Fatal hit-and-run driver may walk free
(CNS): Nicholas Tibbetts (25), who was convicted earlier this year of killing Donnie Ray Connor in a hit-and-run on the Linford Pierson Highway in April last year, has a nervous overnight wait to see if he will serve any time in jail at all. Following the delivery of a sentencing judgment by visiting judge Dame Linda Dobbs on the one count of causing death by careless driving, Tibbetts was given an eight-month prison sentence, reduced from one year for his guilty plea.
But the case was adjourned and Tibbetts was bailed after the court was presented with the need to calculate his time on bail on an electronic tag, which may mean the eight months is already spent.
The case was adjourned Thursday afternoon in order for the judge to hear arguments from the crown and the defence about how much time should be deducted for the period spent on bail on a curfew and electronic tag.
In some cases, a defendant on bail on a strict curfew with an electronic monitor could be entitled to half a day of time served for every full day on the tag to be credited against their final jail term.
Tibbetts has been on an electronic tag since he was charged 19 months ago. His attorney, Amelia Foshuhene, argued that this meant he was entitled to time served of more than eight months. But crown counsel Greg Walcolm pointed out that this was discretionary and asked the judge to consider the circumstances of the curfew in her calculations for time served.
Tibbetts was bailed to return for the final ruling Friday.
Check back to CNS tomorrow for the full story and the judge’s findings in the case.
BS!
Courtney gets over 3 years for hitting someone and evading the police until after its too late to determine if he was drunk, but hands himself in. No time off for time on bail. This guy gets 8 months for actually killing someone, not only not handing himself in but trying to cover up the car damage, and they are talking about time off for time on bail?
Very true… but he is Caymanian, Courtney wasn’t
ALL of these ignorant, nasty comments should be banned from this forum. I am willing to wager that the judge who sentenced this guy is anything on earth but Caymanian, and has no form of favoritism whatsoever for Caymanians. This sentence was arrived at by intelligent people based on all the available evidence and relevant information. Will that EVER be enough for know it all critics who have neither the facts, evidence, or intelligence to warrant their criticisms???
Well, Mr Ebanks was only charged with causing death by careless driving, which probably limited the judges discretion. Why he was charged with that and not manslaughter is of course another issue.
Read the comment (again?) please.
Courtney denied being drunk, denied driving the vehicle, denied leaving the scene, left his partner at the scene and was already arrested for a DUI before mowing down two tourists and leaving them for dead on the side of the road. He should be shot as far as I’m concerned.
So a friend of mine gets busted for smoking a ganja spliff in his own backyard and ends up losing his job, spending a month in jail, loses his house and simply put, his well-being, for a victim-less crime. Yet this man knocks someone down, and leaves him for dead, then gets a paid vacation and is now about to walk free. There is something seriously wrong with Cayman priorities. Seriously.
Surname to freedom
Wake up Cayman. Come on…. This guy gets a month for a gun charge, this one gets his pee pee slapped for attempted murder, and this toad runs someone down but hey, it’s all good. 8 months of his life makes up for this women being run down and killed. He should do LIFE in prison. She lost hers so he should lose his.
OMG He hit this man, left him, painted his car to cover up the damage and all he gets is basically “time served”!! You gotta be kidding. And all we keep talking about is the inspector who crashed a car he was test driving
It’s the same issue. Road offence, civil servant commits it, no consequences other than a full pay holiday pending verdict. Hell, these guys are better off than their buddies who actually have to turn up for work.
Really??? Chilling out on a paid vacation, albeit under curfew, is not the same as doing time. This man left another Caymanian to die on the side of the road. What the hell is wrong with this place?
What is wrong with this judge? 8 months??? he killed someone, and left him to die. The BS storey of “i didn’t know” doesn’t cut it. He painted his car for goodness sakes to cover it up
cayman justice makes me sick to my stomach…….
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the justice system filled with foreigners? And the jury Caymanians?
I say let him free and save the tax payers money. I would rather be 8 months in that joke for a jail than deal with the police for a year and a half. He has been dealt with and pissed of enough anyway.
It seems you have never been in jail.
But I agree he should be there for a few years.