Appeal court upholds robbery sentences

Cayman courts, Grand Cayman

(CNS): Appeals by three men serving time in HMP Northward for two different armed daylight robberies were all dismissed Tuesday, as the Court of Appeal pressed on with the long list of Grand Court criminal cases awaiting review. Upholding the vast majority convictions and jail terms during this session, the judges were not persuaded to interfere with sentences handed to Brandon Liberal and Manuel Carter for their part in a security van heist or the one given to Courtney Bryan for a hold-up at a North Side supermarket.

Liberal, who is serving a seven-year mandatory minimum sentence for the possession of an unlicensed firearm used in the robbery of a courier van outside the offices of the insurance firm BritCay, asked the appeal court to consider his case as “exceptional circumstances” because he had helped the police recover another firearm unrelated to the robbery. While on remand Liberal had told the police where a handgun was buried and his lawyer argued that he should get some credit for cooperating with the authorities.

However, the appeal court supported the sentencing judge’s position. They said Justice Charles Quin had considered that in his ruling and, given that there was a question as to whether the weapon was in fact Liberal’s own gun, rather than getting a further discount he was lucky he wasn’t facing a second charged of possession of a firearm, as there was no amnesty in place at the time.

Carter, who was unrepresented when he made his appeal, implied that he was not just seeking time off his mandatory sentence but pleaded with the appeal court to help him get access to a halfway house and rehabilitation before he is released. He told the court of the significant battles he has had with his addiction to crack cocaine and that he had found it very difficult to get clean, which is why he had got into trouble. Carter made a heartfelt apology and, as he appealed for the court’s mercy, he handed in a letter.

The court said the letter was eloquent and expressed his sorrow and remorse. While acknowledging his problems and commending his efforts, the judges said there was nothing they could do about his sentence.

Courtney Bryan was told he was very lucky to receive just a four-year term for his part in the robbery of Chisholm’s supermarket in North Side. Bryan was one of four men originally accused of the robbery but he was the only one to get a significant sentence. One man claimed he had nothing to do the with the heist and had merely hitched a ride with the robbers and escaped conviction. Another managed to wangle his charges down to merely handling stolen goods when the third man in the gang and the second man to go in the shop with Bryan refused to give evidence against him.

Bryan, however, got four years for robbery and possession of an imitation weapon.

One of the aggravating factors in his case had been the crown’s position that the robbery was planned because before Bryan and a second underage man committed the hold-up, two other men from the same car had “cased” the supermarket under the pretence of buying a patty before the other two robbed the shop some 15 minutes later. But when the crown accepted the plea of handling stolen goods, they changed their view as to the facts of the case, which Bryan’s lawyer argued should have impacted his sentence as well.

The appeal court judges disagreed and pointed out that the law does not provide for one offender to benefit from the good fortune of another. They said that, given the circumstances of the crime, there were more than enough aggravating factors in the case to warrant the four-year jail term, even if others had benefited from the crown’s change of position, as they upheld the case.

The men were caught because of the quick action of the 83-year-old grandmother, who had taken the licence number of the car after the first two men came in and noted it was the same car that the robbers fled in. The men were involved in a high-speed car chase with the police before they were apprehended, though one robber was still able to flee on foot and avoid justice.

The court of appeal continues this week reviewing the conviction of Brian Borden, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Robert Mackford Bush. A decision is excpected to be delivered Friday afternoon.