Gang feuds behind latest GT violence
Stabbing incident 16 june 2015
(CNS): The violence on the streets of George Town Tuesday is connected to the ongoing West Bay gang feuds. Both men involved in the crash and fight have connections to the recent trial and acquittal of Jose ‘Pito’ Sanchez for the murder of Special Olympian Solomon “Solly” Webster.
Blake Barrell (31) from West Bay, who was stabbed in the neck, was charged in the wake of the murder with assisting Sanchez to evade the law, while David Bodden (38), who was arrested for attempted murder following yesterday’s attack, had been accused of witness tampering during the trial.
Sanchez walked away from the murder charge earlier this month — the second time that the West Bay man has been acquitted of a killing in what are believed to be gang-related incidents. In 2011 he was one of three men acquitted of killing Alrick Pedie in a West Bay yard in 2010 in another gang shooting.
Barrell, who was never tried in relation to the accessory charges as they were dropped, remains in hospital with life threatening injuries after yesterday’s shocking daylight violence. Bodden, his alleged attacker who remains in police custody, has not yet been charged but there appears to be many witnesses to the incident, as well as CCTV footage.
The two men were reportedly involved in a short car chase along Fort Street yesterday after Barrell had appeared in court Tuesday morning in relation to drugs offences, as well as a charge of possession of an unlicensed gun that was dropped. Bodden was understood to have rammed Barrell’s vehicle off the road by Butterfield House before the two men began fighting in the street. At some point Barrell was stabbed and police officers who were nearby grabbed Bodden and arrested him, while the victim was taken to the hospital.
Witnesses described the incident like “something from a movie”, as people on the streets and nearby offices got a full view of the gang-related fight.
The stabbing follows a weekend of violence in which another man in an unrelated incident was stabbed in the neck, head and body during a fight in Prospect. Cory Bowen (29) from George Town appeared in court on Tuesday after he was charged by police with wounding and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Bowen, who has denied the charge, claiming self-defence, was remanded in custody until Friday, when he will appear in Grand Court.
Police are also on the hunt for an unknown gunman who, in an attempt to shoot at another unidentified man, shot indiscriminately into a crowd at an after-hours session early Saturday morning in the industrial area. A member of staff working for the bartending service was wounded in the neck and two men were also shot, one of whom remains in hospital following surgery.
Police have confirmed that the intended victim was running from the shooter, who reportedly continued to fire into the crowd in an effort to hit his intended target in what is also believed to be another gang-related feud. Police have not yet stated if this incident in Sparky Drive is related to the Fort Street violence in George Town.
Concerns are being raised, however, about the indiscriminate violence and the escalation in nature of the recent gang shootings. Throughout this year shootings have occurred in crowded areas, where the gunmen involved have opened fire on crowds as they target specific victims as they pursue their ongoing feuds but have no regard for unrelated bystanders, several of whom have been shot.
I think in best interests of our government is to put a hefty fine on the guys who tends to wear their pants below their waistline .that shows the public what type of people we are dealing with gangster clothes wearing style .
All hail our saviours from da UK & Jam boy they really have a handle on this crime situation in these islands. They certainly have been paid very well for a job well done!
When CIG gets around to revitalizing George Town, perhaps they could go the extra mile and rename it – ” Dodge City “.
I don’t understand how all of these gang members get away with all of these murders.
No lie, they have these guys red handed, and then give them baby-ass sentences. Remember the Grand Harbour bobo robbery? The gun malfuntioned so they dismissed the gun charge? Said it wasn’t a real gun? WTF? Of course these guys are not affaid to açt out ,to kill, to rob. They are not facing any consequences.
Culture of corruption. Duh. Oops guess I just committed treason.
If the police know this is all gang related, why are they not conducting massive dawn raids to arrest them, their guns and drugs and do us all a big favor
I thought mere Gang Membership was a crime? Any 10 year old checking Facebook can see the connections. Cops – please explain the lack of arrests/prosecutions?
Fathers day coming up. One of the most confusing days on the island!
And your point exactly is what? Or are you one of those Johnny Comelately
feminists for example.
I think you will find the habit of dropping children around the place is actually a recent import from elsewhere in the region.
True dat yesteryear it was the cayman seamen dropping in other places
Now its da jam dropping seed in cayman so da can get status
Dem local boys do try as hard as they can but not as slick as a jamman
competition for da bredin and dem winnin ya
If the schools educated and empowered their female students (and advocated birth control) we would all be better off.
but who’s going to tell them that the Jacan smooth talk is not love when all the grown women are falling for anything that speaks patois? that’s the example they have and meanwhile the Jacan professional women getting with their English men, even the ‘white’ now new black Caymanian women can’t get. Observe…. this is a major part of the problem, pickings are slim for the women
The effect of legalized abortion on crime (sometimes referred to as the Donohue-Levitt hypothesis) is the theory that legal abortion reduces crime. Proponents of the theory generally argue that children who are unwanted or whose parents cannot care for them well are more likely to become criminals and that an inverse correlation is observed between the availability of abortion and subsequent crime. Moreover, children born under these conditions are usually economically disadvantaged. In particular, it is argued that the legalization of abortion in the United States, largely due to the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, has reduced crime in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Opponents generally reject these statistics, and argue that abortion has negative effects on society or decrease in crime is brought about in other ways.
Steven Levitt of the University of Chicago and John Donohue of Yale University revived discussion of this claim with their 2001 paper “The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime”. Donohue and Levitt point to the fact that males aged 18 to 24 are most likely to commit crimes. Data indicates that crime in the United States started to decline in 1992. Donohue and Levitt suggest that the absence of unwanted children, following legalization in 1973, led to a reduction in crime 18 years later, starting in 1992 and dropping sharply in 1995. These would have been the peak crime-committing years of the unborn children.
The authors argue that states that had abortion legalized earlier should have the earliest reductions in crime. Donohue and Levitt’s study indicates that this indeed has happened: Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York, Oregon and Washington experienced steeper drops in crime, and had legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade. Further, states with a high abortion rate have experienced a greater reduction in crime, when corrected for factors like average income.[4] Finally, studies in Canada and Australia claim to have established a correlation between legalized abortion and overall crime reduction.[4]
Bit of social enginering and food for thought. Or we could keep trying this church thing that does seem to be working so well.
I have no doubt that what you say is true. Sad, but true.
Fantastic comment. So true.
Do you have to have a silly nickname to be in a gang? If so, is there a silly gang name generator online?
http://www.namepistol.com/gangsta-name-generator.html
It is great. Apparently my gangster name is ‘Mazing Mac.
Yes, it’s a prerequisite. http://gangstaname.com/
Just tried, it works pretty good. I got gangster names for my cats too.
Call me “Dead Bully Rappa” from now on. I’m going to ditch my belt, drop my pants about 6″, turn my cap 90 deg, and not give a s$$t anymore!!!!!
OK then, but your Hedge Fund clients may not be so cool wit dat.
Word!
I guess Mac didn’t have much pull between the gangs in the West. Oops, sorry that was a political chat by the Mac.
This just goes to prove that these thugs have no fear of or respect for the police or the law. They know they can act with impunity and this is what we get. We can thank the politicians, past and present, for the mess we are in. I still remember years ago a certain prominent politician when Minister of Education saying over and over again “we have no gangs in our schools”. Ostrich syndrome just like the dump, immigration, education……….
But I thought Mac said he was going to give them a good talking to…
Mac clearly did; “tek unna wiolence out of da Republic”.
Can we fence off an area of West Bay where all these litttle droopy pants ‘gangstas’ are allowed to bring in their weapons? Then maybe this problem would take care of itself.
Maybe Caybrew could sponser it by luring them in with free 345’s
At least show them how to hold their guns properly and shoot straight so they get their mark and not innocent bystanders.
There are no gangs in the Cayman Islands.
Ok, your point? he made that stupid statement 30 plus years ago. So what have we done since then….other than blame Truman for an idiotic 30 year old remark?
What is Premier has to do with this? Police has to do their work. The guy not only accused all Caymanians of corruption, still went on bad mouthing the country in US and Canada. I am not even a Caymanian but live and work here. I was offended by his writings.
Boy, you sure sound confused. Get back to us when you know what you talking about!
I think BA been smoking what them Gangsta’s selling.
These people should confined to West Bay where they can receive personal counselling from McKeeva.
These so called gang members wouldn’t last 2 minutes in Hull!!! Buy some proper clothes, get rid of the crappy gold jewerly, get a job, get rid of the 20 year old civic and finally get a grip of reality you’re not in a video game. Absolute timewasters and a constant drain on society.
Mr. Premier, where is the outrage? Caymanians on facebook, where are the long drawn-out rants on your timeline? Or is it only when people speak the truth that all unnah get all twiss-up? SMDH
The biggest impediment to conviction of gang criminals is the reluctance of the public to speak to the police or testify in Court. There may be good reasons for that reluctance, but the fact remains that without witnesses the police’s hands are tied.
Simple answer – you’re talking about Prince Alldone now. Them boys not bothering him and he not bothering them.
Why is the premier not making a public statement about this escalating violence? Is it because the corruption comments in the Compass that got his blood boiling hit close to home and the gang fighting doesn’t have any direct impact on him? Why is it that people pointing out the obvious are accused of treason but punks shooting and stabbing people do not even elicit a comment from the premier?
I find this comment to be treasonous!
Thank you for your input Mr premier. Now that you have to boycott the Compass I guess you have plenty of time to read CNS.
Because Big Mac is sorting things out with the leaders and pastors in the Republic, remember?
@10:32am You can try to defend Legge and deflect attention away from him,but he was wrong and you know it.
Oh, I get it. What you’re saying is let’s not deflect attention from things that really matter, like David Legge. Man, you people are pathetic.
So the pen is mightier than the sword, knife or gun. Thank you for clarifying.
“Pointing out the obvious”. So you are in agreement with Legge that Caymanians are so culturally steeped in corruption that we cannot even recognise it and dismiss it as cultural differences? Essentially that it is a part of our identity? I’m glad that the racists are crawling out from under their rocks so we can be aware of them.
Visit the offices of the MLAs and see how many of them hand out food and money to constituents on a regular basis. Vote buying does not just happen during election campaigns every 4 years.