Archive for July, 2013
Cop chopper medevacs North Side patient
(CNS): An elderly patient was taken to the Cayman Islands hospital Wednesday, 10 July, via the police helicopter when the medical emergency called the cop chopper into action. The 81-year-old man was suffering from chest and back pains this morning when the Fire Service emergency medical responder arrived at his home around 10:40am. The EMR determined that he needed to get to hospital for further assessment but the North Side ambulance was engaged with another medical call. In order to ensure the sick man received medical attention quickly as possible, 911 dispatched the police helicopter with an HSA paramedic and the RCIPS emergency medical responder trained crew, configured as an Air Ambulance.
The fire service assisted in blocking off roads in the area to allow the helicopter to land at the entrance to Hutland Drive. The patient was then flown to Owen Roberts International Airport where he was picked up by a waiting ambulance and transported to the Cayman Islands Hospital.
This latest medevac follows one which took place on Tuesday, 2 July, when a 62-year-old man was transported from Little Cayman to Grand Cayman.The patient had been suffering from a suspected heart complaint and was medevaced along with a paramedic by the RCIPS Air Operations Unit as no other air ambulance options were available.
Despite the criticisms,the RCIPS has received regarding the helicopter and the complaints of its cost, Steve Fitzgerald, the officer in charge of the RCIPS Air Operations Unit, explained how important the unit has become now that it can function as an air ambulance as well as fighting crime.
“The versatility and speed of response of the helicopter and the training of our crews, together with our partnerships with the HSA and other agencies, ensure that we are continuing to maximize the potential for the benefit of the people of the Cayman Islands, residents and visitors alike,” he added.
Lawyers get on their bikes for charity
(Walkers): Cyclists from a combined team of Intertrust and Walkers staff recently endured the challenge of riding a 100 miles through the an annual fundraising initiative coordinated by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to assist in efforts to defeat leukaemia and blood cancers. The ride, which featured a series of demanding peaks at high altitude around Lake Tahoe, took place on Saturday 2 June, 2013. This was the fifth consecutive year that a team from Walkers had competed in 'America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride'. With Intertrust's recent acquisition of Walkers Management Services, a joint 'Team Intertrust-Walkers' signed up for this year's ride.
Representing Walkers were: team captain Peter Slocock, Wade Tamasa, Rowena Lawrence and Ramesh Maharaj. From Intertrust were Nancy Lewis, Lesley Connolly, Elenie Falconer-Cloutier, Angelica Thijssen, Warren Keens, Jan Willem van Drimmelen, Jon Herrick and Neil Gray.
The riders enjoyed perfect conditions for the event, with experienced cyclist Rowena Lawrence leading the way for Team Intertrust Walkers and crossing the finish line after less than seven hours, which was a team record.
Staff at both Intertrust and Walkers in Cayman got heavily behind their team and helped to raise over US$57,000 for the cause. Staff contributed in a variety of ways from direct donations, special dress down days, office raffles and attended a fundraising quiz night.
"I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who helped make this event such a success, from the team members who devoted so much time and effort to fundraising and training, to our friends and colleagues who helped us exceed our target by seeking donations, donating prizes, and selling raffle tickets," said Peter Slocock, Technology Director at Walkers. "Our colleagues at Walkers and Intertrust have shown incredible generosity and what we all have achieved together will really make a difference."
“The generosity of our employees and business partners for this cause was truly overwhelming,” said Nancy Lewis, Chief Operating Officer of Intertrust. “The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society continues to do an outstanding job of providing support to persons throughout the Americas affected by these illnesses and we’re delighted that our efforts can help the organisation continue to help others.”
Team Intertrust/Walkers would also like to thank all the corporate sponsors that have supported them in this venture, especially the 'Gold Sponsors' whose significant generosity helped the team reach the target that much faster: Alphasoft, Rotary Club of Grand Cayman, Digicel, Stepping Stones, Inova Solutions and Workplace Environments.
PWC to cut jobs across Caribbean
(CNS Business): PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said Wednesday that it is transforming its regional offices to bring together a strong Caribbean network but has admitted that this will see a reduction in the headcount across the region. In a press release from the Cayman office, officials from the firm said that job cuts in Cayman would be minimal but indicated that there would be job losses in the Caribbean. “Our steps are about strengthening our network to the benefit of our clients, and to preserve the long-term viability of our business. Regrettably, a small proportion of our fine, hard-working people will depart as a result of this process,” said Frazer Lindsay, Cayman Islands Territory Senior Partner. Read more and comment on CNS Business
Tourism minister heads to Miami for cruise line meet
(CNS): The deputy premier and the PPM’s tourism councillor are headed for Miami to meet with cruise stakeholders for talks on Cayman’s port development. In the wake of the numerous controversies surrounding the proposed cruise berthing development in George Town during the UDP administration, DP Moses Kirkconnell, who is the new tourism minister, has picked up the process which was placed back on track by the interim PNA minister Cline Glidden. With the new government having presided over the selection of PricewaterhousCoopers to prepare the business plan, following a competitive bid, the deputy premier said government needed to maintain the momentum with the cruise lines.
Kirkconnell is set to meet with FCCA officials and cruise line executives in Miami to continue talks. He will be accompanied by government back-bencher Joey Hew, who is working as a tourism councillor, and Chief Officer Stran Bodden, who has been overseeing the return to a proper procurement process after some four years of failed talks with three different developers.
The new tourism minister is expected to meet with representatives from Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise lines, the three main companies cruising the Caribbean, for intensive discussions on the way forward regarding the cruise berthing project and to encourage the cruise lines to keep Cayman on the schedules until the project is complete, according to a release from the ministry Wednesday,
“The Cayman Islands is still a highly sought after destination by cruise passengers but our lack of facilities and inability to provide a top-quality and seamless disembarkation experience continues to place us at serious disadvantage with the cruise lines,” said Kirkconnell, adding that, as a consequence, cruise officials were increasingly excluding the Cayman Islands from their schedules.
“We have known for several years that existing infrastructure is grossly inadequate to service the changing needs of the industry and having a clear understanding of these important stakeholders’ views is vitally important,” he said. “While this government takes the appropriate steps which will lead to the construction of the piers, I am hopeful that discussions with the key players will lead to the identification and agreement of strategies which will increase the quota of passengers to the Cayman Islands in the short to medium term,” the minister added.
The latest statistics from the tourism department confirm that cruise arrival numbers are falling to record lows. Just over 76,000 people came to the Cayman Islands via cruise ship this May, one of the lowest ever monthly figures since records began.
However, the prospect of cruise berthing facilities was given a boost earlier this month when government signed the financial services consultancy contract with PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) on 2 July, following a transparent bidding process. Following that important step forward, the deputy premier said meetings with the FCCA would also serve as the precursor to PwC subsequently meeting with the individual cruise lines to ascertain the specific needs and requirements of this important stakeholder group.
Critical to the growth and sustainability of the cruise industry, the piers are also expected to deliver significant commercial benefits, including employment opportunities and increased economic activity derived from higher visitor numbers.
“With cruise lines typically formalising their itinerary schedules up to two years in advance, it is imperative that plans move ahead swiftly so that our Islands can be included in the schedules for 2015,” Kirkconnell said.
Eleven official public holidays confirmed for 2014
(CNS): With no elections, referendums or extra royal events expected, Cayman will enjoy the normal eleven official holidays next year. Workers can look forward to New Year’s Day on Wednesday 1 January but they will be back on the job the next day, with Thursday 2 January a normal working day. The next break isn’t too far away, however, as on Monday 27 January Cayman celebrates its National Heroes Day. Ash Wednesday will be on 5 March and the Easter break will be late next year, with Good Friday falling on 18 April followed by Easter Monday on 21 April. The next break will be on 19 May, when Cayman celebrates Discovery Day, and the Queen’s Birthday holiday is expected to be some four weeks later on Monday 16 June.
Constitution Day takes place as always on Monday 7 July, but then workers have to wait for their next official long weekend until November, when the islands marks Remembrance Day on Monday 10 November. Finally, in December Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a Thursday and Friday next year, transitioning into a long festive weekend.
See public holiday schedule below.
Man suffers violent robbery
(CNS): A man is recovering in hospital after being stabbed during a violent robbery as he attempted to enter his home in the early hours of this morning. Police have confirmed that the victim was mugged as he was opening the door of his condo in Raleigh Quay at about 1:30am Wednesday. The robbers appear to have suddenly jumped the victim from behind, hit him over the head and, in an act of worrying violence, stabbed the man in his abdomen before grabbing his iPhone and running along Raleigh Quay towards the new Esterley Tibbetts bypass. The 34-year-old victim was taken to the hospital by the emergency services, where he remains in what is described as a stable condition.
Police said that detectives are currently interviewing the man and so far they have acquired a brief description of just one of the suspects. The robber is described as being between 5ft 8-inches and 6ft in height, with a dark brown complexion. His hair was cut short and is said to be ‘close to his scalp’ but there is no description yet for the second suspect.
The RCIPS is asking for anyone who was in the area at the relevant time and saw the attack, or the men before or after the incident, to contact West Bay police station on 949-3999, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777, or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS)
Dart reveals hotel and condo plans to WSJ
(CNS Business): In the face of mounting speculation about the Dart Group's plans for the projects under the ForCayman Investment Alliance (FCIA), the islands’ largest developer remains silent at home but has been speaking to The Wall Street Journal. CNS submitted questions some five weeks ago asking about plans for the site, the prospective ten-storey hotel and speculation about an additional ten-storey condo development on the former Courtyard Marriott plot but the developer has failed to answer any of them. However, in an interview with the US-based paper, Jackie Doak revealed that Dart plans to start construction in September on the boutique hotel, which will be operated by Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, as well as 56 condominiums and beach bungalows, which will be for sale. Read more and comment on CNS Business.
PAC conflict ahead for Mac
(CNS): The chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has acknowledged that former premier McKeeva Bush, who is a member, may be conflicted in relation to some of the reports by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) that will be coming before the parliamentary committee in the coming weeks. Roy McTaggart said he would be holding a meeting with PAC members and OAG staff on Thursday, ahead of the open sessions, to decide on witnesses to be called over the latest, as well as outstanding, reports. Since Bush is directly implicated in some of the reports, he may need to recuse himself, and this would be one of the points of discussion at this week’s closed door meeting.
“It is an issue,” McTaggart told CNS Tuesday, as he referred to the mention of the former premier in some of the reports and the allegations of political interference in connection with several OAG reports. “It may be appropriate for him to consider the conflict and it is something we will discuss.”
McTaggart said it was a unique situation to have a former premier on PAC and he would be looking for some form of precedent or guidance across the Commonwealth in countries that have the same system and how they have dealt with members of PAC who are implicated in reports or conflicted by their findings.
Thenew chair said that in addition to the latest reports from the auditor’s office, which were released last month, the committee needed to call witnesses in relation to last year’s reports on financial accountability as well as the report conducted by Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick on the management of major capital projects.
In addition, the committee has still not completed its report on its findings in relation to the controversial allegations over the paving of private property using government resources on Cayman Brac.
In the latest reports on the air ambulance, statutory authorities and Swarbrick’s review of the entire Public Management and Finance Law (PMFL), the issue of political interference under the UDP administration was noted, and in one of the reports the premier is also cited directly as interfering with the ground handling service license at the airport, which has had an impact on air ambulance services.
Not only that, the former premier has publicly called out the auditor general as one of the many people he believes has conspired against him to undermine his political future. Bush has pulled no punches when it comes to making it clear how he feels about Swarbrick, which could make for uncomfortable working conditions now that Bush is a member of the legislative committee tasked with scrutinising the findings of Swarbrick and his team.
McTaggart said he would be seeking some advice on how to handle the reports where the former premier is directly involved and he hoped to be setting a date to call witnesses for all of the outstanding reports before the end of the summer.
The OAG has also published its proposed three year performance audit plan, and Swarbrick is asking the legislators and members of the public to provide input. In a release from his office Thursday, he said the plan would be finalized after a consultation process, which will give members of the Legislative Assembly as well as the man in the street an idea of what the office hopes to report on over the next three years and provide a roadmap for itswork
Swarbrick said he had carried out the same consultation process in 2011 and found it to be a very useful way to get the information he needed to prepare the plan.
“I believe the public is in an excellent position to provide input into our plan,” said Swarbrick. “Their perspective on how well government programmes are run is important and I welcome the public's comments.”
The consultation document identifies a number of potential audit topics that the auditor general will cover by conducting performance audits. He said that once it is finalized, the plan could still change from time to time depending on future events and consideration of requests for audit work to be conducted by government officials or the Public Accounts Committee. The final say, however, about what audits are conducted by the OAG rests directly with the auditor general himself.
The consultation will run until 31 August 2013 and feedback can be provided by either emailing auditorgeneral@oag.gov.ky or writing to the Auditor General at PO Box 2583, Grand Cayman KY1-1103, CAYMAN ISLANDS. The paper is available in PDF format at www.auditorgeneral.gov.ky and posted below.
More information can be obtained by contacting Martin Ruben at the OAG at (345)244-3206.
Human Rights court rules against life imprisonment
(Daily Mail): Justice Secretary Chris Grayling today launched a furious attack on European judges who ruled Britain's most notorious murderers could not be told to die in jail because it breaches their human rights. The Tory minister said the original authors of the Human Rights Convention 'would be turning in their graves' at the ruling which means dozens of killers could launch bids for freedom. Judges in Strasbourg ruled locking up murderers without any prospect of being released was unlawful. The extraordinary legal challenge was brought by murderer Jeremy Bamber and two other killers, Douglas Vinter and Peter Moore, who claim that condemning them to spend the rest of their lives behind bars without a review is cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Mandatory remand HR test
(CNS): The legal team representing Brian Borden, who is accused of killing Robert Mackford Bush in September 2011 in a West Bay gang-related shooting, are testing the legality of their client’s continued remand in jail before his trial in accordance with the mandatory provision in the law, which they believe contradicts the bill of rights. A petition in the Grand Court filed by the local firm last month is not only seeking the release of their client on bail until the trial but also a decision from the court that the current bail law is incompatible with the country’s bill ofrights. If successful, the decision could see the mandatory remand of all murder suspects overturned.
Borden (27) will not go to trial until January next year as a result of various legal issues concerning the case, which caused the matter to be persistently delayed. This means that by the time of the trial, if he is not released, the West Bay man will have been imprisoned without trial for more than 18 months because, despite the presumption of innocence, Cayman law mandates that anyone charge with murder must be placed on remand until trial.
According to a petition filed in the Grand Court by Priestleys, the firm representing Borden, who has been in jail since his arrest in August 2012, the defendant was refused bail because the current law states that a person accused of murder is not entitled to it.
However, the lawyers point to the Bill of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities, which stipulates in Article 5 that no one shall be deprived by government of liberty and anyone who is arrested or detained on suspicion of a criminal offence and who is not released “shall be brought promptly before a court”, and if any person detained is not tried within a reasonable time he shall be released.
With Borden now set to serve one year and five months on remand unless he is given bail, the lawyers pressed the human rights case in the petition, submitting that section 17(2) of the Bail Law is incompatible with the Petitioner's Right to Liberty, as enshrined by Article 5(5) of the Bill of Rights.
The petition states that the mandatory remand of Borden “unlawfully interferes with the presumption of innocence by repealing the entitlement to judicial consideration of the grant of bail,” and is inconsistent with the jurisprudence on the European Convention. They also note that the current imprisonment of their client goes against the right that is at the heart of all political systems that purport to abide by the rule of law and protect individuals against arbitrary detention because he has never had a proper bail hearing.
The lawyers claim that the current law presents an arbitrary ground for refusing admittance to bail where the European Court of Human Rights has clearly recognised only five grounds for refusing bail.
These include: the risk of the defendant absconding; the risk of the defendant interfering with the course of justice; preventing crime; preserving public order; and the necessity of detention to protect the defendant.
The lawyers also argue that Borden’s detention is in breach and in violation of his Right to Liberty as enshrined by Article 5(5) of the Bill of Rights as it continues under a law which is incompatible with those rights.
Seeking a declaration that the bail law is incompatible with Article 23 and 5(5) of the Bill of Rights, the defence lawyers ask the court to find that the detention of Borden is unlawful and in violation of his Constitutional Right and that “his right to liberty cannot abrogated arbitrarily and must be subject to judicial discretion”.
The goal for the legal team is to have Borden’s bail hearing be considered on the merits of the evidence against their client, the circumstances of the case and his likelihood of jumping bail and not based on an arbitrary rule which applies to all cases without consideration of the circumstances of the case but merely based on the charges alleged.
Borden is accused of being one of two masked men who opened fire on 28-year-old Robert Mackford Bush as he sat in a car at the junction of Capt. Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill Road on 13 September 2011. Borden was one of several men arrested in the wake of the five gang-related shootings which took place over a period of around ten days that month but he was released soon after. However, he was arrested again based on new evidence almost one year later.
Although earlier trial dates were set as a result of issues, whichare understood to relate to the crown’s case, the trial has been postponed on a number of occasions.