Multiple ‘pillaging poachers’ appear in court

As Cayman authorities crack down on poachers, more and more cases are making their way through the court system.

In the past week, four people arrested in three separate, unrelated incidents found themselves before the Summary Court accused of “pillaging the environment”.

Their combined alleged poaching total more than six dozen conch and scores of lobsters from areas designated as marine parks.

The worst case was that of repeat poacher Donald Dexter Dixon, who was placed on an 18-month probation order and required to perform 140 hours of community service after he was caught taking nearly four dozen conch from a protected area during the closed season.

Dixon pled guilty to two charges of taking conch during closed season and being in possession of a protected species.

The charges stem from an incident on 17 Sept. last year, when conservation officers on routine patrol observed a white boat belonging to Dixon anchored in a marine park in Bodden Town.

“When officers approached the vessel, they observed three males and one female who each had fishing lines in the water,” explained prosecutor Stacy-Ann Kelly. “They were informed that it was a protected area, which meant no fishing of any kind could be conducted. They then observed a cooler, and when they asked what was inside…[Dixon] said ‘a few conchs’.”

Cayman’s annual conch season runs from 1 Nov. to 30 Apr., when catch limits are limited to five conch per person or 10 per boat – whichever is fewer. In the closed season, between 1 May and 31 Oct., it is illegal to remove conch from the ocean.

Dixon was caught with 43 conch during the closed season. Even if it had been open-season, he would have had more than eight times the daily catch limit in his possession.

“I knew what I did was wrong,” said Dixon, who explained that he made his living as a fisherman.

He added, “I took the conch because I wanted to have a party for a boy whose father doesn’t take care of him, and I look out for him as a son.”

In response to his comments, Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez said, he “should have known better”.

“There are laws in place to protect our natural environment and species, and you took them for a party,” said Hernandez. “This is a pillage of our natural environment, and you should have known better.”

This isn’t the first time that Dixon has offended on this scale. Kelly informed the court that in 2013 he was convicted of taking 41 conch during the closed season, and in 2003 he was convicted on similar offences – the specifics of which were not disclosed in open court.

When sentencing Dixon, Hernandez noted that while she accepted his previous convictions of a similar nature, not much weight could be attributed to them because they were ‘spent’, meaning enough time has passed so they would not show up on his criminal record.

More poaching-related offences emerge

Dixon isn’t the only poacher to have appeared before the courts recently. On Tuesday, 26 July, Jordan Khouri and Anwar Edwards appeared before the Summary Court on allegations of taking more than the daily limits of lobster from a protected area.

Both men were charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm (a speargun), taking a specimen with the aid of a spear gun, taking more than the daily limit, and taking a specimen from a protected area.

Khouri only pled guilty to the charge of taking more than the daily limit, while Edwards pled guilty to all the charges except taking a specimen from a protected area.

Both men claimed they caught the lobsters outside the marine park, but were swept into the reserve by a strong current, where they were eventually observed by conservation officers.

The incident occurred on 11 Dec. last year in South Sound, when both men were observed by conservation officers in the marine park with lobsters, but the exact number of lobsters was not disclosed in open court.

Cayman’s annual lobster season runs from 1 Dec. to 28 Feb.; catch limits allow for three lobsters per person or six per boat, whichever is fewer.

Both men were released on bail and are to return for sentencing in the coming weeks.

Convicted poacher Jeff Albert Pandohie Powell, known locally as Jeff Pandohie, also found himself before the Summary Court on 26 July where he was initially due to be sentenced for two counts of taking a specimen from a protected area and one charge of possession of an unlicensed speargun.

The court heard that Pandohie was observed by conservation officers to be diving in a marine reserve in Bodden Town; upon exiting the water, the officers found him in possession of several dozen conch.

“I accept that I had more than the daily limit, but I was not in the protected area, I know exactly where it starts and I was just outside of it,” Pandohie told Foldats.

Pandohie, who is no stranger to being in court on poaching-related charges, was caught offending six months after being convicted and sentenced to community service for a similar offence.

He was released on bail and was ordered to return to court later this month for sentencing.

In similar warnings given to Khouri, Edwards and Pandohie, Foldats told them, “This is a serious offence that has the possibility of attracting jail time.”

While most of the poaching-related cases that appear before the courts are incidents within Cayman’s waters, DoE officers are also fighting a similar battle on land, albeit to a lesser extent.

In May, Alfred Garmon Dixon was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service for taking two Cayman parrot hatchlings from their nest, only for the birds to die 10 days later.

In each case of marine poaching, the seized lobster and conch were donated to The Pines Retirement Home, according to various Crown counsel.

Earlier this week, Premier Wayne Panton pleaded for a stop to the poaching of wildlife, and the purchasing of poached animals, in the Cayman Islands.