Robber jailed for 3 years for bakery hold-up

| 26/09/2013

(CNS): A young man was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for his part in a robbery with a flare gun at the Caribbean Bakery in West Bay more than three years ago. Derrick Simpson Jr sat in the prisoner's dock alone, since his alleged co-conspirator, Dan Kelly, had jumped bail before a schedule trial earlier this year. Simpson had initially denied committing the robbery but eventually entered guilty pleas in August of this year. Despite Simpson's immaturity and what was said to be a more minor involvement in the crime, visiting judge, Justice Alastair Malcolm said that it was his duty to protect small shopkeepers from this type of crime.

Simpson was only 17at the time of the robbery, which took place on a rainy day in September 2010, while his alleged co-conspirator, Kelly, was just 21. The two young men were said to have held up the bakery with a flare gun and made off with $400 from the shop’s cash register. Kelly was reportedly captured on the CCTV footage holding the flare gun while he told the female cashier to open the till, and Simpson was seen placing the cash in a bag before fleeing by foot through the bushes, the court heard.

Defense counsel Guy Dillaway-Parry submitted to the judge that there were many mitigating features in the case. He pointed out the tender age of his client at the time of the offence and the obvious influence of an older and more "criminally sophisticated" person. He said that Simpson contributed almost nothing to the unorganized hold-up that day.

The judge accepted that the young man had acted out of his normal character and played a lesser role in the robbery than Kelly but he pointed out that the crime was more frightening for the employee who was the victim as there were two robbers.

Handing down his sentence, the judge said he understood the reason for Simpson's late guilty plea because he did not want to stand trial alone when he had not committed the robbery by himself. Despite this being Simpson’s first serious offence, the judge ordered a three year custodial sentence to the now 20-year-old offender.

The court heard that Kelly was recently located in the United Kingdom and efforts are currently being made by officials to extradite him back to the Cayman Islands as soon as possible so he can also answer for his alleged part in the bakery stick-up.

Related article on CNS:

Robbery suspect jumps bail

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Relax.   It was only $400 and they didnt have a real gun.   This is more just teenage mischief than a crime.   There is no reason to put them in prison and have taxpayers buy them food and clothing for 3 years.  Come on people, wake up.   He should be freed, and maybe the shop owner can give him a job and mentor him.  That way its a win for him and a win for society.  

    • Anonymous says:

      Sarcasm and irony at its best!

    • Anonymous says:

      Pardon me, but there is a universe-wide difference between "teenage mischief" and entering a business armed with a gun (it doesn't matter if it was real or not, obviously) and demanding money (the amount is irrelevant, again obviously).This is what is called a crime. You are the one who needs to wake up!

    • Cheese Face says:

      A win for society would be people like you being wiped from the face of the earth. You are a brain dead fool.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Why does it take 3 long years to bring an accused to trial in such a small community? By the time some of these people are tried half a decade has gone by since the alleged offence. Witnesses have forgotten what they saw, or left the island. Defendants have often skipped bail. Lawyers have retired or moved on.  Not to mention the risk that someone who is convicted might have been at large for years and years after the crime or, worse, someone who is acquitted might have already been locked up on remand for years and years.

    The situation with McKeeva Bush is a prime example.  The man is not only still free, he is the leader of the opposition and representing Cayman all over the world with a huge cloud over his integrity and credibility.  Either he's guilty in which case he needs to be removed from office pronto or he's innocent in which case we need to clear his name and let him get on with his work. The public interest requires that he be tried asap, but by the time he is tried literally a decade will have passed since the Stan Thomas affair.

    This is completely unacceptable.

  3. Messenjah says:

    Foreign judge= no parity in sentencing= lock-up= criminal education= another Youth life wasted!

    • Anonymous says:

      How strange, cannot see anything equalling anything here. Lets start with the basics 10.31. 1+1= ?

    • Anonymous says:

      A youth is caught trying to commit a robbery…….and you blame foreign judges for his punishment…? Get real, if the robber had been a foreigner you'd be yelling blue murder.

      Let our youth learn some consequences for their actions.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Dear Judge Malcolm,

    Please take a lesson from Judge Quinn and Ch. Justice Smellie.  They don't skin up with persons who perpetrate violence.  Three years is a slap on the wrist.  How will that serve as a deterrent?  In two years he will be back out doing the same thing again.  If you are going to protect soiciety like you say you are, then hand down some meaningful sentences.

  5. Anonymous says:

    3 years? My God, it should have been 13 years, with hard labour. My scheme would entail prisoners working their sentence off. So each day worked would be a day off of their sentence. It'd make jail a place to avoid, for sure.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Three years? Another example of how our Justices are all over the place with sentencing.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Deportation Order?

  8. Anonymous says:

    "Justice Alastair Malcolm said that it was his duty to protect small shopkeepers from this type of crime"

    Sir, with utmost respect, I would think that you should also protect ALL storeowners, large or small, home owners and all citizens, from this type of crime.
    I have been a victim of multiple burglaries at my store and I welcome stiffer sentences for these criminals, regardless of their age.