Archive for April, 2014
LIME and cops issue warnings over latest scam
(CNS): A local telecommunication provider and the police issued a warning Wednesday over the latest on-line email scam circulating to customers who have registered with the LIME online portal. LIME officials said that the phishing email appears to be addressed from the LIME Web Portal telling customers they have an unread secured message and asking them to ‘please click here to login and view’but the telecoms operator says it’s a con. Inspector Ian Lavine of the Financial Crime Unit also warned people not to send any details in response to unsolicited email
“The RCIPS Financial Crime Unit does not recommend sending any personal details via email,” he said.”The Unit is always available to give advice should any member of the community require it. Officers can be contacted on 949-8797.”
Phishing emails attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity. Phishing emails normally contain links to websites that are infected with malware.
Julie Hutton, Head of Marketing, LIME Cayman Islands said there are several things that customers can do to keep themselves safe from keeping antivirus programmes up to date to not clicking on hyperlinks in e-mails.
“If you want to check out a link, manually retype it into a web browser,” Hutton said. “Whenever you are passing sensitive information such as credit cards or bank information, make sure the address bar shows https:// rather than just http:// and that you have a secure lock icon on the bottom right hand corner of your web browser.”
Hutton advised customers to educate themselves on how to prevent these types of attacks.
“A little research on the internet may save you a great deal of pain if you are ever the victim. You should always be careful about giving out any of your personal information over the internet. As a reminder LIME will never ask you for your username and password,” she added.
Sentence sticks for white collar thief
(CNS): A 57-year-old South African national who stole over US$846,000 from a local legal firm will continuing serving his seven and a half year sentence after the court of appeal dismissed his appeal on Wednesday. Levitt had argued that his sentence was manifestly excessive but the panel of three judges disagreed when they upheld the sentence and stated that their reasons would be delivered in writing shortly. Levitt had admitted seven counts of theft and related crimes in connection with more than 80 fraudulent transactions from the accounts of Solomon Harris, where he was employed as the financial controller.
3rd Malaysian con man jailed for 16 months
(CNS): A 37-year-old man from Malaysia who pleaded guilty in to a credit card con in a George Town jewellery store was sentenced to 16 months in jail Wednesday. Tan Teck Kuan was the third man to be convicted in what prosecutors believe was an organized criminal enterprise using cloned credit cards. Kuan who was arrested along with Hew Senn Wann and Thanabalan Manogar after he was caught trying to buy expensive watches worth over $70,000 with a fraudulent card. It is suspected that the men were sent to Cayman to try and buy expensive luxury goods with the cloned cards by loan sharks in their own countries.
Retrial ordered in sex case
(CNS): The conviction against a man from Cayman Brac accused of raping his step daughter has been quashed by the court of appeal. Following submissions earlier in the appeal court session regarding new evidence which had come to light since the trial the panel agreed with the man's defense attorney that the new witness statement could have had an impact on the outcome so much so that the conviction was unsafe. After the president of the appeal panel directed a retrial in the case the defendant who had been serving a nine and half year sentence and who cannot be named for legal reasons was remanded in custody but was later released on bail.
The appeal court frond that the new evidence in this case would have been both admissible and credible. "If the evidence….had been given at the trial of the appellant it might reasonably have affected the decision of the jury to convict on each of the counts and we must therefore regard the convictions as being unsafe," Justice Elliott Mottley said as he read from the appeal court's decision over turning the verdict.
Asking defense attorney for the crown Trisha Hutchisonand for the defendant Amelia Fosuhene of James Stenning and Associates their position on a retrial the prosecution submitted that the evidence may have had an impact but the conversation related by the new witness was said to have taken place almost three years after the offence. Hutchinson said the crown was seeking a retrial, but Fosuhene said she had concerns regarding witnesses, her client's health and above all the prejudice to him as a result of his identification on a Facebook page.
The attorney pointed to her client's picture and exposure on the controversial social media page which is hosted by a US resident but which details convicted sex offenders in Cayman and said he would not be able to have a fair trial.
The appeal court noted that now the man was no longer convicted that his details would have to be removed from the page but questions of prejudice, the court said, over a fair trial would have to be dealt with by a future trial judge as it ordered, in the interests of justice, a new trial.
The 39 year old defendant was convicted of rape and indecent assault in July last year and was sentenced to nine and a half years in jail in August. The conviction was related to allegations that he had raped his then 12 year old step daughter on one occasion and forced her to have oral sex with him on another. He was also accused of threatening her into silence about the assaults.
The case will now be re listed for a mention and a new trial date listed but the defense team is expected to argue in the grand court that the defendant, following the social media exposure, will be unable to receive a fair trial.
AG’s lawyers moonlighting
(CNS): A freedom of information request regarding the secondary employment of civil servants has revealed that even government lawyers are engaged in work outside of their public service duties. According to the partial results of an FOI request by a CNS reader seeking the numbers of civil servants currently moonlighting and the types of jobs they do has revealed that four people working in the Attorney General’s Chambers have outside work, including practicing law. Although the request has not revealed the civil service posts held by the public employees in the government top lawyer's office with second jobs and businesses the response reveals that at least one must be a practicing government attorney.
Although the request is seeking a much bigger picture regarding the controversial topic of civil servants who run businesses and hold second jobs, the results from the attorney general alone show that four people in that department have been given permission to engage in other work and private businesses that could bring them into conflict with the job they are paid to do by the public purse.
One staff member of the Chambers is understood to have set up an auto-mechanic shop and another is running a security company. A third is believed to have created a legal database, the details of which were not revealed but it clearly has the potential to cause a conflict. Lastly, the one which may now raise significant questions, is that a government lawyer has been given permission to practice law privately as well.
The results shown to CNS are likely to be the tip of the iceberg as the full request is seeking answers from all government departments on the numbers and types of work civil servants are undertaking, theoretically out of hours. It also demonstrates that revelations of more details are likely to expose conflicts once civil servants are required to comply with the new standards in public life legislation showing their outside interests.
It is still not clear when the law will be implemented but expectations had been that politicians and senior government workers will be required to complete the new register by 30 June this year.
But so far the much heralded law has not been implemented, and despite claims by government that it is imminent, no date has been given for the legislative change which could shine the brightest light to date on the long held concerns in the community that many public sector workers are in serious conflict as a result of their moonlighting.
New cop becomes Caymanian
(CNS): Young people who have grown up in the Cayman Islands and call it home but have no rights as citizens may in the future be provided with a way to gain those rights. During the final stage in the granting of Caymanian Status by Cabinet to 23-year-old Kishna Burke – the ratification by the Legislative Assembly – Premier Alden McLaughlin noted that there were many others who, like her, had lived in Cayman almost all their lives but would not, as a young person, be likely to gain permanent residency, and said government would consider a route for them other than a Cabinet status grant. Burke, a successful candidate in the recent recruitment drive by the RCIPS, made her application in March 2011.
A maximum of four people per year can become Caymanians through Cabinet, a provision made by the previous PPM government in the wake of the mass status grants of 2003 under the UDP administration.
Under the current process, people can apply to the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board, which makes recommendations to Cabinet. If the members of Cabinet agree with the recommendations, the status grant must then be put to the Legislative Assembly for approval.
In September 2012 businessmen Harry Chandi and William Maines were the first to become Caymanian this way after a majority vote in favour and only North Side MLA Ezzard Miller voting against the grant. “No one should be granted Caymanians status just because they are rich,” Miller said at the time, adding that he wanted to see these special grants given to really deserving people for exceptional reasons.
With the opposition bench empty as Burke’s status grant passed through the House last Friday afternoon, there was no debate and only the premier spoke.
He explained that she has lived in this country since the age of five and does not know the place of her birth, Jamaica, or have any family there. Although her father, a Jamaican national, obtained status through the normal immigration process, Burke’s family did not apply to have that status extended to her. So, when she turned 18 she found that she did not qualify for Caymanian status and faced the prospect of being sent back to Jamaica.
In March 2011, with little chance of gaining permanent residency, she was advised to apply to Cabinet for the right to be Caymanian, McLaughlin said. He noted that Burke, now a trainee officer in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, has proved an outstanding member of the community and deserved the right to be Caymanian.
Premier McLaughlin said that other young people in a similar situation might not know they can apply for Cabinet status, and even if they did, four status grants per year would not be enough. Without going into details, he suggested that government would consider other ways to provide for such cases without a grant of Cabinet status.
Locals hold 28% of current Health City jobs
(CNS Business) As the new Shetty hospital in East End gets down to the business of healthcare, officials have said that the facility opened its doors with a workforce that exceeded the local employment target of 25%. Shomari Scott told CNS Business that 28% of the jobs at Health City Cayman Islands (HCCI) have gone to Caymanians and that rate is expected to increase. Slightly at odds with figures revealed in an FOI request response, which was forwarded to CNS Business, Scott said 40 of the 138 employees are Caymanian, which is better than expected. According to the documents from immigration, the hospital has been granted 165 permits, 151 of which were for Indian nationals, but Scott confirmed some were short term posts related to equipment installation and those workers have since lieft. Read more on CNS Business
Barralga jailed for 6 years
(CNS) Full report: The woman who killed her lover in a domestic fight at the couple's home in Little Cayman has been sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to be deported once she is released. Justice Charles Quin said Elsey Calderon De Ortega Barralga (29) had faced a substantial degree of provocation when she stabbed Perry Stephen McLaughlin (54) (left) and fled the scene to a neighbour's house last November. Following the sentencing guidelines, the judge said he was comfortable, given the circumstances, starting at eight years and gave her a 25% discount for her guilty plea. Describing the argument that led to Mclaughlin's death as trivial, he said that had he not swept the knives to the ground in a loss of temper, the tragic incident may never have happened.
As the judge delivered his verdict, Barralga never once lifted her head and wept quietly.
Justice Quin said the couple enjoyed a loving and happy relationship in which they clearly cared for each other and were happy together earlier that night. But five hours after going out together Perry McLaughlin was dead in a sad and tragic event that should never have happened. Pointing to the ingredients that lead to the killing, he said a combination of a trivial argument, alcohol, a short temper, knives and a loss of self-control ended in a tragic violent disagreement.
Justice Quin said it was all but impossible to identify with precision the exact moment in time when Barralga stopped acting in self-defence but both sides had agreed that when she inflicted the fatal wound McLaughlin was not armed.
The local businessman, who was well-known in Little Cayman, was stabbed seven times but just one of the wounds to his chest was considered fatal. In a long sentencing judgement delivered on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Quin said he had struggled with the differing positions regarding the level of provocation in this case.
The couple had enjoyed a good relationship but on that fateful night they went out for a social evening at some of the island's restaurants and bars but ended up in a huge fight at their home when the evening was over, fuelled by a petty squabble.
It was accepted by the crown that Barralga had used the knife in the first instance in self-defence, as she had clearly been assaulted by McLaughlin. But at some point she went too far and inflicted a fatal stab wound before she ran through broken glass to escape the house and what she believed was her still angry lover. However, she had inflicted a wound so severe the pathologist had said that McLaughlin would have been dead within a minute or so of receiving it.
Explaining his sentence in accordance with the sentencing guidelines and the findings of the Court of Appeal, the judge said the starting point was eight years, and despite aggravating and mitigating factors claimed by the crown and the defence, the judge said he saw no good reason to move from that point, before he reduced the jail term in response to Barralga’s guilty plea down to six years and made an order of deportation to her native Honduras following release.
Bermudian seeks JA ganja oil for cancer patients
(CNS): With the increasing acceptance that cannabis does have a positive impact on the treatment of cancer, an activist in Bermuda is openly seeking an export license to buy medicinal ganja oil from Jamaica to treat as many as 300 cancer patients in that country. With a significant shift around the world regarding the massive potential of the drug as a much better and safer treatment for many illnesses than pharmaceuticals, with their numerous side effects and long term toxic build up, activist Alan Gordon wants to export some five gallons of medical ganja oil from Jamaica for patients on his home island all above board.
Gordon has written an open letter to the Jamaican well-being minister which was copied to The Gleaner, in which he points out that the Bermudan government has previously approved import permits on a per-patient basis, but it was experiencing trouble with availability, price and quality from other exporters, that Gordon believes Jamaica could alleviate.
Pointing to the growing numbers of ‘medical tourists’ that head quietly to Jamaica for illicit cancer treatments with cannabis oil, because of its efficacy he is asking for the export to be legally sanctioned in Jamaica which is currently toying with changing legislation to facilitate a medical trade.
“I know people are already coming to Jamaica to treat cancer and other serious ailments with cannabis oil, under the table, and more will be coming soon,” he wrote adding that some people are too sick to travel but would be willing to pay for Rastafarian grown and processed organic cannabis oil. “I believe this could be the best product of its kind in the world,” Gordon stated.
Here in Cayman, local architect Burns Connolly continues the campaign to have the public and the authorities begin engaging in the debate about ganja. While Caymanians are talking about the issue and many now in favour of legalizing the drug for medical and recreational use, the government has stuck its head in the proverbial sand and refused to even engage Connolly in discussion.
See full letter below
Radio/Telethon raises $127k for charity
(CNS): The National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has confirmed that it has receieved almost all of the donations pledged at last year’s annual fundraiser, the NCVO Radio/Telethon. The charity has collected CI$127,298.00 so far out of pledges totaling CI$128,000 at the event. Janice Wilson, CEO of the NCVO, stated, “We are very grateful to all of those companies and individuals who have honoured their pledges, every year we strive to collect as much as possible and we are generally very successful in receiving almost all the amounts pledged.” (Left: Chuck and Barrie Quappe at the 2013 NCVO RadioTelethon)
This year’s fundraiser will take place at the Prospect Playhouse on Saturday 25 October. For more information about this event or to make a donation to the NCVO, contact Janice Wilson at 949-2124 or ncvo@ncvo.org.ky.
The NCVO is a non-profit, charitable organisation that is dedicated to the care, education and well-being of children and families in need of support in the Cayman Islands.
Money raised from the annual Radio/Telethon goes exclusively to the following NCVO programmes:
The Nadine Andreas Residential Foster Home
“Miss Nadine’s” Pre-School
Jack & Jill Nursery
The Caring Cousins Welfare Fund
The John Gray Fund
Visit the NCVO website for more information about the NCVO.