Supergrass returns to witness stand

(CNS): Marlon Dillon, who has been labelled ‘supergrass’ because of the evidence that he has given in several key trials, returned to the courts Monday to give evidence against four men accused of the largest bank robbery in Cayman’s history. Dillon has already pleaded guilty to his part in the Cayman National Bank daylight heist, in which over half a million dollars was stolen, and alleges that David Tamasa, Andre Burton, George Mignott and Rennie Cole were also involved.

The court heard Dillon explain his relationships with each of the four defendants, whom he described as friends, as the trial into the armed hold-up at the bank in June 2012 resumed on Monday 16 February. He went into great detail about all of the defendants’ occupations, families, home addresses, nicknames and telephone numbers, giving specific information about each of them, even in some cases describing the inside of their houses.

Dillon then outlined the roles they all played during the robbery. Having previously admitted to his own part as one of the men who entered the bank, he stated that David Tamasa, who did not enter the bank, was the person who retrieved the guns for and “orchestrated” the robbery, along with Ryan Edwards, who has already been convicted.

Dillon also indicated that a number of others were involved in the heist who have not been charged in connection with the crime.

One of those alleged co-conspirators that Dillon said was involved was one of the bank’s managers. He said it was Edwards that had shared the details about the heist with her, inferring that she was in on the plan.

“Ryan pressured us to rob the bank,” Dillon told the court. He said that Ryan was also one of the armed men who had jumped over the counter and went to the bank’s vault because, Dillon claimed, he had been told where it was by the manager.

He said that George Mignott’s role during the robbery was to control the door with a shotgun and to “hold off the floor” of the bank by making the staff, customers and the security guards lay on the floor. Dillon said the instructions were given to Mignott by both Edwards and Tamasa, while Andre Burton was the getaway driver.

Dillon said that Rennie Cole was the only one of the men on trial that he did not know before the robbery. He said he had met Cole on the morning of the heist and his role was to distract the security guard so that Mignott, Burton and Dillon could enter the bank without any problems.

The four men have all denied playing any part in the robbery and have challenged Dillon’s account, suggesting that he has named them as a safer option instead of the real very dangerous offenders. Dillon was picked up by police in the immediate wake of the robbery and found in possession of some of the stolen cash.

Dillon quickly owned up to being involved and within days of his arrest he began telling police the names of his co-conspirators as well as giving evidence about other crimes, including the murder of Robert Macford Bush. Largely because of his evidence, Brian Borden was convicted of that crime and Dillon, who spent over two years in solitary confinement in a cell at the George Town Police Station, was given a three-year sentence for his part in the robbery. The sentence was greatly reduced by the judge due to the appalling circumstances he had been kept in during his time in custody and because the evidence he had given put his and his family’s lives at risk.

The trial continues with Dillon’s evidence in Grand Court One on Tuesday.