West Bay man convicted of street robbery

(CNS): A 25-year-old West Bay man was found guilty by a panel of jurors last week on charges of robbery. Chaz Leo Powery was sentenced to four years in jail for his part in a crime which he had never denied. Powery admitted that he attacked two fellow West Bay residents near to the Alfresco's Restaurant on Town Hall Road last December and robbed them of a backpack containing $350. His defence was that he had committed the robbery because someone threatened his life and those of his family. However, the prosecution successfully convinced the four men and three women selected as jurors for the trial that Powery acted on his own initiative, leading them to return a guilty verdict.

Despite the best efforts of Powery's defence attorney, John Furniss, the evidence against him was reliable enough to convince the jury that his account was false. Powery had claimed that he was approached by a person who forced him to rob the couple walking on the side of the road in West Bay in the early morning hours.

Phillip Messner and his girlfriend, Essen Atally, had been living in the Cayman Islands for a few years and were walking along the road to Messner's home at Calypso Cove when they were verbally intimidated by someone parked on the side of the road. Atally advised Messner to just ignore them and keep walking.

Unfortunately, when their journey was about to end, Powery grabbed Atally from behind and placed a knife to her throat and they fell over the wall which separates the beach from the main road by the beach side of the local restaurant. Atally began to shout to her boyfriend to contact the police, which caused Powery to get off his victim. He then hopped back over the wall only to strike Messner twice in his face. The blows caused Messner to drop his phone and the bag that he had been carrying, which allowed Powery to take his valuables with ease.

During cross examination, Messner explained, “I felt very afraid and helpless because she was in danger." 

The jury heard that Messner told Atally to run away and she stated that she ran along the beach in fear for approximately two minutes before returning to the road side and approached the scene with extreme caution. A passing cyclist saw Messner's bloodied face and his terrified girlfriend and was helpful enough to call the police. The couple said that the police responded to the incident almost immediately and assisted them to the best of their ability.