Archive for October, 2014

Armed robbery suspect arrested in GT

Armed robbery suspect arrested in GT

| 21/10/2014 | 0 Comments

(CNS): Police have arrested one man in connection with an armed robbery which occurred at a West Bay Road restaurant last week. An RCIPS spokesperson said that a 34 year old male from George Town was taken into custody by officers at 8:45pm on Monday evening (20 October) for questioning over the stick-up at Coconut Joe’s bar and restaurant last Thursday, in which money was stolen from both the restaurant and customers after two masked robbers threatened staff and patrons with a hand gun.

The police said the suspect remains in custody as detectives from the GTPS – CID continue with their enquiries and seek the second culprit in at least one of a list of recent armed robberies.

Anyone with information is asked to contact George Town CID on 949-4222, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers on 800 8477(TIPS).
 

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$1Billion unaccounted for

$1Billion unaccounted for

| 21/10/2014 | 101 Comments

(CNS): Two ministries are, between them, unable to account for more than $1billion of public money as a result of the continued failure of the financial management systems, abuse and incompetence, says the office of the auditor general. Despite claims of improvement, government accounts remain in a mess when it comes to accounting for the almost ¾ of a billion dollars it costs to run government and its authorities each year. But the latest revelations show that the ministries of tourism and district administration, in particular, have an appalling record of mismanagement and potential abuse over the last seven years, failing to account for the whopping sum.

Check back to CNS later today for more on the government’s accounting situation and details of the auditor’s reports released today.

See related full story here

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Hospital aims to test all seniors for stroke risk

Hospital aims to test all seniors for stroke risk

| 21/10/2014 | 3 Comments

(CNS): In a major health research project doctors at the Shetty hospital in East end are aiming to test 3000 people over the age of 65 in Cayman to assess and help treat their risk of stroke as well as collect enough clinical data for a medical study on the subject of Atrial Fibrillation or arrhythmia. The project was formerly launched at Health City Cayman on Monday when around 30 over 65s were tested using high tech equipment following an explanation of the project by Dr Irka Ebanks, who will be leading the research study and screenings. The study, the Cayman Islands Atrial Fibrillation for Elderly (CAFE) is the first of its kind in the Caribbean and will deal with both risk and treatment.

Commonly known as Afib the condition is an irregular, erratic or fast paced heart beat which allows blood to accumulate in the lower chambers of the heart because. This can lead to clotting and the clots can enter the blood stream and reach the brain causing a stroke. Although medical experts do not know what causes the problem they know that certain circumstances can place people at high risk.

Those risk factors include; if a person is aged over 65, if they suffer from high blood pressure, if they have coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease or congenital heart disease. Other risk factors include if a person suffers from sleep apnoea, hyperthyroidism (too much thyroid hormone), obesity or diabetes. In addition, if they suffer from lung disease, have a family history of Afib or have a history of smoking and alcohol abuse, then they are more likely to suffer from Afib.

Dr Ebanks said it was extremely important to screen people because in many people, AFib does not cause obvious warning signs.

“When symptoms do occur, they often include palpitations, chest pain/tightness, dizziness, breathlessness, fatigue or lack of energy,” she said. “These symptoms do not always immediately indicate Afib, so screening people means patients themselves may be better equipped to understand the warning signs and at the same time we will have the information we need to help diagnose the condition quickly. Speed is of the essence in such a case: the sooner a patient receives medical care following a stroke the better the prognosis.”

There are millions of people around the world with Afib, with 2010 estimated numbers globally running at 33.5 million for men and 12.6 million for women, so it is a huge problem world-wide.

Following the launch on Monday screenings will be held at the hospital over the next few weeks and doctors will also be going into the community to test as many of the 3000 people here aged 65 and over as possible, in order to get enough information to support any research conclusions.

The hospital is urging all seniors or anyone who may have other risk factors to join in the study. The non-invasive testing is being done using Ipad app technology as well as an EKG and simply reads pulse vibrations, and takes under10 minutes to complete.
For more information call 1 (345) 945-4040 or visit healthcity.ky

 

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Stabbing trial opens on Brac

Stabbing trial opens on Brac

| 21/10/2014 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The prosecution witnesses called so far in the trial of Katie Jo Powell (26) for the attempted murder of Yves Anthony De la Torre (29) have given the court wildly different accounts of what happened in the early hours of 20 April 2013, when the victim was stabbed in the neck, face, chest and both hands. The narrative given by the first four witnesses, all friends of the defendant, were very similar, but did not support the crown’s case that Powell attacked the victim and tried to kill him. It was “not her personality”, said one of the young women called by prosecutor Neil Kumar. De la Torre, the crown’s key witness, maintained that none of the four friends were there when he was stabbed, and said he believed he was going to die that night.

In the Grand Court trial, which began on Monday on Cayman Brac, Kerry Christian, Janice Webb and Amanda Jacobs all testified that they had been out to the Coral Isle Club, located on the south side of the island, on the night of Friday 19 April 2013 and stayed until after the bar closed at 2:00 Saturday morning. Michelle Hunter was also at the bar, Christian said, talking to a guy from Grand Cayman, and “the tattoo boy” (De la Torre).

Janna Parchment asked if they could give her a ride home in the white van driven by Webb and also if they could pick up Powell and her boyfriend, Randy Dixon, who were outside Big Daddy’s liquor store, which is just across the road.

By everyone’s account, Dixon was very drunk. Jacobs said that he had passed out on the ground outside Big Daddy’s. She got out to help him into the car because he couldn’t walk properly.

When they got to the house where Powell was living at the time, next to Tip Top Boutique and opposite the West End Primary School, Christian said she saw two people at the back of the house and told Webb it looked like Hunter and “the tattoo fella”.

Powell, Dixon and Parchment all got out, according to the friends’ account. Jacobs also got out of the van to help Dixon into the house and, she told the court, she saw Michelle Hunter sitting on a seat with her head in her hand next to De la Torre. She did not look sober and was “not completely here”, Jacobs said. She asked Hunter if she was OK and Hunter mumbled a reply, but Webb, who was still in the van, honked the car horn to indicate that she was leaving, and they and Christian left.

In her evidence, Parchment added the detail, not mentioned by the others, that De la Torre and Hunter were both naked. When they asked Hunter, who was “completely out of it”, whathad happened, she didn’t reply but De la Torre said that they had “just got through having sex”, Parchment said. She and Powell found Hunter’s clothes, helped her put them back on and got her into the house.

Powell asked De la Torre to leave, she said, but he just laughed and said he wasn’t doing anything wrong and he was going to stay there that night.

“What the fxxx are you still doing in my yard? Get the fxxx out of my yard!” Powell yelled at him, according to Parchment, who maintained that between them she and Powell told De la Torre to leave that night “about a hundred times”.

Powell then picked up a knife “to scare him off”, said Parchment, who, although she did not actually see this, said she “heard the knife move off the table”. She said that De la Torre grabbed Powell’s hand to try to pry the knife away from her, but she jerked it away.

At this point she went back inside the house to see what Dixon was doing because he was “making a noise”. When she came back outside she saw that De la Torre had gripped Powell’s arms and she was trying to shove him away. They told him again to leave and this time he did, Parchment said, but when asked by the prosecution, said she did not see any blood on him at that time.

They did not call the police because they did not have any credit on their phones, she said. After this incident she went home but later Powell messaged her to say that someone was trying to break into the house. However, it turned out that it was not De la Torre but Hunter, who was somehow outside again.

De la Torre gave a very different account. After his friend Aaron was arrested for drinking and driving on the way home from Barracudas bar, where they gone after they left the Coral Isle, he and Hunter, who had been passed out in the back seat, were stranded. He could only make phone calls where there was Wi-Fi as his phone was registered in the US and so could not call anyone for help.

He said they were trying to get to Spot Bay. Aaron, he said, had been taken away in one police car but an officer in the second police car offered to drive them there. However, instead of doing so, De la Torre said, he dropped them off in front of Powell’s house, possibly because she and Hunter were friends. However, De la Torre did not want to be there, he said, because he and Dixon had issues.

He said Hunter started to stumble towards the house. A black car pulled up with no lights on, he told the court, and someone asked for a cigarette. He walked towards the car because he thought he had some left but it was just an empty packet in his pocket. But as he was walking away, he heard the car door slam and saw Powell running at him screaming about him “ratting on her baby daddy (Dixon) and something to do with her brother”, De la Torre said.

Powell grabbed his shirt, he said, and told him that if he didn’t get out she would stab him. As he walked away, De la Torre said he was stabbed in the neck. As he turned left, she stabbed him in the left side of the chest, he said. Powell then slashed his face as she was swinging the knife upwards, he told the court. He grabbed the knife and the whole of his thumb was cut.

Bleeding from the wounds, he started walking towards his mother’s house on the south side in Danzler Crescent, he said. On the way he passed out twice, once at Tortuga Liquor store and once at Big Daddy’s. Because he thought he was going to die, he recorded what had happened to him on his phone as he walked, he said.

De la Torre told the court that he started walking between 11:30 pm Friday night and midnight and reached his mother’s house at about 4:30 Saturday morning, where his mother and grandmother tended his wounds and called 911.

When asked by defence attorney John Furniss, De la Torre adamantly denied all details of the evidence given by Powell’sfriends. The young women were all equally adamant under cross examination that they had not seen  De la Torre by the side of the road when they dropped Powell off or that she had run at him screaming.

The medical report indicated that De la Torre had lacerations to his neck and face and a deep laceration to his upper chest and wounds to both hands and his thumb. The doctor who examined him said that his condition was not serious and he was discharged the day after being admitted to hospital.

Powell is also charged with the lesser offence of maliciously wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The judge-alone trial continues Tuesday before Justice Charles Quin.

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Cayman Speaker loses out in CPA chair elections

Cayman Speaker loses out in CPA chair elections

| 21/10/2014 | 36 Comments

(CNS): Juliana O’Connor-Connolly was pipped at the post in a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) vote earlier this month when she was in Cameroonfor the recent 60th General Assembly meeting of the association. In a closed door head-to-head vote Shirin-Sharmin-Chowdhurry was elected the new chair of the CPA’s Executive Committee, the first Bangladeshi to take up the role with the organisation that promotes parliamentary democracy across the Commonwealth. Chowdhurry, who is the Speaker of Jatiyo Sangshad, the Bangladesh Parliament, defeated Cayman’s speaker by just three votes.

O’Connor-Connolly, who has served an elected member for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman since 1996, had a brief stint as Cayman’s second premier in 2013, making her the first woman in that job. She also has a long history as Cayman’s representative to the CPA, travelling around the world for the meetings.

However, with 67 votes to Chowdhurry’s 70, she narrowly lost out in the ballot. The Bangladeshi speaker replaces Alan Haselhurst, a member of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, and will serve for the next three years as the chair of the 35 member committee. Out of the total 321 votes, 137 voters from 175 members of the association turned up at the general assembly, which is the body authorised to elect the chair.

O’Connor-Connolly, who was nominated to run on behalf of the region by her Caribbean parliamentary association colleagues, had said ahead of her trip to Africa, “I look forward to going with great anticipation to Cameroon, knowing I will be the candidate of the Caribbean. If successful, I will work diligently throughout the duration of the term to ensure that the Caribbean will continue in its rich heritage of transparency and accountability.”

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Cops charge machete wielding suspect

Cops charge machete wielding suspect

| 21/10/2014 | 0 Comments

(CNS): A 27 year old George Town man is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday following an attempted robbery in the early hours of Sunday morning in Shedden Road. He has been formally charged for carrying an offensive weapon and causing fear and provocation with threats of violence after his failed attempted to rob a man at a social gathering in the capital while wielding a machete. Although no one was injury by the suspect his victim suffered a heart attack in the immediate wake of the incident and is currently being treated at the Shetty hospital in East End.

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Haines hopes for touch of Irish luck in run #5

Haines hopes for touch of Irish luck in run #5

| 21/10/2014 | 3 Comments

(CNS): Despite a troubling, swollen ankle, Cayman’s veteran marathon runner Derek Haines has said he is in good shape and confident of finishing the next race in his incredible marathon challenge for the local hospice. Haines, who will turn 66 years of age just five days before he competes in his fifth marathon of the year, in Ireland, is hoping for a touch of Irish luck to push the total pledged to build a residential care facility for Cayman Hospice past $800,000. Haines will run his penultimate pavement pounder in the six races for the year on Monday 27 October. The public is being urged to help carry him through to his ultimate $1m target with their support especially as this month has been declared ‘Derektober’.

To date Haines has made some impressive times in his first four marathons and no matter what he records on the clock in Dublin, it will be a personal best for him at age 66. However, he will still have chance to beat his time in December when he will be running on home turf for the final 26 plus mile race of what has so far proved to be an awesome challenge.

Haines’ Six4hospice has won the admiration and respect of the community and people have been digging deep to help him raise what is a lot of cash. This month Jacques Scott open their Cocktail week with a Jame Bond 'Shaken not Stirred' night at the Grand Old House with $50 from the $75 going to the fund. Also Blackbeards and Big Daddy's are donating a percentage of their takings during ‘Derektober’.

The 35th Dublin marathon will be a cool change for Haines who does his training in the tropical sunshine as the temperature is expected to be around 12 – 14°C (53 – 57°F) with a light drizzle according to weather experts. The course is a largely flat, single lap, running through the historic Georgian streets of the Irish capital.  It starts on Fitzwilliam Square, heads out of town through the Phoenix Park and then south across the river taking in Bushy Park and UCD before finishing on Merrion Square.

Grateful to everyone who has backed him, Haines said people can make a donation and keep an eye on the fundraising progress on the web site six4hospice.com and to follow him in next Monday’s race visit http://dublinmarathon.ie/
 

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CIG on track to pass targets

CIG on track to pass targets

| 21/10/2014 | 36 Comments

(CNS): Government earnings were over $2.5 million more than expected and spending was down $5.5million less than projected in the first quarter of the 2014/15 financialyear. As a result the public purse is on target for a major surplus at the end of this year if government can keep spending down and the economy growing. Already aiming to have almost $121 million left next June when it has paid all its bills government may do even better as it battles to reach the FCO’s aggressive targets to ensure Cayman gets back on track with the management of public finances and debt ratios. With no new debt being incurred central government will repay $25.4 million off is debt load before the year end and it is also expecting to cut overdraft interest and fees to zero.

“At 30 September, 2014, the Government's Operating Bank account balances totalled $67.1 million and the Government is confident those balances will remain positive throughout the entire fiscal year,” the premier announced recently, when he reviewed the country’s finances in his state of the nation address.

Crediting his finance minister who is in charge of the public purse strings, Alden McLaughlin said Cayman was lucky to have the “skill and zeal” of Marco Archer was creating confidence in the economy. “Investors like certainty, and Minister Archer has certainly brought this to the management of the public finances,” McLaughlin said, adding that it was no mean feat to achieve Budget approval from by the FCO on first submission

Meanwhile, the statutory authorities and government-owned companies also enjoyed a positive first quarter of the year collectively experienced an operating surplus of $1.7 million, a million dollars more than expected.

McLaughlin said government has worked hard every day since being returned to office some 18 months ago, to restore stability to the country and the economy.

“Our economic policies are working and the economic indices are pointing to encouraging growth,” McLaughlin claimed. 

With overall economic activity in Cayman Islands growing by an estimated 2.2 per cent in the first six months of 2014 he said that in the first quarter, the GDP grew by 1.5 per cent while during the second it is estimated to be at 3.3 per cent. “The growth rates are the strongest estimated so far for the country during the post-2008 global financial crisis period,” the premier stated.

He added that economic growth had occurred in several sectors including wholesale and retail trade; hotels and restaurants; transport storage and communication; real estate, renting, business activities; and construction.

 

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Year wait in murder appeal

Year wait in murder appeal

| 21/10/2014 | 7 Comments

(CNS): The director of public prosecutions has been waiting on a decision from the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal regarding a high profile child murder verdict for more than a year now, with still no sign of a ruling. Following the acquittal of Devon Anglin (28) who was charged with killing four year old Jeremiah Barnes in February 2010, the crown filed an appeal against the visitingjudge’s decision after he found Anglin not guilty. The arguments for overturning the verdict were heard by the appeal panel in August 2013 and despite crown counsel pressing the urgency of the case, if there was to be a retrial, the higher court has given no indication on whether or not the verdict stands.

The next session of the court of appeal is scheduled to sit in November and the Grand Court heard Friday that the case has not been listed to be heard though the crown was still hopeful that the appeal judges would find time to deliver this pressing judgment despite a packed agenda for the winter’s session. A West Bay man who is charged with obstructing justice in connection with the case has been on police bail for four and a half years as the case against him cannot go ahead until after a decision has been made on whether or not there is to be a retrial in the case.

It is not clear why the higher court has taken so long to come to a decision on the verdict as the president of the CICA had himself acknowledged that time was an important factor following the appeal hearing last year.

Anglin had been acquitted by Justice Howard Cooke following a judge alone trial on 31 August, 2011. The crown’s appeal was adjourned a number of times before it was finally heard but the president of the appeal court had noted that if they were to find the judge had misdirected himself there would be a re-trial.  Justice John Chadwick said the case was important to Devon Anglin, the parents of the child, the prosecutors and the wider community as the verdict had attracted a lot of public comment at the time.  “Let nothing suggest we don’t appreciate the importance of this case,” Chadwick has said in the summer session of the 2013 appeal court.

At the end of the sitting, the court president said they would put their reasons in writing before announcing a decision. If the appeal was dismissed that would leave Anglin acquitted but were they to allow the appeal it would be important to have a retrial “sooner rather than later,” Justice Chadwick had stated. 

Four year old Jeremiah Barnes was sitting in the back seat of the family car driven by his father, Andy Barnes, when a gunman opened fire at the Hell Service station in West Bay on the night of 15 February, 2010. Although, Barnes who was believed to be the target was not injured, a bullet entered the car window and passed through his headrest, hitting and killing his son. The boy’s mother and his brother were also in the car at the time.

Jeremiah’s parents, both of whom knew Anglin, named him as the gunman. However, Justice Cooke who seem to struggle with some of the CCTV evidence completed rejected their identification and acquitted Anglin. 

During the appeal Andrew Radcliffe, QC, argued on behalf of the crown that Justice Cooke’s refusal to consider all of the evidence in the round and to dismiss the eye witness testimony of the child’s parents without considering it conjunction with supporting circumstantial evidence and VT evidence, amounted to an error in law. John Ryder, QC, who represented Anglin in defence of the acquittal argued that the judge had acted in accordance with the law, applied it properly and h reached a rational conclusion.

The judges had pushed Radcliffe hard during the appeal hearing to demonstrate that the judge had made a mistake in law and not on his interpretation of the facts.  The president of the appeal court, Sir John Chadwick, said he was “open to the idea that there was a point at which, in law,a judge could not simply ignore evidence”

Although Anglin was acquitted he is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Carlo Webster in a gang related shooting at the Next Level Night Club in September 2009. The Court of Appeal has already heard and dismissed an appeal in that conviction.

Since the story was posted the courts have now confirmed that the decision is expected in November. See related story on CNS here

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Charity buys neonatal probe for hospital

Charity buys neonatal probe for hospital

| 20/10/2014 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The Cayman Heart Fund has donated a neonatal cardiac probe to the George Town hospital bought with funds raised from a fun-run earlier this year. The equipment will enable medical staff to diagnose here rather than flying sick children overseas. The probe which is specifically designed for children is one of a number of costly pieces of lifesaving cardiac care equipment that the local charity has been able to give to the health services authority to support improvements to the department, which includes an Electrocardiography Machine (ECG) and four mannequins to the Advanced Cardiac Life Support Training programme.

“This great contribution to the neo-natal and children’s ward will give the department the ability to diagnose right here on island, rather than flying the children overseas,” said the HSA Chief Executive Officer Lizzette Yearwood said. “This is not only cost effective, but saves invaluable time in the diagnosis stage, meaning children and their families no longer need to undertake tense journeys for testing.  We are very thankful to the Cayman Heart Fund and their donations to help enhance our patient’s experience.”

Dr Marlene Craigie, HSA Radiologist explained that this probe is specifically for children ages 14 and below. “The probes we previously had were mainly for the adult heart but this one is catered to children and the resolution is of a much higher quality,” she added.

David Dinner, Chairman of the fund said Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is one of the main sources of health problems in the country.

“The Cayman Heart fund is a non-profit and non-government organization striving to bring awareness to heart and circulatory diseases. We realize the struggle that those who have cardiovascular disease go through and are dedicated to making a difference and reducing the likelihood of early death,” he said. “Over 400 participants took part in this year’s Cayman Heart Fund Discovery Day 5k Walk/Run, and the proceeds from which, teamed with a generous donation from Mr. and Mrs. Agar of Agar Corporation Ltd, ensured the equipment was in place as soon as possible,” he added.

For more information about the Cayman Heart Fund, visitwww.caymanheartfund.com or for more info about the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority, please visit www.hsa.ky
 

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