GT shooting case thrown out for lack of evidence

| 04/04/2018 | 19 Comments

(CNS): A West Bay man walked free from court last week after firearms charges against him were thrown out when the judge presiding over the trial decided there was no case to answer. Although police recovered spent shell cases, indicating that a weapon had been fired outside the Roof Top Bar in Mary Street and in Myles Road on 3 June last year, there was no evidence to say it was Joshua “Patchy” Ebanks (25) who was doing the shooting. In a case where the crown fell short of demonstrating that Ebanks ever had a gun, officers had depended on an assumption of identification from CCTV footage. 

The defence accused the police officers in the case of having a bias towards identifying Ebanks on the footage after his alleged victim, Charles Walton III (20), who also faces charges of possessing a weapon and will be on trial later this year, had already pointed the finger at him. But in reality it was almost impossible to identify anyone on the tape — a point supported by the judge.

With other witnesses supporting Ebanks’ position that he did not have a gun and he was not the shooter, the case was stopped and Ebanks acquitted.

Ebanks was charged after police accused him of being one of at least three men who fired on Walton outside the Roof Top Bar on Mary Street and then at a house in Myles Road, a short distance away, where police estimated that around 15 shots had been fired. At the time the case raised significant concern over what was described as indiscriminate shooting in the heart of the capital.

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Category: Courts, Crime

Comments (19)

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  1. britishBarry says:

    the article is wrong. The case was thrown out because the police already had a name of the person they were going to identify before they identified him. Hardly a fair case.

    They already knew who they were supposed to be picking out, before they saw the video and so the judge said this was not fair.

  2. Anonymous says:

    The most worrying part is some of you idiots are possible jurors, evidence is evidence. If you dont have it what are you gona do? They just threw out a case the other day because the video link wasnt working. Someone is convicted over facts not feelings.

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  3. "Anonymousir" says:

    if the police would just do proper police work .. this would not have happen. sad to say that most of the RCIPs are laid back and lazy! .. its good to say, theres not a lot of Caymanians in the RCIP force either

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  4. Anonymous says:

    The police will celebrate in approximately six months!!

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  5. Anonymous says:

    No worries Karma is a Bitch.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Jacan police just as useless as the uk ones…

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  7. Chevy says:

    Lol. Muy terrible!!

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Dont blame the police, politicians or anyone but the people who buy sh*tty cameras.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Actually the video was very good and you could clearly see the gun in his hand. Something else is going on here.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Maybe they should turn to the one who recommended such useless cameras, oh no wait, history has shown that persons are promoted to higher positions instead of being demoted when they make foolish money spending decisions in government. Therefore, start from the top and you don’t have to look any further. This is nothing new and complaints over the years have mounted up because of the lack of quality day and night.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    This as the DPP’s fault. Why keep going to trial without enough evidence.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Money!! got to earn your keep…..

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    • Shhhhhhhhhh. says:

      I have to agree with you 5.57pm. I would love to know what the cost to the budget is for all the cases that are thrown out for lack of evidence. Seems to be far too many prosecutions based on flimsy evidence.

  10. Anonymous says:

    uh-oh spaghettios!….the cayman police-cops.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Keystone Kops strike again. You’ll never win the war on crime with officers who couldn’t catch a cold.

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