Violent prisoner loses bid to take half of victim’s home
(CNS): George Washington Vaughan (51), who is serving a 14-year sentence in HMP Northward for the attempted murder of his ex-wife, has failed in a legal bid to take half of the house they once shared as the court found in the victim’s favour. He was denied a share of the property based on “obvious and gross” conduct. Vaughan was charged with the horrific and brutal machete attack on his wife in 2014 and pleaded guilty. He is due to be released next year having served around 60% of his time.
As a result, he filed a petition with the court seeking half of their matrimonial home in Bodden Town, which was valued at less than $160,000, claiming that when he is released he will also need somewhere to live. But in a judgment published following a hearing last month, Justice Alistair Walters awarded the home in its entirety to his wife, who is no longer able to work due to her disabilities resulting from the severe injuries she sustained during Vaughan’s attempt on her life.
The judge pointed out that while his wife no longer has the ability to earn an income and has to depend solely on her pension, the petitioner is able-bodied.
It was also clear from the evidence that over the years before they separated, Vaughan had made almost no contribution to the home loan, which was in his wife’s name and paid each month from her account. In addition, at his sentence hearing, as a mitigation factor that could lower his sentence, Vaughan’s defence attorney had said his client would make no future claim on the house as a means of compensation for his wife’s injuries.
During the course of this case, Vaughan, who also tried to poison his wife at the time of the attack with weed killer, denied ever instructing his attorney to make such an offer and claimed he was entitled to half of the property because he had made financial contributions during their marriage.
Referring to the sentencing ruling delivered by Acting Judge Justice Dame Linda Dobbs, Justice Walters noted that his wife was lucky to be alive. But he said her disabilities as a result of the wounds she received in the attack had made it impossible for her to continue earning a living as a secretary. She had lost one finger and had almost lost both her legs as well, and had numerous other injuries to her face, neck, ear, back and chest.
In her ruling Justice Dobbs had said her injuries were “life-threatening, long-lasting and visible” and she would be reminded of them every time she looked in the mirror.
The attack happened after the couple had separated and Vaughan, who is a Jamaican national, had repeatedly hounded his wife to sign the paperwork for his permanent residency application, which he was seeking on the basis that she is Caymanian. When she refused and his repeated bullying failed, he lured her back to the home, which she had left as a result of a previous assault by him. He lay in wait for her there and then attacked her.
Justice Walters said that hearing from the victim during the case and seeing the effect of the physical attack on her “was a sobering experience”, as he explained why he was in no doubt she should keep the home.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the petitioner’s conduct was obvious and gross with a stark and striking ‘gasp’ factor,” the judge said, adding that he had no hesitation in accepting her evidence.
See the court ruling online in the public access area here (FAM 144 OF 2019).
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
And people ask me why I won’t EVER date (much less marry, you mad a wha?) a Jamaican. LOL. Never, never, never, and never again. I have seen so many times Caymanians (male and female) being true fools for what they thought was love and be used and abused by the Jamaican spouse – who once married has all the rights in the world, uses their advantage against the Caymanian, brings their entire family here, plus the person back in Jamaica that they really love – and are probably already married to. Nope. Nobody getting papers off of me! I’ll stick with my home grown Caymanian men – I might get cheated on or beat up, but at least I’ll know they don’t want a BOTC passport out of it. (I jest, but you get the point.) No yardies need apply!
If there was a Jamaican, who already had his status, was financially independent and needed nothing from you, you would jump on him in a minute so please stop painting all Jamaicans with the same brush.
Early release of foreigners should be contingent on them agreeing to a deportation order. If they want their family life rights let them serve their sentence first.
It would be interesting to FOI who and how many official deportation orders have actually been lawfully put into Cabinet action in the last 20 years. This is one of the duties of Cabinet. Given the wide criteria, there should be many every month, but we don’t usually hear about them:
– a convicted and deportable person
– a person who has been convicted of an illegal landing offence
– a destitute person
– a person who has been sentenced in the Islands to imprisonment for not less than 6mos
– a prohibited immigrant who has entered the Islands contrary to this or any earlier law
– a person whose permission to land and to remain or reside in the Islands or any extension thereof has expired or has been revoked and who fails to leave the Islands
– a person whose application for asylum has been refused under Refugee Conventions
EXACTLY! We are literally incapable of following the simplest of our own laws. It is destroying us.
PACT might investigate setting up an mutual automatic prisoner exchange mechanism whereby HMCIPS can securely deliver shackled Jamaican prisoners back to their homeland DCSJ to serve their sentences domestically, and vice versa. Even if Rwanda would agree a special handling fee to accept hardened felons, I’m not sure how much capacity that would clear at Northward, perhaps not much.
Jamaicans are ruining this country. They are turning the pearl of the Caribbean into their God-forsaken country.
Hope he is kicked back to Jamaica when he is released!
This man should be in prison for life! No parole. He needs to be sent back to Jamaica immediately, if not before!!
Eight years in jail for what he did is a travesty, it should have been 28 years to allow for early parole but only on condition he was immediately deported. I can’t imagine a case worse than this.
When he is released he will need somewhere to live? Yeah, it’s called Jamaica.
They probably had a cat. He will claim right to family life, because otherwise he will miss out on the cats life.
Yeah, this animal to be deported from hence he came.
And yet no seemingly no deportation order sought or made? Do the Caymanian people yet have any understanding of the harm befalling us at the hands of those “in charge.”
If he has any Caymanian children then you can’t deport him due to that article called “The Right to Family Life” which is enshrine in our Constitution.
The way around it? Simple. Caymanian women need to stop breeding with Wasteman.
Please do not describe the right to family life as set out in the constitution to anyone. You are wrong. The right is not absolute and the only correct legal option is his immediate deportation on completion of his sentence.
You better tell the judges that! Because they help them by allowing g them to stay
Only where the prosecution fail to request deportation on release.
So why exactly is this man being paroled, when he demonstrated up to current date that he harbours animous toward the victim of his crime?
Deport this Jamaican POS when he is released.
Do it now.
If he’s being released next year, he needs to be deported. He still poses a risk to her. I hope CBC keeping an eye on this case.
Words fail.
Why isn’t he being deported?
Ask the cops, the judges, the legal department and the prison staff. Where are all those guys from, anyway?
I am a male caymanian…when problems arose between me and the ec-wife…i simply packed my bags ..got my belonggings and moved out and on….now that i ha excelled financially…she wants to get back with me…say wa…ya mad! Been there..done that! Morale of posting…if u cant make it..then just seperate and leave…your wife is not your property…that guy should get life in prison or worse…
Hopefully this violent criminal will be permanently deported at the time he is released.
However no doubt he will apply for the right to remain permanently in Cayman on the basis of his right to family life with the victim he nearly killed.
The way things are going with these violent thugs, I would not be surprised if he was allowed to stay and given large sums of cash by the needs assessment unit. At the very least he will be given enough to buy another machete or perhaps even an illegal firearm. Just saying.
Don’t worry. Some other fool will scoop him up and fall in love within a week. Trust me, he ain’t going anywhere. This. Is. His. Home. Now. We screwed.
Not only is he a violent criminal, but it also sounds as though he is a complete and utter moron.
So why is he even being considered for parole
This is not a rehabilitated man. Our justice system is either broken, corrupt or both.