Ebanks gets extra 20 years in jail

Leonard Antonio Ebanks

(CNS): Leonard Antonio Ebanks was handed a twenty year consecutive prison term on top of his existing life sentence Tuesday for his part in the murder of Swiss banker, Frederick Bise. In his sentencing ruling Justice Charles Quin made it clear that he was imposing the twenty year term following Ebanks conviction for accessory to the murder on top of whatever time he serves for his previous conviction for the murder of Tyrone Burrell, making it unlikely that the 44-year-old will ever be released from prison.

Although Ebanks has not yet received a tariff for his mandatory sentence in relation to the earlier conviction for murder, the conditional release law passed by the Legislative Assembly has paved the way for all lifers to be given a tariff indicating how long they must serve before being eligible for parole.

While he was already serving a life sentence for the fatal shooting of Burrell in West Bay in 2010, Ebanks was convicted in December last year of being accessory after the fact in the killing of Bise, who was murdered by Chad Anglin in 2008. Ebanks had also been charged with the Bise killing by the Cold Case Unit in 2013 but at the end of a trial he was acquitted of the banker’s murder by a jury, which found him guilty instead of the lesser offence of accessory after the fact of murder.

Based on the coroner’s report and evidence presented by the crown during the case, the judge made it clear in his sentencing decision that he believed Ebanks had played a significant part in helping Anglin, his cousin, to cover up the murder, despite not knowing exactly when it was that he had joined him in what the judge described as a cruel and brutal killing.

He said Ebanks had helped Anglin to put the murdered man’s body into his own vehicle and to destroy the murder weapon, which was believed to be a concrete block. The judge also found that Ebanks had assisted with attempts to burn Bise’s body and Anglin’s clothes. In arriving at his sentencing the judge said he had to consider the nature and extent of the assistance provided to the crime and how that help had damaged the interests of justice.

Justice Quin said Cayman had “seen a dramatic increase in murders and this was as callous and brutal a murder as one could imagine”, as he pointed to the vulnerability of Bise when he was killed as well as the multiple injuries he suffered. He said that Ebanks had deliberately helped to cover up the evidence; his efforts had ensured that the case was drawn out and he had prolonged the agony of Bise’s family.

If the evidence had not been destroyed, the case against Anglin would have been brought much sooner, the judge noted, adding that it was not “an overstatement to say the damage to justice has been extreme” in the case.

As Ebanks had assisted another man to cover up a murder, the most serious of all offences, and had 52 previous convictions, from drugs and burglary, to robbery, assault and ultimately another murder, Justice Quin said he was imposing a twenty year sentence on top of the existing life term, once the tariff was determined.

The judge’s decision to run the term consecutively was, however, questioned by both defence and crown counsel. They said that while the conditional release law dealing with lifers’ tariffs has been passed by legislators, it has not yet been implemented. The lawyers wondered if the judge could lawfully apply the latest sentence consecutively, given that Ebanks is still serving a mandatory life sentence as there is still no legal provision for him to receive a tariff.

Justice Quin agreed to hear arguments from attorneys on the matter once they have established when the relevant legislation dealing with tariffs is to be implemented. Although the law was gazetted on 15 December following its passage in the parliament in October, there is as yet no date for its enforcement. He said that in the meantime his decision stood.

During the hearing Ebanks, who was dressed neatly in a shirt, tie and waistcoat, interjected and said that the prisoners had been told by officials from the deputy governor’s office that the law would not be implemented until the summer. He asked the judge where that left him given “the dilemma” over the new legislation. However, the judge told him that it left him with a consecutive sentence on top of whatever tariff he would get and if he wasn’t happy he could take it to the Court of Appeal.

Ebanks thanked the judge before he was taken down to the cells.