Amputee jailed for 3 years for stabbing step-father

| 05/08/2021 | 17 Comments
Cayman News Service
Renaldo Taylor

(CNS): Renaldo Keanua Taylor (20) has been jailed for three years for stabbing his step-father in an altercation at their North Side home in 2019 when he was just 18-years-old, in what the judge said was a “deeply tragic case” where dysfunction has continued in the family home. Taylor’s step-father, Damian Wellington, was the victim on this occasion but he had previously been convicted of criminal assault on Taylor when he was just a young child.

As a boy, Taylor had been abused at the hands of his step-father, his mother and his grandparents before he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident when he was only 15 years old. But he was convicted of wounding with intent, after stabbing Wellington multiple times saying he wanted to kill him, and Justice Cheryll Richards said the sentence was the least she could pass given the circumstances.

The court heard about the details of Taylor’s abusive upbringing and how the situation in the family home was, as the judge noted, still dysfunctional, and the basic issues in the family had not really been addressed.

Taylor’s step-father had been convicted of abusing him some years ago, and while there was evidence before the court that the abuse had not continued following the conviction, Taylor did not speak with him and had been communicating for what appeared to be several years through his mother.

On the night in question there was some provocation, though the evidence given by Taylor’s mother and his step-father about the extent of that provocation differed. But in the end, Taylor, who had claimed self-defence, was convicted by a jury of a serious violent crime, which in the worst of circumstances carries a maximum penalty of life.

Although he had stabbed Wellington multiple times, each of the wounds was relatively small and as a result there was no single significant injury or any long-term harm caused. When all of the circumstances were weighed up, Justice Richards found that the case fell into a lower harm and lower culpability category and with the multiple mitigating factors, and she therefore delivered a sentence at the lower end of the scale. But she noted that this remained a serious offence.

However, Taylor is suffering from a number of diagnosed serious mental health issues for which he is receiving some treatment and has tried to take his own life. As she handed down the prison term, Justice Richards made clear the need for Taylor to be given trauma counselling while in prison and that he should be placed under the direct care of a psychiatrist.


Share your vote!


How do you feel after reading this?
  • Fascinated
  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Angry
  • Bored
  • Afraid
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , ,

Category: Courts, Crime

Comments (17)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    While he is in prison please hire a private tutor and help this young man get at least an Associates Degree before he is released back on the streets so that he can at least have a chance of finding a decent job and moving forward from all this.

    3
    1
  2. Anonymous says:

    I can only imagine the depth of pain this poor guy has endured. To be abused by one parent alone is agony – but by both and also grandparents? And then to lose your leg at just 15 years old? This is another heavily depressing case from North Side and reminds me of the son who killed his father a few years back.
    Whoever is MP in North Side, take note – things have got to change.

    2
    2
  3. Anonymous says:

    The real issue here is the lack of modern domestic abuse understanding in cayman.

    https://www.france24.com/en/20200729-french-woman-pardoned-for-killing-her-husband-after-years-of-domestic-abuse-dies-at-72

    1
    1
  4. Laura says:

    Sounds like we have a big problem in Cayman that is not being addressed. Children need Love and guidance from all adults. If you have difficulties teaching right from wrong by age 4 or 5. Maybe family counseling is needed. Nothing good comes out of an abusive environment for a child. We all should be ashamed for not stepping up to help this child as he was growing up. Why on earth are we fearful to speak up! Then it is in Justice Richards hands to with a heavy heart have to hand down a sentence. Thank God she has thoughts to Renaldo Taylor’s future! Laura

    • Anon says:

      I agree with you but the problem is most abuse is very well hidden. Just look at the dark web… most child sex offenders are not arrested until they are found to have thousands of category a (penetrations children under 10) images in their possession

      • Anonymous says:

        Cayman does not have an apparatus to recognise domestic abuse and protect those children being abused from thet situation. Weird that all you can think about is “the dark web” and/or “kiddie porn”…sicko.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Dunno, I think the charges should have been dismissed under the circumstances.
    Both of the abusers should be ashamed of themselves.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Had this been a physically handicapped white kid, repeatedly defending against an abusive assaulting step-father, would we be sending them to prison, or chiseling their name into Hero’s Square? What the hell does prison fix?

    • Anonymous says:

      Idiotic comment. Race wouldn’t play any part in sentencing, no matter how you think it does.

      • Anonymous says:

        So says the white guy. Race and background certainly do factor, and this is yet another exhibit as proof. Where exactly are serially-abused children supposed to go in Cayman? Back into their house to collect another whooping it seems. Did crown prosecutors file concurrent assault and abuse charges against the step-father? Why not? There is something wrong with our calibration if we don’t feel for this kid.

        • Anonymous says:

          How is this “proof”? Where are your cases of white kids in a similar position and getting a different sentence? Don’t have any, right? Your saying that he only got this sentence because he is black because there are no examples of white kids getting a similar sentence is as logically coherent as saying that only black kids are abused or get arrested because white families don’t have these issues, or the stabbed step father saying the sentence should have been higher and its only because he is black that the kid got a lesser sentence. Just get the chip of your shoulder, ignore the colour and comment on the actual issue. SMH.

    • Anonymous says:

      Everyone keep calm and do not feed the troll!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Poor child. Karma will come around my dear

  8. Anonymous says:

    Cayman needs to implement proper rehabilitation programs for these incidents. Sending him to prison will not help. the young man is mentally ill, he has been abused which may have triggers his mental state, plus the problem will still be there when he return from prison. Cayman needs a better intervention program

    • Anonymous says:

      Cayman needs to stop following the Jamaican acceptance of baby mama with no shame or responsibility attached.

      • Anonymous says:

        Of course, in this case a) step father had been around for 4 years b) child had been abused bot only by step father but by mother and grand parents, but hey, why let that get in the way of saying its down to the Jamaicans and fly by night fathers.

    • Anonymous says:

      Something like this heart breaking case is why we need a separate facility for the mentally ill here in Cayman. I am pretty sure the abuse will continue in some form in the prison system too so where does the nightmare end for this young man?

      The system is really failing those who would benefit more from mental health help than actual incarceration. Thank God some progress is being made in recent years/months with the first residential home for the mentally ill being opened by Loud Silent Voices but more needs to be done for people like Mr. Taylor a proper secure facility is needed now instead of some of those reports that just collect dust on a shelf or other frivolous things the Govt spends on. Praying for this young man while he is there.

Leave a Reply to Laura Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.