Cops appeal to rape victims
(CNS): In the wake of the arrest of suspected serial rapist Jeffrey Barnes on Tuesday police are appealing to anyone who may have been assaulted or approached by the 32-year-old George Town man who has not yet reported the incident to come forward. Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden said the police had every reason to believe that the four reports that have been made to them may not be the only incidents relating to Barnes, who is currently in police custody. Bodden explained that following the reports at the weekend from two rape victims and one 11-year-old girl who was approached by Barnes, police received a fourth report on Monday night from another possible victim. (Photo by Jasmine Jackson)
Bodden said the victim was a woman who was no longer in the Cayman Islands but who came forward and told police that she too had been raped by Barnes several days ago before she left the island.
The senior officer said that police were now following up the various reports and allegations made against the suspected rapist, who has not yet been charged, but Bodden said he was confident he was the “right guy” in connection with the incidents reported at the weekend.
He appealed to anyone else who may have been approached or even assaulted by Barnes or someone they think may be him to come forward as soon as possible.
In most cases of sexual assault in the Cayman Islands the victims are known to their attackers, the senior officer explained, adding that there are currently no locally reported but unsolved cases of stranger rape. DS Bodden said that did not mean, however, that there had not been more potential victims who, for whatever reason, have not come forward.
The officer also confirmed that on Saturday morning the report of Barnes approaching an 11-year-old girl came to the police at the same time as the report from a 49-year-old woman who said she had been raped in Admiral’s Landing. Bodden refuted accusations that the police handled the report of the approach to the young girl indelicately or were negligent, as the reports literally overlapped.
“We treat all victims with care and respect,” he said.
Category: Crime
What many people in Cayman don't realise is this; the people that they see in Northward and Fairbanks prisons (if such they could be termed) are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities.
They appear quite rational and contrite when inside, to volunteers and visitors because, by and large, they are SOBER and generally off drugs and alcohol while in prison.
If this could remain the case, most of these people would not be the repeat offenders that they are and with help on the outside, could probably make good on the promises, good resolutions and efforts they have made to themselves on the inside but….
The reality is…on the day of their release, their first stop is to their nearest or favourite bar and drug dealer and within a very short period of time, they start committing the same crimes and offenses for which they were originally locked up and keep committing them until they are caught and locked up again…and the entire vicious cycle continues.
Some of these so-called volunteers gives me cause for concern…its not that their efforts have no value but what do they do to assist these prisoners in keeping on the straight-and-narrow once they are on the outside …where it really matters ?
What after-care programs are in place to support someone who, with a little help, might not be so quick to yield to the inevitable temptation to re-offend ?
Would they be so quick to be mentors to some of these people on the outside, is my question.
I'm pissed! I watched the video and I was shocked to see that some of those guys are allowed to wear shades. WTH??? Furthermore, what is up with all the indivual hair dues etc? Aren't they supposed to keep their hair low shaved or something?
Also from what I saw, the facilities look a lot nicer (at least have bright cheerful colors etc) compared to some of the schools that I have seen around this Island.
No wonder this place is not a scaring someone off from comitting a crime. You have a high chance to never get caught to begin with, if you are caught, there is a good chance you will get off anyway, if you are convicted, you are likely to only serve a fraction of your time and in the meantime you are in what appears to be a pretty decent environment. For some of thoseguys that may be even nicer than any place they ever lived in before!
Really! I'm a law abiding "older" female and I have to remove my shades before even entering some commercial establishments – why are they wearing shades inside??!! It is a very uncomfortable feeling not to be able to see a person's eyes when you're speaking to them – it's also considered bad manners to keep shades on when speaking to another person. Kudos to the volunteers – but I would be very nervous being in that environment.
Note one pair of shades had a famous name brand on the the side – don't know if it was real or fake.
Yep, the surroundings in the library looks pretty darn good!!!
This picture says a thousand words
Hush talking about rehabilitation, prison or any other institution failing . This has been going on for a long time. Years gone by if a woman had reported that she was raped she was marred for life. No one believed her, especially if it was a certain person or persons. Today what we got is " what goes around stay around" Many women feared travelling on the seven mile beach, feared certain men offering them a ride. XXXXX
Sending prisoners to the Brac? Why yuh so wicked? Do not disturb the tranquility that the Brackers are presently enjoying.
Nature teaches us one thing. That there are consequences to our actions. That should be the only bases of our any prison system. Doing what is right has always been a personal choice.
Rehabilitation can't be taught. We put the worst of humanity in jails- "together" and we seem surprised that they get worst. What choice do they have but to hone those terrible skills ?
They come out less suited for everyday society. So let's not kid ourselves. This life has taught us that it does not work….which brings me to my last 2 cents.
Put them to work. Manual hard labour that makes them sleep at night. No time or energy to feel "sexy". This life has taught me that too….I got to "work" for my "sexy" time.
Compassion …Mental health is for the victims.
To be clear …
1. The Right Choices
2. Hard Work
3. Sexy time.
Our prison is the joke of the Caribbean and we need to send out a special thanks to all the do gooders called Human Rights groups for helping us mess that up.
We need these people fearing prison and when we send them there it is for a really long time. Our gun related laws need to be ramped up become MAJOR crimes deserving MAJOR sentences. I have said this before and I continue to say it…
– Bring a gun to a crime 10 years minimum to all who participate in the crime. Two guns now it's 15 years mimimum. And when I say minimum I mean MINIMUM NON NEGOTIABLE by anyone Judge included. Then after that you tack on additional offenses. When you catch 2 of 3 the additional 15 years for #3 is spread between teh 2 caught unless they give up #3. So in a case where minimums was 15 years each the two would serve 22.5 (15 + 7.5 (1/2 of #3)). This encourages them to give up co-horts.
Now to make the prison where they do not want to go. We need to develope TRUE HARD LABOR.
What is the point in reporting? Are you going to act or just write pages and pages of facinating reports and have pleasure? First build confidence among the public that you can be successfull in prosecuting and is determined to do so. Look at your records 70 – 80% failure in all the crown cases. You have to send your staff for training and have a serious performance evaluation. If they keep failing in their investigations they should be fired.
yes interesting video indeed. rehabilitation is top priority at northward and must continue. whats the point of treating them like animals and locking them up 24 hours a day? then turning them out to walk the streets of cayman as animals virtually? programs are offered and are very good at northward but at the end of the day every individual on their release is totally responsible for their actions and they cannot blame anyone but themselves for failing. j
We need a 2 strikes and you are out policy for violent criminals. Then there would be no issue with them being let back onto the streets.
That sounds like one strike too many for me.
Regarding that happy GIS video:
1) We can all pretend for a few minutes to be something we are not.
2) Literacy is easier to fix than a broken brain and a broken spirit.
3) You can work with damaged, broken is a different can of worms.
4) Learning to read and paint doesnot cure a serial rapist.
5) Knowing how to read and finger paint does not mean you are fit to be released back into society. Life requires more skill than that.
6) Not every bible thumper, lives a good life. To often religion is their cover for dirt and more crime to the unsuspecting, do gooders they target.
I admire this comment! amen……..amen……amen.I agree 100% that its about time that our country establish a proper prison because last time i checked ur not suppose 2 pamper criminals. As they say if u do the crime u must dothe time and its not suppose 2 be pleasant for them. They lucky that we don"t have a prison system like in peru where they have 2 fight 2 stay alive everyday that they are serving and the sewage is so bad it is coming thru the floor of their cafeteria and alot of the time they kill one another in there! We 2 soft on these prisoners so they act the way they do when they come out cause when they get caught again they only get a slap on the wrist and three decent meals a days, room and board, gym and other obligations! Our prison is B***S***!
This rehabilitation stuff is crap! Look at how good Mr. Barnes had it at Northward. And this was from 2009! We need to be tougher on these guys! From this video it looks like Mr. Barnes was learning the three r's at northward…Reading, wRiting, and Raping!
http://www.youtube.com/user/CIGovtInfoServices#p/search/9/K3_-kIqb7RE
We need to get our act together at Northward. It is like a day camp up there. They get to walk around, mingle with their pals, hang out at the computer lab and library. And then they get out and go wild like this. We NEED TO LOOK AT THE PRISON SYSTEM!
Very interesting video, but it made me kind of sad. Hearing the news about a serial rapist on the loose and hearing of Barnes' arrest, I was just thinking of him as a monster but after watching this, I feel a little bad for him, Don't get me wrong, I think sexual predators and rapists are some of the worst people on the planet, but this man is obviously very sick and can't be integrated back into society. That doesn't mean that rehabilitation doesn't work. Many inmates can turn their life around and start over when they get out of prison and I do feel it is part of the correctional systems job to do just that; try and correct people. Maybe there needs to be better psychiatric evaluations done to ensure that people who are reformable(is that a word?) are the ones getting the help. I'm sure this will receive many 'thumbs down', but it's just my $0.02.
Why don't put the prison on the Brac!?! It would create jobs (even expand as a regional facility) and would deter criminals. If these thugs knew that their cell phones and drugs were going through TSA Cayman Airways screening before flights arriving with their baby mammas, they might think twice. Clearly what we have now is not deterring repeat offenders or our youth at risk, period.
(by the way…) Feed em iguana too….plenty of protein. Aint nobody promise you three squares a day of steak when you a criminal. Stop feeding them their rice & peas, tender jerk chickens, giving them TV, and just SEE how many repeat offenders we get. Your mommas, aunties, and girlfriends wont be flying to the sister islands every weekend, so I say this may work!
Bring in that tough controversial sherriff from Arizona and make this system a profitable one that is feared not looked forward to!!!
Im from the Brac but i couldnt agree with you more! Seriously something need to give up ya now.
Prison is punishment not for punishment.