Search Results for 'brian borden'
2nd charge in WB killing
Cops quiet on killing probes
(CNS): Despite handling two murder investigations that occurred within three weeks of each other, both of which appear to have direct connections to the spate of gang-related killings in Grand Cayman in 2011, the acting head of CID is saying very little about the enquiries. There have been no appeals to the public for assistance or descriptions of possible suspects released. Reluctant to say if the two murders are gang-related, DCI Malcolm Kay said that at present there was “nothing to suggest” that the murder of Earl Hart had anything to do with him being a witness in a murder trial last year, when CJ Scott was convicted of the killing of Asher McGraw in East End in September 2011.
Kay said that both of the murder enquiries were ongoing and there were no updates, following questions from the media about the state of the investigations. Kay has also denied any knowledge of Hart receiving threatening calls from inside the prison prior to the fatal shooting at his home last week.
The RCIPS appears to be reluctant to discuss the killings that have occurred during a spate of increased violent, gun-related crime that has stretched from North Side to West Bay. With public concern running high about the number of guns that may have made their way onto the island recently, the crime appears to be continuing, despite significant success in rounding up suspects. On Tuesday police confirmed than at least one shot was fired at a house in George Town sometime between Sunday night and early Monday afternoon.
With the police already stretched to their operational limits over the gun-related robberies and muggings, the murder enquiries have added significantly to that burden.
The first ofthe two killings this year was on Sunday 15 September in West Bay. Irvin Garlon Bush (52) was returning to his home in Daisy Lane at around 10pm Sunday night when he was shot dead by an unknown gunman or gunmen. Bush was the father of Robert Mackford Bush, who was the first of five victims of gang-related violence in a series of shootings in September 2011 from West Bay to East End.
Then, on Thursday 3 October 22-year-old Earl Hart was shot multiple times at his home in Marina Drive when he opened the door of his home to the gunmen. Aside from stating that they are looking for a dark brown motor car, believed to be a Honda Torneo, the police have said very little about the killing. Hart, who was pronounced dead at around 1:15 Friday morning at the George Town hospital, was a witness against Scott, who was convicted of killing McGraw, the fifth and last victim in the spate of violence that plagued Cayman two years ago.
In between the killing of Robert Mackford Bush and McGraw, Andrew Baptiste and Preston Rivers were also shot and killed in West Bay. Jason Christian was killed on Crewe Road and Keith Montague sustained multiple gunshot injuries but survived. Since then Brian Borden has been charged with Bush's murder and has been on remand at Northward since August last year.
Despite their general silence on the probe, police are asking anyone that may have information on either shooting or was in Daisy Lane or Marina Drive on the nights in question to call the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777, or Crime Stoppers 800-8477(TIPS) or the dedicated murder line 925 7240.
Cops continue murder probe with second suspect
(CNS): A 26-year-old man from West Bay remained in police custody Thursday morning as police continued the investigation into the murder of Irvin Garlon Bush (52) in Miss Daisy Lane on 15 September, which was the first murder in Cayman this year. Following a major police operation in West Bay, the man was arrested at 2:25pm on Tuesday 24 September on suspicion of the fatal shooting. The RCIPS said that officers from the Uniform Support Group led the joint police operation, supported by the Air Operations Unit. Meanwhile, a 22-year-old suspect who was arrested in connection with the same crime has been released on police bail. He was arrested in Breakers on Tuesday 17 September.
The police have not stated since the shootinghow many gunmen were involved in the crime, in which Bush was shot outside his house as he was returning home. The victim was the father of Robert Mackford Bush (28), who was also shot and killed in the district two years ago in September 2011 in a gang-related killing that sparked a series of shootings in West Bay and George Town, in which three other young men lost their lives.
Brian Borden (28), also from West Bay, has been charged with the murder of Robert Bush and has been on remand at HMP Northward for more than one year awaiting trial. His hearing was recently postponed as a result of problems with the prosecution’s main witness in the case against him.
Police have still not stated if they suspect the motive for the slaying of his father was also gang-related.
Suspect killer in HR fight
(CNS): A West Bay man accused of murder, who has been on remand for over a year, has challenged his incarceration as unconstitutional. Local attorney Nick Hoffman, who is representing Brian Borden, is arguing that the bail law, which removes the presumptive entitlement to bail for a number of offences, is a basic breach of the fundamental human right to freedom and that Borden should be allowed to argue his case for bail on the circumstances of his case and not on the basis of the charge. Although remand in murder cases is not mandatory, it has for years been treated as such and it is exceptionally rare, with no recordsproduced in the hearing where a defendant facing a murder rap was released on bail.
Borden is accused of shooting Robert Mackford Bush in a gangster killing in West Bay in September 2011. However, the evidence against the West Bay man is understood to be relatively limited and based mostly on the testimony of one key witness who has been convicted of a gun related crime and who remains a controversial crown witness in other major cases as well.
Borden, who has been in jail for 13 months, was charged almost a year after the crime, which triggered a spate of targeted tit-for-tat gangster violence that lasted a week in which another four young men were shot dead and a fourth seriously wounded.
Hoffman argued Friday before Chief Justice Anthony Smellie that because entitlement to bail had been removed for certain offences, the burden of proof, which should lie with the crown to demonstrate one of a list of legitimate grounds for refusing bail, was removed. As the law elevates the actual crime as a ground for refusing bail, this makes the argument against remand very difficult, leading to an almost automatic jailing for murder and undermining the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence for any defendant.
In Borden’s case the circumstances are even more of a human rights concern because his trial has been postponed due to issues relating to the crown’s case. As a result, Borden will be incarcerated for seventeen months before he will have an opportunity to make his case against the charges.
However, representing government and the attorney general, Solicitor General Jacqueline Wilson argued that the there was nothing unconstitutional about the law. She said the burden had not been removed from the crown and, as with all bail applications, those from defendants facing murder charges would be argued in the same way based on the grounds for retaining someone on remand. These would be the main reasons accepted universally in democracies, such as the flight risk, interference with witnesses, potential to re-offend and the length of sentence, which in the case of murder is mandatory life.
Hoffman pressed the point, however, that Cayman’s law elevated the charge itself to a reason, which is not universally accepted, to bar someone who was presumed innocent until convicted the entitlement to liberty without a proper hearing.
In most remand hearings for murder the crown barely has to raise any argument at all to be certain of remanding the defendant, and Hoffman said that this could not be compatible with either Cayman’s Bill of Rights or the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the country is a signatory.
Hoffman is now awaiting a declaration from the chief justice that the bail law is incompatible with the Bill of Rights, but even if he wins Borden is unlikely to be automatically released and he will still need to argue at a bail hearing that there is no risk to the community by his client being released until his trial.
If Hoffman wins the case, it could see a surge of new bail applications from a number of remand prisoners who are facing very serious charges and who remained incarcerated at HMP Northward's high security unit.
Arrest made for WB murder
(CNS): Police say a 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of Irvin Garlon Bush (52), who died of gunshot wounds on Sunday night. An RCIPS spokesperson said the arrest took place following a police operation in the Breakers area at around 5.30pm yesterday, Tuesday 17 September. He was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody while enquiries continue. Bush was shot in Daisy Lane in West Bay as he was entering his home at around 10pm on 15 September. The victim's son, Robert Mackford Bush, was killed in the district's gang related shootings in September 2011.
A murder investigation has been launched with an incident room at George Town police station. The murder incident room hotline is 925-7240.
Anyone who was in the area at the time of the shooting, or has any information can also contact George Town police station on 949-4222, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
The murder of Irvin Bush is the first this year and nine months since the last fatal shooing in the islands, when Jackson Rainford was shot and killed in George Town. Tareeq Ricketts (22) was convicted of his murder last month following a trial by jury and sentenced to life in prison.
Robert Mackford Bush, the son of the latest victim, as well as Andrew Baptiste and Preston Rivers were the three young men killed in the gang related violence two years ago in September 2011 in West Bay. Since then Brian Borden has been charged with Bush's murder and has been on remand at Northward since August last year.
No link in murder, say cops
(CNS): As the murder investigation into thefatal shooting of Irvin Bush (52) on Sunday continues, the police say they are ruling nothing out. However, a police spokesperson said Tuesday that while it might have been a gang-related killing, no direct link has so far been established to the murder of Bush’s son, Robert Mackford Bush (28), who was shot dead while sitting in a car in the Birch Tree Hill area of West Bay on Tuesday, 13 September 2011. Irvin Bush was gunned down outside his home in Daisy Lane at around 10:00 Sunday night. Police have not yet indicated how many gunmen are thought to have been involved or how they arrived at the victim’s residence.
“We are carrying out extensive enquiries to establish a motive. We haven’t ruled out the possibility that this was gang-related, but at the present time we cannot confirm that,” said Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Kay.
The most obvious question being asked, however, is if Bush’s killing is connected to the murder of his son. Following the fatal shooting of the 28-year-old in 2011, two other young men were killed in tit-for-tat violence in the district in a matter of days. A fourth West Bay man was also killed and a fifth injured in a related shooting in George Town off Crewe Road.
Only one person has ever been charged in connection with the series of shootings that marked the last spate of gangland killings in Grand Cayman. Brian Borden was charged with Robert MacKford’s murder last year and has been on remand ever since.
However, with constant delays in his trial, Borden’s attorney has filed a human rights petition tothe courts challenging the mandatory imposition of remand on all defendants charged with murder, regardless of the circumstance or quality of evidence against them. That petition is scheduled to be heard on Friday.
In the meantime, police have not yet made any arrests in the recent Bush case, nor have they released any more details, but they are asking the public to contact George Town Police Station if they have any information about the murder or were in the area at the time of the shooting.
A murder incident room has been set up and people can also call a specific enquiry line on 925-7240 with any tips that can assist police. They can also call the RCIPS dedicated tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
Murder in West Bay
(CNS) Updated: Police have begun the first murder investigation in West Bay since September 2011, when there was a string of gang-related killings in the district. An RCIPS spokesperson confirmed the fatal shooting of a man in Daisy Lane at around 10pm Sunday night. Police said officers responded to a call that gunshots were fired in the area, and when officers arrived at the scene, they found that a man had been shot dead. The murder victim is Irvin Garlon Bush (52) of Miss Daisy Lane. "It would appear that he was entering his residence when he was attacked," police stated early Monday. The man is understood to be the father of Robert Mackford Bush, who was killed in the district's gang related shootings in September 2011.
A murder investigation has been launched with an incident room at George Town police station. The murder incident room hotline is 925-7240.
Anyone who was in the area at the time of the shooting, or has any information can also contact George Town police station on 949-4222, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
The murder of Irvin Bush is the first this year and nine months since the last fatal shooing in the islands, when Jackson Rainford was shot and killed in George Town. Tareeq Ricketts (22) was convicted of his murder last month following a trial by jury and sentenced to life in prison.
Robert Mackford Bush, the son of the latest victim, as well as Andrew Baptiste and Preston Rivers were the three young men killed in the gang related violence two years ago in September 2011 in West Bay. Since then Brian Borden has been charged with Bush's murder and has been on remand at Northward since August last year.
Mandatory remand HR test
(CNS): The legal team representing Brian Borden, who is accused of killing Robert Mackford Bush in September 2011 in a West Bay gang-related shooting, are testing the legality of their client’s continued remand in jail before his trial in accordance with the mandatory provision in the law, which they believe contradicts the bill of rights. A petition in the Grand Court filed by the local firm last month is not only seeking the release of their client on bail until the trial but also a decision from the court that the current bail law is incompatible with the country’s bill ofrights. If successful, the decision could see the mandatory remand of all murder suspects overturned.
Borden (27) will not go to trial until January next year as a result of various legal issues concerning the case, which caused the matter to be persistently delayed. This means that by the time of the trial, if he is not released, the West Bay man will have been imprisoned without trial for more than 18 months because, despite the presumption of innocence, Cayman law mandates that anyone charge with murder must be placed on remand until trial.
According to a petition filed in the Grand Court by Priestleys, the firm representing Borden, who has been in jail since his arrest in August 2012, the defendant was refused bail because the current law states that a person accused of murder is not entitled to it.
However, the lawyers point to the Bill of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities, which stipulates in Article 5 that no one shall be deprived by government of liberty and anyone who is arrested or detained on suspicion of a criminal offence and who is not released “shall be brought promptly before a court”, and if any person detained is not tried within a reasonable time he shall be released.
With Borden now set to serve one year and five months on remand unless he is given bail, the lawyers pressed the human rights case in the petition, submitting that section 17(2) of the Bail Law is incompatible with the Petitioner's Right to Liberty, as enshrined by Article 5(5) of the Bill of Rights.
The petition states that the mandatory remand of Borden “unlawfully interferes with the presumption of innocence by repealing the entitlement to judicial consideration of the grant of bail,” and is inconsistent with the jurisprudence on the European Convention. They also note that the current imprisonment of their client goes against the right that is at the heart of all political systems that purport to abide by the rule of law and protect individuals against arbitrary detention because he has never had a proper bail hearing.
The lawyers claim that the current law presents an arbitrary ground for refusing admittance to bail where the European Court of Human Rights has clearly recognised only five grounds for refusing bail.
These include: the risk of the defendant absconding; the risk of the defendant interfering with the course of justice; preventing crime; preserving public order; and the necessity of detention to protect the defendant.
The lawyers also argue that Borden’s detention is in breach and in violation of his Right to Liberty as enshrined by Article 5(5) of the Bill of Rights as it continues under a law which is incompatible with those rights.
Seeking a declaration that the bail law is incompatible with Article 23 and 5(5) of the Bill of Rights, the defence lawyers ask the court to find that the detention of Borden is unlawful and in violation of his Constitutional Right and that “his right to liberty cannot abrogated arbitrarily and must be subject to judicial discretion”.
The goal for the legal team is to have Borden’s bail hearing be considered on the merits of the evidence against their client, the circumstances of the case and his likelihood of jumping bail and not based on an arbitrary rule which applies to all cases without consideration of the circumstances of the case but merely based on the charges alleged.
Borden is accused of being one of two masked men who opened fire on 28-year-old Robert Mackford Bush as he sat in a car at the junction of Capt. Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill Road on 13 September 2011. Borden was one of several men arrested in the wake of the five gang-related shootings which took place over a period of around ten days that month but he was released soon after. However, he was arrested again based on new evidence almost one year later.
Although earlier trial dates were set as a result of issues, whichare understood to relate to the crown’s case, the trial has been postponed on a number of occasions.
Witness trouble delays trial in gang killing
(CNS): A 27-year-old West Bay man who was scheduled to begin his trial in Grand Court this week for the murder of Robert Mackford Bush (28) during a gang related killing spree in September 2011 will now have to wait until March 2014 before he has his day in court. Brian Borden has denied being one of two masked gunmen who opened fire on Bush, but due to issues relating to the crown's key witness, his chance to defend himself has been postponed for the second time. Borden was arrested in August last year based on the evidence of one man. His lawyer told the court last week that he believed it would be impossible to go through with the trial because of an on-going police investigation into the witness.
Although those charged with murder are almost always remanded in custody, his defence attorney, Nick Hoffman, put the court on notice that said he intended to make a bail application for his client, who has already served more than ten months in jail without trial. Given the latest developments, Borden is looking at a further eight months on remand at HMP Northward, which would raise questions in regard to the bill of rights, which requires the justice is delivered in a timely fashion.
Borden has held his ground over his innocence since he was arrested based on the evidence of the crown’s leading witness. Although no details were revealed in the court about the questions over the key witness, it has caused a further and significant delay in the case.
Bush was shot multiple times in the head and body by two masked men while sitting his car at the junction of Capt. Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill Road on 13 September 2011. The killing set off what were described by the police as a string oftit-for-tat gang related shootings in West Bay and George Town. No other charges or arrests were made in relation to the murder of Bush or the other three victims.
Andrew Baptist (27) was gunned down just two days later on Sand Hole Road, West Bay on 15 September by unknown masked gun men. His killing was followed by the murder of Preston Rivers (19), who was shot multiple times by at least two armed gunmen in Anderson Road, also in West Bay, on 17 September.
The shootings then moved to George Town, when Jason Christian (18) was killed in Cranbrook Drive off Crewe Road while sitting in a van with Keith Montague (22), who although also shot multiple times survived the attempt on his life.
Defence queries crown evidence in murder case
(CNS): The defence attorney representing a 27-year-old West Bay man charged with the murder of Robert Mackford Bush questioned the source of the crown's evidence against his client. Nick Hoffman, representing Brian Borden, who was charged with murder earlier this month, asked the court Friday for further disclosure from the crown and in particular the circumstances under which a witness statement was given to police by a man who has now been convicted of armed bank robbery. Borden was originally arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Bush in West Bay almost a year ago but was later released.
Hoffman said he needed to see more details on why the police now believed his client was the killer. Warning that there were also legal issues with the wording of the indictment against Borden, Hoffman said that if the crown intended to build its case on a statement that has “appeared out of the blue” from an alleged witness who has admitted his part in a bank robbery, it needed to re-word the indictment.
Hoffman said that all of the other statements he had received relating to his client were more than nine months old and appeared to have been taken at the time of the shooting, which, he noted, the crown did not think had mounted to a case against Borden. Therefore, he needed to know what it was about this latest statement that had led to his client being charged.
Asking for all relevant material pertinent to the case to be served as soon as possible, Hoffman requested an adjournment until 7 September. Borden was remanded in custody to HMP Northward.
The West Bay man is accused of being one of two gunmen that the police believe shot Bush in a gang-related killing in September last year. He was sitting in his vehicle at the junction of Capt Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill, West Bay, when two gunmen reportedly opened fire. The killing triggered a spate of gang-related killings, in which Andrew Baptist, Preston Rivers and Jason Christian also lost their lives.
Keith Montague, who was with Christian when he was killed off Crewe Road, was also shot multiple times but survived after he flagged down a passing police car and was taken to hospital.