Failed robbery gets teens 6yrs
(CNS): Two teenagers who attempted to rob a liquor store and a member of the public in Grand Harbour in May of this year were handed down a six year prison sentence by Justice Williams on Monday. Jonathan Welcome (17) and Jordon Powell (18) had pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, possession of an unlicensed firearm and other related offences in connection with their failed hold up at Blackbeard’s and their failed attempts to rob a member of the public. The teens were caught by civilians after they tried to flee the scene empty handed but not before pointing an imitation shotgun at their intended victims. As the judge sentenced the young men, he said there was a strong public interest in sending a clear message that would deter others from this type of serious crime.
Justice Williams said the case was a clear indication of how young men were turning to armed crime and gratuitous acts of threatening violence. He said it was a particularly serious example of what was essentially an attempted daylight hold-up of a store which then progressed to an attempted robbery on a member of the public. The judge noted that while the weapon was found not to be functioning after the crime had occurred none of the victims of the incident knew that at the time.
He pointed out that people working in, or using stores should not have to look over their shoulder in case they may be robbed. The judge said the business community should not be expected to accept this type of violation of their livelihoods. He said it was important for other like-minded robbers to understand that if they are convicted the sentence would be such that it was not worth the risk.
Taking into account their young age and their guilty pleas the judge sentenced the two teens to six years for the most serious offences which was the attempted robbery and the possession of the imitation firearm along with other shorter sentences for the assault and the possession of the pepper spray which he ordered would all run concurrently.
The teens had originally been charged with attempted murder as Welcome was said to have pulled the trigger on the imitation shotgun once outside the store and during the struggle with the public. A ballistics report later revealed that the weapon was not capable of firing and the crown decided not to pursue the attempted murder charge.
The judge commended the bravery of the members of the public who had tackled the teenagers when they could not have known that the weapon was not capable of firing. He said that Welcome had pointed the shotgun in the face of Charles Ebanks who had bravely grabbed the barrel of the gun and struggled with the teen offender. He along with Edward Azan and Ray MacGuire had gone on to chase the would-be robbers, as well as disarmed and restrained them until the police arrived.
The judge said the public should hold the men who apprehended the teens in very high regard and commended their bravery. He said it would be wrong of him to encourage the public in general to put themselves in harm’s way when faced with such obvious dangers but he stated it could serve as an example and encourage people who witnessed a crime, at the very least, to come forward and assist the police.
During the sentencing hearing before the judge made his decision, the court heard that the two teens claimed to have been put up to the crime by another man who had driven them to the scene, given them the disguise to wear in the commission of the robbery, as well as the imitation firearm.
While, Welcome claimed that they had planned the details of the crime at Powell's house for several hours, Powell told an entirely different story stating that he had been forced into the offence when the man ordered him into the car and said he would kill him and his girlfriend if he didn't commit the robbery.
The court heard that Powell had not had the best start in life and had been faced with very poor parental role models. He had been brought up largely by his great-grandmother from when he was six years old until he was 15 when she died. The teen was said to have taken her loss very hard and with no other family support network he had turned instead to the young men in local gangs who became his only role models. From then on he was exposed to drugs, guns and crime the court heard, until he found himself in the position he was now in.
Welcome was described as coming from a more secure family environment but he was expelled from school at 15 when it appears he was also sucked into the gang culture. He admitted that while he had held down a job where he earned a small amount of money he was financing himself through criminal activity.
Category: Crime
6 Years?! That's a crazy thought when a girl kills someone (drunken vehicular homicide) and was in jail for about 10 months.
Cayman is crazy.
A strong message? 6 yes they are out before their mid twenties. I am sure they will be better men while being reared in more then one way in Northward. The one case that had real evidence and it is presented to get the results of six years? The system is beyond broken and as a community with everything else that has been fouled up, we should be ashamed at our citizenship and Law Enforcement.
The law says the punishment is (up to) life imprisonment. I cannot see that is the legislators' fault that the judge thinks that means 6 years for these two.
The legislators who did not put into the law that a minimum sentence of something like 10 years should be served in alll but very exceptional circumstances.
Anyone can say anything after the event. That is not how it works. The judge was supposed to have started at the maximum and then deducted for mitigating factors. I didn't see any mitigating factors except their youth. They should have been sentenced to at least 14 years which would probably mean that they are out in 10.
6 years??? it should be 16!
I disagree. 6 years is a punishment for anyone under the age of 20….they are still young. Any longer and you are just training for a life in prison.
The REAL question is WHO will step up to CHANGE these young men? Is there a business leader amongst us who is willing to mentor these two thugs for the next six years and give them HOPE and education while serving their time (??) or will they just run witht the same gang inside prison and just fine tune their gang ways?
Are these young men lost forever? This is what needs to be determined. I think if they really received counseling, education, and vocational training, they could re-enter society. However, without this, they have no chance.
Bottom line is that we have to stop all of this nonsense of saving these present criminals and send a strong message that as a community that we will punish those harshly that are not in line with an honest society. We will not be held in fear and then coddle those that harm us. Accept that we have lost a couple of generations and save the upcoming with education and promise. Write the rest off and force State Ordered sterlizing of these people. Only then will this hopelessness end.
Hopefully the Crown will appeal this sentence but I am not sure that they can be bothered.
I agree with most of the posters on here that its high time that our highly paid legislators change the laws pertaining to armed robbery and murder etc.The present sentences are a joke as even someone selling hard drugs gets a heavier sentence(which they thoroughly deserve)and we really need to get real and make the jail time be equal to the severity of the crime.
I thought the minimum sentence for a firearm was 10 years?
Police dropped the possesion of a firearm charge in favour of a possesion of imitation firarm charge once they realised that the gun was not able to fire. (Still a damn firearm and the guy still pulled at the trigger).
The minimum sentence is 10 years, but if you followed the case the gun is unable to shoot meaning it is no longer a lethal barrel gun and is therefore listed as an imitation firearm. Just posting things just to sound good! Know your facts and the law before you ALL comment.
I hope this does send a message but I am looking at it and thinking both of them will be out by the time they are 23 and 24. Hopefully they will not like Northward hotel too much and it will set them straight from now on.
What do we do with kids who think it is ok to steal the product of someone else's hard work and have so little regard for others?
At 17 and 18 I guess the parents have removed themselves from responsibility but who is responsible? How do these kids go from the cute 6 and 7 year olds to criminals before they are 20? I still blame the parents.
I find that a lot of parents don't monitor their children enough, they don't instill those good old fashioned values and don't give them a good whipping every now and again because some psychologist on TV convinced them that the kids would be forever traumatized by it!
They don't monitor their friends, they don't monitor their activities and at some point they simply give up on them, some parents are happy to see them get out of highschool because they feel like they have now completed their job as a parent.
We are not talking about middle age men, we are talking about two teenagers who probably just got out of school and they already have a criminal record!
Parents, pay close attention to your children. Don't be afraid to ask questions, don't bury your heads in the sand and pretend like you don't know you didn't hear you didn't see.
Encourage your children to work hard, get a good education, if they are not college bound, encourage them to do a trade. There is no shame in being an electrician, a plumber or a mechanic and to tell you the truth I am college educated and at the prices the electricians and plumbers charge me by the hour I am seriously thinking of changing careers!
Not every one is going to be a lawyer or an accountant or a doctor because we are not all made the same way. We all have different talents, encourage your children to find theirs.
Instill a good work ethic in your kids, talk to them about integrity and choices and consequences of those choices and don't wait until they are teenagers to have that talk. Get them used to hearing that from early, by the time they are teenagers the message will be seared into their minds.
In alot of cases I would tend to agree that we should just "blame the parents". However, I know this family personally. I have known Jonathon's mother before she even had children. She is a devoute Christian who practices what she preaches. He comes from a two parent home, and both parents are involved with their children. From the time Jonathon showed signs of going astray, she was begging for help with him. She never hid the fact that her family needed help. I don't know what happened in this family, but there are 3 other children raised by the same parents, in the same household, and they have not robbed a liquor store. In fact, two of them are college graduates and productive members of society. The youngest child is still in high school. So, to Thinker, it is easy to always revert to "blame the parents", and I am very guilty of doing that myself. However, sometimes we have to think deeper and look harder… and sometimes, we might find that there are other factors at play besides poor parenting.
Wait! Why did the Crown "decide" not pursue the attempted murder charges?
The fact that the gun did not work is irrelevant – the previous reports confirmed one of these punks pulled the trigger at point-blank range, so his malicious intent is clear…
I would like an answer to why they were not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law?
But I suppose we will get that answer along with the "explanation" about how the Bowen burglar with the court-approved ankle bracelet was able to still be out committing crimes? What ever happened to that report/ investigation?
So is it just me, or is it strange that the court gave 6 years for ATTEMPTING to rob a liquor store, but only 18 months for SUCCESSFULLY killing a pedestrian and then leaving the scene of the crime??? Does this mean Cayman values liquor more than a human life???
This is very bad very bad , sending the criminal the wrong message. I do beleive that The Police, Attorney General's office, Justice department, and Government including the Governor needs to sit down around a round table and talk, or any kind of table for that matter.
They all have to agree to be on the same page, and start to improve on sending stern and firm messages to criminals. Any serious crime regardles of what it is, must carry the max 15 plus years, I say start at 25 years or rather the younger the criminal higher and more seroius the punishment. These young thungs are not going to change, so stop beleiving they can be, it's a lost cause , sorry to say but it's the truth.
At present there is no sort of deturant , Police out smarted, Courts don't have the balls to set firm punishment or the Laws are defective, Government sitting on their you know "what" and complaining they can't do anything. They are the law makers , make firm and serious laws, and stop beaten up and each other for God sack, othwise step down and get a real job one that if you don't preform you get FIRED. too funny, I crack myself up at times.
To be or not to be, That is the questions or is it? "Ask not what your country can do for you, but how you can screw up your country?
Section 242 of the Penal Code (2010 Revision) reads as follows:
242. (1) A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force.
(2) A person who commits robbery is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for life.
Section 319 of the Penal Code (2010 Revision) reads as follows:
319. (1) A person who attempts to commit an offence, is guilty of an offence and is, unless any other punishment is provided in this Law or any other law –
(a) liable on conviction on indictment if the offence attempted is murder or any other offence the sentence for which is fixed by law, to imprisonment for life;
As I understand it, this was trial on indictment before the Grand Court. I do not see any mitigating factors. I cannot understand how a 6 year sentence in any way reflects the maximum of imprisonment for life. That is not a deterrent. The Crown should appeal the sentence.
Further, the law should be amended so where multiple offences are committed the sentences can run consecutively rather than concurrently.
10: 15 IN Court, a trial Judge has a discretion to give a sentence in a certain ranges having regard to how he view the actual offence and the defendant. When a sentence is given under the Penal Code its the maximum . Unless the statute law says the sentence is mandatory the judge can use his discretion to give the upper or lower ranges of the maximum sentence. The maximum is reserve for the worse cases.
Obviously. The point is that this was not a proper exercise of that discretion. There is a massive difference between a life sentence and 6 years. Nothing fully explains that difference.
In the next news story on CNS a man just recieved 12 years for four grams of cocaine. these young men recieve 6 for armed robbery of an establishment and a civilian. Are you kidding? something is seriously screwed up with the justice system.
No, that know crack/coke dealer finally got his deserved time. Look at the drug dealers number of repeat offences.
What a joke! Shoulda been 60 years!! I've been working since I was 11 years old to help my family!! Part-time cleaning cars, bagging at Foster's, gift-wrapping, you name it – I've done it! When I was placed on work experience – I stayed there throughout high school graduation. After that another company for 6 years, and another for another 6. I am 31 years old and guess what? Hardwork hasn't killed me yet. I am a child of a single mother home. My father was abusive and alcoholic, but the truth is – we all have choices. These boys did too, and like so many others — they have made the wrong one. It takes a real man to walk away from the gang and thug mentality. I suggest our youths need to wake up and grow a pair and stop following the crowd.
All this "whoa is me" talk is pure garbage!! If I made it – so can any of you! I am no superman. Just a humble person who is thankful to be able to make an *HONEST* living and support my child.
6 yrs = 2 years in reality with time served and parole when they have done 50% of their sentences. That is ridiculous for armed robbery. Only the politicians can fix this but they seem to be too busy flying around the world to do anything.
It would take only a few minutes of their time to pass legislation to pass legislation so that the minimum sentence for this kind of crime is at least ten years SERVED.
Despite what our Premier says only our politicians can enact laws that lock up the criminals and keep our streets safe.
We need to start asking GOD to help as he has done for us over the years. Amen
It was NOT an imitation shotgun. It was a REAL shotgun that just by luck that it did not work. Why would they have put a real shotgun shell in it if they knew that it was broken. They thought it worked and should have been charged with attempted murder as they tried to use it………
Well.. It is not the Status Grant kids whom are always blamed everything. Only to be proven everytime that these criminals are all young and home grown. I am only sorry it was not 25 yrs.
You have your facts crossed. Check the names of the Reggea Money robbery and tell us who they were.
You seem to be in denial. These are two CAYMANIAN young men involved in gang activity, just like the 5 young men who were killed recently for the same affiliation!!! Our own CAYMANIAN young men. The sooner we stop trying to deny the fact that the majority are our own, he sooner we can start fixing the problem!
Time to grow a pair, get to work TOGETHER and fix our island!
We can only fix our Island if we are honest about ALL sources of the problem. Saying that some expats are involved in crime does not mean that Caymaniansare not also involved which they obviously are. However, pretending that it is exclusively one or the other will not help fix the problem.
Funny that. It is amazing how facts are twisted to suit circumstances. When people do something wrong they are described as Caymanian and their nationality is ignored. Particularly since being a Caymanian is not a nationality (but an immigration status) the fact that at least some of the reggae express robbers are Jamaican is not reported is wrong and inaccurate and fails to identify that a part of serious criminality in Cayman is linked to failed immigration policies, callous status grants, and expatriates.
The criminals already have no fear of our incompentent police and now they have little to fear from the judges with a ridiculously light sentence for such a crime. To entera premises with a loaded weapon knowing full well you have the weapon to take a life deserves way more than six years. It is nothing considering they will still be in there twenties when they get out.
It seems Cayman is creating a conducive environment for criminal activity.
Only six years for armed robbery!!!I would have been more surprised if they had set them free and sentenced the civilians that caught them?
Six years? I'm surprised it was not six days! It looks to me that the worst the crime the easier the sentence. Beat the smoke out of them and teach them a real lesson. As soon as someone is convicted then you hear all these soppy stories about how hard they had it. Everyone has it hard but fortunately not everyone turns to a life of crime.
Can we not impose a mandatory 15 year sentence for ANY crime committed while in possession of a firearm?
Mandatory = regardless of age, background or circumstance.
I have no compassion for these punks today that are basically crying because "my mama neva' luv me!"
My own father grew up in circumstances far worse than either of these two, and he was not well educated. However, today he is an upstanding member of his community – as are MANY of his peersthat came from similar backgrounds.
I can't stand these spoiled young punks today. They are expecting to gain the world and not doing a damn thing to earn it!
Unfortunately, this appears to an epidemic spreading all over the western world. (Materialism, opportunistic looting, disregard for human life etc.)
Cant hear if the CUC robbers has been caught. In fact very little news on this one , why?r perhaps other crimes was publicized too much and thats why those involved could not be caught. Lets hope that its the latter as there have been alot of make fun about this robbery. What of the customers that was there will they be offered any counciling as one can imagine they were frightened. Also I am sure that CUC has been in touch with the poor souls.
Is this some kind of joke!!!! 6 years for armed robbery? Apparently there IS a conspiracy against the Cayman Islands and there are doing a good job.
not sure of your thoughts. Is 6 years too many, or not enough?
Agree to it or not, these two young men are the most fortunate of all the others who have recently and suddenly lost their lives as a result of criminal activity, gang & drug involvment.
Consider yourselves fortunate young Welcome and young Powell, that God arranged for you both to be caught red handed for accountability, as you have merely recieved a 6 year incarceration sentence and mere 2nd chance, by having to repay your debt to society for the serious mistake that you both made so young in your lives.
Young men, prison is presently your chance to rebuild your lives, to think about what you want in your future, so carefully and eagerly, use your 6 years behind bars and all the resources available to you both constructively and wisely.
Plan, and work very hard, as a bright future is genuinly possible for you both, especially with the help of the Lord Jesus Christ in your lives,should you care for him to be there.
All is not lost, you are somebody-no matter what your past has been, and remember-many in society will be unforgiving-however, you have hope, much unlike the others who are serving much longer sentences in their graves today, of which they cannot escape!
The choice is yours, but you must want better for yourselves, both presently and in your tomorows. Life is all about choices, learn to make wise ones and learn from your mistakes and finally,
"No man is an island, and No man stands alone"
Ask to be mentored, ask for help, be eager to learn, and with the right attitude- you will recieve all the assistance you need to catapult you into a brighter, much better life and future.
I agree. The sentence was just for their ages and longer than six years would simply make these young men career prisoners, period. They need to stay focused that they can start a new life before age 25 if they really try.
Now, dear community: HOW do we change these young men? (*Oh, and don;'t worry, I put the blame for our tragic youth soley on the CI Education Department not working with Social Services and our youths at risk…I personally think the Chief Officers of those departments should be SHARING THE PRISON SENTENCE with these punks instead of pulling down a fat salary).
It is all well and good to type and blog, but we need to band together to PUSH for prison programs that will insure these two don't end up back in prison again and again.
Is there a Caymanian with an electrical business? Plumbling? Communication? IT? etc… we need the upstanding MEN of our community to mentor these two boys. Yes! Is it going to be paying for long-distance learning? Vocational classes? Come on businessmen, Chamber of Commerce citizens, Rotary and Lions members….show your stuff and step forward. Our village needs men of honour to step forward to help up the fallen youth.
We should all be screaming to see what the plan is to re-shape these oh-so-yoiung souls to renter society with a trade or a skill.
How can they even have a chance if all they will learn in prison is how to be a better criminal?
The system needs to be fixed. Rehabilitate the few that can be rehabilitated!?! Don't get me wrong, I think pounding big rocks into little rocks is a sound idea and our prison is waaaay to cushy for the thug gang leaders who reside there with cell phones and visitis from baby mammas, but I also think it is worth trying to save these two young men from a predetermined prison fate. Do you???
I don't mean to be too harsh, but I believe if you truely feel it is the governments responsiblity or different business organizations responsibility to raise ourchildren and ensure they become upstanding members of society, then you are part of the problem.
Do you really think these guys have access to the internet to read your message to them?
Yep…REAL STRONG DETERANT there judge…. NOT!!!
And they will be out in 3 years, now having made the acquaintance of "harder" criminals and can now further their criminal ambitions! We need alternatives!
Both of them are prime candidates for a excalating life of wrong doing – no family support. Look out Cayman, more to come!
Very Good. Ok Lets hear it. These poor unfortunate youths were given a bad hand by society , they were under stress etc etc. Poor things were forced into a life of crime by their circumstances. Go ahead. Lets hear it. We are use to hearing tales like these anyhow. So this would not be the fist.
just relax!
2 more locked away. Finally!
It's all the fault of the school system for expelling Welcome at 15 and Powell's great grandmother for dying leaving him "with no other family support network" when he was 15. Shocking. How could they do this to these poor guys?. Which one was photographed cocking his damn fingers at the camera in a gun stance after he was arrested? "Welcome" and "Powell". Er…………These are Caymanians born and bred so whereare the posters who like to go on and on about the evil expat/status grant impact on our crime figures???!!! Sickening!
Yup…What did the school system THINK was going to happen when they kicked out 15 year old Caymanians? They would head to Miami? No, they learned the gang trade and here we are.
HOW many teenagers do we actually have in the system right now? Ages 11-16? I'd like to know so we can get the facts about what kind of ratio-to-risk we need. This is the task at hand folks…we need to save these children or just start to fingerprint them early.
ACCOUNTABILITY! Our teachers and social services are not accountable. The Education Administration walks around moaning and failing (with huge paychecks) I want education administration staff accoutability or their heads on a stick, either way = RESULTS. Give me good test scores for ALL children or give me your resignation….starting at the top with the fat cats who have creative this mess for over a decade.
If we have 50 teens at risk can the service clubs help? If we have 100 teens at risk can the churches ($$$) help? if we have 100 kids at risk, can Social Services do their jobs (or should we wait for another expensive community BBQ for the bible baring grandmothers to enjoy?)
The point is….we are small and should be able to reach those youth at-risk. Our politicians have funneled funds to fianance their whims, it is time to take our efforts to address the youth that will be the next generation of armed robbers.
Don't be ridiculous. I don't think anyone has suggested that no crimes are being committed by Caymanians. However, it does not follow tha because a number of those that have been caught are Caymanians then all criminals committing crimes in Cayman are Caymanians.
But can you imagine the outcry from Caymanians if they were expat kids or status grant kids, it would be deafinging! Double standards are alive and well on this island – be rest assurred.
I am not following what are the double standards?? Everyone on here is saying that these teenagers ought ot have been imprisoned for a longer period. We have had a number of serious crimes that were committed by expats what was the big outcry different from any other crime?
Six years?? Should have been every day of 16 years – at least!! Send these lazy little criminals a real message!
Thoroughly deserved. No parole I hope before the end of the 6 years!
Considering that a "year" in Her Majesty Hotel is actually 8 months, they will be out sooner than you think.
Typical story here. People having children, giving them to Mama to raise, while the sperm donor and mother continue to enjoy their youth.
There is a real disconnect going on on this Island when it come to some of our people and their responsibilities, as it relates to fam values.
As a Caymanian, this concerns me greatly, as it should any level headed person. What I see happening is pure unadulterated ghetto making.
This sentence provides a clear example of what the politicians can do about crime, change the law to impose tough sentences. The politicians can rush all kinds of fool fool legislation through in a few days when their friends can make some money, but they refuse to bring legislation to protect the people from the thugs.
The judge in this case was most likely just following the current sentencing guidelines but to me the short sentences together with the time served rules in effect mean that these two will be back on the streets after only a very short time, a couple of years probably. That sends the wrong message to the criminals and it also tells us that some politicians would rather protect the criminals than the people. I will even volunteer to draft the legislation if the politicians are too busy travelling to give instructions to the Legal Department.
As far as I know, robbery is a life imprisonment offence. Also, you can get up to 20 years for other offences they committed. The Immitation Firearm charge is a reflexion of poor legal advice. Any part of a firearm is legally a firearm. Therefore, to say it was not a firearm merely because it did not function is very poor reasoning.
Rick
Six years isn't enough, should have been at least 10 to send a clear message!
Interesting…a number of take aways here:
* the boys were in trouble in early teens and amenable to gangs looking for a sense of family otherwise missing from their lives
* lack of positive MALE role models
* single mother/woman household
* leaving school early with no other social programmes or attempt to rehabilitate
* lack of education leads to inability to secure employment and earn enough to loive – supplementing lifestyle with illegal gang activity
* Both are Caymanians
* At 17 and 18, we can look forward to a long career of criminality for atleast 20 -30 years as most Caymanian males will live up to atleast 50
* the fact that both young boys were involved in gang/ illegal activities would be obvious to their families by the fact that they did not/could not work to earn money by other means. But the family didnt mind or didnt say anything becuase they live off the ill-gotten money
Cayman, we are failing these kids. Collectively, the parents, the extended families, the schools, the government, the churches and the community as a whole – we are not doing right by our children at all.
It should not come to this. Where are the intervention programs for problem kids — we are small enough to see this from primary school but we pass them on and graduate them for coming just80% of the time. Lord, what a mess we have made of ourselves
The message is simple. Crime does not pay. Think before you engage in something risky. It could land you in jail away from your family and friends.
I'm sure they'll make new friends in jail and catch up with family members inside
Great job Great News. Hopefully they embrace what prison has to offer and will get rehabilitated and get a proper education while at Northward and come out with a different attitude to work and make a difference in the community
*slow clap*