Courts
Poinciana could be adapted to house criminally insane
(CNS): The government is considering how it can adapt the recently opened Poinciana Rehabilitation Centre to house the criminally insane. The centre was not designed to detain individuals who are a danger to society because of their illness. But with nowhere else to house people found not guilty of violent crimes by reason of insanity […]
Jury finds two men guilty of conspiracy to murder
(CNS): Antascio Rankine (30) and Roland Welcome (33) were convicted on Monday of conspiracy to murder Sven Brett Connor (42) following more than two days of jury deliberation. Connor was killed by a gang of men who shot what the crown called a “hail of bullets” through his bedroom window at his home on Fiddlers […]
Lawyers make case for acquittal of men accused of murder
(CNS): Both Antasacio Rankine (30) and Roland Welcome (33) declined to give evidence on their own behalf this week and left it to their lawyers to make the case for acquittal of the murder charges against them. One defence attorney said the crown came “nowhere near” proving its case, and neither man was required to […]
Anonymous witness points finger at Rankine as killer
(CNS): An anonymous witness in the trial of Antascio Rankine (30) and Roland Welcome (30), who are accused of murdering Sven Connor, insisted that they were not mistaken when they saw Rankine involved in a serious altercation with the victim minutes before he was shot dead. Only the judge and the jury could see the […]
Crown: Killers carried out murder with ruthless efficiency
(CNS): The men accused of killing Sven Brett Connor when they opened fire into his bedroom window at his home in East End, on Fiddlers Way, in December 2023, carried out the plan and execution with “ruthless efficiency”, Barnaby Jameson KC told a jury on Wednesday, as he opened the crown’s case against them. Prosecutors […]
Killer jailed for at least 35 years for double murder
(CNS): Wayne Bellafonte (34) from North Side was jailed last week for life following his conviction in September for the murder of Mark Andre Ebanks (36) and Eldon Charles Walton (55) outside the Globe Bar on Martin Drive, George Town, over three years ago. Bellefonte was also convicted of the attempted murder of a third man and possession of […]
Grocery store armed robbers jailed for 7+ years
(CNS): Randon Odell Davis (26) and Lincoln Donovan Sibron (22), both Jamaican nationals, were sent to jail on Friday for more than seven years after being convicted in June last year of armed robbery. The pair pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and the possession of an imitation gun regarding a stick-up in February […]
‘Copious evidence’ dooms gas station robber’s appeal
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has upheld both the robbery conviction and the 12-year sentence handed down in 2023 to Alvin Shaquille Ebanks, dismissing his in-person appeal because of what the court described as the copious evidence against him. In the ruling published last month, the court found that the sentence given to […]
Shortage of criminal defence lawyers still delaying justice
(CNS): While the state of the court buildings, inclement weather, and a shortage of rooms and judges are still impacting the court clearance rates, Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale said a paucity of defence attorneys slowed down the clear-up rate of cases in the criminal division of the Grand Court last year.
AG agrees to ask CJ to review inequities of drug sentences
(CNS): Attorney General Samuel Bulgin has said he will ask the chief justice to conduct a review of sentences that have been handed down to those convicted of drug offences following concerns that visitors who are bringing drugs into Cayman accidentally or deliberately are facing far less severe sanctions than locals for similar crimes. The […]
CPA spent almost $1M in losing battle with NCC
(CNS): A partial release in response to a freedom of information request relating to the Cayman Islands Government’s battle, through the Central Planning Authority, with its own conservation law and the National Conservation Council revealed that it has cost the public purse close to CI$1 million. The request for information didn’t result in a full […]
