Crime

(CNS): Almost half of local businesses believe violent crime has increased with 39 percent reporting being the victim of at least one crime over the last year and 14% saying they had witnessed a violent crime in their business area. According to a new survey by the Chamber of Commerce, the business community is both falling victim to and concerned about more crime in the Cayman Islands and believes it could be reduced with a higher police presence. Of those who responded to the crime questionnaire, 68% also said they wanted to see stiffer penalties for offenders to comabt the growing threat. However, the latest statistics from the police that have not yet been officially released suggest crime is falling with a 7% decrease in 2011 on the previous twelve months.

(CNS): The battle against the importation of illegal goods and duty dodgers is about to get a whole lot easier for local customs officials. With the arrival in Cayman of the Heimann Cargo Vision Mobile (HCVM) x-ray inspection system every single container imported into and exported from the islands will be inspected. The non -intrusive scanner is only days away from becoming fully operational paving the way for a new freight security initiative that customs will introduce this month as part of routine import and export procedures, Customs authorities said.  Collector of Customs, Carlon Powery said he was delighted that the department would be able to meet a long standing goal.

(CNS): An elderly couple who are both in their 80's were terrified in the early hours of this morning by three masked, armed intruders who demanded cash at gunpoint. Police said Thursday that the couple were woken up at around 2:30am to discover the men in their home in Magellan Quay, one of whom was in possession of what appeared to be a firearm. The RCIPS also revealed that one of the marked police vehicles responding to the aggravated burglary was involved in a collision with another vehicle near Jacques Scott at the junction of Shedden Road in George Town on the way to the scene. The driver of the vehicle that hit the police car was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

(CNS): The future of 28-year-old Raziel Jeffers is now in the hands of Justice Charles Quin after the trial for the murder of Marcus Ebanks drew to a close yesterday. The defence team presented their closing argument to the court on Wednesday morning, stating that the crown’s key witnesses in the case were discredited, leaving the judge with “a number of troubling questions” that could only be resolved in favour of the defendant. As he summed up the position of his client, who denies being at the scene of the shooting in Bonaventure Lane in July 2010, Peter Champagnie said the evidence presented by the crown raised serious doubt which should lead the court to find Jeffers not guilty on all counts.

(CNS): An illegal immigrant from Jamaica has been sentenced to twelve years at HMP Northward for a late night gas station robbery that took place in George Town in 2010. Norval Barrett was found guilty of robbery and possession of an imitation firearm by a jury last year after he stole $454 during a stick-up at the Shedden Road Esso which occurred around 10:30 at night. The judge described the crime as a serious offence and said he could find few mitigating factors. Barrett had planned the robbery, shown no remorse, threated to kill staff and undertaken his crime at night, putting staff at the gas station in extreme fear.

(CNS): The 22-year-old man who was arrested last week in connection with a shooting in Hirst Road, Savannah, has now been charged, police said Wednesday morning. Kurt Carter appeared in summary court facing three charges including possession of an unlicensed firearm, threats to kill, and resisting arrest. He is expected to return to the courts tomorrow to face further charges in connection with the shooting itself and the injuries sustained by the victim. According to a police report regarding the incident at the time the victim was shot in the area of Countryside Shopping Village on Thursday 19 January.

(CNS): Andy Myles, Cayman’s well known cricket coach, told the court Tuesday that the Raziel Jeffers he knew was a “quiet and humble” young man who had played football and cricket and had never shown any signs of violence. Called by the defence as a witness in the murder case against the 28-year-old West Bay man, Myles, who works in the sports ministry, said he had known Jeffers since he was a small child and had coached him in football and cricket. He told the court that Jeffers had played on the national cricket team and toured in Jamaica, and had even cried when the Cayman team lost.

(CNS): The local branch of Crime Stoppers is utilizing a reward fund back by government to offer a $25,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the shooters who fired at a police officer’s home in West Bay last month. The house in Velma Banks Drive was shot up in the early hours of the morning on Sunday 22 January.  No one was hurt in the incident and police stated in the wake of the gunfire that security precautions had been put in place to protect the officer and his family. The RCIPs have not stated which department he was working in or if he was involved in any of the recent gang related trials.

(CNS): In yet another doorstep heist, two armed men carrying a handgun escaped with cash and jewellery in the early hours of Tuesday morning after robbing a victim outside his home. Police said they are investigating the robbery which occurred on Templewood Street in the Windsor Park area of George Town at around 3:55am. The man arrived at his home and began to unload his vehicle, when he was approached by two men, one of whom brandished a handgun. The suspects made their escape from the crime scene on foot with a sum of money and jewellery. The culprits were described as having Caymanian accents and were dressed in full black clothing.

(CNS): A local baker pleaded not guilty to fraud and theft on Friday and will now face a judge alone trial next month regarding a number of offences that the prosecution says were committed between August 2006 and July 2008. Dave Bryan a partner with a local bakery firm is accused of stealing more than $400,000 from both Cayman Bakery and Foster’s supermarket. Bryan is also charged with various counts of fraud and conspiracy that relate to attempts to obtain a loan in his business partner’s name and attempting to conceal the proceeds of crime.

(CNS): The defence attorney for Raziel Jeffers who is currently being tried for the murder of Marcus Ebanks in July 2009 accused the lead investigator of bias against his client on Friday. As the crown called its last witness in its case against the West Bay man who is accused of being one of two masked men who gunned down a group of young men and boys in a Bonaventure Lane yard, Peter Champagnie suggested that the police had not been fair with his client. DS Kurt Walton as the lead investigator on the murder enquiry revealed the sequence of events on the night of the shooting that led to Jeffers original arrest and how almost a year later he was charged with the crime. (Photo Courtesy of Cayman27)

(CNS): Suspected serial rapist Jeffery Barnes has still not answered any of the charges against him as his lawyer claims the prosecution have incorrectly tied together a number of charges on the same indictment that cannot be tried together. Jeffery Barnes, who remains in custody at Northward, was arrested and charged with one count of rape one for sexual assault and another for aggravated burglary shortly after his arrest on 1 November at an apartment in Ocean Club. Soon after the arrest relating to just one victim, he was later charged with two other counts of rape in relation to two other separate incidents revolving two other women.

(CNS): A lone George Town man who has been charged with an audacious daylight jewellery store robbery has denied being one of three men who took an axe to the downtown store just days before Christmas. Simon Julio Newball pleaded not guilty to five counts in connection with the offence when he appeared in Grand Court on Friday morning. Newball who is represented by John Furnis denied theft, robbery, arson, handling stolen goods and being in possession of criminal property in connection with the crime which included the theft of a RAV 4 in Bodden Town on 21 December before the daylight robbery of Magnum Jewellers in Cardinal Avenue on 22 December.

(CNS): A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a police operation in George Town Friday afternoon in which a police vehicle was damaged during the chase. A spokesperson for the RCIPS said that the suspect was pursued by police for a short distance and during that pursuit it appears the car was damaged but the details of how the damage occurred were not revealed. Police did state however that no one was injured. The suspect was arrested by officers, at around 2.50pm this afternoon in the Crewe Road area in connection with the shooting of a man in Hirst Road, Savannah, on Thursday 19 January.

(CNS): The crown’s key witness in the trial of Raziel Jeffers for the murder of Marcus Ebanks was described in court as “a jealous woman” who was lying about an alleged confession. During cross examination by the defendant’s attorney on Wednesday in the Grand Court the teen witness, who turned 20 on Thursday, was described as a “professional witness of untruth” who had since she was 14 associated with a number of known gang members. Jeffers lawyer, Peter Champagnie, attacked the witness’s credibility and pointed to the numerous lies she had told to the police before coming with her confession story and what he described as her “everything is true” statement.