Headline News
$50k for robbers’ arrest
(CNS): Cayman Crime Stoppers and Butterfield Bank (Cayman) are offering a reward of up to US$50,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the armed robbery of the Compass Centre branch of the Butterfield Bank on this week, the RCIPS have announced. The information must be disclosed or passed before 31 December. On the day of the robbery police arrested a 17-year-old male from the West Bay area in connection with the incident. He is still in custody and the extensive enquiries continue.
At 11:20am on Wednesday, 24 November, three masked men entered the bank and threatened staff and customers with what appeared to be a handgun, which was discharged into the ceiling. The suspects made off from the premises with an undisclosed sum of cash. An extensive police search, roadblocks and the air operations unit were all involved in the subsequent hunt for the offenders. No one was injured in the incident but one member of staff was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The CID launched an immediate investigation and a team of officers have been working tirelessly with witnesses and forensic teams. The three suspects are described as having dark complexions and wearing dark clothing. They had their faces covered by Halloween masks, one ofwhich was described as being of President Obama.
Butterfield Executive Vice President, Caribbean, Conor O`Dea states, ” We would like to stress that crimes targeting the safety and security of our customers and staff will not be tolerated. We are working with the Chamber of Commerce and Crime Stoppers to send a clear message to the community that, as an organization, we stand together on this”
The reward acts to strengthen efforts to apprehend the offenders and anyone who has any information about this robbery should call the CID at George Town police station on 949 4222 or the confidential crime stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS)
Gun runner gets 9 years
(CNS):Having pleaded guilty three days into his trial for the importation of firearms, Joseph Hurlston was handed a 9 year prison sentence in the Grand Court this morning by Justice Smith. Despite Hurlston’s guilty plea, which brought the statutory minimum sentence on a firearms offence from ten years down to seven, the judge noted that there were aggravating factors and said time must be tacked on. He pointed to the number of weapons that Hurlston had attempted to bring in and that fact that his guilty plea came so late in the day. (Photo courtesy of Cayman27)
Justice Smith said he did not feel that Hurlston’s claim by his defence counsel that the three guns were bought for his own protection because of a murder that had taken place in his yard was a mitigating factor.
The judge noted that if Hurlston had wanted a weapon for safety reasons there were provisions for him to apply for a license. The defendant, he said, had imported three handguns and ammunition as well as waiting until the crown had almost closed its case against him before he admitted his guilt. The judge said that he agreed with the crown counsel that the seven year minimum sentence had to be reserved for cases where the defendant had no previous convictions, where there was only one weapon was involved and where the guilty plea was entered at the earliest opportunity.
“I believe an appropriate sentence in this case is nine years,” the the judge said, adding that time already served by the defendant should be taken into account.
Hurlston has been in custody since his arrest in April of this year in East End. The 27-year-old from West Bay admitted going to Jamaica, where he bought three hand guns for $3000, in the wake of a murder which took place in his yard, followed by fire at the property that destroyed his home and which he believed was deliberately set.
The defendant said that, fearing for his life, he had decided to get the guns for protection. He returned from Jamaica via canoe and when he and others were offloaded onto a smaller boat close to Grand Cayman’s East End, the boat took on water and began to sink. Hurlston lost his backpack, which contained two of the guns he had bought, as well as his passport, wallet, drivers license and some drugs, overboard as he tried to save his own life.
Soon after he came ashore with another man in East End in the early hours of the morning of 20 April, they were both spotted by police offers on patrol in the area. When they both fled, the police gave chase, and although Hurlston tried to discard the one remaining firearm as he ran away, the officers recovered the gun from the beach and apprehended him.
Marine patrol officers also searched the area near the East End channel where the boat had capsized and recovered Hurlston’s backpack, the guns, drugs and ID.
During his sentencing hearing last week it was revealed that Hurlston’s yard was the scene of a fatal gang shooting in West Bay last year, in which Marcus Ebanks was killed and Adryan Powell was seriously injured. Raziel Jeffers has now been charged with the Ebanks’ murder and the attempted murder of Powell.
Mac talks fiscal prudence
(CNS): The country’s premier said that fiscal prudence will continue to be the dominating factor in his administration as he delivered the government’s strategic policy statement on Thursday morning. Setting out the government’s broad policy objectives this annual statement is designed to set the scene for the 2010/11 budget. However, McKeeva Bush took the opportunity to also note what he said were real improvements in the current public finances. He announced that in the first quarter of the 2010/11 financial year government had achieved a surplus of approximately CI$15.4 million. In the budget it had expected a deficit of about CI$6 million but because of prudent action spending was much lower than expected.
Aside from the various goals and ambitions of attracting new business to the islands and creating an attractive environment for investors, the premier focused on the need to put government’s financial house in order. He pointed to the much lower than expected deficit at the end of the 2009/10 financial year as a clear demonstration of his government’s success in that regard.
“In its first full year of office, my government has been able to reduce the unaudited budget deficit for the entire public sector to CI$15 million, for the year ended 30 June 2010,” he said. “This represents a whopping reduction of CI$66 million from the corresponding figure of CI$81 million for the year ended 30 June 2009.”
He said the improved results demonstrated that government was heading in the “right direction” the theme of his 2010 SPS. Bush said the opposition should judge government on the facts and without prejudice as the performance represented a CI$30 million improvement on the revised Budget Deficit which was made public in April this year.
With an overall improvement of $10 million inrevenue combined with a reduction in expenditure of$18 million less than the revised budget expectation as well as extraordinary expenses and statutory authorities losses both less than a million dollars than expected government had made a serious dent in the deficit.
“In simple terms, we have performed three times better than the revised budget expected,” Bush told the Legislative Assembly. “This is the kind of performance that will help us overcome the economic difficulties that we had to face left by the former government and we are giving ourselves the flexibility in our fiscal policy to take advantage of the prospects for economic improvement in 2011.”
He said that the first three months of this financial year — July to September 2010 government had continued on its track of prudent financial management with core public expenditures CI$18.5 million less than the budget anticipated. “This is not an accident; it did not happen by chance—it was the result of deliberate and prudent action by Ministries and Portfolios and by Honourable Ministers and Members of Cabinet,” the premier said.
In order to achieve economic growth, after overcoming the recession the plan was to focus on reform in the public sector; limits on new borrowings; the re-alignment of the existing revenue base; the reduction of operating expenditures and consideration of the use of PFI as an alternative source of funding – policy objectives that the premier has talked about since his election to office.
According to the policy statement document after the loan which government is still securing with Cohen and Company Ltd of $155 million the government will not take on any new borrowing as it believes there will be no more deficit budgets.
Bush said he that his government had the guts to put the country’s fiscal house in order. This he said would also send the right signals to stakeholders in the international centres such as Washington, New York and London to improve the situation for the financial industry. “This is part of our role in working hand in hand with the private sector to ensure our future prosperity,” Bush said.
He added that one of his main goals was to inspire the private sector as his government understood the best strategy for achieving sustainable growth in the local economy was to encourage the private sector to do what it does best — create wealth and generate jobs.
“As you may recall, the theme of my 2010/11 budget address was “Partnership for Recovery”, in which we suggested that there must be a new emphasis on the public/private sector partnership to drive the economic recovery,” Bush told the house.
He reemphasised the importance of the financial services industry which despite the economic downturn still accounted for around 40% of the government’s revenue and in the most recent study 60% of the employees are Caymanians.
From immigration policy changes to a new stimulus package the premier said he was still committed to the promise he made some two months ago.
“The Stimulus Implementation Group has compiled and filtered over 250 suggestions and initiatives submitted by numerous committees and associations. They are now in the process of prioritizing a list of measures which are targeted for implementation in the remainder of this fiscal year. At the end of the promised 90-days, I will be unveiling this stimulus programme, thereby charting the way through the recession and back on a path to economic prosperity,” Bush promised.
“It is important to demonstrate to our private sector partners, both local and international, that we are prepared to identify problems, prescribe solutions and oversee their implementation. In short, we will provide the leadership that sets this country on the right path, and given the evidence, the country has seen to date, we are heading in the right direction,” the premier declared.
PPM: Mac ignoring crime
(CNS): The opposition took aim at the premier in the wake of his Strategic Policy Statement presentation on Thursday when it said he had failed to address the crucial issue of crime. During the almost two hour speech in which McKeeva Bush had outlined government’s broad strategic policy goals for the next budget year Alden McLaughlin said he was “astounded” that the premier had not said one word about the growing problem of violent crime. The George Town opposition member told the House that he did not think there was an issue which was more important than the impact violent crime was having on the country.
He said all of the efforts government claimed it was making to try and attract new business would be thwarted unless this key issue was addressed.
While McLaughlin was at pains to say he was not blaming government for the increase in criminal activity he said that he believed it had responsibility to do something about it. He pointed out that the premier never lost a single opportunity to tell the previous administration when he was leader of the opposition that government had a responsibility to tackle crime even when at that time elected officials had a lot less influence than they did now in the wake of constitutional changes.
Under the constitution the government has three ministers on the national Security Council and is in a better position than any previous government to influence the police strategies for dealing with crime. McLaughlin stated that as the members squabbled with each other yesterday the Bank of Butterfield was robbed, shots fired and people terrified.
The PPM member also questioned why a private member’s motion he had spent considerable time preparing and filed with the Legislative Assembly calling for a full national strategy to deal with crime back in February, had still not even seen the light of day.
Given that the SPS is an important milestone in the political calendar McLaughlin said he found it unbelievable he was silent on the issue of crime. “For the premier to deliver the SPS and not say one word about crime is astounding,’ McLaughlin said. “I don’t believe there is an issue that is more serious.”
Not only was the crime problem going to impact the efforts to attract business and tourism, McLaughlin noted how it was also changing the culture and way of life of Caymanians. He said there were certain areas of George Town now where when he visited local teens would ask him for ten dollars to watch his car. “The sense of safety that was part of our lives, and our country is being lost,” he said. While he accepted that rime was complex and there would never be enough money to do the things needed to address the fundamental causes of crime the country had to find a way to stem the siege through a comprehensive strategy.
“I can’t say that government isn’t doing anything about crime, but we don’t know as it hasn’t said anything about it,” he said, adding that it was very worrying to see such an important issue omitted from the SPS. “Government appears not to be giving crime the attention it deserves. “Improving the fiscal position will all be for naught if we are all forced to walk around with a police guard as the premier does,” he said. “Government has a responsibility to do something…but the silence is deafening.”
In his response the premier criticised the opposition for what he said were “wild allegations” he said it was easy fodder for the opposition to criticise government over crime and it was merely political tactics that the opposition member knew would score points with the public. He said there was not a single member in the Legislative Assembly not concerned about crime but despite the National Security Council government still had no power over policing.
Bush also noted that revealing the country’s strategy for dealing with crime was a security risk before he said that his government was doing all it could to deal with the issue and the opposition member was misleading the public.
Premier ignores crime in policy statement
(CNS): The opposition took aim at the premier in the wake of his Strategic Policy Statement presentation on Thursday when it said he had failed to address the crucial issue of crime. During the almost two hour speech, in which McKeeva Bush had outlined government’s broad strategic policy goals for the next budget year, Alden McLaughlin said he was “astounded” that the premier had not said one word about the growing problem of violent crime. The George Town opposition member told the House that he did not think there was an issue which was more important than the impact violent crime was having on the country.
He said all of the efforts government claimed it was making to try and attract new business would be thwarted unless this key issue was addressed.
While McLaughlin was at pains to say he was not blaming government for the increase in criminal activity, he said that he believed it had responsibility to do something about it. He pointed out that the premier never lost a single opportunity to tell the previous administration when he was leader of the opposition that government had a responsibility to tackle crime, even when at that time elected officials had a lot less influence than they did now in the wake of constitutional changes.
Under the constitution, the government has three ministers on the National Security Council and is in a better position than any previous government to influence the police strategies for dealing with crime. McLaughlin noted that while the members squabbled with each other yesterday, the Bank of Butterfield was robbed, shots fired and people terrified.
The PPM member also questioned why a private member’s motion he had spent considerable time preparing and filed with the Legislative Assembly calling for a full national strategy to deal with crime back in February, had still not even seen the light of day.
Given that the SPS is an important milestone in the political calendar, McLaughlin said he found it unbelievable he was silent on the issue of crime. “For the premier to deliver the SPS and not say one word about crime is astounding," McLaughlin said. “I don’t believe there is an issue that is more serious.”
Not only was the crime problem going to impact the efforts to attract business and tourism, McLaughlin noted how it was also changing the culture and way of life of Caymanians. He said there were certain areas of George Town now where, when he visited, local teens would ask him for ten dollars to watch his car. “The sense of safety that was part of our lives and our country is being lost,” he said. While he accepted that crime was complex and there would never be enough money to do the things needed to address the fundamental causes of crime, the country had to find a way to stem the siege through a comprehensive strategy.
“I can’t say that government isn’t doing anything about crime, but we don’t know as it hasn’t said anything about it,” he said, adding that it was very worrying to see such an important issue omitted from the SPS. “Government appearsnot to be giving crime the attention it deserves. “Improving the fiscal position will all be for naught if we are all forced to walk around with a police guard as the premier does,” he said. “Government has a responsibility to do something … but the silence is deafening.”
In his response the premier criticised the opposition for what he said were “wild allegations”. He said it was easy fodder for the opposition to criticise government over crime and it was merely political tactics that the opposition member knew would score points with the public. He said there was not a single member in the Legislative Assembly not concerned about crime, but despite the National Security Council, government still had no power over policing.
Noting that revealing the country’s strategy for dealing with crime was a security risk, Bush said that his government was doing all it could to deal with the issue and the opposition member was misleading the public.
Teen arrested for bank heist
(CNS): A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with an armed robbery at the Compass Centre branch of the Butterfield Bank yesterday, when three masked men who held up staff and customers. The teen was arrested during a police operation in the West Bay area last night on suspicion of robbery, police said Thursday afternoon. George Town police officers are currently interviewing witnesses and reviewing the CCTV footage obtained from the bank in an effort to track down all three men responsible, the RCIPS revealed. Despite the quick arrest, Detective Sergeant Richard Scott (left) is stressing that the enquiry is still at a very early stage.(Photo courtesy of Cayman 27)
“The faces of the men involved in the robbery were hidden by the Halloween masks,” he said. “At the moment officersare re-interviewing witnesses and viewing the CCTV footage. We will, when it is appropriate in terms of the investigative lines of enquiry, release the footage to the media and the public. Today, I would like to ask anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident, who has not yet spoken to police to come forward. The bank sits on a busy junction – if you saw anyone running away or even a vehicle driving off at speed, please let us know. It has been extensively reported that one of the robbers was wearing an Obama mask. If you know of anyone who has one of these masks please get in contact with the enquiry team at George Town police station.”
Anyone with any information about this crime should call George Town police station on 949-
4222 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS).
Opposition walk out of LA
(CNS): Following a heated exchange between the premier and the member for East End, the entire opposition walked out of the Legislative Assembly in a show of party solidarity on Wednesday afternoon. During the debate on the Tax Concessions (Amendment) Bill, Arden McLean said the changes to the law had some worrying implications and suggested the premier was seeking to circumvent the rule of law. Protesting to the speaker, McKeeva Bush loudly demanded that the opposition member withdraw the accusation. However, McLean refused to do so and as a result the speaker asked him to leave. In a gesture of support his four opposition colleagues went with him. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
With the independent member for North Side absent from the chamber overseas, that left the government facing empty opposition benches as it pushed through legislation which will enable Cabinet to exempt any company, not just offshore exempted companies, from any future new taxes that could be introduced without consulting the parliament.
Before the opposition walkout the premier had given a very brief introduction to the bill saying it would be a tool which government could use to offer future incentives to new business that may be attracted to the islands. Bush said it was a positive amendment and one which would be easy for the opposition to support.
However, responding to the presentation and the bill itself, the East End member said he was puzzled that the premier would think it would be easy for them to support given the obvious concerns regarding the legislation.
McLean pointed out that it was essentially giving the premier the power to offer anyone tax exemptions behind closed doors in Cabinet without any indication of the criteria for that exemption. He suggested that, should government introduce a tax and then offer concessions to one company trading in the Cayman Islands but not another, it was easy to see how that would be competitively unfair.
“For example, if someone was to come along and want to build a port in East End, well then, the premier could circumvent the law …,” McLean said before the premier leapt to his feet and accused the opposition member of being in Never-Neverland and called on the Speaker of the House. Mary Lawrence asked McLean to withdraw the statement as she said no member was allowed to impugn another.
However, McLean said that he was not prepared to withdraw what he said given that the premier had recently gone on television and admitted openly that he was prepared to circumvent the law when he felt it was necessary, as he had recently regarding the Central Tenders Committee.
The speaker insisted that the member withdraw the comment, and when McLean continued to refuse she called an abrupt adjournment and asked him to go to her office. She later returned and announced that the East End MLA was still refusing to withdraw the comment and she then asked the member to leave the House for the rest of the afternoon’s proceedings.
Although McLean pointed out that the procedure was incorrect, not wishing to escalate the situation, he and all of his colleagues collected their papers and left together.
Bush insisted that McLean’s comments were struck from the record before he accused the opposition of playing to the gallery and attempting to upstage government. He said the accusations about the bill gave a false impression to the country. “Do they think that if there was something untoward about a certificate the governor would sign it,” Bush asked the empty opposition bench. He said there was nothing new in the law but he said the country had an opposition that was trying to destroy the government.
Following the adjournment of the House, the opposition denied playing to the gallery and pointed out that they walkout was because all of the PPM members were in support of McLean’s comments and believed that the bill was an attempt to circumvent democracy.
McLean said there were significant future implications with the bill and he would not allow the premier to truncate the future of the country without raising his objections. “I was hired to protect the interests of the people of this country, especially the people of East End,” said McLean. “The people sent me there to represent them and I’m going to do it the best way I know how and I will speak up as government is trying to circumvent every tenet of democracy we have.”
His colleague Alden McLaughlin raised serious questions about the bill’s implications and said that the walkout was not a performance but was because the member for East End should have been allowed to make his point. “What this is all about is conferring yet another power on Cabinet to make decisions behind closed doors,” McLaughlin said.
Robbers wore party masks
(CNS): Updated 5:30pm – Police have now released descriptions of the three armed men who robbed Butterfield Bank (Cayman) on North Sound Road this morning. Police said the gunmen were all wearing Halloween party masks one of which was said to be of the US president Barack Obama. The three suspects are all described as having dark complexions and were wearing dark clothing. During the robbery which occurred around 11:20am staff were threatened and one shot was fired into the ceiling before the robbers escaped with an undisclosed sum of cash. Although police did not reveal how the robbers made their escape road blocks were set up in the surrounding area and the Air Operations Unit was deployed in the search for the suspects. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
The RCIPS said only one of the three men appeared to be armed with a handgun and although staff were shaken and one was taken to hospital no one was injured. News27, reporting live from the scene in the immediate wake of the robbery interviewed a wtiness who was at the ATM when she heard a sound within the bank. When she looked she saw everyone was on the ground and knew it was a bank robbery. She said she ran away and called 911.
Butterfield released a statement this afternoon stating that it was unable to confirm official details but that the Compass Banking Centre was closed for the remainder of the day. "We can report our staff and customers are safe and that the Banking Centre is secure. Butterfield management is working with the RCIP and will continue to provide updates as they become available. The safety of our staff and our customers is our number one priority, at this time," the bank stated.
The bank went on to say that a formal communication will be released to the press as soon as additional information is confirmed.
Anyone with any information about this crime should call George Town police station on 949-
4222 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS).
Legislators return to seats
(CNS): Following the recent sitting of the Legislative Assembly at the beginning of the month where government brought no legislative changes at all, the House re-opens again Wednesday with high expectations for a number of new bills as well as amendments. The recent debate that government must pass legislation that enshrines the constitutional requirement of providing 21 days notice for all laws before they are brought to the LA for passage saw government’s legislative plans delayed during the last sitting. Tomorrow however law makers are expected to get back to the business of making and amending legislation the premier is also expected to deliver his government’s strategic policy statement (SPS) on Friday. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
The SPS is when government outlines its financial goals and plans for the next financial year and will give the country a better view on how likely government is to have delivered on its goal to eliminate the deficit by 2012/2013 financial year. It also present an opportunity for government to update the people on the current situation with the various propose infrastructure projects which it hopes to deliver before the end of this election term.
Aside from the new law to enshrine the 21 day consultation period for bills government is also expected to bring other legislative changes which failed to make the paper earlier in the meeting. These include changes regarding tax concessions, witness protection, district councils and the controversial dormant accounts bill. There is no sign that either the national conservation law or changes to the traffic law will come in this next sitting.
The Legislative Assembly doors open to the public at 10am.
Electric cars no-go but 3 wheelers roll on out
(CNS): Although government has still not changed the law to allow any of the diverse range of modern electric cars on Cayman’s roads, electric three wheelers, with considerably less safety features, are legal. A recent advertisement on a local website for a 3 wheel Zap has served to highlight the anomaly in the country’s road laws. The Zap has been approved by the Cayman Islands government because it is classified as a tricycle or motorcycle. However, electric cars with all their wheels as well as green credentials, which are in some cases almost indistinguishable from regular vehicles, are still a no-go. (Photos: Left a Fisker HT is not allowed on Cayman’s roads while the Zap shown below is)
The Zebra Sedan which is currently being advertised on Ecay-online has a top speed of 40 mph and no airbags, which is why it cannot be sold in the US or Canada, but it is legal here and can be 
driven on all of the country’s roads.
Despite the fact that a number of dealers and drivers in Cayman have been lobbying for years to get government to sanction four wheel electric cars on Cayman’s roads, which are increasingly difficult to differentiate between theregular gas guzzling cars that currently clog Cayman’s highways, the government has still not passed the necessary laws.
John Felder of Cayman Automotive, who has been campaigning for more than four years, has virtually abandoned his plans to sell the latest electric vehicles in Cayman and turned his attention to Bermuda and Jamaica, where legislation was approved last year to allow the use of electric cars on their roads. Felder had been poised to establish the first charging stations for electric the vehicles here. However, he recently told CNS that, given the lack of political will to start the green revolution on Cayman’s roads, he was concentrating on selling electric vehicles where green cars were being taking seriously.
Although he is not giving up on Cayman’s law makers eventually doing the right thing, he said Bermuda was poised to become the model for the Caribbean when it comes to electric vehicles — which could have been Cayman.
Government told CNS in July that it was ready to bring the necessary legislation to the Legislative Assembly in September but it recently revealed that it would now be sometime in 2011 before the traffic law would be amended.
Although people often associate electric vehicles simply with Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles, which look like golf carts, the reality is that electric cars have a come a long way. There are new classifications of electric vehicles with a top speed of over 40mph and many have airbags, A/C, and meet NIHTSA crash test safety standards. The new Fisker HT, which will be available in Cayman next year (even if it can’t drive on the roads) looks a lot more like a racing car than a golf cart and can go from 0-60mph in less than 6 seconds. With no gas, no oil and no pollution, it is truly part of the green revolution which, so far, Cayman is failing to embrace.