The assault trial of reigning Miss Cayman Islands Universe Tiffany Conolly concluded Tuesday, 6 Dec., with questioning from the prosecution.
“If you were as afraid as you said you were, why did you go to [the complainant’s] house?” asked prosecutor Sarah Lewis, to which Conolly responded that she was afraid, but not so afraid as to prevent her from going.
“Looking back now, it probably was not the right decision to go to their house,” she told the court.
“If you were the victim of the assault, and not the aggressor, why didn’t you just leave when you had the chance? In fact you say you only lived five minutes away, why didn’t you just walk home and go to where you would be safe?” asked Lewis, who followed up by asking why Conolly didn’t call the police if she had been assaulted.
In response, Conolly told the court that she went behind a car where she was out of the sight of the complainants, although still on the property, adding that she didn’t leave because she was not sure what her ex-partner would have done in her absence.
“I also wanted to make sure that if police were called I would be there, so [the complainants] couldn’t say that nothing happened there,” she told the court.
Turning her attention to the charges relating to the incident at the detention centre, Lewis asked her why she refused to comply with police.
“At the time I did not think I had to comply with their requests because no one told me that I was under arrest, or why I was being arrested,” said Conolly, which spurred Lewis to ask if she believed it was acceptable to swear at the police.
“Yes, based on how I was treated, I do think it was right at the time,” she said. “However, I must add that I would not do that now.”
The verdict in the judge-alone trial is expected to be delivered in February 2023.
Background to the case
Conolly, 24, has been charged with two counts of assault, two counts of damage to property, two counts of assaulting police and one count of disorderly conduct. She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The case against her asserts that she attended her estranged partner’s house shortly after 10pm on the evening of 15 Oct. 2021 and proceeded to physically assault him and his father, and damage their vehicles.
She is also alleged to have assaulted police and used profane language towards the officers, which was captured on CCTV video and played in court.
Conolly’s version of events is that she was “manipulated” and “set up” on the night of the incident and the days leading up to it.
She told the court she was pushed off the steps of the complainant’s house, without warning or reason, and restrained while on the ground.
She accepted throwing a brick into the rear windscreen of her ex-boyfriend’s car but claimed that she had sold it to him and he had not finished paying for the vehicle so she believed it was still technically her property.
Conolly’s future as Miss Cayman
Conolly, who still retains her crown as Miss Cayman Islands Universe 2022-2023, has been suspended from making all public appearances in her capacity as the pageant’s queen until a verdict is reached in her trial.
First runner-up Chloe Powery-Doxey has been selected to represent Cayman at the upcoming Miss Universe pageant in January, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Conolly remains on bail until 9 Feb. when the judge is expected to return her verdict.
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