiercest defenders of local culture and a keeper of Caymanian history has died. Anna ‘Consuelo’ Ebanks passed away at lunchtime on Tuesday 7 May at the George Town hospital after she collapsed on Monday. Miss Consuelo, who was widely loved in the community, made an immeasurable contribution to local arts and was a staunch advocate of Caymanian identity. In the wake of her passing Tuesday afternoon, her much loved friend Billy Adam said she was "a true defender and protector of things Caymanian”, adding that many will not know much of what she did or that it was her who “sparked the consciousness of the need to fight to protect” those things.

(CNS): A woman who was wanted by police for questioning in connection with an alleged bank fraud in Grand Cayman last year was arrested on her return to Cayman last month, the police have confirmed. An RCIPS spokesperson said that a 45-year-old woman was arrested on 29 April on suspicion of theft and has been released on police bail until late May. Officers from the Financial Crimes Unit announced last October that they were conducting an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of mortgage commitment fees from the Scotia Bank and Trust Cayman Limited that directly affected a number of police officers.

(CNS): The police are reminding residents, holidaymakers and resort staff at local condos, apartments and hotel resorts to keep condos and hotel rooms secure following an attempted break-in at a Seven Mile Beach condo complex on Monday night. Acting Chief Inspector Ian Yearwood, of George Town police station, said simple security measures could help prevent residents and tourists becoming victims of burglary. Although nothing was stolen as the person staying in the condo disturbed the burglar, it was an unsecured patio door that tempted the would-be thief.

(CNS): Another major cocaine haul has washed up in the Cayman Islands, this time on Grand Cayman. Following the discovery of two 60lb plus loads of the drug that police recovered from the shore on the South Side of Cayman Brac last month, another 61lbs was discovered in the district of North Side on Monday afternoon. A police spokesperson said that the large bag, containing twenty-five packages of what is suspected to be cocaine, was found washed up on the beach off Old Robin Road. The packages, all wrapped in plastic, measure approximately 7”x 5”x 2”, only slightly smaller than the 8”x6”x2 packages found in the two Brac hauls.

(CNS): A West Bay couple are expected to appear in court today after being charged with the possession of an illegal gun. A police spokesperson said that 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm Tuesday morning following their arrest in connection with an incident outside a West Bay night club late Friday night. The RCIPS received a report at about 11:45pm on Friday, 3 May, that a man had been threatened with a gun outside Club Inferno in West Bay. Officers attended the scene, where one man was arrested and the woman was taken into custody the following day, both on suspicion of threatening violence and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

(CNS Business): Correspondence between the airport management and the Cayman Islands Airport Authority Board chair reveals that, despite his own direct business interests at the airport, Richard Arch refused to sign a ‘notice of individual interest form’ in line with international accounting procedures at the time the government company was preparing its annual accounts. In emails leaked to CNS, which were sent just weeks ahead of the suspension of the CEO, the board chair queried why he or any board member needed to sign such a form, given that he had supplied a letter regarding his business interests at the airport and the fact that he had absented himself when necessary. Read more on CNS Business

(CNS) Updated Wednesday 10:30 am: A 17-year-old Clifton Hunter student who was missing from her home in Northward, Bodden Town for more than four days turned up in her local neighbourhood last night after police had called on the community to help them locate her. Delcia Ebanks, who is known to her family and friends as Dell, left home on Friday morning but did not show up at school in Frank Sound, where she is a student. She made no contact with her family, sparking a missing person report and a police search. The RCIPS said the teenager went missing last month on 28 April but had turned up on the same day after being in the Belford Estates area. Police said Wednesday that the teen has now turned up safe and well but gave no details of where she had been or why.

(CNS): The RCIPS are investigating a report by a woman on Saturday night that she was a victim of a serious sexual assault following the Batabano Carnival in George Town. George Town detectives are looking for information that can help them track what happened to the woman. A police spokesperson said that at about 9:45pm on Saturday, 4 May, the RCIPS received a report that a woman had been found walking along Crewe Road, between the Minimart and Ryan’s Road. The woman was distressed and stated that she had been sexually assaulted. She was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town and was subsequently released.

(CNS): Cayman’s police commissioner, David Baines, has been elected president of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police. Baines was voted head of the regional police body at the 28th AGM, which brought together senior cops from 17 Caribbean nations. During the police talking-shop, Baines spoke about the shared action, initiatives, legislation and solutions of the various regional police bodies. The RCIPS top cop committed to establishing RIBIN in the Caribbean, which digitally stores bullet and bullet casing data and cross compares with all other crime scene data, enabling officers to match weapons and crimes throughout the region.

(CNS): Coalition for Cayman candidate Jude Scott has questioned whether the next Cayman government should be building a cruise port facility in the capital. Going against the current political trend, where most groups and independents are supporting the development of berthing facilities, Scott has questioned whether such a facility would threaten the growing success in overnight tourism and burgeoning stay-over numbers as well as the famous Seven Mile Beach. Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce district forum last week in South Sound, Scott, who is one of five C4C candidates in the capital, said he was not convinced how encouraging “mass tourism” fitted with the country’s overall tourism strategy.

(CNS): Laying out ideas for economic growth and job creation on Cayman Brac that could be put into effect very quickly, PPM Deputy Leader Moses Kirkconnell said that people traveling from the US to Cuba on humanitarian trips frequently go through Grand Cayman but there was no reason why, once the upgrade to the Cayman Brac airport was complete, they could not go through the Brac instead. At a party rally outside Kirkconnell’s Market Friday night, the Progressive incumbent also proposed developing back office work on the island, turning the new hurricane shelter on the Bluff into a hospitality training school and developing sports tourism, as well as creating short term jobs cleaning up the beaches and roads. (Photos by James Tibbetts)