Judge cuts drug trafficker’s jail term on appeal

| 29/09/2016 | 4 Comments

(CNS): A Honduran national who was caught at Owen Roberts Airport some six years ago attempting to take two kilos of cocaine from Cayman to Cuba, stashed in women’s underwear, had his sentence reduced from 13 to just 10 years on Thursday following a successful appeal. Justice Micheal Mettyear found that the magistrate who sentenced Geovany Mayorquin in 2011 after he pleaded guilty in Summary Court should have given the man the full one third credit for his admissions, and as a result reduced the original 15-year term to ten.

Mayorquin had filed his appeal exceptionally late but the court accepted that his poor grasp of English at the time of his conviction had created communication problems with his attorney and he was not aware of his rights until much later.

The crown said that the magistrate was correct in her decision to give a lesser discount on the sentence as the man had been caught red handed and had no choice but to plead.

But his defence attorney argued that the sentence was excessive as he had cooperated, pleaded guilty right away, did not to try to offer “a fanciful story” and force a trial and should not have been denied the full discount. The lawyer said his client had given information to the police about where the drugs were held and a description of the man who had given him the job, which should also have seen the jail term reduced as it was not his fault the police had not acted on that information.

Mayorquin had been caught at the airport as a result of a random search. He was found to be wearing a woman’s bodyshaper under his clothes in which he had packed the drugs bound for Havana. During interviews with the police he came clean about getting the cocaine from a Cuban man named Eduardo in West Bay and told them the location in that district where the drugs had been stored. He also said that he was offered around $14,000 to take the cocaine to Cuba.

The judge dismissed the idea that Mayorquin had helped to identify anyone further up the trafficking chain, as cooperation in drug cases had to include helping bring others to justice. He also stated that he believed the man was more than a mule and he had carefully planned his attempt to smuggle the drugs and he had done it for cash. Justice Mettyear said he was deliberately “exporting misery for money” but he accepted that the appellant was entitled to a greater reduction for his admission as he had not tried to make up a story.

As a result, the judge gave him the full discount and reduced the original 15-year term by one third, cutting the final sentence to just ten years and overturning the 13 year term.

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Category: Courts, Crime

Comments (4)

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  1. anonymous says:

    Why the Cayman authoritiries did not let this Honduran man travel to Cuba and inform the Cuban government once he was on the plane? Now we have to feed this expat for 10 years. Yes there are expat criminals in Cayman. cost to cayman 70,000 a year x 10 years. Why no deportation order?

    • Anonymous says:

      It is more. Important to reduce the sentence, than issue an exclusion order. Send hm back to Honduras or let him travel to Cuba and his life would’ve been Royal. We always try to play nice guys.

    • D says:

      And there are caymanians in prison abroad too. Look up the latest about a caymanian arrested in Toronto for all kinds of prostitution charges. We all make mistakes. Doesnt matter where you are from you can still go to jail in cayman.

  2. Anonymous says:

    If he had been caught in Cuba with that amount of coke, Fidel and Raul would have taken excellent care of him for the rest of his life.

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