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Murder suspects released

Cayman News | 11/10/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): Police have released two of the four men arrested in connection with the killing of Jack Forbes in Bodden Town on 1 October, an RCIPS spokesperson said on Monday. A 34-year-old man who was arrested in George Town on Friday 8 October in connection with the crime has since been released on police bail while enquiries continue. The 18-year-old man who was arrested in the operations immediately following the murder has also been released on police bail. Police said two other men arrested in the wake of the murder of Forbes remain in police custody. According to reports, 49-year-old Forbes, was the victim of a brutal attack which took place around the Plaza Odessa, in Bodden Town.

Police found Forbes’ beaten body at around 6:20pm at the scene of the crime, where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses said that Forbes was beaten and stabbed during an attack by several individuals.

Forbes had recently been released from Northward prison after serving around ten years of a twelve year sentence for the manslaughter of Steve Watler in May 2000.

Foreign workers face bio-tests

Cayman News | 10/10/2010 | 96 Comments

(CNS): Foreigners hoping to work in the Cayman Islands will soon have to give a range of bio-metric information to officials in order to enter the country. Government plans to introduce a system that goes way beyond the anticipated finger printing which could include collecting palm prints, face and iris patterns, and even DNA for the purpose of identifying all work permit holders. This data will be held by the Immigration Department and will also be used by the police in conjunction with a new Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The plan to introduce of a new RCIPS finger print system and the immigration biometric enrolment was revealed with the publication of an invitation for bids on the Central Tender’s Committee website on Friday.

According to the Request for Proposal, the winning bidder needs to provide the Immigration department with “Biometric Enrolment, Verification, and Enforcement Hardware and Software,” and the police with Law Enforcement Automated Fingerprint Identification to upgrade the existing system.

“The Cayman Islands Government wishes to integrate the capability for biometric enrolment and verification of identity for work permit holders into the existing Immigration System (IMSS), and upgrade or replace the existing Royal Cayman Islands Police Service’s (RCIPS) Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs will be spearheading this project,” the request states.

The request indicates that the RCIPS wants an Automated Fingerprint Identification System that would allow police to print suspects in a variety of circumstances and integrate those prints with the police mug shot database. The portfolio is also looking for a system that would allow immigration and the RCIPS to search each others’ identification systems. The RFP asks for a system that would “allow integration and controlled access between the AFIS System and the Immigration System,” the document reveals.

The goal is to provide immigration with the ability to biometrically enrol work permit holders allowing accurate verification of work permit holder’s identity when they are entering or exiting Cayman, during immigration enforcement activities, and at other times and locations as required, the documents say.

The new AFIS system in turn is expected to provide, “sufficient performance, capacity, accuracy, and enhanced functionality to support current and future police operations including the processing of subjects in custody at RCIPS locations, during mobile police field operations,” as well as integration with existing records.

The portfolio said it is inviting submission of tenders “from interested eligible firms” by 12 noon on 19 November. Those firms will need to possess a verifiable past record, equal to or superseding the project’s size and complexity, of providing the proposed equipment and/or software to a local, state, or national government entity. Government will retain one or more companies specializing in the field and firms can bid on all or part of the products and services specified in the RFP.

Go to documents and CTC website

National count launched

Cayman News | 10/10/2010 | 50 Comments

(CNS): After many months of preparation the national census 2010 gets underway today as the Economics and Statistics Office rolls out its almost 300 strong army of enumerators. Starting from this evening, which is census night, workers will be visiting each and every home across all three Cayman Islands until the end of November, when the count ends. Organisers are asking the community to welcome the census worker and ensure they can recognise the staff when they come to their homes. All residents in the Cayman Islands are legally obliged by law to take part in the count but the ESO hopes everyone will join in without coercion.

“We are ready, we are excited and we hope the entire country will support this important national exercise,” Economics and Statistics Director Maria Zingapan said. The project aims to count every single household and interview one member from each home to gain an accurate a picture as possible of the current number and position of the country’s population.

Cayman’s church leaders have also backed the exercise and Cayman Ministers Association Chairman Pastor Bob Thompson Jr and Secretary Rev. Nicholas Sykes joined with Seventh Day Adventist CI Conference President Pastor Eric Clarke to acknowledge the need for full participation.

“We understand how important this single biggest statistics-gathering exercise is for our country and all our people,” Pastor Thompson said. “Without accurate population and housing data and other current statistics to guide us, all our forward planning will be unbalanced. We need to base our decisions on sound facts.”

Rev. Sykes said he has participated in a number of censuses and said that, knowing how they work, he has no hesitation in confirming that all personal information is kept confidential in the census database. Pastor Clarke added that people mattered and for the sake of accuracy no one should be left out. “We therefore need to welcome census workers and provide truthful answers to the questions,” the church leader added.

Some local church leaders may be surprised by the results as a worldwide campaign, started in 2001, asking people to cite Jedi or Jedi knight as the religion in international censuses has gained momentum. In Austria 0.37% people claim Jedi as their faith, while 1.5% did so in the New Zealand census. In the UK 0.8% said they were Jedi in England and Wales, making it the fourth largest reported religion. After 21,000 Canadians put down their religion as Jedi Knight in that country’s census, government said it was a rationale for making the census form voluntary.

Although the campaign has been described as merely a global practical joke, it is also seen as a political protest about the inclusion of religious questions in a compulsory census. In the UK census it is the one question that those being interviewed are not obligated to answer under the law.

Census Manager Elizabeth Talbert warned members of the community to make sure they identify workers who visit homes: “They will wear a blue or yellow Census 2010 T-shirt, they must have a Census 2010 identification card, and they will most probably carry a clipboard and a black Census 2010 bag,” she said. “It is your right to ask them for proof of their identity before you invite them in.

Talbert added that all enumerators signed an oath of confidentiality, ensuring that Census 2010 information will be kept safe and secure and offices have been established in each district that will be open 12 hours per day. “Our enumerators have been trained well and they will help people with every question. People don’t need to figure the questionnaire out by themselves. We want everyone to feel comfortable with the census and we encourage them to ask questions,” Talbert said. “If at any time you have a problem or are hesitant, please give us a call,” Talbert added.

District offices will be open weekdays and Saturdays: 8:30am to 8pm and on Sundays between 1pm to 6pm. They are located at:

George Town: Paddington Place, 946-5107 (Daisylyn Chin or Selbourn Christian)

West Bay: Centennial Towers, 914-7864 (Nicole Emmanuel-Jones or Theodore Thompson) Eastern Districts: Countryside Shopping Village (Adolphus Laidlow or Michael Godfrey)

Cayman Brac and Little Cayman: 948-0940 (Chevala Burke).

For more information go to www.census2010.ky or www.eso.ky

Two trials planned for kidnapping case

Cayman News | 08/10/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): An application by the prosecution to try three men who have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping together failed in the Grand Court this morning, when Justice Alex Henderson would not allow the crown to postpone Charles Webster’s trial, which is set for 18 October, until next year. Webster is one of four men accused of kidnapping a local man in the first case of a kidnapping for ransom in the Cayman Islands. The fourth man, Wespie Mullings-Ramon, who was also scheduled to be tried on 18 October, has now pleaded guilty, leaving Webster to stand trial alone. Despite the fact that the prosecution had originally separated the four defendants into two different cases, it was revealed on Friday morning that the crown would now like to join Webster’s case with that of the other two men, set to be heard in February.

The first hurdle for crown counsel Tanya Lobben in the goal to conjoin the case against Webster with the case against Sywell Allan Kelly and Richard Robert Hurlstone was to vacate Webster’s trial date only ten days before the case was due to be heard. Webster’s attorney, Lucy Organ, raised her client’s objections and pointed out that the trial date had been set back in July and Webster, who has been in custody for more then six months since his arrest in March, was expecting the trial to happen and wanted the trial to go ahead.

The prosecution said the charges against Webster were very similar to those against Kelly and Hurlstone and the same twenty witnesses would need to be called for both trials, so for the sake of efficiency, prosecuting counsel said, the crown wished to join the two together and have just one trial instead of two.

The court heard that a pending judicial review on behalf of Kelly and Hurlstone on their case had prevented their trial, set for February 2011, from being brought forward until after that matter was heard in November. This meant the crown had to request that Webster’s trial be postponed until after the judicial review and then either a new date set for all three men to be tried together or to stick with the February date planned for Kelly and Hurlstone.

The judge said that he had to weigh the crown’s request based on “efficiency” with the fact that the defendant could be remanded in custody for a further three months, even though he had done nothing to delay the proceedings.

Justice Henderson observed that had the crown presented its application in a timely fashion it may have been possible, but he said it was simply too late. Denying the crown’s request, the judge said that, since Webster was in custody awaiting a trial that had been fixed in July, he had a reasonable expectation of a trial on 18 October and an entitlement to go to trial. Justice Henderson said that unless the crown had any further submissions the trial should go ahead.

Webster (28), a Honduran national, was arrested at Owen Roberts International airport on 23 March, a few days after the young man he and the other men are accused of kidnapping had escaped. He is facing charges of abduction, confinement, blackmail, and assault.

According to a police report from the time of the incident, the parents of the victim received a phone call on Thursday, 18 March, from a man claiming to have taken their son hostage and demanding a ransom of hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure his release. The parents were told by the kidnappers that they would kill the victim if they contacted the police but the next day the young man was reportedly able to escape from the house in Rum Point where he had been held by his captors

Wespie Mullings-Ramon, also Honduran, was charged with the same offences as Webster but has elected to plead guilty and is now in custody awaiting trial. Sywell Allan Kelly, another Honduran national, is also charged with abduction, confinement, blackmail, threatening violence and assault ABH and is also in custody.

Meanwhile, Hurlstone, who is Caymanian and charged with abduction, confinement and blackmail, is believed to be related to the victim. He and Kelly are still expected to be tried in February of next year.

West Bay gas station robbed

Cayman News | 08/10/2010 | 81 Comments

(CNS): Update 10:38am – The RCIPS have now released a description of the armed man who robbed the 4 Winds Esso Gas station, close to the four-way stop in West Bay, on Thursday evening, 7 October at around 8:50pm. Sources told CNS that one man armed with a gun threatened a member of staff at the gas pump by placing the firearm to his head in a terrifying ordeal. The robber forced the attendant inside the station store and made him open the cash draw. Taking the money, the gunman then made his escape behind the gas station on foot. The robbery comes exactly one week after the Alfresco Restaurant, which is yards from the gas station, was robbed by two masked men, who remain at large. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

Police confirmed that no shots were fired and no-one was injured.

The male suspect is described as being around 5’10” in height, with a clear complexion. He was wearing a grey coloured long sleeved t-shirt, short blue jean pants, tennis shoes, a bandana and a black baseball cap.

Anyone who has any information about this crime, or who was in the area of the four-way-stop last night at the relevant time and saw anything suspicious, is asked to call West Bay police station on 949-3999 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS).

Miller says accounts are in

Cayman News | 08/10/2010 | 16 Comments

(CNS): Following a closed door meeting of the Legislative Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee this week, chair Ezzard Miller said that all of the relevant government agencies have managed to get their latest financial accounts to the Auditor General’s Office. Miller said that not every entity made the 31 August deadline but most came close and the rest are now all with the AG. Miller added that financial officers throughout the public sector were finally beginning to make headway with government’s long overdue accounts, and while the 30 September deadline for the backlog was missed, they were at least coming close to addressing the overall problem of financial delinquency. (Photo by Dennie Warren)

“It appears that things are going very well and I was pleasantly surprised,” Miller said about his latest PAC meeting. “We didn’t make the 30 September deadline to have the backlog completed but, to be honest, it was far more of a target than a deadline. I never had any great expectations that it would be achieved but it was something to work towards.”

The government has been wrestling with a backlog of financial reports for over five years. The last time an annual audited report of government accounts was completed was for the financial year 2003/04. Since then government entities have failed to meet the requirements of the Public Management and Finance Law and have not been submitting accounts to the AG’s office. The delinquency problem was brought to public attention by the former auditor general, Dan Duguay, in a special report entitled "The State of financial accountability reporting", dated April 2008.

The issue became a bone of contention for senior public servants, with everything from Hurricane Ivan to the PMF law itself being blamed for the problem. It also became a hot issue during the election with candidates promising to get the accounts sorted out if they came to office.

Miller said the important thing now was that measurable progress was finally being made across the various government entities. Of all of the government departments, ministries and companies, only one entity was still working on its 07/08 accounts. Of the government portfolios and ministries, only one had not started on the 08/09 accounts, and all the statutory authorities that were behind are now working on their 08/09 backlog, the chair revealed.

Running in parallel to the catch-up, finance departments had also been asked to ensure that they all got their 09/10 accounts into the audit office by the statutory deadline, which was 31 August. Miller did not name names, but he said that while some did not make the 31 August deadline, every single entity hadsubmitted financial records to the audit office by Thursday morning, 7 October.

“We are getting on track at last,” Miller said. “I think there is modest progress for all the entities involved and there is no doubt the difficult part has been trying to go back so far and find records.”

The North Side independent MLA, who was voted chair of PAC in the wake of the election in May 2009, said that from the start he hoped that he would be able to get the public accounts back in order and have at least two full annual government reports before the end of his term as chair of the committee.

“All being well, we are set to have the 2010/11 accounts done in accordance with the Public Management and Finance Law,” he said. “The PAC and the AG’s office has spent time working on a clear format for accounts submissions and how financials are presented to the AG. As everyone now knows what is expected, we are on a more sound footing for future account keeping.”

Miller said the day was not far away when the people would be able to see in detail exactly where and how public money was being spent.

With all hands on accounts, Miller said there were no further AG reports expected for PAC to consider and the next public meeting of the committee was likely to be in December, when the AG had finished his government annual report. “We have asked the AG to focus entirely on this issue, and once the public accounts are back in order we expect he will be turning his attention to value for money audits,” Miller said.

He also noted that he was able to get a quorum for this latest PAC meeting as Dwayne Seymour and Moses Kirkconnell were both in attendance. However, the other two members of the committee, Cline Glidden MLA for West Bay, who was overseas, and Elio Solomon, MLA for George Town, did not attend.

Missing witness shows up

Cayman News | 07/10/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The trial of 19 year old Justin Ramoon was able to begin on Wednesday after the crown’s key witness and complainant in the case, who was missing on Monday, showed up at court. Sven Connor, who said he did not know he was expected on Monday, took the stand and told the court that Justin Ramoon had pulled a gun on him and the two men had fought outside a house in Fairlawn Road George Town on 21 February. Ramoon, who is facing charges of possession of an imitation firearm with intent, denied the allegations and said he was in West Bay on the evening in question. He said he did not know Connor very well and could not explain why he would make the accusation against him. (Photo courtesy of Cayman27)

Connor, who was released from jail last year after serving eleven years following a manslaughter conviction, said he believed that the defendant was sent by his cousin Roydell Robinson and accused Ramon and his family and friends of being a syndicate. The complainant said he had been falsely accused of trying to kill Robinson before the incident in Fairlawn Road but the charges of attempted murder were dropped.

Connor told the court that on the night of this incident he was sitting in front of a friend’s house in his girlfriend’s yard at around 8pm, when a distinctive car, which he said belonged to Ramoon’s step-father, pulled up near the property. As the car door slammed Connor looked to see Ramoon walking towards him. Connor told the court that when he was within one arm’s length Ramoon pulled out a semi-automatic hand gun from his pants and engaged the weapon as he aimed it at Connor’s head.

Thecomplainant said he quickly grabbed at the gun and the two men began to struggle over the firearm. When the gun fell to the ground, Connor ran into the bushes and towards the Field of Dreams at the end of Crewe Road, where he called the police. Connor said his shoulder was dislocated during the fight and he was taken to hospital. When asked by the defence attorney, Ben Tonner, if he was lying about the incident to get back at Robinson, Connor asked why he would need to lie about it. “I have no reason to lie about him, sir,” Connor said.

Ramoon, who took the stand in his own defence, denied being at the scene and said at the time he had moved from his home in George Town. He said his mother was in jail and he did not have a steady job, so was struggling to pay bills and the power had been cut off. He said he was bunking at a house near The Shores in West Bay with a cousin, and on the night Connor accused him of coming to the house, he was eating and drinking with the cousin and other friends.

Ramoon denied that he owned a gun or had been to the area that night. He said he had only known Connor for a short time and had no beef with him. The defendant told crown counsel that he was not there. “I never owned a gun, I never seen a gun,” he said. “Miss, you are suggesting wrong. I wasn’t even in the area that this guy is talking about,” Ramoon said as Tanya Lobben cross-examined him on behalf of the crown.

Ramoon denied that he had borrowed a car from Anthony Truman or that the man was his step-father but acknowledged that Truman had a relationship with his mother in the past. The defendant admitted that he had been to the area where Connor was talking about in the past to buy drugs and he also told the court he was on good terms with his cousin Robinson.

The court heard that although a search warrant had been issued and Ramoon’s home in George Town had been searched, no weapon was ever recovered in the case. The prosecution called three police witnesses that had been involved in the investigation but Anthony Truman, who had given a statement to the police and had been called as a witness, had also failed to appear when the trial was set to start Monday. Lobben told the court on Wednesday that Truman had written a letter saying he did not wish to testify, and according to immigration had left the jurisdiction.

Ramoon had originally been charged with attempted murder of Connor and possession of an unlicensed firearm. However, with no forensic evidence proving a gun had been fired, the crown dropped those two charges on Monday and replaced them with the one count for which Ramoon is now being tried.

The trial continues on Thursday morning.

Mother pleads for speedy trial

Cayman News | 07/10/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The mother of Jeremiah Barnes, who was shot and killed in West Bay in February, made an impassioned plea to the court this morning that the man accused of killing her son be dealt with speedily. Devon Anglin, who is facing murder charges for the shooting of the 4-year-old boy at Hell Gas Station, West Bay, on 15 February appeared at the opening of the new session of the Grand Court on Wednesday morning. As Anglin came to the dock, Dorlisa Ebanks (left) asked the chief justice if she could speak to the court and her request was allowed. She said that her family had been given a life sentence and she asked the court to set a date for the trial and to stick to it so her family did not have to endure further suffering.(Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

Ebanks, who was in the car at the time her child was shot and killed, said she did not wish to keep returning to the court to face the man in the dock and she asked for the matter to be dealt with as speedily as possible.

However, despite her pleas to the court, a trial date could not be fixed as a result of various matters, but both the crown and defence said they anticipated that it would be in March or April of next year. Although it is anticipated that Anglin will be pleading not guilty, he did not enter his plea as he made his first appearance in the Grand Court regarding this case.

Anglin’s attorney, Clyde Allen, asked that the charges not be put to his client Wednesday as a result of questions that had arisen from the indictment for the murder and a second indictment on another related case, both of which were only given to the defence on Monday. Allen asked for an adjournment to address the issues and another mention date when Anglin could be arraigned.

The court heard that the goal was for the two cases, including the murder, to be heard in succession over a four week period. The chief justice asked the lawyers to consider what the victim’s mother had said and asked them to move the case along.

Anglin is accused of being the gunman who came from behind the gas station with another man and opened fire on the vehicle in which Jeremiah and his family, including his mother, brother and father Andy Barnes, were sitting as it was parked on the station forecourt at around 8:30 in the evening.

Trio say not guilty of murder

Cayman News | 06/10/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The three men accused of gunning down 25 year old Alrick Peddie (left) in broad daylight on Willie Farrington Drive, West Bay, in March this year all pleaded not guilty to murder when the charge was read to them at the opening of the Grand Court on Wednesday. Robert Crawford, aged 17, Jose Sanchez, aged 23, and Roger Bush, aged 35, will go on trial in June for the murder in the first case in which the police have used the new witness anonymity law. The three men were one of more than a dozen serious cases committed to the Grand Court this morning, including an 18-year-old girl charged with causing death by dangerous driving, and the father of a teen murder defendant accused of giving him a false alibi.

The teenager accused of shooting at a police officer following a car chase in the wake of a robbery at a Bodden Town gas station in June was also committed to the Grand Court for trial on 6 December. The indictment regarding the charges were not read to the 16-year-old boy, whose case was adjourned until 22 October in order for alterations to be made to those charges.

The teen robber was not the only under-age defendant committed to the Grand court in yesterday’s opening session. Three young people and one adult teen were also committed to the higher court regarding the robbery of a Gino’s pizza delivery man in West Bay, in which four pizzas and two sodas were stolen.

Teen driver, Brook Nowak, who recently voluntarily surrendered herself into custody regarding charges against her for causing death by dangerous driving and DUI, was also committed to the Grand Court. Novak has not yet entered her plea to the charges and her attorney, John Furniss, said there were details that had to be ironed out before his client would enter her plea. Novak is charged with causing the death of 24-year-old Filipino national Fedaranne Faustino in a fatal collision in August of this year.

A West Bay man whose 16-year-old son is one of several men now charged with the murder of Marcos Duran (29) in West Bay in March pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice. The court heard that the father is accused of providing a false alibi for his teenage boy when he was part of a police investigation into the killing in Maliwinas Way, West Bay. The boy also received a gunshot wound to his leg on the night that Duran was killed.

Norvel Barrett, who was recently arrested by police in connection with two armed robberies in George Town, also appeared but made no plea. Barrett is accused of robbing the Tortuga liquor store near Boilers Road and the Esso Station on Shedden Road.

Civil service still under review

Cayman News | 06/10/2010 | 17 Comments

(CNS): The overall review of the country’s public sector, which is being conducted by the Deputy Governor’s Office, continued this month with the start of the second phase on Monday. The first phase of the review, which was a condition of the approval given by the UK for the Cayman Islands Government to borrow outside the parameters of the Public Management and Finance Law, began last year and has now been completed, Chief Officer Franz Manderson has confirmed. However, so far only four government departments have been examined: Public Works, Prisons, CINICO and the Department of Tourism. A report has been completed, and although it is not yet a public document, Manderson stated that there were plans to release the report covering the first phase.

The review of the entire public sector was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2009 as it was one of the conditions made by the former overseas territories minister, Chris Bryant, when he agreed to allow government to borrow to balance the budget at the end of the 2008/09 fiscal year. The December deadline was, according to government officials, extended to March. However, only four government entities have been examined, despite being six months past the second deadline. The review is still seen by the CIG as part of the conditions regarding the borrowing requirement, Manderson stated in an email to CNS this week.

When, in May of this year, the new UK coalition government approved the premier’s three year plan to address the country’s deficit and long term spending problems, a reduction in public spending was part of that commitment and the civil service review was said to be the tool that would direct the cuts.

The CIG said in its long term national financial plan that public expenditure would fall from the $532 million for core government in 2009 to just over $462 million by 2013 — eliminating the country’s deficit. Bush told the Legislative Assembly in June that the country’s fiscal recovery would be achieved by expenditure control as well as growth stimulated by increasing economic activity.

The three-year plan points to major public sector reform and government said it planned to use the results of the internal civil service review to cut operating expenses. Government said it was committed to this “major public sector reform”, which would include the implementation of many of the recommendations of the Miller Commission report and, in particular, “a sustainable reduction in government’s operational expenditures” and improving efficiencies. Government said it would implement the recommendations resulting from the review of various civil service departments.

“The Government will … be incorporating the results of the civil service review into the overall implementation plan,” the report reads. “The objective of formalising the public sector reform process is to ensure that the targeted reform benefits which will impact this three year plan are achieved for this plan as well as over the medium to long term.”

However, it is now not clear how many more departments within the civil service will be reviewed or when the results of the review which government intends to use as a guide to cut spending will be completed.

See government’s three year plan.

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