Jury delivers split verdict in robbery-sex crime case

| 14/09/2016 | 32 Comments

Cayman News Service

(CNS): A jury returned two guilty and two not guilty verdicts Wednesday, following several hours deliberating the crown’s case against Walter Jordan McLaughlin (left) for abduction, indecent assault, robbery and common assault. The jury acquitted the local man of abduction and indecent assault but convicted him of robbery and common assault. The victim in the case had claimed that McLaughlin had sexually assaulted and beaten her after she had refused his sexual advances when he was giving her a ride home. But McLaughlin had stated the woman was a prostitute and they had fought over the price.

Given the split verdict, the jury clearly believed McLaughlin’s claims that she was a sex-worker.

In her evidence the woman, who was in Cayman on a work permit from the Dominican Republic, had described the ordeal in detail, including being so scared she wet herself as she believed he would kill her. The woman said McLaughlin pulled her by the hair as she tried to get away, pulling the chain from around her neck, punching her and grabbing her breasts and vagina as he pleaded with her to have sex with him. She said he had threatened to throw her in the water when they parked at the very end of Sparky Drive and told her that, as a Caymanian, he could have her thrown off the island.

She had eventually escaped from McLaughlin after he had taken her bag, jewellery and phone, and walked barefoot into the path of a garbage truck. The men in the truck, who testified that the woman was trembling and terrified, had taken her to her home and she had then called the police and visited the hospital.

McLaughlin denied all of the allegations. He told the court that the woman was a prostitute with whom he had sex on previous occasions. On this night, he said, they had fought over the price and she had become hysterical, attacked him and stormed off. He claimed she had left her belongings in his car, and when he discovered them he had thrown them all away.

Following his arrest, however, he never mentioned that the woman was a prostitute. In a prepared statement he said that the couple had gone to have consensual sex, as they had before, but had fought over something inconsequential.

McLaughlin told the court that he had not admitted that she was a prostitute because of the stigma associated with paying for sex and because he was ashamed for his family to know, denying that he had concocted the story after the charges were laid.

Following the conviction, McLaughlin, who faces further serious charges in relation to a number of other crimes, was remanded in custody until 26 September, when he will be sentenced.

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Category: Courts, Crime

Comments (32)

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  1. Tsk tsk tsk says:

    Only difference with this guy and the other Caymanian ‘men’ that love to use women is that he got caught. You would be shocked and amazed how often this happens and with who. Watch out for that zika!

  2. Anonymous says:

    This is a sad story. I am not sure who I believe. What I can say is that I admire the actions of the men in the garbage truck for doing what any reasonable person would have done in the same or similar circumstances.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Time to start letting PR holders and maybe even WP holders do jury duty.

  4. Anonymous says:

    “Given the split verdict, the jury clearly believed McLaughlin’s claims that she was a sex worker” according CNS. Unless I have missed something, the jury’s verdict indicates that they were unsure that any sexual assault had taken place, but they were sure she had been assaulted and robbed. That does not mean they were sure she was a sex worker. Publicly labelling this victim of crime a prostitute, on the back of the jury’s verdict, is not fair to this victim and is not fair to the jury.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I would hope the prosecution call for a retrial.

  6. Diogenes says:

    Faces further serious charges in relation to other crimes….

  7. Tony says:

    Kick you off the island is their first cry, I went through it , she lost,

    Mentality

  8. Anonymous says:

    Dont you people have trust in your justice system? If hes not guilty hes not guilty regardless.

    • Anonymous says:

      Clearly we do not have trust … Don’t believe his story for a minute! Real criminal and needs to be locked up a long time.

  9. Anonymous says:

    a sad reflection on caymanian culture generally….including the idiotic jury system….

  10. Anonymous says:

    “The men in the truck, ………… had taken her to her home and she had then called the police and visited the hospital.” – Why not straight to the hospital or call the police immediately?

  11. Anonymous says:

    What a scumbag

  12. mark says:

    It’s not only Caymanian men who threaten to have foreign women thrown off the island but some Caymanian women do it as well. I know of a situation now of a Caymanian women who has a history of throwing men off the island and she is currently trying to getting her ex-husband thrown off. She is well connected and Immigration Dept are actually trying to aid this wicked woman, who years ago did the same to her child’s father, in getting the man to leave. The funny thing is that the ex-husband did nothing but provided for her well and she is trying to take him for all he has including house they built together and continue her life with the man she’s been having an extramarital affair with. She has absolutely no class as the man she has picked up with has another woman and has about 6 children from 6 different women. Messy!

    • Anonymous says:

      Stop the marriages of convenience!! Caymanians never learn from one bad experience, it has to be duplicated. How many haven’t used permit or marriage to obtain US visas and flee. Convenience, convenience.

    • Anonymous says:

      Not just caymanian women my dear. I met up with a caymanian man. His Canadian wife called up my employer at a well known clothes store location and I lost the job. I’ve since returned and he’s still calling me

  13. Anonymous says:

    No means NO!!

  14. Anonymous says:

    The abhorrently entitled Caymanian male attitude that sexual favor can be procured at any time under threat of immigration retribution is far too common with today’s young males. There was no female consent here. It doesn’t matter if she was from the DR, or if they may have had a prior liaison, even if by commercial arrangement. This encounter was a violent insistent rape that had already escalated beyond the point of return and would surely have ended up as another “Estella”-type dyke road murder had she not found the aid she did. The attitudes of our Cayman Juries are remarkably casual when it comes to violence against women. I hope the Crisis Center and others will join in condemning the prevalence of these wholly unacceptable attitudes and events.

    • Anonymous says:

      the thing that makes me wretch is the “i can kick you off the island cause im Caymanian and will report you to immigration”

      Nice……..well, okay then. Rape away……..

  15. Anonymous says:

    The men in the truck, who testified that the woman was trembling and terrified….
    You dont act trembling and terrified.
    How many men in the jury?
    This is wrong.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Assault is assault regardless of occupation.

  17. Anonymous says:

    “Told her that, as a Caymanian, he could have her thrown off the island.” …must have learned that from the married men that hang out in the Spanish bars, that threaten the girls in the same way, when the girls reject them. SMH

  18. Anonymous says:

    So sad. I’m sure that as soon as they heard where she was from, they believed it. It just goes to show how far Cayman needs to go to be pulled into this century.

  19. Anonymous says:

    Prostitute or not he deserves to go to jail.

  20. Soiled Son says:

    Poor “Son o’ Soil”… Apparently he tried to force the girl to go to church with him on Sunday morning and she wouldn’t have any of it. Instead she told him that she was going to prostitute herself and that there was nothing that he could do about it. In his desperate attempt to stop, he threw himself on his knees and begged her put an end to her wickedness. Unimpressed by his righteousness, she ran in front of a garbage truck, leaving behind her personal belongings. And that your Honour is how my innocent, God-lovin Caymanian-bred, son o’ soil, ended up trying to pawn off the contents of the purse. Oh yea, and she’s a prostitute!

  21. Diogenes says:

    So in the absence of any evidence that she was in fact a sex worker other than the accused’s testimony, the jury are prepared to believe him on the sexual assault charges – passing lightly over the fact that sexual contact without consent is still assault even if she is one – and who ever believes that a professional sex worker engages in the honey without the money? And of course all that is based on her being a sex worker rather than a simple passer by, and even then it still makes no sense. This man clearly has issues about women that mean society as a whole would be better without his presence – hopefully the judge will sentence accordingly.

    • Anonymous says:

      What same. Why do you post a picture of the accused with shades on? Post a picture of his face without shades. All peverts should be showcased so the world can identify him.

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