Archive for December, 2011
Police arrest woman over domestic stabbing
(CNS): A man is currently in hospital being treated for non-life threatening stab wounds after an altercation with a woman who is currently in police custody. In the early hours of Sunday morning during what appears to be a serious domestic dispute between the couple, the twenty-year-old woman stabbed the man inside a home in West Bay, police said. In a separate incident a 20-year-old man has now been charged with stabbing a 36-year-old man at Club 7 on 10 December. The man is scheduled to appear in court today (Monday 19 December) to face charges of wounding with intent to cause GBH.
The man was arrested by police in West Bay two days after the victim turned up at the hospital in George Town in the early hours of the morning suffering from a number of stab wounds to his torso.
Police said that the most recent stabbing victim, who remains at the Cayman Islands Hospital in a stable condition, was stabbed in the chest. Police received the report at about 12.25 am on Sunday, 18 December, and went to the scene at North West Point Road, where the woman was arrested on suspicion of Assault GBH and remains in custody while police enquiries continue.
$20K for mortgage debt
(CNS): Families who face losing their homes because of mortgage arrears will be selected by a new committee under the premier’s ministry to receive assistance from the cash donated by the Dart Group. Those who are selected will be able to claim a $10,000 initial allowance and then money for three more mortgage payments after that, with a maximum of $20,000 per applicant. The recipients will be given up to 50 years to pay back the money under this scheme, which forms part of the first phase of the government’s deal with Dart to swap crown land and trigger the development of its new hotel. At the signing of the road deal on Thursday the developer gave government $5 milllion from a promised $20.5 million for community projects.
This first $5 milllion, which the developer handed over to government last week when it signed the deal, will be split equally between education and helping families facing mortgage arrears and who are about to lose their homes.
According to a release from Dart’s public relations company, a committee will be established to oversee the Saving Homes, Residential Mortgage Arrears Programme which will be chaired by Sonia McLaughlin, Chief Officer with responsibility for Finance in the Ministry of Finance, Tourism & Development.
Although the criteria for making an application has not yet been revealed, according to the release, this committee will assess the needs of applicants and make a decision over who will receive the award and will not. Those who are successful will received a one-time $10K allowance to help with existing arrears and then the applicants could receive more cash for up to three mortgage payments, with the total sum not exceeding $20K. This means government will be able to assist around 150 people with the Dart cash.
The developer stated that because the purpose of this programme is to assist those who are facing the loss of their homes the goal is to give those successful applicants up to 50 years to repay the funds so the government loan does not add to existing burdens of meeting monthly payments.
As part of the ForCayman Investment Alliance, which will eventually include a number of different projects, government has signed the first element. This includes swapping a 2,300 ft stretch of the West Bay Road with Dart in exchange for the construction of the Esterley Tibbetts Highway extension into West Bay and a total of $20.5 million in cash.
This first phase of the investment alliance, being referred to as the ‘NRA agreement’ does not include the renovation of the public beach, the new public beach north of the planned resort, the land donation in West Bay for a school or in the Barker’s area for the planned national park. These elements have all been cited as forming part of the West Bay Road corridor projects of the ForCayman Investment Alliance main agreement, which has not yet been finalized.
This first part of the deal allows Dart to begin renovating the former Courtyard Marriott hotel and turn the site into a beach front resort.
No research on landfill move
(CNS): In a preliminary response to a freedom of information request the Department of Environmental Health (DEH) has revealed that no reports, studies or research has been carried out by the department relating to the relocation of the George Town landfill. Responding to a request made by the Coalition to Keep BT Dump Free relating to proposals and reports about moving the dump, the department’s information manager explained that all of the work done by the DEH related to waste-management at the existing location. Since the group formed to oppose the moving of the landfill to Bodden Town, it has been searching for information to support the government’s decision.
Vincent Frederick, one of the leaders of the coalition, filed the open records request on 1 December asking for “any studies, reports, correspondence, emails, memorandums” relating to the “selection of a suitable alternative location for the George Town landfill”, the “selection of the proposed Bodden Town location for the new landfill” and “proposals for the Bodden Town landfill”.
In her reply of 13 December the DEH information manager explained that the department did not have the records that Frederick was seeking.
“There has been no studies or reports conducted by DEH concerning an alternative site for the GT landfill. The majority of reports or studies conducted focused on better waste management practices at the GT landfill and future waste management options for the Cayman Islands,” the IM responded. “No request for proposals (RFP’s) have been advertised by DEH concerning locating an alternative site or using Bodden Town as an alternative landfill site.”
The manager told the applicants that she still needed to determine if there were other records at the ministry or if the records being requested could be held by the Office of the Premier, because moving the George Town landfill to Bodden Town was a decision made by the premier, but the DEH held no relevant records.
Frederick said this seemed to indicate that the decision to relocate the landfill so that Dart could develop a residential project adjacent to the dump was a personal decision by the country’s premier, McKeeva Bush, without any studies, reports, explanation, consultation with the population of Bodden Town, and without any request for proposals from anyone.
In the wake of the revelations by the DEH, Frederick asked if Dart was the only party consulted, with no consideration at all of the consequences for the people of the district — a question that has not yet been answered. “This is incredible. This is a travesty of good governance, of environmental awareness, and representation of the people’s interests and safety,” he said.
Several other concerns have been raised by residents of Bodden Town but remain unanswered, and the coalition has filed further FOI requests in its search for answers to the questions as it waits on a promised meeting with the district's two government MLAs, Mark Scotland and DwayneSeymour.
Frederick said the residents of the district are questioning if an Environmental Impact Assessment ever been conducted for the site, if its vulnerability to hurricanes has been assessed, why government ditched its deal for a waste-to-energy facility at the George Town landfill, how the Midland Acres site was selected and why government has adopted the Dart proposal to relocate the dump after the technical committee and subsequently the Central Tenders Committee rejected it because of “concerns about the potential environmental impact” of relocating the landfill in the central wetlands area.
The proposed relocation of the landfill is part of a deal government is currently renegotiating with the islands' biggest developer, the Dart Group. The developer has proposed swapping land it owns in the Midland Acres area for the existing GT landfill, which is crown land. Dart has said it will then cap and remediate the existing landfill and pay for the development of what it said will be a modern “eco-waste park” and covered landfill and recycling centre.
National health insurance the “long-term plan”
(CNS Business): While calling the implementation of a national health insurance scheme a “long-term plan,” Minister of Health Mark Scotland nevertheless has said Cayman first needed to get “healthy” to ensure the system would be financially viable. At the same time, though two former ministers of health lambasted the private insurance industry, they disagreed on the efficacy of a national plan. Scotland warned that even if a national insurance plan were implemented, this would not lead to instantaneous savings, saying that unless the nation became fitter, healthy people would end up paying for the unhealthy. Health ministry chief officer Jennifer Ahearn explained that with any universal health care access, the high utilization of insurance benefits drives up the costs. Read more on CNS Business
Celine Dion to make first ever Caribbean appearance
(CNS): The promoter of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival has book Celine Dion as the headline act for next month’s musical event. Walter Elmore of Art of Music Productions (AMP) began the bid to attract the singing star some two years ago and described "jumping through hoops" when he signed the deal recently. This will be the Canadian’s first performance in the Caribbean and Elmore promised “an exceptional show" for festival goers. Dion, one of the best selling female recording artistes of all time, said she was excited about the opportunity to perform for her fans in the Caribbean.
"I am looking forward to doing my very first show in the Caribbean and this is an honor for me to perform at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival. What a beautiful way to meet the people of Jamaica on this, my first trip to the island. I just can't wait," she told Elmore in an e-mail.
Scheduled to perform on the Friday night of the festival, which runs from January 26 to 28, 2012, Dion is expected to woo her fans with classics such as The Power Of Love, Because You Loved Me, All By Myself, I'm Your Angel, the Grammy and Academy Award-winning classic My Heart Will Go On, and her breakthrough chartbuster Where Does My Heart Beat Now.
Joining her at the festival will be Cee-Lo Green, Nicole Henry, Heads of State, Jully Black, Earl Klugh, The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards, Destra, Gentleman; and Jamaica's finest musical talent, including Shaggy, Richie Stephens, John Holt, Yellow Man, Half Pint, Tessanne Chin and Tami Chynn, Marcia Griffiths, Lloyd Parkes and We The People, George Nooks, Luciano, Mykal Rose, AJ Brown, Freddy McGregor, Pluto Shervington, Etana, Chris Martin, Marcia Barrett (Boney M) and Byron Lee's Dragonaires.
In honor of Jamaica's 50th Anniversary of Independence, the opening night of the festival is dedicated to the sounds that have shaped Jamaica's music over the past 50 years including ska, rocksteady, dancehall and reggae, the island nation's influential contributions to world music the promoters said in a release.
Started in 1996 by Air Jamaica, in association with the Jamaica Tourist Board and several other business entities, Walter Elmore took over the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in 2004. It has grown over the years and attracts more than 25,000 patrons annually.
Caymanian escapes Jamaican jail in ganja export
(CNS): A local man has narrowly escaped a year’s imprisonment in Jamaica after a magistrate suspended the prison time imposed for the man’s part in efforts to export more than 109 pounds of ganja and a quantity of hash oil from Jamaica to the Cayman Islands. The Jamaican Gleaner reported that 29-year-old Matthew Brown, who works as a plumber in the Cayman Islands, and Arthur Garvey, a wholesale jeweller in Westmoreland, were found at Brown's home with 109 pounds of ganja, five pounds of hash oil, a compressor, jack, transparent plastic wrap and a scale. Garvey, under caution, said the contraband was destined for the Cayman Islands, while Brown said he was at the location to smoke ganja.
The men pleaded guilty and were fined a total of J$363,000 and given a year in jail but Brown was spared from the mandatory prison sentence after his lawyer, Dionne Meylor-Reid, made an impassioned plea for leniency. Resident Magistrate Collymore Gordon set aside the jail time he had imposed on Brown and his co-accused, 52-year-old Jamaican Arthur Garvey, in the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate's Court, Westmoreland.
The magistrate told the men that if they were convicted of any offences within the next three years, they would have to serve the prison term. No removal or deportation order was made for Brown.
Teen gets 16 months for part in beach mugging
(CNS): A teenager who was convicted of robbery purely because he gave himself up and made a full and frank disclosure to the police was treated with leniency by a judge on Friday as he pointed to several mitigating factors in the teen’s favour. Nineteen-year-old Michael McLaughlin from East End was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his part in a mugging which took place on Barefoot Beach last February. In his ruling Justice Alex Henderson said the robbery was unplanned and opportunistic, that McLaughlin had played only a peripheral part, he had given himself up and pleaded guilty, as well as showing genuine remorse for the crime.
The judge noted, however, that the case still called for a custodial sentence because despite the mitigating factors the mugging was perpetrated on tourists. Justice Henderson noted the importance of tourism to the economy and the willingness of visitors to come to the Cayman Islands depended on the perceptions of safety. Offences of this nature, the judge indicated, had the very considerable potential to harm the tourism sector.
Although there were two other men involved in the robbery of the two visitors on the secluded beach in East End, the case against McLaughlin’s co-defendants who both pleaded not guilty collapsed due to a lack of evidence. In contrast, McLaughlin, after discussions with his grandmother had gone back to the police and handed himself in and confessed to his part in the crime. The judge noted that had he not done so he would not have been convicted as there was no evidence against him except that confession.
The court heard how McLaughlin had been led astray by the others in the robbery and had taken part in the opportunistic mugging as once it started he did not want his peers “to think he was soft”. After the event, however, he recognised the seriousness of the crime and made a decision to turn his life around.
During the sentencing hearing it was revealed that the teenager did not have the best start in life. His father spent considerable time in jail as a result of dealing in drugs. As a child McLaughlin watched his father sell ganja and cocaine and was even given drugs by his father, who claimed he would rather give his child ganja than have him buy it on the street.
The judge found that during the robbery McLaughlin had not used a weapon or used force or threats against the victims nor was he responsible for smashing the visitor’s rental car window as the robbers left the scene. However, the judge noted that he had still willingly participated in the crime and received $5 for his share of the booty, which ended up being only $20 in cash and a camera stolen from the car. McLaughlin admitted to driving the car on the day of the robbery but he said the offence was not planned and he was shocked when one of the men he was with approached the man on the beach and demanded money.
The court heard that since the teen has been on remand he has applied himself to studying and is genuinely seeking the opportunity to turn his life around. James Stenning, his defence attorney, said the crime was a life changing moment for his client. He said it was important to make it one for the better as he urged the judge to make the sentence as short as possible to ensure his client had a chance of rehabilitation outside the system rather than being sucked into a life of crime.
The judge said that the teen’s confession in this case was of particular importance because if he had not chosen to be honest about his culpability, he would almost certainly not have been convicted.
McLaughlin had also written a four page letter to the court setting out his regrets and, more importantly, his aims to turn his life around and the steps he plans to take to rehabilitate himself.
Given all of the circumstances and using the sentencing guidelines, the judge said his starting point would be at the lowest end for this type of offence. Beginning with a two year sentence, he discounted it to 16 months for the teenager’s guilty plea. He also recommended that if McLaughlin continued to apply himself to his studies, he should be released on parole at the earliest opportunity.
Port told to release GLF info
(CNS): The Port Authority has 45 days to release information relating to talks between it, the government and the former proposed cruise port developer GLF after the information commissioner ruled that the documents were not exempt under the Freedom of Information law. The port had tried to withhold the documents on the grounds that they would “prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs” if they were made public. However, Jennifer Dilbert said that while sections 20(1)(b) and 20(10(d) were relevant in the case, the public interest test must still determine whether records should be disclosed, and given the importance of the port project she ordered the release.
In view of what she described as the need for government to be accountable for its actions and decisions, especially in the light of the high costs involved in the port expansion project, Dilbert ruled that the balance of the public interest weighed in favour of disclosure in this instance.
“The port expansion is an exceptional capital project of Government, which has been called “the most expensive‟ of its kind in the Cayman Islands to date, involving construction costs of reportedly close to $200 million. As such, in my view it is entirely proper that this project and the decisions relevant to it should receive very close scrutiny from Government and the general public alike,” the information boss said.
This latest decision by the commissioner relates to an application for all notes and/or minutes of meetings between the government and the Port Authority dealing with the GLF talks on the cruise berthing project in George Town. The application was made earlier this year but refused by the authority on the grounds that releasing the information would inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation or prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs.
But Dilbert pointed out that these possible reasons for exemption are still subject to a public interest test.
In her decision Dilbert reveals that the Port Authority Board was reluctant to release the minutes of meetings as a result of “fear of being labelled or penalized” for what was discussed and decided, which the commissioner noted was irrelevant. She said that a public authority, including the members of a board of directors, must be willing to accept responsibility for its actions and decisions.
“This is the essential meaning of governmental accountability and transparency, which, as section 4 makes clear, are some of the fundamental principles underlying the system of constitutional democracy, central to Freedom of Information and a healthy democracy,” Dilbert said.
Pointing to the Port Authority’s claim that the disclosure would give an advantage to the individuals or groups which made the request to which they are not entitled, she said this also reflected a bias against openness on the part of the authority. Dilbert said that this was precisely why the FOI law does not require that an applicant provides his real name, or reasons for the request except where the application is for personal information.
“It should be irrelevant who the applicant is or what he will use the information for. A record is either open, or it is not, just as government is either transparent, or it is not,” she added as she ordered the Port Authority to release all of the documents requested by the applicant.
See full decision below.
Director denies stealing over $700,000
(CNS): Fernando Mendes pleaded not guilty to three counts of theft and two of false accounting on Friday in connection with accusations that he stole close to three quarters of a million US dollars from Conimbriga Investments Ltd and Finab Ltd. Described in the court as a board director of the companies involved, Mendes is charged with stealing the money from the investment firm and the mutual fund over an 18 month period. He is also charged with making false statements to cover up the financial fraud. Having pleaded not guilty, Mendez is scheduled to face trial in June next year. He was released by the court on bail.
Mendes has pleaded not guilty to stealing US $560,427 from Conimbriga Investments Ltd between January and August 2010, plus US $132,807between June 2009 and January of this year from Finab Ltd, and a further theft of US $25,000 on 17 September 2009, also from Conimbriga Investment.
The board director who was also a corporate manager of Finab Ltd is charged with falsifying statements in connection with that company and Conimbriga Investments Ltd.
Pedestrian struck by car in EE
(CNS): Police say a man is recovering in the Cayman Islands Hospital after being struck by a car in the East End last night. Shortly before midnight on Thursday the man apparently ran into the roadway close to Morritt’s Tortuga Resort and was struck by an oncoming Honda car. The driver of the car was not injured but the pedestrian was transported to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He is still in hospital where is remains under observation. Enquiries into the collision are ongoing, police say.