West Bay man denies burglary, mounts own defence

Cayman Islands courts (Photo by Jaida Alexander)

(CNS): A local man has mounted his own defence to charges of trespassing and stealing a PlayStation 3 and its controller during a night-time break-in while the homeowner was asleep in his bed. Tonie Bush, who was charged with burglary at a home on Hell Road, West Bay, sometime between 10:30pm and 6:30am on 2 January, denies any involvement in the crime and faced a Grand Court jury this week without legal representation.

Based on fingerprint evidence, the crown claims Bush entered Travis Ebanks’ home through his window when he was sleeping, stole the items, and left.

Ebanks told the court when he took the stand as a prosecution witness that he had gone to sleep on the night of 1 January at 9pm and woke up minutes to 7am. He said he had gone to sleep with his window half open to let breeze into his room with a screen in place to prevent mosquitoes. After waking, Ebanks realized that his screen was on the outside of his home and that his PlayStation and controller were missing. He called the police after discovering the game equipment, valued at around $450, had gone.

When police arrived on the scene they lifted a fingerprint from Ebanks’ window screen. The print was confirmed by a fingerprint expert with 100% certainty as a match to Bush, the court heard. But two other fingerprints found on the game console’s cartridge case were dismissed as potential matches for the defendant.

Bush has not disputed that the fingerprint could be his because, he said, he has a relationship with the people at Ebanks’ home. The court heard that Bush was around the property every so often to drink beer and ‘hang out’.

Ebanks also revealed that stolen items had been recovered by another unidentified man and returned to him but no reasons were given why he didn’t report the return of his game kit to the police.

Confusion over Bush’s identity by both the police and Ebanks also clouded the case for the prosecution, which is built on the fingerprint evidence alone. CCTV footage was shown to the court from the night of the burglary at Ebanks’ home. However, it was not possible for the jury to identify what the person was doing or make out who it is on the tape.

Following the presentation of the video, Bush asked the judge “Was that footage of any evidential value?” — a point which Justice Malcolm Swift noted was “a good question”.

Once the crown finished presenting evidence, Bush spoke directly to the jury. He said that the crown’s case consisted of one fingerprint and nothing else and that it was not enough to prove him guilty. He asked the jury, “Does it take one fingerprint to move a screen?” He also pointed to the fact that the other fingerprints were not a match to him.

Presenting his own defence, the West Bay man went on to say that the CCTV footage showed nothing, and questioned why Ebanks did not notify police when his stolen items were returned and reveal who had returned them. He ended saying that the crown did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The jury was expected to be directed by the judge Wednesday before beginning their deliberations.