A popular George Town waterfront restaurant located in the heart of Cayman’s downtown tourism district was hit by armed robbers late Thursday night.
Royal Cayman Islands Police said two masked men entered Casanova By the Sea restaurant around 10pm Thursday; one of them brandishing a handgun.
Officers said the suspects demanded cash and then fled once they were given some money. They were last seen running toward the Rock Hole area, which is located just east of the restaurant.
No one was hurt and no shots were fired in the hold up, police said.
Both men were dressed in dark clothing and wore masks and white gloves.
Late Friday, Royal Cayman Islands Police put out an appeal for the driver or passengers in a small, dark blue car that was in the area of Thursday night’s robbery to come forward and speak with investigating officers.
Police said the vehicle was in the area and almost stopped as the suspects ran from the restaurant. Police said those in the car could have information that is “vital to the enquiry”.
Anyone with information about the heist is asked to call George Town Police Station on 949-4222 or Cayman Crime Stoppers at 800-8477.
Casanova Restaurant
Norma Connolly
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It will just take a few robberies like this to give the death sentence to the Cayman Islands tourist industry.
It happened to Jamaica years ago and even today many people, including me, won’t consider a vacation there for that reason.
The financial industry is already being hammered by the world financial markets combined with USA obsessiveness with Caymanian affairs.
Do you think the recent travel advisory on the USA government web site is just a coincidence?
Like it or not, if these two pillars of the economy fail, Cayman could be back to the 1960s before it was discovered.
If the person reading this knows the criminals involved, turn them in. Your families future depends on it.
This is just pathetic news!! What is happening to Cayman? This is not the ‘safe haven’ once known!!
I kills me how the RCIPS always says No shots were fired or no one was hurt. I guess that means all is well since no one was hurt. What a message to send out to Robbers that as long as no one is hurt it’s OK to Plunder, Rob, Steal and terrorize Cayman visitors and Citizens. S*T like this along with the movement for Prisoner rights kind of make it look like Cayman is best place for Criminals to do business, they certainly have the support of the RCIPS and the Courts and there’s plenty of new young recruits looking to get into the business. No wonder they are up and moving to Cayman from places where their activity won’t be tolerated. It’s the law abiding Citizens that don’t seem to have support or protection.
Is this Cayman new leg of the economy, maybe the point is that when they steal your money they will spend it at Fosters or Kirks and give a boost to the local economy.
Something MUST be done – yet more violent crime.
Wake-up Grand Cayman!!! put pressure on the authorities before it is too late, get people in who can deal with the problems (the island Police clearly are not up to the task), do whatever it takes to rid your lovely little island of what surely must be the very minority of residents that are having such a negative impact on your quality of life, and your future.
I’m sick of this s**t.
NO F*ING MORE.
Bottom line is — our RCIPS is not adequately trained for dealing / investigating the more serious crimes. They are good at handing out tickets, setting up radar traps, and driving around making their presence seen. But they are not adequately trained for anything beyond that. We desperately need to have higher qualifications in place for our RCIPS if we want to stop the rampant crime on this island. It will cost money to get people trained well experienced in forensics, but it is worth it. Otherwise, people of Cayman will be terrorized and visitors will stop coming — costing us MILLIONS of dollars in the end. It’s about time this problem was taken seriously by our Government.
It is obvious that these thugs have no respect for the local law enforement the only way to save the Cayman Islands is a tough new regid policy on crimes committed with hand guns. Life emprisonments and no chance for parole and no exceptions, hand guns to every law enforment officer after proper training, and lastly more foot patrols downtown George Town. When was the last time that you saw at least one patrol car after 10pm downtown. If I know this answer, you can bet the thugs do too!!
If you know a thug who was out late last night who came home with a firearm, a wad of cash, and a marinara sauce mustache, please turn him in. Thanks!!
We have been coming to Cayman for 25 years and I hate to see what is happening on the island. Something has got to be done to stop the Thugs from destroying the islands future. People will not go someplace where they do not feel safe.
Will it ever end? Should I plan on going elsewhere on vacation? Cayman isn’t the cheapest place to vacation and if I can’t feel safe maybe it’s time to look elsewhere.
Rest assured the lunatic fringe will find a way of blaming Dart or the ex-pat community for the rise in criminality.
CaymanMermaid is SO right. Spend money on training officers and hire experienced police. I also agree with The American. We need to read more about proper arrests with serious sentences given out.
Further, we need to stop creating thugs. That means our education system needs to improve so as to steer kids in positive responsible directions. Cutting the programs for high risk students and simply placing them in the boys or girls homes is paramount to guaranteeing that we will have a replenishment of thugs for years to come.
Enough has been said about he shortsightedness of the 2003 /2004 Immigration policy and it’s contribution to current crime. Change is needed there too.
Bring back the gallows and the hangman’s noose. Have public executions if you want to see a stop in crime.
I did some homework since last time I mentioned this idea. I have a friend in Florida that teaches a 600 hour police officer training course ,,, he has been an officer over 30 years he has trained thousands of men. He is willing to come here and train your men.
he will also bring some of his officers from florida and rotate his men in and out to ensure the cayman islands wins the battle we are in. It is very inexpensive to do this program.
If you want this Post your info here
As a long time visitor to your beautiful Island every year (since the seventies) I have noticed a lot of changes. Some for the better some for worse. I believe Cayman’s biggest attraction for tourists is that it has always been a safe Island with a stable British government system. Yes Cayman has beautiful beaches, great climate and friendly people but a lot of Islands also have these things and for a lot less money. Over the year people have asked me about Cayman and I have told them about the Island what I believe is honestly. Beautiful, great climate, friendly people and you wife or girlfriend can walk down the beach at night without worrying about getting attacked. Unfortunately that has changed—-drastically. Crime has gotten totally out of control and has to be seriously addressed or I believe tourism is going to suffer and Cayman will suffer.
Where are all the guns coming from? Near as I can tell, from ther sea. How? Well if you don’t have a 24 hr. circle of police boats around the island, quite easily I should think. I don’t believe there is a police boat on the water 24 hrs. a day let alone a circle. Yes costly, but cheaper than loseing tourism. I will continue to come to the Islands but as I turn into a senior citizen I may have to think about my welfare. I can’t chase a young punk donw any more and I don’t particularly want a knive stuck in my ribs or a gun in my face. Crime has a way of keeping law abiding people out of crime areas
MAC’s interest is building west bay road for Dart instead of focusing on crime.
one can only imagine how much money he getting out of this.
I don’t know. I smell rat. Since 2000 crime spiral out of control, and worse since 2005. I believe someone high-up is behind hitting these businesses and establishments. They want big names like dart to thrive, but small businesses to fail. It is an economic strategy to ruin Cayman and make them dependent on the big names. Conspiracy theory? I dont know, but I cant help but not think so.
What I hate the most!
Is coming on here and reading expats calling locals all type of names because we want to fight for the country we grew up in. WHO ARE YOU TO COME TO OUR COUNTRY and tell us what we must or must not fight for?
Some of you need to know your place because in 7 years it’s bye bye for you. But it will only mean the Caymanians suffering alone.
We have been comming to Cayman for 10 years and purchased a time share 7 years ago. We purchased because of the low crime rate. Cayman is turning into Jamacia or the Dominican Republic, dangerous. How do all the guns get on island. Our dive luggage gets shaken down every time we arrive. Is it because I have a US Federal Firearms License or the amount of metal in my bags? We are reconsidering our vacation destination. Since we last stayed at the Grand Caymanian it has been robbed at gunpoint. The island is not that big nor is the population that dense that with diligent police work guns could not be found. The first time cruise boat passengers get robbed it will be the end of that tourist business.
Yours isn’t the first opportunity and offer of this nature that’s been made to the people of the Cayman Islands.
The problem lies within the relationships that exist between elements within the RCIPS, major security companies and one particular established sports martial arts organization in Cayman that has its roots in another Caribbean island.
From 2000 until 2006, a branch of an established martial arts organization in Japan that specialises in top-level training in self-defense, personal protection and professional security training operated in Cayman.
This was the years before the major crime wave hit and we provided regular training and annual seminars for civilians, security personnell and members of the RCIPS.
However, opposition from the aforementioned elements undermined the entire concept of effective training in self-protection because it did not come through these established channels, although these organizations have done absolutely nothing except look out for their own pockets, with even their own members having limited self-defense and protections skills, as evidenced by some of the security and police officers who trained at our seminars.
A major effort was again rejected when the Private Security Law 2007 came into effect, with the RCIPS doing a major u-turn on contracting just the kind of training you are offering which is allowed under this law but must be approved by the RCIPS; top-level professional programs were invited to bid for training contracts and then the concept of training was totally rejected by the RCIPS, who still kept all the documents and programs that were presented.
You are walking down a blind alley in offering this type of training in the Cayman Islands.
If these established organizations already mentioned cannot profit from your business’s training programs, they will be rejected, as others have been before.
In the meanwhile, the news reflects the current level of safety of the citizens and residents of Grand Cayman.
@ReallyFedUp
You must be reading something different to everyone else. Most of the comments posted here are from tourists. So easy to blame others.
Sorry to Tony and the rest of the staff, it’s unfortunately happening to everyone it seems. But the police tell us that crime is down – go figure.
The UDP has failed our citizens on Public Safety. They aren’t intelligent enough to take crime seriously so why should we take the UDP seriously? The only way we can fight back is to close the chapter on their leadership and the sooner the better.