Teenager dodges jail for serious attack
Cayman Islands courts, Grand Cayman
(CNS): A local boy who pleaded guilty to indecent assault and robbery following an attack on a woman in South Sound in August 2016, when he was just 15 years old, has dodged a jail sentence because he turned his life around after a period at the Bonaventure Home. Despite attacking a woman who was walking alone along South Church Street, George Town, and robbing her of personal possessions, groping her and biting her on the lip, the court imposed a probation order to give the boy a chance to continue his rehabilitation.
As the young man appeared for sentencing in the Grand Court, the prosecutor explained to the court that, despite the serious nature of the crime, since the teenager was sent to Bonaventure he had made incredible progress and in than less one year had become a reformed character, taking his studies seriously, passing exams, following a medication routine to deal with his mental health problems and completely changing his behaviour.
In order not to disrupt his progress, the court agreed to allow the boy to finish the year at Bonaventure and then move onto a supervised probation order in the community to save him from a lifetime of crime.
The prosecutor, judge and defence attorney for the young man were all impressed with the reports from the probation service about his turnaround and believed that sending him to jail would undermine the progress, maturity and change of attitude that has been so significant.
Hoping that the improvements continue to successful rehabilitation under a probation order, the judge said she would not send the young man to HMP Northward, accepting the arguments from his lawyer that he was well aware that this was his last chance and jail was not the place where the progress he had made would continue.
Justice Marlene Carter reminded the young man that he had begged her at the beginning of the year not to send him to Bonaventure but now he had to agree it was the best move, and told him she did not want to see him in her court again unless he was coming in as an attorney.
Ah well, boys will be boys
To the people who voted this comment down, surely you understand sarcasm.
Everything has gotten so much better recently. This is wonderful news and i commend everyone involved who were able to turn his life around. Amazing things happend when we work together.
12.59pm, your comment about the victim is pure supposition. However you are right on the ball when you mention the courts “protecting our locals” a little more.This was a particularly vicious crime and he should have received a suspended sentence, so that if he reoffends he is sent straight to jail.
thats good to hear we have a system that is working for our youth and maybe helping them and turning their lives around before they go too far down the road and leading to more crimes. I am sure it must have been a local women that he attacked because if it was say someone from the UK or another expat they more than likely would have thrown the book at him and thats !!!!! the difference in our system….the court system should treat all the same and if anything treat and protect our locals a little more if anything
I would agree with your comment but you just couldn’t resist the bs claim about expats.
You may want to look at the details of the case before making those kinds of pronouncements
Well I am inclined to agree with you, favoritism is a real factor in this society because we are 80% expatriates and everyone is looking out for their own kind in this strange land, we caymanians can learn a thing or two from them only when it comes to unity, so sad we chose to fight down each other but I guess that’s the hand we where dealt, anyways many of you may be offended by my comment but that only means it is the truth, and not a sin.
Don’t cherry pick one potential success story and try to paint the system as a well functioning system because that bs. After he got caught that young man realize that living in jail could become real and decided to turn his life around, that’s internal, nothing to do with that pre-jail Bonaventure compound.
your wrong she is american.
*you’re
I like the judges comments!!