For a second year in a row, a sustained rise in armed robberies spread through Cayman, frustrating business owners and residents alike. These crimes, coupled with an execution in broad daylight of a young father and three disputes that ended in death, brought pain and anxiety to the hearts and minds of residents.
While Cayman, in comparison with many other islands in the region, remains one of the Caribbean’s safest jurisdictions, as the adage goes, “He who feels it, knows it”. And perhaps no one knows ‘it’ better than a shopkeeper who was robbed twice; the first time at gunpoint, and then by knife-wielding thieves – all within the first seven months of arriving in Cayman.
“It was late at night, and I couldn’t see their faces because they were blocked by a section of tinted window, but I didn’t think anything of it because I could see they were wearing construction pants and boots, so I let them in,” said the cashier, whose identity the Compass is not releasing.
He added, “When they came in, I realised they were wearing masks and one of them pointed a gun at my head. ’Give me the money,’ he told me, so I just put my hands up, lowered my head, then opened the till and they took the cash.”
But while he was gripped by fear, a few months later on the other side of the island, the roles were reversed as one shopkeeper, armed with a machete, chased out of his store a would-be robber, who was armed with a gun.
News of the incident, which was captured on CCTV, quickly spread through the community, leaving many people asking, “Wha yuh gah do wit dat?” (What are you going to do with that?) – the words the shopkeeper shouted at the masked robber before charging at him with the machete.
To a lesser degree, robbers also targeted people on the streets, in their homes, at ATMs and outside commercial complexes. While the weapon of choice remains a small handgun, knives are also being used and, in at least one case, a machete.
The exact number of robberies that have been reported to police in 2023 is unknown. However, initial reports for the first three quarters of the year suggests as many as 48 reports of armed robberies were received by police.
In November, police said at a media briefing about the robberies that they were aware of a small group of people who they believed were carrying out the spate of crimes; and stated that after increasing visible police patrols and other operations, the robbery numbers were falling.
But while police were able to rein in the number of robberies, an ever-present threat continues to lurk in the form of an illegal-gun black market.
Despite there being no gun-manufacturing plants or retail shops in Cayman, police have detected, but not recovered, as many as 85 guns. Of those, at least 19 were used in more than one incident where shots were fired.
Those guns have also used in two of the four murders recorded in Cayman in 2023.
The first shooting, which occurred in September, was the broad daylight killing of Divonte Hernandez, who was gunned down a few feet from his infant child. Two months later, Sven Connor was shot multiple times at close range, following an alleged heated dispute in East End.
Prior to those shootings, Omar Ryan was run over and killed following a dispute over a grocery business. The man accused of the killing, Bryan Welcome, has denied the charges and a trial is set for 2024.
The only 2023 murder case to have been solved and ended with a conviction is that of Randy Kelsey Robinson, who was stabbed to death outside the Carib Café in May. Defendant Shaun Jackson was convicted of murder and wounding with intent, while Jonathan Woodhouse was convicted of wounding with intent. They await sentencing in the new year.
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