Crime

(CNS): Seventeen-year-old Adryan Powell told the Grand Court on Monday afternoon that Raziel Jeffers was one of the gunmen that opened fire on him in a yard in Bonaventure Road, West Bay, some two and a half years ago. The teenager, who was one month shy of his 15th birthday on the evening he was shot multiple times, is now confined to a wheelchair as a result of the injuries he suffered during the shooting.  Powell, who was one of three youngsters gunned down by the two masked shooters that night, including 20-year-old Marcus Ebanks who was killed, said he was 100 percent certain Jeffers had shot him as the mask he wore had slipped from his face.

(CNS): The police have now charged a 34-year-old George Town man with a violent broad daylight jewellery shop robbery a few days before Christmas. Julio Newball has been charged with a list of crimes including robbery, handling stolen property, possession of criminal property, theft of a motor vehicle, arson and driving whilst disqualified. The incident took place at the Magnum Jewellery store in a busy downtown George Town on 22 December at around 11.20 am. The man along with two other accomplices smashed into display cases at the front of the open store in Cardinal Avenue with axes and grabbed a selection of high end jewellery.

(CNS): A West Bay man was reportedly robbed in his own home Sunday evening in the second incident of its kind this weekend. Police said that in this second home invasion there was only one masked and armed robber, who reportedly mugged the victim at a house in Capt. Curry Road, West Bay at 6:53 this evening. The man said that he was at his residence when the robber, with what appeared to be firearm, entered the house and stole his wallet and two cell phones. Police said the suspect is of slim build and between 5'10" and 6ft tall. The robber’s face was covered with a black mask and he was wearing a long sleeved black shirt and a long pair of black trousers.

(CNS): Twenty year old Dan Kelly from West Bay has denied stabbing another man during a fight inside a West Bay Road nightclub in December. The West Bay man was granted bail following his not guilty plea to the charge of grievous bodily harm by Justice Alex Henderson as he said the crown had presented nothing more than a “bare allegation” against the defendant who has been in custody since his arrest on 12 December. Although Kelly admits he was at Club 7 on the night the victim says he was stabbed the West Bay man denied being in a fight with the man or stabbing him.

(CNS): With several customs officers suspended, some sacked, others under investigation overseas and one facing serious drug charges in the local courts, government officials have still made no comment about the problems that the critical department appears to be facing. At least five officers are facing accusation that range from turning a blind eye on customs fraud to gun and drug smuggling, but government has remained tight lipped on the issue relating to any of the allegations against customs officers or any enquiries into the alleged wrongdoing. The department bosses have given no indication over what, if anything, is being done to address the problems of apparent corruption in one of government’s highest revenue generating departments. 

(CNS): The first case under the new anti-corruption law that will be heard in the Grand court had been delayed as the RCIPS staffer who is the first person to be charged under the law was refused legal aid the court heard Friday. Patricia Webster who was working as a receptionist at a police station when she reportedly abused police confidentiality was denied government funding because crimes under the new law have not yet made the legal aid schedule. Webster’s defence attorney pointed out that given the gravity of the charges which could result in a maximum sentence of ten years she needed representation. 

(CNS): Two men armed with a gun and a knife robbed a victim of a cash bag as he arrived at his home in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police are now investigating the incident the third robbery of 2012 after receiving a report of the mugging in Palm Dale, George Town at around 2:06 am this morning. The man told police that as he reached the outside of his house he was approached by the two men two men who stole the bag containing an undisclosed sum of cash. The victim said that the men both had their faces covered and no descriptions were given to the investigating officers. No shots were fired and no-one was injured in the robbery before the armed men escaped the scene on foot.

(CNS): Two masked men reportedly broke into the Shedden Road Texaco gas station in George Town sometime in the night on Thursday or early this morning . George Town detectives are investigating the suspected burglary after a report made around 5.15 on Friday morning that the station’s store’s glass door had been smashed.  Police said that initial investigations suggest that the men broke into the premises overnight but it is unclear what, if anything, has been stolen.

(CNS): Government is hoping to cut down on costs and increase security with the advent of a video link at the prison that will allow inmates detained at HMP Northward and Fairbanks on remand to address the courts or consult with their lawyers without leaving the jail. The CCTV link is expected to go live within weeks to allow "virtual" remand hearings, removing the need to shuttle defendants from the prison to the George Town court house. "We transport some 100 Category-A and -B prisoners and persons on remand weekly, including those charged with capital crimes," said Prison Director Dwight Scott.

(CNS): A West Bay man was sentenced to ten years in prison on Thursday for attempting to kill his wife by setting her on fire. George Dexter Evans was found guilty of attempted murder and arson following a judge alone trial before Justice Charles Quin in August last year. As he handed down his sentence, the judge pointed to Evans' alcohol problems as the cause of his crime. Social enquiries, doctors reports and his family found that when sober Evans was a loving and hardworking husband and father but a completely different person when drunk. The judge told Evans he was lucky that in the end his wife was unharmed.

(CNS): With an ever increasing workload, especially  in criminal matters, and ten judicial officers presiding over the myriad cases passing through the local court system in only six court rooms, the country’s top judge has said there is now a pressing need for the long planned new court house to be built. Speaking at the official opening of the Grand Court on Wednesday morning, Chief Justice Anthony Smellie pointed out that people had the right not only to a fair and timely trial in criminal cases but the right to have accurate and cost-effective determinations of all disputes before the courts. He said the work load now more than justified the new building, which had received government approval several years ago.

(CNS): Government will be placing far greater emphasis this year on the rehabilitation of offenders serving time in the prison system with the aim of reducing the high rates of recidivism. The prison revolving door owes much to the inability of offenders to find work once released, driving them back to survival through crime and ultimately back to the prison. Having secured government funding for full time teaching staff and support from the business community, the prison will now be much better placed to address inmates’ skill sets and equip them for a crime -free life when they return to society. 

(CNS): The Financial Crime Unit is warning the public of a new scam where con artists are trying to get credit card details from their victims posing as representatives from Microsoft. The financial cops report that a  small number of people on Island have reported receiving a call from someone purporting to be from Microsoft stating that they have received an error message relating to their computer. Offering to repair the computer system remotely the scammers request the victim provides credit card details. Officers from the RCIPS said.the story about the error message is, of course, fictitious but the victims who have been sucked in by the con have found that anywhere from $99 - $200 has been taken from their credit card account.

(CNS): Two fishermen apprehended by the police in East End on Monday were found in possession of forty-two times the legal limit of conch. The men were arrested yesterday afternoon at around 2:30 on suspicion of a number of marine offences, including taking conch in excess of the prescribed limit. Officers from the Joint Marine Unit and Bodden Town police station carried out the operation near the district's  public beach, when the two men aged 37 and 41 years were also found in possession of an illegal spear gun, 3 lobsters and 421 conch.

(CNS): Update 10:20am -- Police have now released descriptions of the two armed and masked men who stole a cash register and a sum of money from the Valu-Med Pharmacy in Walkers Road last night, Monday 9 January. The first suspect was described by witnesses as wearing a ‘soldier-type’ camouflage jacket. The second suspect was also wearing a camouflage jacket with a brown towel and a tam on his head. Police say that about 8:30 pm on Monday the two suspects entered the premises. One of the suspects ran to the back of the store where he threatened the cashier with what appeared to be a handgun and demanded cash.