Stephens leaves before official deportation
(CNS): Ato Modibo Stephens has left the Cayman Islands before an official deportation order could be served. Stephens, who was convicted last year of ‘sexting’ with one of the underage athletes he was coaching, was facing deportation in relation to that conviction but he left for the United States on Sunday. A statement released by the premier’s office Monday said that he is now a prohibited immigrant to the Cayman Islands under section 82(h) of the Immigration Law as a person who has not been pardoned in regard to the offence.
Stephens was sentenced to 18 months in prison on 4 August last year, when the presiding judge also recommended his deportation once he had served the jail time. As the international athlete had already served several months on remand before his trial, he was released from jail in November and subsequently remained in Cayman.
But after questions about his deportation were raised earlier this year, Cabinet issued its approval last week for Stephens to be deported on or after 16 March.
While Stephens was found guilty of abusing an ICT network, he was acquitted of both indecent assault and gross indecency charges involving the 14-year-old girl from the athletics club run by him and his wife, Caymanian track star Cydonie Mothersill. This means that, despite the sexual nature of the inappropriate texts and images exchanged between him and his victim, he does not have a conviction for sexual offending.
Despite his legal status, Stephens is the father of two local children, so questions about his possible return to the Cayman Islands remain. CNS has sent questions to officials about this issue and is awaiting a response.
Category: Crime
I have read the comments and would like to add one perspective; I believe Mr. Alto Stephens if we check was also a victim of what he did to this young girl. This by no means abdicate him of his responsibilities and sentence. However, it is clear that someone, maybe his wife, should have at least noted this type of behavior and seek help for him. We are a society that is quick to judge and pass judgments but we could have the same situations at home and not aware. Let us pray for this man and wish him well and hope that he receives the treatment to remove this sickness from his mind. Peace be with you!
3:38: What a joke! Is he not in possession of all his faculties? Did he not know he was doing something not only illegal but immoral? It is his fault and his fault alone!!!
Wait a sec.
I’m I missing something?
#1 – Cydonie is a Caymanian!
#2 – Stephen’s is the father of her two Caymanian children!
#3 – How do you legally deport a father of two Caymanian children with a single conviction of texting inappropriate things on his phone ???
To me, fair is fair. It sounds a bit harsh. He could have a case to challenge that order.
He probably could have challenged the deportation based on what he was actually convicted for but why would he?
Even though he was not convicted of the other charges in a court of law, it has been all over so people will convict him in public opinion.
They will ostracize him and perhaps his family if his wife takes him back.
Child molesters/predators not welcomed or safe. Ask some who have been to Northward.
It is best for him to leave. He is a sick man who betrayed the trust of many people.
I don’t know how his wife feels but I would be sick to my stomach to find out that I married a pervert and what would I tell my children about their sicko Daddy.
He has daughters, would he want someone taking advantage of them the way he did this young girl?
Sounds perfectly ok to many of the wahoos that posted on an earlier story about him.
He should have thought about that when he was fassing with another man’s daughter.
Thank you 9:51 pm!
He had Caymanian Status by grant which under the immigration law is revocable in these circumstances. No doubt the judiciary and Cabinet had to weigh the effect on his leaving considering his children and wife are here versus the public interest and clearly the latter won.
Hello! There is definitely no immediate threat to the public! So texting somebody’s phone could lead you being barred from your wife, children and home???
Wow .. i understand the man is naughty but i Cayman3 has a valid point ?
it starts with sexting then would have escalated to something else so you are saying that we should wait until something more sick happens before we her rid of him.
maybe you are as sick as he is.
He should have thought of his wife and children and what impact his actions would have before engaging in that behaviour.
Anonymous Oz — he was abusing a young girl — do you not get that? IT WAS IMMORAL AND ILLEGAL!!! This is not about being “naughty”. How crass of you to make light of the atrocious behavior of a hardback adult towards an underage child.
And, yes, he would pose a threat to the society, because perverts who abuse children repeat and repeat and repeat. That is a fact.
And let me further inform you that what he was doing with this young girl might have escalated into more direct sexual abuse if this had not been discovered and he had not been stopped.
You sound so ignorant and stupid, I am sorry to say.
I think it did escalate in the case of Stephens. Remember that there were other charges in this case. He escaped sentencing on those other charges not because the young victim was not believable, the judge says, but because there was insufficient evidence.
Anonymous Oz, for you and other ignoramuses like you, from an organization that fights exactly what happened to this young girl:
“THE IMPACT OF CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION ON THE YOUNG PEOPLE AFFECTED IS HUGE.
For example exploited young people are at increased risk of rape, sexual assault, physical violence, sexually transmitted infections, trafficking and pressure to use drugs and alcohol.
CSE can impact on every aspect of a child/young person’s life, such as:
Physical and mental health, Education and training, Family relationships, Friends and social relationships, How they view others, Their relationships with their own children in the future,” etc.
Some of the immediate impacts is an erosion of the child’s self-esteem — she is now victimized and exploited as a sexual object. This then impacts her future decision-making regarding the opposite sex, and leads her to believe that sex is the way to attract and hold a man, which could not be more wrong and more dangerous for her future wellbeing. This may lead her into relationships with other exploitative men, and that could lead into all types of unhealthy and unwise decisions that impact her entire life.
And this is just not theory for me — I was sexually exploited and abused from a young age by numerous men in my life, and this ended up my normalizing behavior of exploitative men. I deeply regret some of the mistakes in relationships that I made as a result.
And then there were the many advances that I resisted — including a then upstanding MLA who, on the pretext of giving me a lift home (at a time when there were no minibuses, etc.), took me to a then-remote area of South Sound and begged to see my breast. I was 17 at the time and resisted. I suppose that Anonymous Oz would think that was “naughty” — not a lot of difference between that and sending a top-less photo, is there?
Had I given in? The next thing could probably have been more meetings and heartache, even rape, and even pregnancy and even terrible abuse by his wife.
And guess what, when my sister and I were away at university this same many wrote her and sent her money. I leave you to imagine why.
Anonymous Oz, please don’t write this type of nonsense any more and try and educate yourself about this subject that is increasing so much in our society.
Kudos to the parents for taking action and relieving this young lady of the resentment and mitigating some of the problems she might have experienced in later years and to the Cabinet for the backbone to put him off the island. I wish we could get all of them off the island — including our own.
And to the many men who are exploiting young girls that we don’t know about, STOP IT. Caymanian women will not stand for it any more.
He should have done this to your child. Then you think it fair
Because he has been convicted of an offence and sentenced to a year in more in custody he should be regarded as a Prohibited Immigrant and not allowed to return to the Cayman Islands.
Try reading, that is exactly what it said
Best move he could have made. He is still banned from returning for life.
And presumably this makes it easier for him to duck paying child support?
Run forest, run!!!!!!
You made your bed you should have to lay in it.
What is with these men who like messing about with teenagers?
It just shows you the mentality of men out there. They are sick and perverted beyond!
Imagine, you’re a father and this is how you are treating someone else’s daughter????
I am a man.
An adult female acquaintance (she was 22, I was 13) had oral and penetrative unprotected sex with me when I was a child – against my will / wishes.
Are you not paying attention to news reports from the USA and elsewhere?
The number of female teachers being arrested and charged with child sex offences via sexual relationships with their students is very alarming.
Culturally and socially fine when women abuse children and teens, because “it is what they want” or “they enjoyed it”
As a child I was flashed by an older girl and exposed to sexual content at a young age by an older FEMALE relative
Women also get lighter sentences and can sometimes even re-assimilate into the community with less of a stigma than their male counterparts,
Men are hit by women frequently and expected to just roll over and take it, but let a man lay a hand on a woman and he is an abuser or a sicko.
Western culture when it comes to these issues needs to be thrown out completely abuse is abuse whether the person committing the offence has two X chromosomes or one X and one Y
The double standard is alarming
To the two men reporting sexual abuse by women—very sad and reprehensible.
Sexual abuse by either sex is unacceptable and not to be tolerated.
The fact that we are commenting on a case involving a man does not mean a lack of regard in cases where women are the offenders—and we do hear more and more about such cases.
Perhaps this sort of shocking behaviour by both men and women is on the increase and/or is being more frequently reported, but we are certainly hearing more about it in today’s World.
I hope both men will have or have had the opportunity to receive professional assistance in dealing with the unfortunate episodes in their lives and that impacts will be mitigated.
These episodes do have serious impacts on lives and must be regarded as reprehensible regardless of the gender of the perpetrators or the victims.
I man so sorry that this sort of shit happened to you. I hope you have found some sort of closure. Despicable woman!!
Thanks for that.
I found closure a while ago, fortunately.
He is on a deportation list…. ok…. but what about a person with Cayman Status giving by Cabinet who is a kidnapper …. served 3 years in five star hotel and now walking free on the Island. you never know… to me he always be a criminal….
Cabinet can and should revoke his status. Why havn’t they?
Sir, with all due respect!
I AM paying attention.
We are in the Cayman Islands. I am not on ABC or NBC or CNN commenting, I am on Cayman News Service.
But I am not here to dispute what happened to you; go see a shrink for that.
We are talking about a grown man who is in a position of trust in society whereby he is working with young children and adolescent boys and girls in sports. He is found texting minor girls asking for pornography.
Stay on the topic please! And geographical location!
“What is with these women who like messing about with teenagers?
It just shows you the mentality of women out there. They are sick and perverted beyond!
Imagine, you’re a mother and this is how you are treating someone else’s son????”
Please read the above. (Those are essentially your words but with a slight twist.)
Hopefully you will begin to understand the point being made and where you ran off the tracks a bit.
Nice work bro!