Jail time cut for fisherman’s violent attack

| 07/03/2017 | 27 Comments

(CNS): A Honduran fisherman who was being held in Cayman on drug charges when he committed a violent, frightening and unprovoked knife attack on a woman in a jealous rage had his sentenced cut by 18 months Tuesday, following a successful appeal. Meleton Rosales Maick (59) was sentenced to six years in prison last year after he admitted stabbing his victim at her own home following a party where he had drunk a lot of alcohol. But Krister Brady, who represented the Honduran man, argued that the sentence was too long when compared to other similar cases, and the appeal court agreed.

The stabbing was put down to jealousy when the facts of the case were revealed in court last October. Although there was no relationship of any kind between Maick and his victim, he had feelings for the woman that were not reciprocated. Originally charged with attempted murder, Maick had denied intending to kill the woman at her house in West Bay in January last year, but he pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding with intent after the crown offered the alternative charge to save the victim from the further ordeal of facing her attacker and reliving the experience in court.

Following his admissions and a comprehensive sentencing hearing, Justice Charles Quin handed him a six-year jail term having identified aggravating factors, such as the complete lack of provocation for the attack on what he said was a “defenceless woman” in her own home, which he said was “inexplicable except for the jealous rage”.

But Maick’s lawyer argued that the sentence was excessive because the judge had started at a very high point within the guidelines, and after discounting the sentence for his guilty plea, he ended up with a jail term that was greater than other sentences handed down in similar case but where the injuries to the victims had been much greater or where people had gone through a full trial.

In this case, while the attack was terrifying for the woman and had at first appeared serious, as she lost a considerable amount of blood from a very deep hand wound, her other injuries were superficial and she was treated and released from hospital in a short time and has since recovered from the injuries.

The appeal court agreed that the sentencing judge had started too high with a nine-year term and ended up with an excessive sentence, even after allowing a full credit for the man’s guilty plea. Allowing the appeal, they reduced the sentence that Maick will now serve from six to four and a half years.

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Category: Courts, Crime

Comments (27)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Looks like I will have to become a fisherman, better treatment by the courts…

  2. Anonymous says:

    Appeals courts should not be involved in small adjustments to sentences. They did not see the witnesses.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Perhaps he should have killed her? He would be free by now. Justice in Cayman #nonexistentjoke.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Actually Honduras has the highest murder rate in the universe .

  5. Anonymous says:

    He is a good man just a little drunk he has may become an MLA some day early release

  6. Anonymous says:

    Ironic that the lead story on International Woman’s Day is about how our “Justice System” is willing to go even lighter on violence against women. This animal violently defaced and maimed this woman without any provocation and will be out in 2 yrs!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Animal behavior. Should be locked up in a zoo.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Happy International Women’s Day.

  9. Anonymous says:

    What? We tired of paying for his dinner?

  10. knotcaymanian says:

    Ummh, yea, so here we have a guy being held on drug charges, who decides to booze it up and almost kills a woman out of jealousy, despite having no relationship with her. And the Court of Appeal somehow thinks this waste of excrement deserves leniency. I get the logic. NOT.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Will he be deported after the jail term. These people are famous for using the knife.

    • Jotnar says:

      “these people..” really?.. Unlike some born Caymanians of course.

      • knotcaymanian says:

        What was wrong with what he/she said? Yes, “these people”… Born Caymanians do the same (I agree with your sentiment), but it doesn’t mean that you have to add to the numbers. Honduras has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the world, and I for one would not want one of their criminals in my country either.

        • Anonymous says:

          Actually Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world at over 1,000 per year.

          • Anonymous says:

            I think you will find that in numbers gun crime in the US is the worst, however if you mean per capita, you might be correct, especially in San Pedro Sula-murder capital of the world.

        • Diogenes says:

          Ah, so we can pre-judge an entire group of people based on statistics created by a minority. All Hondurans are knife wielding murders because their country ranks number one in the homicide statistics. All Muslims are terrorists. And guess what, Cayman ranks number 29 on that same list, so everyone from number 30 onwards shouldn’t let any of us in their country either. Seems fair. Or does your logic only apply to other people?

          • knotcaymanian says:

            There is no perfect culture, race, religion, etc., but, based on statistics, there are those more likely to offend in certain ways. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but a great number of terrorist attacks are carried out by Muslims. Not all those from Honduras are murderers, but your chances of being killed in Honduras are higher than in the Cayman Islands; in some/many instances knives are used. Tell me, would you feel comfortable walking around in a Detroit ghetto late at night, or in KKK country in Alabama if you are black, or in Afghanistan wearing a Christian cross? Most likely not – why not?? Most likely because you understand that even though not all blacks are violent, you stand a good chance of being beaten, robbed or murdered in a Detroit ghetto; or that not all whites are KKK members, but you stand a pretty good chance of being beaten, mugged, or murdered in Alabama KKK country; or same thing if you are Christian in Afghanistan. It’s called common sense. So yeah, those people like to use knives a lot…not all.

            • Diogenes says:

              That’s not what the original poster said though, is it? They didn’t qualify it in any way, and there was no reference to statistical likelihood – although the justification for using that for ethnic profiling would make for an entertaining discussion. They said “these people” i.e. the whole lot of them. That’s just plain racist, pure and simple. Don’t try and sugar coat it.

        • Anon says:

          Thank you KnotCaymanian

      • Diogenes says:

        Perhaps the poster meant fishermen – like the one that stuck the knife in the shark

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