Man dodges jail over bullets ‘found’ on beach

(CNS): A local man who said he had found a black bag containing 15 rounds of ammunition on Seven Mile Beach, close to the Kimpton Hotel, earlier this year was given a suspended sentence last month after the court decided “custody was avoidable” given all of the circumstances.

Corey Alexia Diaz (26), who pleaded guilty in April to possessing the illegal bullets, was given a sentence of 14 months last month, which has been suspended for two years.

Provided Diaz abides by the conditions attached to the suspended sentence and does not commit any further crimes during the suspension period, he will not serve time in prison.

During the sentencing hearing, the court heard that Diaz has no previous convictions and has a strong family and employment background. He submitted positive character witnesses to the court and showed remorse over what he said was a stupid decision. He said he had recently suffered a bereavement after his close friend was shot and killed and that two members of his family had recently been given serious health diagnoses.

His attorney, Jonathon Hughes of Samson Law, argued that a prison sentence in this case would do “more harm than good” and that there had been many cases in Cayman of visitors being found with ammunition where only a fine was imposed. According to his client, he was only in possession of the bullets for a few hours before he was stopped by police, who searched the car and found the ammunition.

Although the crown did not accept the claims of the defendant about finding the bullets on the beach, they were happy to accept his plea and drop charges relating to three bullets and a magazine also found in the car that didn’t work.

Immediately after being arrested, he had claimed that, in hindsight, picking up the bullets and taking them with him “was a stupid thing to do” and that he “should have just left it or called the police”. In light of this and other mitigating factors, the court decided together to give him an alternative sentence.