Minister remains silent on DUI charges

(CNS): The education minister refused to make any comment Monday regarding his arrest last week and the charges he now faces for DUI.  Rolston Anglin said that the issue was now in the court system and it would not be appropriate for him to comment on what had happened. He said that he did not believe that it would hinder his position as education minister, even though Cayman is approaching graduation season when it is customary for the minister to appear at the ceremonies and offer inspiration and leadership to the country’s young graduates when he makes his addresses to the students.

Anglin was involved in a single vehicle smash on the West Bay Road in the early hours of Wednesday 23 May, though no one was hurt when the car ran into a ditch near to the Avalon apartment complex. After being charged with Driving Under the Influence, Anglin was released on police bail.

Details of how much the minister was over the limit have not been released but the Cayman Islands already has one of the more generous legal limits in the world at 100 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, compared to 80 milligrams in the UK, the US and Jamaica, while it is 50 across the rest of Europe and in Canada.

Police have been attempting to clamp down on what they described as an endemic problem. At the end of last year, during the seasonal road safety campaign, operation Christmas Cracker, senior police officers said they were outraged at the number of people who ignore the drink-driving laws

“Forty-four people who thought that the traffic law did not apply to them are facing court in the New Year,” said Chief inspector Angelique Howell at the end of December. “The figure is deplorable and a sad indictment on the behaviour of drivers in the Cayman Islands.”

She described drunk drivers as selfish and irresponsible people who continue to put their own lives and the lives of other road users at risk.