Gunman jailed for 9 years after dishonest claims
(CNS): A man who denied having a gun after he was charged following a shooting at Vic’s Bar on 6 December last year, only to be caught red-handed with the weapon in April while on bail for that case, has been jailed for nine years. Marlon Sharpe (42) was charged last December with possession of an imitation firearm, as the police did not recover the weapon that witnesses said Sharpe had aimed at another man during an altercation inside the George Town bar and then hit the victim on the head with the gun. Sometime later, while still threatening the same man, Sharpe was said to have fired the gun twice into the air outside the bar.
Sharpe pleaded guilty after he was charged in relation to that incident, but he disputed firing a weapon and denied that the object he had was actually gun, working or otherwise, claiming it was a piece of metal that he hoped people would think was a gun in case of any trouble.
As a result of what the judge presiding over the matter said was the “unusual behaviour” of the defendant, who was previously of good character, the case took a number of turns that led to Sharpe being sentenced to significant jail time on Wednesday.
After he denied that the object he had was a gun, the court held a special hearing earlier this year to address the dispute between the crown’s case that Sharpe had something very close to a working firearm and his claims that it was just a piece of metal. Several witnesses were called who were present during the incident, including the man Sharpe had threatened.
The crown’s case and the defence claims were all aired before Justice Roger Chapple, who ultimately came down on the side of prosecutors as a result of witnesses’ testimony and CCTV footage of the incident.
The judge delivered his ruling on 20 March and Sharpe was bailed on an electronic tag until sentencing for the conviction of possession of an imitation firearm, which was set for a few weeks later. But just days before he was due to be sentenced, Sharpe turned up drunk at his former girlfriend’s house with a loaded gun, which the judge said was “a very dangerous combination”. He was arrested after police disarmed him and took him into custody.
Charged with several offences in relation to the incident at his former lover’s home, Sharpe was then faced with the challenging situation of having been caught red-handed with a loaded black 9mm self-loading pistol, which experts said was in excellent condition, while still facing sentencing for possession of an imitation gun with intent.
The question facing Sharpe and the court was whether or not he had two different weapons, one that was real and in tip-top condition, which was taken from him by police, and a second possible gun that he had used in a separate incident.
Sharpe then came clean and admitted he had lied to the court in the previous hearing and that the weapon in that case was the same weapon that the police had taken from him. The judge noted that Sharpe had accepted that the evidence he initially gave was not true, but he had wasted the court’s time and resources and therefore lost any benefit he could have expected on his admission for the original offence.
Sentencing him together for all of the offences in both December and April, Sharpe ended up with a nine-year term.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
This illiterate thug, or wanna be thug needs to be deported on the basis of his poor fashion sense alone.
Marlon grew up here. People need to stop talking this foolishness about deport him. If someone is born in a country or comes to a country at a young age and lives their entire life in that country and has received the nationality of that country then they are of that country. Be careful how you all want to deport people that have no ties to the country of their parents. No Governor or relevant committee would ever be able to sanction deportation anyway. All he has to do is file to remain here under human rights and he will get to stay. And in this case he should stay. He is one of us. Like it or not. He didn’t learn badness from Jamaica and there is more to this story than most know. Leave the man alone and let him run his time and return to his family, who are all here.
Umm, no.
3:25 am, He is a Jamaican, he has it in his blood, can take a man out of his country, but can’t take a country out of a man.
How about just installing a walk through metal detector.
Hmm. Caught with the same gun whilst on bail? Not so sharp(e) eh?
Going armed to a confrontation with your girlfriend whilst on bail, then hanging around until the police arrive….play stupid games….
Those who know what hell he has been through will say otherwise.
You make your own bed.
Pray tell.
Revocation on conviction
34. (1) Where the grantee of the right to be Caymanian or of Caymanian status under this or any earlier law is convicted by any court in the Islands or elsewhere of an offence —
(a) for which the grantee is sentenced to an immediate term of imprisonment of twelve months or more, other than for non-payment of a fine; and in respect of which conviction that person’s rights of appeal have been exhausted; or
(b) which, in the opinion of the grantor, was made possible by, facilitated by or connected with the grant, the grantor may revoke the grant on that person’s own motion.
(2) Where the court referred to in subsection (1) is a foreign court, the offence committed must have been an offence that would be recognised as an offence in the Islands
Yup. Always there. Never followed. Never any accountability.
He is Caymanian
So is everyone who has status. Can his status be revoked, is the question.
Idiot. The man grew up here. He isn’t simply a status holder. This is the only home he knows. He is one of us, whether he is free or incarcerated.
Maybe he did leave Jamaica, but it’s clear that Jamaica didn’t leave him.
Umm, no, you forfeit all rights to live in the Cayman Islands when you start shooting places up and showing up to your girlfriend’s home with a loaded 9mm. Maybe you need to be deported along with him. You don’t seem all that Sharpe either.
I we t to vicks bar once. I had never been before. It was just a shot in the dark really.
Place needs closing down though seriously
Good one, Junior. Hopefully that doesnt trigger anyone.
Very savvy of you.
You people keep saying the same sh*t about the bars should be shut down but, yet you continue to ignore the fact that it is not the bars, it is the stupid people that are going around killing each other!! Sick of hearing this comment. Why are you not saying that Lillie’s or Casa in the Strand needs closing down when someone was killed outside of these premises previously? If a man decides to walk into a supermarket, a government building or any other public place to murder another person, are you going to say that these facilities should be closed too? A killing can happen anywhere. Since these lil fops with guns have no regards for innocent people that come out to sit at the bar just to relax and enjoy themselves, it is safe to say that the best thing to do nowadays is to stay home and drink but, stop blaming the bars.
Bars that cater to these people and have multiple shootings inside and out need to be closed.
Well, stay your ass home then and shut up.
Caymankind
A particularly well thought out, logical and reasoned argument you have presented there my friend.
Nope I am pretty sure they’ll navigate to a new bar which might be a bar that I go to. I’m OK if they play little gangster games in their own bars.
Best solution is to require proof of vaccination at all bars. If they did that I would bet that this type of idiot would not be found in any bar.
Good job it was a trial by judge.
05@ 1:32pm – Yeah, by now, half of criminals like him are Caymanian, thanks to McKeeva Bush giving out status like candy in 2003!
But clearly something is wrong with nationality laws or the process if this type of criminal activity does not result in revocation of status? It should!
Revoke and Deport this garbage!!!
The law does provide for revocation and deportation. We just don’t follow it.
I believe only for status given to permanent residents turned naturalised citizens after 15 years or through marriage. Cabinet status grants can’t be revoked. I think the 2003 grants are irrevocable.
They are absolutely revocable (even if they are not void for illegality). See section 34 Immigration (Transition) Act.
He did not get status from Mac. Born and bred here. Known him since we were kids.
Bred? We know his father was Jamaican. Where was his mother from?
Cayman.
Both parents are Jamaican.
Has the mandatory 10 year sentence been revoked? Or is the 9 years for the first case and he has yet to be sentenced on the second?
CNS Note: Its ten years after trial 7 years after guilty pleas. He pleaded in both cases. The hearing was to resolve the basis of the pleas not a trial.
He’s not that sharp!
You beat me to it!
Not that I think this is too long a sentence, but how do you give 9 years for having a gun but only 7.5 for beating a man to death in a car park?
Same with lillies (fete)… no place for these people on smb. Keep them in their gun zones
Why wait till he kill someone first he should had got life!
And Vic’s is still rated 4 stars out of 5 on google. Apparently, it’s “cosy”.
Trash, and stupid too. A piece of metal, lol. One that shots fire out the end according to multiple witnesses. What a dummy.
Every time a criminal is sentenced Caymanians get on here screaming for deportation. Sarcasm or not, it’s not funny anymore. Cayman is filled with its own home grown, certified, born and raised, cold blooded, unapologetic criminals. Take it with a grain of salt folks. All bad apples aren’t Jamaican.
3.04pm You’re correct but we know ours and what they’re capable of after learning from the imports. If we could get rid of the JA bad apples our violent crime would be cut in half.
Just the Jamaicans? Why not depoty any “foreigner” that needs deporting???
Mmmmm, I wonder if Caymanians could be deported……….. I could reccommend a few.!
Keep in mind that we are all going to die at some time. Enacting the death penalty for certain crimes would clean up a lot of things relatively fast.
The seeds of this apple are definitely straight from Jam down. Protected for years by those who were in positions to ensure case after case never saw the light of day.
He been bad from day one was just lucky to not get convicted before this.
Deportation?
He Caymanian bobo
CayJamaican, born here, father from Jamdung!
Being born here does not make him Caymanian. On what basis did he become Caymanian?
Ah yes, 2:41. Like Roy Mctaggart, father born here, mother Jamaican, Marco Archer, mother born here father Jamaican, Joey Hew, mother born here father Jamaican, Chris Saunders mother born here father Jamaican. Would you like me to list the “mixed” Caymanian legislators for the last 40 years? I can do but guess what, they all were Caymanians and acted for the best of Cayman.
Your comparison is not relevant. Each person you describe was born a Caymanian. The fact they were born in Cayman is not (by itself) relevant to whether someone born after 1976 is Caymanian. Their mother has to have been Caymanian AND settled here. Again, on what basis is the POS a Caymanian?
Well, according to the original poster, mother was a Caymanian and gave birth to him here, which sounds pretty settled to me, so your point is….? Just because you would prefer all the bad men to be Jamaican or at least not Caymanian doesn’t mean that they are.
You all foo fool. Stop talking about things you don’t know.
Both of his parents are Jamaican. His mother has been here for a long time and now has status.
I can believe your post, 8:48, except for the last line. The last line is bull poop!
How, another McKeeva status grant club member?
Caymanian
Of Course the poster knew he is Caymanian !
Some will always fall for the troll traps…..
Actually no. What I do know is that there is no consistent accurate checking, and that a number of deportable persons are never deported because they are wrongly treated as being Caymanian.
How do we know. Did anyone check? Does anyone ever check?
No need to check when you know!
No Johnny-come-lately here.
So?…… Deport his ass anyway!
Justice is served I knew your day would come, finally a Judge seen you needed to be put away should have been life!