CJ finds teen gunman guilty

| 21/10/2010

(CNS): Nineteen-year-old Justin Ramoon has been found guilty of possession of an imitation firearm with intent in connection with an attack on Sven Connor earlier this year. The chief justice delivered his verdict to the court on Thursday morning in the wake of Ramoon’s judge alone trial earlier this month. The country’s top judge told the court that he found the evidence of the complainant, Sven Connor, compelling, while he rejected the alibi offered by the defendant, who had denied being the man who came at Connor with a semi-automatic weapon. Ramoon, who will return to court for sentencing before the CJ tomorrow afternoon, is facing a tariff of as much as 20 years behind bars for the offence.

The teenager has been convicted in relation to an incident which took place in Fairlawn Road, George Town, on 21 February. Connor said Ramoon had turned up in his stepfather’s car at a house where he, Connor, had been visiting friends. Ramoon got out of a car and walked straight up to him while aiming a semi-automatic weapon in his direction.

Connor said that he immediately grabbed at the weapon and the two men  then fought over the gun, which fell to the ground before Connor ran off into the bushes in the direction of the Field of Dreams from where, nursing a dislocated shoulder, he then called the police.

Connor told the police in the wake of the incident that the gunman was Ramoon. Police later arrested the teen when he arrived at a police station to respond to bail on another matter. Ramoon denied possessing the weapon or attacking Connor. During the trial the teen defendant chose to give evidence in his own defence and went into the witness box claiming that on the night in question he was in West Bay getting drunk at his cousin’s house, where he had been staying for a few weeks .

He also called his cousin as an alibi in his defence, who admitted that he had come to court at the prompting of another person. The witness said he had been told that the night he, Ramoon and others were attending a cook-out at his house was the same night on which Ramoon was accused of attacking Connor.

In the chief justice’s written ruling, which he read to the court, he said that the suggestion that it was the same night was imposed upon the witness but he did not appear to have any independent recollection of the night. He described the detail of the witness’s account as “quite remarkable” given how long ago the incident had occurred.

On the other hand, the judge said, he found the manner in which Connor had given his evidence “compelling” stating that he was “clear and unhesitant" and the chief justice said he did not believe Connor could have been mistaken over the identity of the attacker as it had been in such close proximity. This, he said, was further illustrated by the dislocated shoulder which Connor had sustained during the struggle for the gun. The judge also observed the relative spontaneity in which Connor had told the police who the gunman was.

“I accept Sven Connor’s account, including the description of the firearm, which meets the description of the imitation weapon in the charges,’ the judge told the court. “I am satisfied it was the defendant that assaulted Sven Connor and the defendant is guilty of the charges on the indictment.”

Although Connor had described the weapon that Ramoon had approached him with as a semi-automatic handgun, the police never recovered a firearm and no gun shot residue was found on either Connor or Ramoon as the gun was not fired. Consequently, with no evidence that the gun in question was a real firearm, the crown brought charges of possession of an imitation weapon in accordance with the penal code.

Ramoon will return to court Friday afternoon for the sentence hearing.

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  1. Watchmiwatchu says:

    I am still trying to figure out exactly what evidence existed for this conviction.

    He was charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm. With these charges there should have been enough evidence to parade him into court to answer to these charges, which could have netted him life imprisonment if found guilty.  However, the charges were later reduced to possession of an imitation firearm because there wasn’t enough evidence to support the charges.  Can someone please explain how he ended up in court with charges to answer to in the first place if there was no evidence to support the charge?

    Secondarily, can someone also explain how, if no imitation firearm was recovered, how can it be verified that there ever was a firearm present in order to stand charges for? The fight I can see/understand as a result of the injury (which may or may not have occurred as stated).

    Now that I am so confused, further clarification of the following might only confuse me more, but if the complainant’s word was so worthwhile to the court for a guilty verdict, why wasn’t it good enough to maintain the attempted murder and firearms charge? And as pointed out earlier by someone else, I don’t think that toy guns come in such a descriptive model as described by the complainant.

    My greatest concern though, is that with such little evidence to consider, what really took the CJ so much time to return the verdict? This is a GREAT concern to me.

    This verdict has been handed down by the top justice in the Cayman Islands and until these questions are clarified I will never be assured that justice has truly been served.  

    The actions of the legal department and other members of law enforcement were reckless in taking someone to court for charges that could not have been substantiated in the first place.  It is most fortunate for him that the charges were later reduced where in his maximum sentence is 20 years – it could have been much worse: he could have been answering a life sentence mandate based on the same faulty procedures witnessed by the public of the judicial department and its branches/representatives.

    • Anonymous says:

      You see people are so fed up with the crime rate in Cayman right now that they dont care if justice is served they just want everyone who is even labelled a criminal whether there is any truth or evidence to that, to be taken to prison for the rest of their life.  Not knowing that the crimes will still be commited if they dont do something to curb it at the root of the problem. Simple-minded, bad-minded Caymanians….always fighting down their own people instead of lifting them up.  Embrace the youth and guide them in the right direction instead of leaving them to fend for themselves.  Most of these "criminals" just need some guidance and positivity in their lives instead of people always looking down on them!! Wake up Cayman!!! Give the youth a positive foundation so they can grow into decent respectable adults!!!

  2. Anonymous says:

    I am so confused.. if no firearm was recovered, why is it assumed to have been ‘an imitation’? Does the police know something that the news is not saying? Does Mr. Connor believe the weapon to have been a fake?

    • durrrr says:

      they apparently went with imitation charges because they were unable to prove it was a real gun (as no gun was recovered).

       

      what makes absolute zero sense though, is that according to the reports, the only evidence was Connor’s word, but if you can’t rely on his word for the authenticity of the gun, how can you rely on it at all?

       

      In fact, I’m sure something must be missing from the reports – can you really be convicted on someone else’s word alone? Better hope you don’t p!ss offany good liars!

  3. Anonymous says:

    Something is really wrong here. No gun found, no residue.. how do we know Sven is telling the truth?! How can a man be convicted of a "gun crime" when there is no gun, no residue? I’m an attorney (albeit not a criminal attorney) but I fundamentally do not understand how he can be guilty beyonda reasonable doubt of a gun crime when there is NO GUN!

     

    • Pauly Cicero says:

      Probably the same way one can be convicted of murder with no body recovered.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Why is the media so descreet when some one commits a crime, yes I am writing that its 3 brothers which have committed these SERIOUS gun related crimes,1st brother serving 15 years for attempted murder,second serving life imprisionment  for murder and maybe the third 20 years.Names should be called why not they earned it.THEY ARE CONVICTED CRIMINALS.

    The society needs to know what is going on.

     

    • Anonymous says:

      And what is your point?

    • Anonymous says:

      If I read correctly names were called "Justin Ramoon" and I’m sure his brothers names were called when they were in court as well (wouldn’t be called here because it has no relevance to this case).  So how is the media being "so descreet"???  If they are convicted criminals as you say serving 15 years, life and 3 years in prison what does it matter to know their names?? So what exactly are you trying to get at again??

  5. Anonymous says:

    sad to think how these young men are just throwing their lives away…all the potential in the world and this is wat they amount to? this is how they want to be remembered? worse to think that half of them have children that they’ve left behind…

  6. Anonymous says:

    Correct me if I’m wrong please….

    No firearm was recovered by the RCIPS – real or imitation

    The defendant was found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent…

    No firearm was recovered by the RCIPS – real or imitation

    No residue from gunshot found….

    No fiream was recovered by the RCIPS – real or imitation

    While I agree more needs to be done to reduce crime, I sincerely hope the pressure on police and the judiciary to convict has not clouded the fact that

    NO FIREARM WAS RECOVERED BY THE RCIPS – REAL OR IMITATION. #thatisall

    • Pauly Cicero says:

      So? Now you amateur gangstas know that you can’t just throw away the firearm, real or imitation, and get off.

    • Pending says:

      INTENTION

    • Anonymous says:

      A murder suspect can be convicted without the deceased body being found. Ever heard of this ? well that is correct. It is not your thinking . Its Law.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Ramoon responded to police on another bail matter? Clearly he has been on the wrong path and it is good that he is off the streets.

  8. Mrs. Rita Myles says:

     How in the world can this be justice?  You all need to "STOP" and listen to yourselves for once!  How can a man with a firearm who beat another man be facing up to 20 years in prison?   Then on the other hand they only make child Molesters and Murderers get less than 3-5 years.  This Law is unjust and we need a Justice System that can govern the laws right, so everyone can get a fair trial.  For crying out loud people he is only 19 years old, he still has the mentally of a child…remember these are our Caymanian Children and we are just watching them all kill each other and go down the drains.  I’m not saying that he should not do time but don’t throw away his whole life just because he made a terrible mistake.  They are need us and is crying out for our help!  All of these trouble kids can become productive  citizens if we all work with them by going around talking to our MLAs to see what programs we can get them into.  Prison is not always the answer for everything….it’s like a hotel there anyway!!!!Think about it!  What if it was your child?  I’m not saying that I am giving this young man any right for what he’s done, but come on now!  

    • Pending says:

      Ok, let me start here by asking you this, if he had killed the guy would you be singing the same story?

      He attacked a man with a gun, need I say anymore? Granted no shots were fired and Sven can count his lucky stars with that, but HE ATTACKED SOMEONE WITH THE INTENT OF KIILING THAT PERSON.

      His trial was fair, he had the CHIEF JUSTICE residing over the matter. In case you didn’t know, he is the highest judge we have have. Ramoon elected to ahve a judge alone trial, not one with a jury of his peers, that was his choice. His alibi didn’t know anything and was found to have been told to say this and that. Anyone in their right mind can see that he was put up there to lie.

      You say he is only 19yrs old? What does that have to do with the fact that he went to a persons yard with the intent of killing another person? If he is big and bad enough to carry a gun and try to kill someone, then he should be locked up, FOR LIFE. The only thing stopping that tariff for a sentence is that no firearm was recovered, simple.

      WE are not watching people like himself do these things. His parents and family / friends are, and it is TEHM that is to blame and that are doing nothing about it, so do not bring me or any other person into association with these thugs.

      Murderers and wannbe murders are scum along with theses armed robbers, and they are messing this place up big time. Nothing is being done to stop them, teach them a lesson or discourage their behaviour and it is all to the detriment of the rest of us.

      These thugs and the people who know these them and know what they do are the ones destroying this place, all the while sitting idly bye watching it all happen.

      It is no wonder the situation is the way it is when we have people like you posting waht you have said.

    • Anonymous says:

      Anon. at-07:48,The Chief Justice acts according to the sanctions provided by law.There are different laws that carry diffrent sanctions. The laws are made by our MLAs who we elected and the judges are bound by laws to apply them until they are repealed.If the laws are unfair,make representation to the Government to change the Firearms law so these young people will not go to jail when they commit crimes. After all they are "going through so much stress" and the "society fail them"etc. etc. What happen to some of us?. We want crimes to go down and not adversely  affect our economy and personal security, yet when the Law takes its course we are murmuring. Just where should criminal be sent when they are convicted? To My house or yours? Certainly not mine.

      Mistake of law or ignorance of the law is no excuse for a crime. This is an established legal principle worldwide.

      The defendant is not a child or a juvenile, he is an adult.

      It is not unknown for 12 and 13 yearso old to shoot victims to death.

      A person suffering mental illness can be sentenced for a crime if at the rime of the act he was in a lucid interval i.e. he was not being affected by the mental illness.

      Are you implying that Caymanians should get special treatmet when they commit crimes? I am not apologising for any of my relatives in this Island if they get involved in wrongs.

      I have three grown up male children and if they had become involved in crimes in their teens they would have danced to the music.This applies to my grand-children also. I set the pace in my household and would tolerate slackness.

    • Dick Tracy says:

      Mrs Rita, come on what?   Aunts, uncles, mom and dad, grand ma and grandpa,sisters,brothers and cousins.  Please do not support these young men in their crime spree..  If you do you will one day cry for them.

    • anon says:

      this’ll be one less thug on the streets to beat up anyone else. 20 yrs sounds fine to me. just because molesters get too little time doesn’t mean this 19 yr old will get too much.

    • Anonymous says:

      If he had his way he would have killed that man with his firearm. What in the world are you saying? It’s people like him who go on and continue to commit murders if they get away with other crimes as far as I’m concerned he should have been found guilty of attempt murder.I know of a certain individual who was continually arrested for crimes including murder and always released because of no evidence and family claiming his innocence and after being bailed out and getting away so many times he went on to murder more people. Now you have numerous families suffering as well as his own because of this. Maybe if they could have locked him up for about twenty years before so many families won’t be torn apart and broken hearted and he would have probably got out in a few years a better person and lives would have been spared. Let me just say who feels it knows it and it’s people like you that make me angry. I guess if the victim was killed it wouldn’t be right to give him a life sentence either.

    • Backstorke says:

      I did not and listen to myself, and yes these young men are screaming out, but in the wrong way.  No one can tell me that its the economy, etc,etc. Im sick of hearing this, maybe the job that we would like to have is not available but there is something else out there that they can do thats legal that will allow them to live just like you and I do.

      No one tells them that they have to carry a gun be it real or immitation, they know that its illegal so why do it. My 10 year old grand child knows thats wrong so if he foolishly did this I should turn my head and say its society’s fault. 

      I beleive that a lot of the problems that we are facing in Cayman now comes from the homes that the children are brought up in. Many are single parents, many have attitudes that no child should have to live with.  Imagine these children living daily with parents yelling and calling them names, using such filthy disgusting language, they argue in front of the children and when they become teenagers and they cant handle them then its ok to harras society and  be a menance, and  when they do get arrested then what do they want you to do,  ignore the fact that they  are out of control?  Go see MLA’s, set up programs to help.   GET A LIFE, GET A JOB. Grow up be a MAN, its not too late to change and become a good member of society.

  9. whodatis says:

    Just a random question for the masses:

    "Can there ever be justice or honor amongst thieves, killers and criminals?"

  10. Anonymous says:

     One more you know what from off the street!  More people need to speak up.  Good witness + Good Police work = Cleaner Street!

  11. Anonymous says:

    “I accept Sven Connor’s account, including the description of the firearm, which meets the description of the imitation weapon in the charges,’ the judge told the court. “I am satisfied it was the defendant that assaulted Sven Connor and the defendant is guilty of the charges on the indictment.”

    Although Connor had described the weapon that Ramoon had approached him with, as a semi-automatic hand gun, the police never recovered a firearm and no gun shot residue was found on either Connor or Ramoon as the gun was not fired. Consequently, with no evidence that the gun in question was a real firearm, the crown brought charges of possession of an imitation weapon in accordance with the penal code.

    Which meets the description of the imitation weapon in the charges…Okay and then it goes on to say that…the police never recovered a firearm..Real or imitation? So was there an imitattion firearm found and shown as evidence?Am I missing that important sentence in this article?

    CNS: No firearm was found.

    • Anonymous says:

      So who knows if there ever was a firearm, imitation or otherwise?

  12. Anonymous says:

    ??? how can an imitation firearm be semi automatic?  Is he going to jail for a toy gun?

    • Anonymous says:

      the person being assaulted don’t have to prove that the thing pointed at him was a real firearm. It is enough for it to look like a firearm. If someone points something that looks like a firearm at your head, are you going to ask him if its real? It is enough for the assault with a deadly weapon for the victim to be in fear of immediate harm. That is what is written in the Laws.

    • Bobby Anonymous says:

      I hope so! Maximum sentence please. Can you immagine being on the other end of the barrel?

      Imitation or not, the intent was there to put fear into someone. Guilty!

       

       

    • Anon says:

      It’s not the point. It’s about threatening someone’s life. Thank goodness it was a "toy gun" (if it was one) and if it wasn’t, that no shots were fired.

       

    • Dick Tracy says:

      It is the intention that constitutes the crime.  It is time the Judicial Department stop slapping the fingers of these wanabe criminals.  People want to live in peace on this Island.

  13. Proud Caymanian ... says:

    Another victory for our Justice System… congratulations again to th RCIPS and the Court for standing for our values and sending out the message that continued misbehaviour will NOT be tolerated in our lands.

    • Anonymous says:

      This is very strange. the verdict and the charge. also te weapon.

      He’s going to jail for beating someone with a toy gun is that it?

      I could understand if he held up a bank or a business with it but how can you fight with a toy gun unless it was huge in size and weight.

      In that case he should get a suspended senetence not a jail sentence. he did not have a real weapon and it was not used to rob a business owner who may have given up his cash thinking it was a real gun!

      This is very tricky

  14. Anonymous says:

    Great job. Justice is served once again.Keep up the good work

  15. Anonymous says:

    GOOD! See what happens when you come forward, speak up in court and testify! People get punished for their actions.

    Good job RCIPS, Legal dept., and let’s hope Judicial system. I hope he gets a sentence that justly fits the crime tomorrow.

    Keep it up – let’s clean up these streets.

  16. JUNKY says:

    AHOOO…

    Get all those criminals off the streets.

    Am let Cayman be the place it once was.

     

    100% Caymanian

    • Anonymous says:

      That’s an assanine response if ever I’ve heard one… "100% Caymanian". As if many of the crimes are not being commited by Caymanians! It’s narrow-minded persons like you that have the community divided. Try and just be a human for a while, and leave the blasted nationality out of it. As if you are any different from anyone from any other place on Earth!!!

      Stupid.

      • Anonymous says:

        100% Caymanian is NOT saying that it isn’t Caymanians committing these crimes – what he/she IS saying is that they want Cayman to return to the safe place it once was…

        What a shame that this youth chose this route – another life wasted by bad choices.

      • Anonymous says:

        Good one  i 100% agree with you on  your  reply  leave the damn  nationality out of this.

        We Caymanians are not prefict  we steel  we  cheat and  sad to  say but true  we also  kill.

        So if  you do the crime  you need to do the time  no matter where the hell you are  from.

        in the  past months  who do  you all think was  doing all the killing  you need to  look in the  jail  they were all  caymanians……………

      • Anonymous says:

        The poster was showing Caymanian pride and celebrating a sucessful conviction not trying to divide the community or blame other nationalities.

         

         

    • Anonymous says:

      RASIST/CULTURALIST