WB man gets out of jail over ‘gangster’ photo
Matthew Carlyle Ebanks
(CNS): A local man who was facing the possibility of serving seven years in jail after he was pictured holding an illegal gun was released from custody last week after serving just 268 days, when a judge found exceptional circumstances in the case and waived the mandatory minimum time. Matthew Carlyle Ebanks (31) had been in prison since he was arrested last year when a phone found at a house in West Bay during a police raid contained pictures of him posing with a Colt .45 semi-automatic handgun that was used in a shooting at a nightclub parking lot a few days before.
Ebanks had originally denied the charges, claiming that he had been coerced into holding the gun. Although the court did not believe that Ebanks was under duress, he was told that the court would still consider exceptional circumstances because his possession of the weapon was fleeting. As a result he pleaded guilty and was given a split sentence, including the time he had already served and a further two year suspended sentence of 18 months
Ebanks, who had no previous convictions for violence or guns, was ordered to attend alcohol and narcotics anonymous meetings and other community programmes at the direction of the probation service.
Free up Fabian Thompson no gun no finger print no DNA yet he has 5yrs 6months
No fingerprints or DNA – because they never actually recovered the weapon numbnuts! Reason he was charged with possession of an imitation weapon. But he was caught on the cam video of the taser they used on him while he was actual holding it But that’s not good enough for you?
Tough gangsta until he got caught. Once that happened, he put on his mini skirt and cried like a baby.
Wow!!! Absolutely shocking. Free Jefferson, No DNA & No finger prints but yet he’s sentenced to 10 years.
Give him a chance , you can’t see by his shades he is misguided.
I’d rather the law be applied equitably to all.
Oh the double standards! #FreeJefferson
This was a picture, with jefferson the police recieved information that he had a firearm in his residence, they went there and found it.
Yes a firearm found in a house where Jefferson resided but no finger prints or DNA tying Jefferson to firearm when in fact Matthew had a pic proving possession so big difference there.
#FreeSteve!
Free The Juice!
Thought the Court of Appeal already did that?
1:12 hit it on the head yall should read that and think about it. And im amazed at how many idiots have access to the computer.
Including you.
Did he not attend the best private school in Cayman? I think he has really tried hard to be a be a bad person. Now please take this opportunity and go make something decent out of the rest of your life and support your children so that they do not end up on this slippery slope.
Which is the best private school?
Wow. Anyone that dumb will be on CNS again sooner or later…
Clearly our judges are getting soft on gun crime. Don’t be surprised if our legislators lower the minimum time for posession in the near future. Pathetic!
“Coereced into holding the gun”.
Well I was coerced into saying you are a idiot gangster wanna be who deserves to be in prison. I am sure you will be holding guns again really soon.
It only takes a split second (fleeting) to shoot!
agreed 9;37 , grow up young man , you got very very lucky this time , go to the meetings , listen and learn , Good luck to you , hope this has awoken something in your soul .
Every case hinges on it’s own facts I suppose.
Local taking selfie with gun = immediate imprisonment.
Foreigner with gun/ammo in shipping container (Brac) = Bail without travel restriction, never to be seen again.
Truly concerned what our island has come to however the arbitrary application of the law by the justice system is even more worrying.
I rather have a foreigner flee and never come back than a local “gangster” released to carry a gun again.
Tiresome deflection of the apologist.
1.12 pm did you consider that bail without travel restriction might just have been deliberate? When last I heard, it costs $75K KYD per year to keep one prisoner in Northward. I honestly do not think for one minute that our judges are stupid as you imply.
Huh? Ran that by me again please?!
This man has used his “get out of jail free” card and next time will have no excuses for the court. Hopefully he has learned that playing gangster does not pay.
I wonder why he was ordered to attend alcohol and narcotics anonymous meetings if his charge was possession of a gun. Seems like a different situation entirely to me.
Perhaps it is because there is not a Stupid and Criminal Anonymous yet.
Good point 11:30am, why wasn’t he ordered to attend the gun club either?
And teach him the proper way to shoot?
Wrong place wrong time, and a hell of a bad decision to allow someone to take a photograph with you holding a gun. Find better company to hang around, seeing how easy it is to get your self into trouble that if the charges would have stuck would have been almost impossible to get your self out of. Good luck going forward.
The most obvious way to demonstrate innocence, would be to direct the RCIPS immediately to the true owner, and recovery the weapon from somebody else’s house. Otherwise, you do your time as if it were yours – unless you live in the Cayman Islands.
The gun was recovered with the owner and the picture was found in the owners phone.
Pathetic. Evidence of possession of a gun and worse a gun actively used in crime. No effort to go to the authorities after the alleged “coercion”. Society would be better with this sort behind bars for a decade.
Does the law actually define “possession”, in this case it seems certainly was in possession.Are we to assume that in future anyone can be photographed holding a gun and claim he only held it whilst the photo was taken and therefore possession was “fleeting” and not subject to imprisonment. How do the police know in this case that the gun did not belong to Ebanks.
When every other case involves what are called exceptional circumstances the message goes out that gun crime is OK
Same for all foreign nationals. Get caught with a gun, give up Cayman property you own and you can fly home! What a deal if you own property in multiple jurisdictions.
That is something for the law books. Foreign nationals caught committing crimes should have all local property confiscated by the government. Shouldn’t be committing crimes in the first place. Obviously not the type of person we want here.
To add to this the foreign national imported (smuggled) an illegal weapon plus ammunition. What if his gun and all the ammo ended up in the wrong hands? Caymanians and foreigners alike would just rather see Caymanians treated differently than expats. Double standards!
Good luck, you’ve been given a chance… now go be a decent human and leave bad influences behind.
This ain’t the last we’ve heard of him. Standby.
Maybe try and be supportive cause these people usually lacked all that growing up so they end up ruined.
Sorry I cannot be supportive of thugs and gangsters, my parents never did or allowed everything I wanted growing up and at that time I felt it was horrible, but here I am years later and I am not taking pictures of me with a gun used in criminal activity.
Lock them up and throw away the key, I want to be able to enjoy a drink at a local bar again without fear of being killed in the crossfire.
Ruined and 95% of the time unreparable. Society should not suffer so that these types get a chance to reform against the odds. Good law abiding people suffer when the rest of them do not change and they commit more crimes.
True @4:59. We should be supportive but as the saying goes you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves. He had ample chances to distance himself from the photo but he chose not to and I’d bet even though he was “coerced” into the photo I bet he still hung out with them.