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Governor should apologise to Cayman media
(CNS): A former Cayman Net News journalist who became embroiled in the saga of Operation Tempura, the probe into possible corruption in the RCIPS, has taken the new governor to task for her comments about the local media in a letter to his local MP Liz Truss, who became a member of Cabinet this week. John Evans called Helen Kilpatrick’s criticisms of the press here “an almost unprecedented attack on the media in the Cayman Islands” and said that in his experience the problems lie not with local journalists but with “excessive secrecy in the public sector and the almost childish attitude of some civil servants and politicians to media interest”.
In his letter to Truss, Evans said the underlying response to Kilpatrick’s remarks has been “one of resentment from media who have always acted responsibly and, despite determined attempts to obstruct them, worked hard to cooperate with the very people who are now criticising them.”
He said, “Having myself worked out there as a journalist I know that there are issues with media coverage but in the vast majority of cases they stem from excessive secrecy in the public sector and the almost childish attitude of some civil servants and politicians to media interest.
“Far from being ‘wholly unregulated and uncontrolled’ as the Governor’s Office and/or the FCO allege, the media in the Cayman Islands is not only a model of self-regulation but the journalists out there spend a lot of time struggling to deal with a public sector that is not only itself ‘wholly unregulated and uncontrolled’ but is in many cases completely dysfunctional. I would suggest that what the Governor’s Office really means by this comment is that the media’s persistent and diligent oversight gives the public an insight into the way the Cayman Islands are being run that is often very embarrassing to the people supposedly in charge.”
Evans continued, “My concern here is that this ill-considered and ill-informed attack on the media sends out a very negative message about the role of the UK in governance of the Islands. It suggests that the Governor’s Office and the FCO not only fail to respect the role of a free press in an Overseas Territory but also that they do not recognise the rights given to journalists under the terms of the constitution. Bluntly, we are talking about what could be construedas old-fashioned colonialist attitudes that are completely incompatible with the 21st century.
“What I am seeking from the Governor’s Office and the FCO is a public statement on their policy towards the media in the Cayman Islands including a detailed explanation, with specific examples, of the basis for the allegations that any reporting of the requested documents would be unbalanced. Failing that I would like to see an unreserved apology made to all the hardworking journalists on the Islands for what I regard as a completely unwarranted slur on their professional abilities.”
Drivers urged to watch out for crabs crossing roads
(CNS): At this time of year the roads tend to be crowded by large numbers of crabs trying to reach the beach but he Department of Environment says that by driving slowly in these areas people can warn the crabs and give them time to get out of the way, or drivers can time to drive over or around them without hitting them. The police are urging drivers to take safety precautions during crab season, including parking vehicles at the side of the road with their parking lights and emergency flashers on, and reminding them not to rapidly swerve their vehicles to avoid running over crabs on the road as this evasive action could cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles and cause an accident. Left: Red Shank (Geocarcinus lateralis)
According to the DoE, the Cayman Islands are home to various species of land crabs which, although they have successfully invaded the land, are all still seasonally dependent on the sea. Most residents are familiar with “crab season” throughout July and August and this phenomenon is due to the fact that all land crab species cross the roads to get to the sea during the breeding season.
The reproductive cycles of, for example, the White Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) (right: male with an obviously enlarged claw) and the Black Land Crab (Geocarcinus ruricola) (below) — both traditionally harvested for food and the later of whose colour can vary from yellow to dark purple — are closely linked to seasonal weather patterns and lunar phases and migrations are often initiated by heavy rains. For the first few weeks of the migratory period the crabs increase their foraging and gain weight rapidly.
Males actively court females which then carry external egg masses on the underside of their bodies after mating. The eggs are carried for approximately two weeks prior to hatching and will eventually be released into the sea to ensure survival and larval development. The spawning migrations are typically completed within 1-2 days and the spawning takes place within 1-2 days of a full moon.
The White Land Crab is slow-growing compared to most other crabs, reaching sexual maturity only after approximately 4 years and large individuals may grow to over four inches across and over 1 pound in weight. This highlights the importance of letting the crabs reproduce when they embark on their spawning migrations. It is highly recommended that females are left alone if eggs are seen on the underside of their bodies (see picture right) so they can spawn and secure the return of many more juvenile land crabs. Females and males are generally easy to tell apart as males are larger and have a noticeably enlarged claw (cheliped).
For more information on the land crabs please visit the DoE website and the Land Crab Species Action Plan.
Mother to child HIV may be eliminated in Cayman
(CNS): the Health Services Authority has said that a team of local doctors, healthcare workers and policy makers is presently in the process of verifying and documenting the elimination of mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV and congenital syphilis in the Cayman Islands. The group is working to prepare a report that will be submitted to the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) for certification. Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kiran Kumar explained that countries need to document the process by which elimination is verified according to WHO guidelines.
“We have achieved this goal due to the quality of our antiretroviral programme over the years. In order to receive certification, we need to document the verification process that we have undertaken, to ensure that there has been no MTCT for the past three years,’’ he added.
Members of the MTCT of HIV and Syphilis Elimination Initiative team include:
• Dr. Karina Palmer- Chair, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist , HSA
• Mrs. Laura Elniski, HIV Programme Coordinator
• Dr. A. K Kumar, Medical Officer of Health
• Dr. Samuel Williams Clinical Head of General Practice Department, HSA
• Ms Janett Flynn, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Health
• Dr. Chela Lamsee Ebanks , Peadiatrician , HSA
• Mr. Timothy McLaughlin, PH Surveillance Officer , HSA
• Mrs. Marcella Greaves, Midwife, HSA
• Mrs. Judith Clarke, Laboratory Manager, HSA
• Mrs. Lavern Swaby, Peadiatrician, HSA
• Mrs. Hamerika Black-Walters, Midwife Maternity Ward, HSA
• Dr. James Robertson, Peadiatrician (private sector)
• Dr. Rommel El-Madany, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist (private sector)
Minister of Health Osbourne Bodden praised the Cayman Islands healthcare community, especially gynaecologists, paediatricians and midwives for maintaining zero levels of MTCT of HIV and congenital syphilis since 2004.
Trust celebrates International Day of the Seafarer
(CNS): As a part of the National Trust’s bi-monthly Speaker’s Series the environmental protection NGO recently hosted “Tales from the High Seas” in celebration of the International Day of the Seafarer in partnership with the Seafarers’ Association. A panel at the event, held at the Seafarers Hall, included Bob Soto and Clifton Bodden, both seafarers and members of the Home Guard during WWII, Ora Hollebon and National Trust employees Denise Bodden and Karie Bounds. Ivan Farrington recalled how his father, Lawrence Edwin "Eddie" Farrington, had been capture by the Germans during WWII and learned how to make shoes while being held in a German camp.
Historic Education and Development Manager at the National Trust Denise Bodden highlighted several Trust owned properties which have ties to Cayman’s Seafaring heritage, such as the Eldemire House in the Brac, Mission House in Bodden Town and Fort George, which was utilized from the late 1700’s through World War II as a maritime fortification.
Soto and Clifton Bodden shared several educational details of their training and work during the Home Guard years andof their lives at sea. Their recollection included events at Fort George, during WWII as well as the heroic Caymanian rescue of the crew from the Comayagua, which was torpedoed off our shores in May 1942.
Ora Hollebon shared facts and stories of a little vessel named The Gravina, which was owned and operated by her father Captain William Crosby Ebanks for about a decade between the late 1930 and 1940's. The Gravina served as a lifeline between the Cayman Islands and Cuba carrying people needing medical attention to Cuba and transporting various goods, including wine from Cuba and Soto's bicycle from Cayman.
Many of the 50 people in attendance also shared their own seafaring experiences with the audience.
“As a granddaughter, daughter and a niece of seafarers I feel proud of our seafaring heritage as those seafarers left home with so little, but returned with a wealth of experience, knowledge and funds to better the lives of their families" said Denise Bodden, “Supporting the historic properties owned by the National Trust continues to allow our seafaring heritage to have a physical presence in modern-day Cayman.”
OCC lauded by Kilpatrick
(CNS): The governor lauded good governance last week as the Office of the Complaints Commissioner was marking ten years of dealing with government complaints. Despite the current fiasco over her own office's battle to keep a record of a complaint about the management of the controversial probe Operation Tempura secret, Helen Kilpatrick, emphasized, ironically, the importance of public confidence in the conduct of government. Regardless of the conduct of her own office and its failure to be transparent over the Tempura complaint, the UK's representative appeared to be telling civil servants 'to do as I say and not as I do' at the OCC event.
“It is essential that the people of the Cayman Islands have confidence in the conduct of their government,” she said, adding this applied to every aspect of the public sector as she pointed to spending of public funds, the provision of education and healthcare to the treatment of prisoners and the management of the islands’ waste, but not it appeared transparency in her own office.
“The public should have a method of recourse when they feel they are the victims of unacceptable conduct, inadequate administration or when there has been an unreasonable interpretation of the law,” Kilpatrick said. “Where there are failings, it is essential that there is an independent body which can address these,” she added, praising the work of the OCC, led by Commissioner Nicola Williams.
The comments from the governor come just days after the information commissioner ordered her office, once again, to release the documents that relate to a complaint made by both the former lawyer and senior investigating officer on the bungled Operation Tempura probe. The complaint was dismissed by the former governor but the report of the dismissal has been the subject of battle lasting more than a year between the governor's office and the ICO that has cost the Cayman tax payer tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees as the British representative in Cayman continues to try and keep the controversial report and the details of the complaint secret.
Kilpatrick has become the third governor involved in the fiasco and has continued on the path of trying to fight the release. It is not clear, however, if she will be continuing the fight in the face of the acting commissioner’s latest direction to her office to release the relevant records.
William's office, which is similar to the ICO in that it too is an independent watchdog for good governance and conducts research into how well government delivers services and deals with problems. One of several institutions created to bolster democracy and transparency in government, it supports the civil service in processing complaints by providing training and encouragement. It also confers awards on government personnel who manage internal complaints.
"This outreach work is crucial to ensure that standards are maintained throughout the Cayman Islands Civil Service,” the governor said at the celebration held last week.
Kilpatrick encouraged the public sector to work with the OCC and consider its recommendations. In an ironic twist, she said that only timely action bolsters public confidence that complaints are taken seriously, after her office has sat on these documents for more than two years.
Despite praising Williams, CNS also understands that the current commissioner's contract comes to an end this month. Williams has served five years and so far no recruitment process has begun nor, according to members of the Legislative Assembly, has Williams been given a new contract.
MLA and chairman of the oversight committee, Ezzard Miller, attested to the high quality and high standards upheld Williams and her staff. The committee, comprising sitting House MLAs, receives quarterly reports from the Commissioner about the working of the OCC, he said.
British Virgin Islands’ Complaints Commissioner Elton Georges, a special guest at the ten year anniversary celebration, noted the OCC’s high quality of work had garnered both regional and international attention.
Meanwhile, Williams also unveiled the fifth edition of the OCC-produced Small Claims Handbook, written by local attorney and a former OCC intern, Brett Basdeo. The publication aims to demystify the small claims court process, empowering those who wish to bring claims under $20,000,
Lawyer argues no jail for cop
(CNS): During submissions at the sentencing hearing Thursday for former RCIPS officer Elvis Ebanks, who was convicted in May of two counts of bribery and two counts of breach of trust, defence attorney Laurence Aiolfi proposed a suspended sentence, asking Justice Charles Quin to consider the impact of a custodial sentence on Ebanks, saying he would “run the risks a police officer inevitably does serving time in prison”, pointing to the concerns that would raise and the everyday fears he would face. Aiolfi also asked that the judge take into account the impact on Ebanks’ family, his past good character and record of service. Justice Quin set 24 July for his decision but did tell the court that a “custodial sentence is inevitable”.
Ebanks was convicted of asking for a bribe of more than CI$500 not to pursue a criminal case against a Filipino national who was suspected of stealing a phone. Ebanks is the first public official convicted under the anti-corruption law.
Offering examples of similar cases in the UK, defence attorney argued for a relatively short starting sentence with the possibility of suspending any tariff.
In one of the cases Aiolfi referenced where the “facts are more serious”, the convicted policeman undertook a “course of conduct over 12 months” which was done so for personal gain. The two-year sentence in that case, following a trial, is an “indicator of a level of sentence for a more serious offence,” he said.
Aiolfi then cited a case he suggested was closer on its facts to Ebanks, which involved an inspector and thus a higher-ranking officer who would be in a higher position of trust. This inspector helped two people avoid prosecution though did not do it for monetary gain like Ebanks. His 12-month sentence was reduced to six months.
He also spoke of a court clerk in the UK who was convicted of bribery in 2011 for helping 53 traffic offenders avoid fines and disqualifications. He was originally sentenced to six years, which was later reduced to four years.
Aiolfi said that in these previous cases, the offences were more serious than that of his client, so those sentences should be greater.
Acknowledging that his client was aware that an immediate custodial sentence is right according to the sentencing guidelines, the attorney said that Justice Quin “does have the power to suspend the sentence, once he determines the level of the sentence”.
Citing a past case, Aiolfi added that a suspended sentence is appropriate if there is no risk of re-offending. To that Justice Quin said that he never liked that argument, finding it "unattractive" to contend that a suspended sentence indicates an unlikeliness to reoffend.*
Calling a custodial sentence “inevitable” and setting 24 July for his ruling on sentencing, Justice Quin said he would consider everything including the social inquiry report, references and case law.
Aiolfi also told the court that an appeal against conviction had been submitted.
While the Court of Appeal is expected to sit in Cayman in August, it was unclear if Ebanks’ case could be heard at that time.
It was agreed that Ebanks could remain on the same conditions of bail until sentencing — an 8pm-6am home curfew and a $5,000 bond, along with two $10,000 sureties.
CNS: * This sentence has been amended.
Three arrested for out of season conch and ganja
(CNS): Three men from East End have been arrested for taking conch out of season and possession of ganja. the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has reported. The three suspects, aged 20, 21 and 32, were arrested on Tuesday 15 July just after noon by the newly appointed police officer to North Side Police Station for taking marine life during closed season and for the drug offence, which both reportedly occurred in East End. They were bailed to return to the Bodden Town Police Station, police said.
FCO cover-up of child sexual abuse in BOT
(CNS): A child protection charity found shocking evidence of child sexual abuse, domestic violence and sexual exploitation on the British overseas territory of St Helena, a South Atlantic island with a population of 3,800. The police, which includes many English officers, was also criticized for failing to tackle sexual offenders. Residents told the Daily Mail, which has exposed the cover-up, that the island was "worse than Pitcairn" – another remote BOT where sexual offenses were found to be commonplace. However, the 83-page report on St Helena by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which uncovered a "cultural acceptance of the sexualisation of children", was never publicised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
To boost the economy the UK government has invested £250 million into building an airport on the island, which opens in 2016. But residents told the UK daily newspaper that the island would become a "paedophile’s paradise" when the airport opened, as predators took advantage of a "perfect storm" of extreme poverty, a cultural acceptance of sex abuse and "laxpolicing".
Read the full article and more here on the Daily Mail.
College-bound students receive Minds Inspired grant
(CNS): Two university-bound students have both been awarded Dart’s Minds Inspired William A. Dart Memorial Scholarship. Initially intended to be awarded to one student, Dart has announcded that the scholarship was again granted to two students because of the overwhelmingly impressive applicant pool. Both of this year’s awardees have completed the International Baccalaureate diploma programme. Kirsten Ebanks (left) at the Cayman International School and Madeleine Rowell at the United World College in New Mexico, USA. Kirsten has been accepted to study at Northeastern University in the University Honours Program, which represents the top 2% of the school’s applicants; and Madeleine will attend Stanford University.
Kirsten is going to study Behavioural Neuroscience, while Madeleine was accepted into Stanford’s Human Biology programme.
Kirsten aspires to a career in medical research, primarily in the fields of addiction therapy and abnormal psychology. Last year she attended the Medical Summer School at Emory University, where she toured research facilities, witnessed surgeries and met medical staff. Her goals after university include returning to Cayman and working to improve facilities and programmes available in Cayman for the treatment of mental illness and addiction.
Kirsten has already had a glimpse of university life, after being invited to Northeastern University in March to attend the University Honours welcome programme, where she met professors and toured the school. In her free time, Kirsten has held part-time jobs with Security Centre, Kyrs Global and Eclipze Hair Design and Day Spa, and volunteers with Meals on Wheels. She is musically inclined, playing clarinet and piano; participates in Debate Club – she won the 2014 Fred Speirs Debate competition – as well as Junior Achievement, Junior Parliament and her school’s Model United Nations.
Madeleine’s areas of interest span public health, environmental sustainability and gender affairs. Her longstanding passion for finding solutions to human problems have led to her community work volunteering at The Pines Retirement Home, helping at the Humane Society and taking part in Key Club. These efforts, and her petition to requestthat the government establish sex education programmes in Cayman’s school, contributed to her receiving a 2013 “Proud of Them” community service award.
Madeleine completed her International Baccalaureate studies on a full scholarship at United World College in New Mexico, USA, where she threw herself wholeheartedly into school life, working with the school’s Debate Club and serving in numerous leadership roles such as Group Mentor Leader, voluntary tutor and Chemistry intern. Madeleine also created a Food Matters program at her school which resulted in dramatic improvements in the quality of food served at the school and improved morale on campus. Madeleine enjoys playing piano, diving and photography; she received third place in the under-17 photography category at the National Cultural Foundation of the Arts Festival.
“We are thrilled to welcome Madeleine and Kirsten to the Minds Inspired family,” says Mark VanDevelde, Chief Executive Officer for Dart Enterprises Ltd. “Their talents, experiences and interests are varied, yet both young women are clearly driven by a desire to improve their communities. We are excited to support them as they continue their academic pursuits and are proud they have been accepted to such world-class institutions. We look forward to hearing of their accomplishments in the years to come and to seeing the many beneficial changes they are sure to effect in Cayman’s society.”
The Minds Inspired initiative includes, in addition to high school and university scholarships, an annual Mathematics Challenge and supports on-island events that share the goal of shining a light on STEM education in Cayman, such as the STEM conference held at UCCI and the Rotary Central Science Fair.
The Minds Inspired programme supports the Dart family’s philosophy of promoting education and fostering academic excellence in math and science. The Dart Group believes that mathematics and science are fundamental building blocks for both academic and career success.
Cops round up more suspected burglars
(CNS): The police have charged five people from across Grand Cayman in connection with various break ins and burglaries in the capital and in Bodden Town. A 44-year-old man from George Town was charged with burglary following a break-in at the Cayman Cabana in George Town, which was reported to police on 7 July. Meanwhile, a 33-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man from North Side, along with a 22-year-old man from West Bay have all been charged with burglary in connection with a break-in at a house in Bodden Town reported to the police on 1 July. All three appeared in court Monday.
Police have also charged another West Bay man with a number of offenses. The 33-year-old was charged with two counts of criminal trespass, harassment and two counts of driving while disqualified following an incident reported to police on 4 July.