Legal items add up to guilt

Wayne Noel Davidson brought a bottle of caustic soda with him when he arrived in Cayman on 5 June and then he went shopping for food colouring, olive oil, Benjamin’s Kananga Water, a ream of paper and other harmless items. 

After trial in August, Davidson was found guilty of being in possession of those items as instruments of forgery. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment and cash totalling CI$747 and US$43 was confiscated. 

Magistrate Nova Hall said she could not accept the explanations he gave for having the items. The explanation for possessing each one might seem merely odd, but the cumulative effect added up to guilt. 

For example, Davidson told police when interviewed that he travelled with caustic soda to clean the bathrooms of his accommodations. He bought yellow, red and green food colouring in case he did any cooking during his one-week intended stay. Olive oil and Kananga Water were to rub on his skin. Scissors were used to cut the paper into the size of Cayman currency notes, which Davidson said he carried to impress women with wads of fake cash. 

He told officers he bought a counterfeit detection pen because he had never seen one before. 

The magistrate considered the items to be innocuous, except for the quantity of papers cut to the size of currency. 

At the start of the trial, Crown Counsel Laura Manson said all of the items had been found when police officers undertook an operation and searched Davidson’s apartment at the Treasure Island Resort at 4.30am on 8 June. 

Ms Manson called just one witness, Sergeant Orville Williams of the Financial Crimes Unit.  

He explained how a scam would work using the items found. He said the “scam artist” makes a victim believe he can produce genuine currency notes from currency-sized paper and requests payment in advance in order to purchase the necessary chemicals. As a demonstration, the scammer goes through a process that will involve putting paper into a solution of bleaching agents or colouring agents. He will then iron the paper dry and, by sleight of hand, produce a genuine note, which he will encourage the intended victim to go out and spend. 

If the person pays money, he or she is told the process will take three or four days. However, the con artist soon leaves the Island and the victim gets nothing. 

Questioned by defence attorney John Furniss, Mr. Williams agreed the process described was similar to the “black money” or “wash” scam described in the Caymanian Compass of 8 June. The article asked people to contact police if they had been approached by Davidson or anyone acting on his behalf.  

“After the article, did anyone come forward and say [Davidson] had tried to run a scam?” Mr. Furniss asked. “No, sir,” the witness said. 

The defendant did not give evidence, choosing to rely on his interviews with police. 

Mr. Furniss submitted that Davidson cold not have convinced anybody that money could be created with the items he had at the apartment, without more. There was evidence of a piece of paper with a sequence of numbers on it, but there was no evidence that they bore any resemblance to serial numbers on bank notes. Davidson’s possession of these various items was not proof he had any intention to run a scam, he said. 

Ms Manson referred only to the law – a person who has paper intended to resemble and pass as a special paper such as is used for the making of currency notes is guilty of an offence and it is up to him to prove lawful excuse. 

After the guilty verdict, Mr. Furniss urged the court to make an order removing Davidson, 47, from the jurisdiction back to his native Guyana. The magistrate did not agree, but said his time in custody would be deducted from his sentence. She ordered the destruction of items seized and said she would make a recommendation for deportation after Davidson’s sentence was served.