The Court of Appeal has upheld the sentence and conviction of Wayne Carlos Myles, who was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted on drug and prostitution-related charges.
Myles in November 2017 was convicted on one count of conspiracy to supply cocaine, and in a later case, in February 2020, was sentenced to another two years on three counts of living off the earnings of prostitution, and three counts of attempting to live off the earnings of prostitution.
The sentences were ordered to run consecutively minus the time he spent in remand leading up to and during his trials.
Representing himself, Myles argued that there were several grounds for why the Court of Appeal should overturn his convictions.
Myles said his conviction was unsafe and amounted to a miscarriage of justice because the drug charges were based on evidence garnered from a cellphone, which he claims he neither owned nor controlled.
He told the court the police officer and expert witness called by the prosecution should not have been allowed to offer evidence on the meaning of the information found on the phone.
The judges did not accept that argument, saying, “The prosecution was entitled to set out the primary evidence upon which the Crown relied in an understandable way for the assistance of the jury.”
Myles then turned his attention to the charges related to prostitution.
According to the judgment issued on the appeal last month, Myles denied the prostitution charges. He claimed the way in which he was tried was contrary to the presumption of innocence and his rights under article 7(2) of the Cayman Islands constitution were infringed.
“There is, in our judgment, nothing in any of those criticisms,” said the judges. “The judgment of Justice [Marlene] Carter, which we have read with care, was, in our view, a model of its kind. It set out the legal principles correctly. It analysed the facts. When the judge was less than sure, she found the appellant not guilty. When she was not sure that the completed offence had been carried out, she convicted of attempt.
“There is, in other words, no basis to impugn her judgment and her findings and therefore no basis upon which to grant leave.”
After losing both conviction appeals, Myles then addressed the length of his sentence.
Myles argued that he was targeted by police, and that he should have been given a more lenient sentence because it was his first conviction, and he was a father of two.
However, the judges disagreed, and also dismissed the application to reduce his sentence.
Related Videos
