Woman terrified during truck ride

A man with previous convictions for sexual offences against two women was sentenced on Wednesday to four years imprisonment following an incident in which he refused to let a woman out of his truck, but told her she could jump out if she didn’t want to have sex with him. 

Murphy Kencer Powell, 38, pleaded guilty to wrongfully confining the woman in his Ford F-350 truck by refusing to stop and let her out. Instead, on the night of 30-31 January, he drove her from South Sound to the High Rock area of East End and back again.  

The woman was able to reach into her handbag and dial 911 on her cell phone. She made it seem as if she was talking to Powell, but was alerting 911 to their location. Crown Counsel Elisabeth Lees played excerpts of the 911 recordings in court during Powell’s appearance on 21 October. 

Those present could hear the woman begging him to stop and let her out and Powell replying, “Jump out. Jump the f— out.” At various stages of the journey she referred to their whereabouts, telling him if he would just stop she would get out at Newlands. Then she noted they were in the middle of Breakers – the middle of nowhere, so why couldn’t he stop. Later still she asked, “Why are you taking me down to the quarry? This is scaring me … Bad things happen down there.”  

Powell replied, “I really don’t care. Get the f— out.” 

At one point she asked him, “Who wants to get out of a moving car at 40mph?” Powell told her the speed was 45. 

After leaving High Rock, Powell drove back toward George Town. In the Bodden Town area, he told her police were following and he speeded up. Her ordeal ended in Savannah, near the Countryside Shopping Village, where he stopped and she jumped out. 

Powell then reversed as if to ram the police vehicle behind him, and then took off again, going up Hirst Road and over onto the East-West Arterial. At one point he hit a barbed wire fence and his licence plate fell off. Officers behind him said they were travelling at 78mph. Continuing westward, Powell ran a red light at the Compass Centre junction. As he was heading into central George Town, police called off the chase. Powell turned himself in a few days later. 

Ms Lees said the woman had been out with friends on the Saturday night, 29 January, when she met Powell. They discussed the fact that they had both recently come out of relationships. He walked her to her car and they exchanged phone numbers. The next day, after an argument with her ex-fiance she texted Powell and asked if he wanted to hang out. She drove to an agreed spot and he picked her up. They went to several bars in the Eastern Districts and Powell was sociable and polite. 

As they headed back to George Town, he told her he was coming to her house to sleep with her. She said no, that they should get to know each other better first. His mood and attitude changed and he became aggressive. He told the woman “Put out or get out” and she became afraid for her safety because he would not stop to let her out, Ms Lees said.  

In the area of the Rugby Club, Powell turned around and headed east again. The woman was able to link with 911 in the vicinity of Grand Harbour. 

Justice Charles Quin asked numerous questions to determine the amount of time the woman was kept in the truck against her will. 911 records showed that her call was received at 11.39pm. She left the truck at 12.12am. Given what took place before the 911 call, the judge said the period of confinement had to be more than 45 minutes, but he accepted it was less than an hour. 

Sentencing was adjourned until 27 October, but on that date Powell dismissed attorney Nicola Moore from representing him further. However, she had already spoken in mitigation for him and this week Justice Quin cited much of what she said. 

Ms Moore told the court that Powell and his partner had a lovers’ tiff the night before the incident. If that had not happened he would not have gotten involved with the complainant in the case. His partner stood by him and they were back together. 

The defence attorney pointed to Powell’s early guilty plea and said if his pleas had been accepted in Summary Court the woman would not have had to wait six months for the matter to be resolved. His early guilty plea was a sign of genuine remorse, she said, pointing out that Powell never touched the woman and no physical harm was done.  

Toward the end of the woman’s confinement, Powell had a change of heart, Ms Moore maintained. The 911 transcript shows him saying “I was doing stupidness … I was going too far” and telling the woman he didn’t want trouble, he just wanted to take her home.  

Justice Quin said Powell had subjected the woman to a terrifying ordeal. She had been frightened out of her wits not knowing what he was going to do. 

He said Powell had an appalling record showing sexual offences against one woman in March 1998 and against another woman in September 1998 while on bail for the first charges.  

[Court records show he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to seven years and eight years consecutively in April 1999. The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions and total 15 year sentence.] 

Justice Quin said the maximum sentence for wrongful confinement is five years. He took into account Powell’s early guilty plea, his apology to the woman and to the court, the fact there was no physical abuse. He also cited the victim impact statements, in which the woman described her fear of being raped or killed at the quarry and her extreme mental anguish. He set sentence at two and a half years. 

Clearly, he continued, Powell was driving dangerously when the woman was in the truck. But the most serious kind of dangerous driving occurred after she escaped. In addition to speeding, Powell was driving on the wrong side of the road, overtaking on the wrong side and eluding police. He was lucky there had been no accident. 

With a starting point of 20 to 24 months, and a deduction for his guilty plea, the sentence was 18 months. Justice Quin emphasised the offences were separate and the sentences were therefore consecutive, for a total of four years. 

When Ms Lees read portions of the victim impact statement, she noted the woman had expressed the hope that Powell would get psychological help.