Crime

(CNS): Five attempted murders in the first three months of 2013 along with four cases of defilement compared to only one arrest for those crimes in the first quarter of 2012, plus a surge in burglaries have all helped to  push up local crime statistics. Figures released by the RCIPS this week show that there were 123 burglaries between January and March this year compared to 98 during the same period in 2012, a more than 25% increase. Despite one less robbery, two less firearms possession and a major fall in cases of wounding and GBH compared to 2012, the 400% increase in attempted murder has pushed up what should have been a fall in violent crime.

(CNS): Allegations that the board and management are attempting to protect the former manager who was dismissed from the Pines Retirement Home several weeks ago have been emphatically denied by the board chair. In a statement outlining events since the financial irregularities came to light and efforts to recover what was described as a material amount of funds missing from the homes coffers, Julian Reddyhough said the board was assisting the police and had made a report on 10 May to the FCU. The RCIPS told CNS that no report had been received on the same day. Denying any cover-up, the board said it was concerned about the theft and the impact it may have on future fundraising.

(CNS): A civilian employee of the RCIPS has escaped going to jail in the first ever corruption case in the Cayman Islands. Patricia Webster pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office following an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission. Justice Charles Quin handed down a nine month jail sentence on Thursday but suspended the sentence for 12 months because of a significant number of mitigating circumstances, despite the seriousness of the crime. The judge found that Webster was foolish and naive but had not received any pecuniary gain from her crime when she gave out confidential information to a friend.

(CNS): Neil Lavis, who has 30 years corrections experience in Britain, has been appointed as the Cayman Islands new prison director. Lavis is currently serving as the governor of HMP Swansea in Wales. Appointed because of key achievements during his three-year tenure there which have direct relevance for the HMCIPS, the new prison boss will start next month at a very challenge time of change for the local prison. HMP Swansea currently houses over 435 prisoners with 400 staff and a £9.5 million budget. Eric Bush, chief officer in the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs, said he was confident Lavis would play a central role in efforts to improve the state of the local prison system.

(CNS) Updated: The police have confirmed that they have finally received a report regarding the allegations of theft at the Pines Retirement Home in George Town. The home released a statement more than two weeks ago stating that the board had dismissed its manager, Sue Nicholson, and was working with KPMG to prepare a report for the authorities. However, it is understood that Nicholson is no longer on Grand Cayman and the police said learlier this week that no report had yet been made to them about the missing money. But on Friday morning an RCIPS spokesperson confirmed that a report had now been filled with the Financial Crimes Unit.

(CNS): The police and the Anti-Corruption Commission are currently investigating a money transfer made to the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) of US$1 million in relation to the honorary doctorate that the former Cayman Islands premier was scheduled to receive before he was arrested last December. The UCC chancellor confirmed this week that a donation was received in relation to the special degree that was to be given to McKeeva Bush but it was returned after the college deferred awarding the honour. When asked about the transfer, which is understood to have been made from a bank in New York, local officials confirmed that a joint investigation was underway.

(CNS): The plans to build a young offender facility to ensure that the Cayman government is compliant with the bill of rights and separates its younger criminals from adults, have been scrapped. The government does not have the cash to either build the centre or run it once it is built, the minister for community affairs announced Tuesday. Dwayne Seymour stated that the Missouri Model was being dropped in favour of a Cayman model because of costs. The minister, who took over the ministry in December, pointed to concerns that had been raised by the governor regarding the cost of the project, which officials broke ground on in 2012, and which had been allocated some $8 million in this year's budget. However, Seymour said that the estimates had been as much as $11 million and government did not have the money.

(CNS): Officials from HMP Northward have confirmed that a review was instigated following the appearance of various pictures on Facebook posted by prisoners directly from their jail cells, demonstrating that many of them have access to the internet via smuggled smartphones. Although some of the FB pages of prisoners have now disappeared, a number of prisoners are still posting on the social media site. The various pictures which were first revealed on CNS last month showed both convicted and remand inmates, some jailed for very serious violent offences,  making gang signs and in at least one case smoking ganja in their jail cell. The prison has battled with cell phones use for some time and is now seeking legal changes to make the possession of phones, chips or other parts an offence.

(CNS): A man was robbed at gun point of his jewellery in the early hours of Saturday morning by a lone mugger, police have reported. The RCIPS said that the man was held up by the street robber at about 3:30am outside at an apartment on Keturah Street in George Town and after taking the victim’s possessions the robber ran off towards the entrance of Executive Suites. The robbery suspect is described as about 6 feet in height, dark brown complexion and skinny.  The male was wearing a dark gray T-shirt and a saggy blue jeans. He has a black t-shirt covering his entire head excluding his eyes.

(CNS): Updated with correction -- The person who is believed to have drawn an eye-patch and beard on North Side independent candidate Ezzard Miller’s campaign poster appears not to be a teen prankster but a grown man. Police confirmed Friday that a 44-year-old man was arrested on 4 May on suspicion of damage to property. It is understood that the culprit was nabbed after he appeared on the local CCTV footage vandalizing the poster. In an ironic twist, it was Miller who led the campaign in his district to raise the cash and have the cameras installed in his constituency, long before government began its own installation. However, it was the naitonal CCTV camera's rather than those installed by Miller's fundraising efforts that nabbed the suspect vandal.

(CNS): Updated with full story:  It took the five men and seven women of the jury more than six hours to find David Tamassa, Rennie Cole, Andre Burton, George Mignot and Ryan Edwards all guilty of armed robbery. The jury deliberated over two days but came back on Thursday with an across the board verdict for all five defendants, who, despite their differing roles in the daylight bank heist at Cayman National Bank in Buckingham Square last June, had all been charged with robbery and possession of illegal firearms. The five men were convicted based mostly on the testimony of one key witness and co-conspirator, Marlon Dillon, who was arrested a few hours after the heist and made a full admission naming the other five men as his accomplices.

(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): 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): 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.