Headline News

(CNS): The Auditor General’s Office has refused to comment on how many government ministries and statutory authorities made the 31 August deadline for submitting their financial accounts for the year end 2009/10. CNS called the office on Wednesday morning and a spokesperson for the new auditor general said he would be making no comment as it formed part of ongoing work, which the office had said it would not discuss. The spokesperson stated that the situation regarding government’s accounts would be revealed in the auditor general’s annual government report, which would be published in December. As a result CNS has now submitted an FOI request.

(CNS): A witness who told the police four days after the murder of Omar Samuels that he had seen one of the defendants quarrel with the dead man on the night he was killed revealed he could no longer recall most of the events recorded in his statement when he appeared in court today. Marcus Manderson, who is an inmate at HMP Northward, said he could only remember what happened later that night when he found Samuels and tied up his injured leg. In contradiction to his original statement, he told the court that the dead man had revealed the name of his killer before he died. Manderson said that Samuels told him “Martin” had shot him and taken his gun.

(CNS): Following its first meeting, the Judicial and Legal Services Commission has already begun the recruitment process for a new high court judge and the position will be advertised, according to the commission chair, Dan Scott. He said the creation of the JLSC began a new system of recruitment for the judiciary as its members, along with other appropriate people, would form the panel to find the new judge. Although the chief justice is expected to offer input, Scott confirmed he would no longer be solely responsible for finding senior judicial staff. Scott also said the commission was drawing up a code of conduct for the judiciary and the public would have access to complain directly to the JLSC regarding the conduct of judges and other senior public figures working in legal services. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

(CNS): Police arrested two men and took a semi-automatic pistol and a quantity of ganja off the streets following a police operation in West Bay yesterday. According to the RCIPS, at about 1.45am on Tuesday, 31 August, a joint uniform, CID and USG operation was launched in the West Bay area. A car and premises were searched resulting in the seizure of a quantity of ganja and a semi-automatic pistol. The men, aged 23 and 31 years, were arrested on suspicion of possession of an unlicensed firearm, as well as possession and consumption of ganja. Police enquiries are ongoing. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

(CNS): Police have confirmed that a visitor from the United States was reportedly robbed along the West Bay Road on Tuesday. At about 10:20 last night officers on patrol came upon a 38-year-old man at the Owens Roberts international airport, who reported to them that earlier on he had been robbed on the West Bay Rd in the vicinity of the Hyatt hotel. He said that at around 9:50pm he was approached by two males who knocked him to the ground. They then took his metal clip which contained a Verizon incredible phone, ID, stamps and various cards and ran off. No cash was involved. He received minor injuries to one of his knees but did not require medical attention. (Photo Dennie WarrenJr)

(CNS): A motion filed in the Legislative Assembly by the government’s George Town backbench MLA, Ellio Solomon, is both completely unnecessary and nothing more than a political manoeuvre, the opposition has said. Alden McLaughlin criticised the motion by Solomon which proposes to allow Caymanians to swap their pensions for a home loan and take up to $35,000 from their pension to use as a deposit for a house or land. The former Cabinet minister said there are already various schemes in place to help people find capital for property and that there is no need to encourage them to put their pensions at risk.

(CNS): On day two of the murder trial of Patrick McField, Osborne Douglas and Brandon Ebanks, the crown's key eye witness said she heard 13 shots fired on the night (5 July 09) Omar Samuels was killed in front of a house in McField Lane, George Town. The sixteen year old girl told the court, during two days of evidence via video link that she was there when the three defendants came to the house. Douglas and Ebanks both had guns, she said, which they held to Samuels head before they began fighting in the yard, while McField looked on. The teen testified that Samuels fell back on to a fence as Ebanks and Douglas began shooting at him. (Photo courtesy of News27)

(CNS): The courtroom battle which government now faces with the former schools contractor, Tom Jones International, is set to be an expensive fight.  Not only did government lose its bid to get TJI’s claim against it thrown out, the judge has also ordered that government foot the bill for the contractor’s attorneys in the first round of what looks likely to become a very costly exercise for the Education Ministry. According to the judgment handed down by Justice Alex Henderson last week, TJI was “wholly successful” at this stage and was entitled to costs. Henderson also said that government’s counterclaim against TJI was already vulnerable to strike out because of the “woeful lack of particularity” presented to the court in this first round.

(CNS): The Police Association has publicly criticized Commissioner David Baines regarding comments he made about basic literacy training for police officers. The association suggested that the rank and file could have been further demoralised by what Baines said at a public meeting in West Bay, which was reported on CNS. Inspector Gordon, the group’s chairman, stated that this could have put further strain on an already strained relationship between management and the ranks. The group, which represents the interests of police officers, has complained about problems with training and believes it is mismanagement of cash that has caused the problems.(Photo Dennie WarrenJr)

(CNS): The murder trial of Patrick McField, Osborne Douglas and Brandon Ebanks for the murder of Omar Samuels, opened this morning (Monday 30 August) with the revelation that the crown has an eye witness to the murder. The 16 year old girl is the crown's key witness who says she saw the accused men shoot Samuels outside a house in McField Lane where she had gone to visit a friend on 5 July 2009. Solicitor General, Cheryl Richards QC gave her brief opening statement about the crown's case against the three defendants, shortly after eight women and four men were selected to serve on the jury.

(CNS): The represented for North Side, Ezzard Miller, has said that Cayman’s drug problem is not being helped by interdiction. The country needs to focus on reducing demand amongst the youngest kids, instead of spending so much on law enforcement as it wasn’t working, the MLA said last week. He said that the country had to focus on preventing today’s primary school children getting involved in drugs by spending money on them and ensuring that they have a better chance than the generations that came before them. Miller said it was almost impossible to turn older kids away from using or selling drugs once they became used to earning the kind of money the drub business generated.

(CNS): The three young men accused of killing Omar Samuels (28) last year have elected to have their case tried by a jury. The trial of Patrick McField (23), Osbourne Douglas (23) and Brandon Leslie (24) opens in the Grand Court on Monday morning before Justice Charles Quin. The three men are accused of shooting Samuels on 5 July 2009 in McField Lane, George Town. Although he was shot in the leg the bullet penetrated Samuels’ femoral artery causing him to bleed to death. The murder triggered what police described as a spate of tit for tat shootings, which lasted until March of this year when Damion Ming became the most recent victim of the gang violence.