Ex-care home worker faces extradition for manslaughter

(CNS): Two men have been charged with manslaughter and child cruelty in connection with the death of a teenage resident at the Bonaventure Boys Home. Risco Batten (14) drowned in South Sound in November 2015 during a fishing trip with the men, who were both supervisors at the home. One of the two men, Larry Levers (47), left Cayman for Jamaica after he was fired from the home and later moved to the United States while he was still wanted for questioning over Batten’s death. Local authorities are now seeking his extradition. The second man, Michael Stewart (65), was charged this summer and is due to appear in court this week.

According to court documents that have been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Levers, a Jamaican national who is also known as Lionel Dwight Levers, and Stewart are accused of failing to properly supervise Batten, who was a ward of the authorities at the time, when they took him and the other boys on a fishing trip to a notoriously dangerous location.

The case against the men is that they were scheduled to take the boys fishing from the shore close to the Cayman Turtle Centre and just a short way from the home. Although that was the location logged in the home’s activity records, the two supervisors did not take the boys to the local spot but to George Town, where they attempted to fish at two different locations around the harbour.

But as the weather deteriorated, the supervisors then took the group of boys to South Sound, near to the cemetery, to a place well known for its strong currents and a dangerous spot, especially in rough weather. Marked on navigation charts as a “Pull and be damned point”, the location chosen by the supervisors was also described by witnesses as a notorious spot because of those strong currents.

Nevertheless, both Levers and Stewart, who later told police they were not good swimmers, allowed the boys to go into the water and fish. As the weather worsened, the men eventually called the boys to shore.

In the witness statements it appears Batten began to struggle at that point, and while his teenage friends tried to help him, they were also pulled under. During this time the supervisors did not go into the water at all. The boys managed to borrow a canoe after they lost sight of Batten, who was the youngest boy in the group and not the best swimmer, and tried to find him.

By that time Levers had called 911. The first officer on the scene got Batten out of the water and gave him CPR, but the boy was pronounced dead later at the hospital.

Following the incident and an inquiry by the management at the children’s home, Levers was fired and Stewart left. Earlier this year, both Stewart and Levers were charged with manslaughter because of the dangers in which they placed Batten and their failure to properly supervise him.

In the course of the investigation, both of the home’s supervisors admitted taking Batten and the other boys to South Sound to fish and allowing them to wade out into the water. Levers claimed he did not notice Batten was in distress and did not attempt to rescue the boy because he was not a strong swimmer and was concerned about the undercurrent.

Almost a year later Levers left Cayman for Jamaica, even as the inquiry progressed. The police tracked him down and arranged another interview in July last year, but before the police met him, he left Jamaica for Florida under the name Lionel Dwight Levers.

As a result the director of public prosecutions is now seeking Levers’ extradition from the US.