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.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
lol. I wonder who he’s related to?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Poor Judges in these cases have to deal with a litany of excuses.
Fortunately, they are able to navigate through what goes from innocence, bad luck & complete B.S.
Things that make ya go.. hmmmm
fine precedent set here….zzzzzz
will be adding this to list of cig approved excuses.
“He said he had recently suffered a bereavement after his close friend was shot and killed”
Sounds like a retaliation plan in the works to me…
That bag must have been made out of some good yarn. Or perhaps wool that he pulled over the judge’s eyes.
What bad luck for this guy! Casually walking on the beach and found a bag with ammunition and decided to take it. Then, of all coincidences happened to be stopped by police. And police also believed there was cause to search his car, while at a time, because he had bad luck, he had a bag of ammunition (that he of all people stumbled upon on the beach and took with him). Wow, hope that never happens to me.
AND, one of his friends was shot and killed. (Again, what sad irony since he found a bag of ammo of all things, at a random time when he was stopped by police and his car was searched).
Ok, sarcasm aside, hope this young fellow takes this as a wake up call. No one really believes this story and the kid got a break.
You left out the initial reports of the cops finding suspected drugs and of him attempting to escape arrest.
Sounds like he dodged a bullet.
It was reported that drugs were also found and that he tried to escape when apprehended. If so, this is bullshit. There is a big difference between a tourist mistake (not knowing they had a bullet or two in their bag) and what seems to have transpired here. Do we have laws against guns, or not?
Are the crown appealing?
A firearm without ammunition is like a dog without teeth. The more serious offense should be for the ammunition as it changes a firearm from an “imitation” to a deadly weapon. Also, if the totality of the circumstances were truly considered (possession of drugs, part of a firearm & evading the police) a custodial sentence was DEFINATELY required. This was 15 rounds of ammunition PLUS 3 bullets (?), a firearm magazine and attempting to evade the police. These bleeding-heart Judges giving wrist-slaps for serious offenses are why criminals do not fear breaking the Law in these islands.