The murder of a man cut down in a hail of bullets in his home was a carefully planned execution, a jury heard on Tuesday.
Barnaby Jameson, KC, told the Grand Court that Sven Connor was shot multiple times through his bedroom window.
“The closing moments of Sven Connor’s life would have been of unimaginable terror,” Jameson said.
He added that the trail of blood in his home on Fiddlers Way in Grand Cayman’s East End painted a grim picture of his desperate bid to escape his killers.
Jameson said the pool of blood by the bedroom door showed that he had suffered severe injuries.
“As semi-automatic gunfire began ricocheting around his residence, his first thought was to get out of the house,” he said.
But Jameson said the terrified and badly wounded man must have realised if he left the house, his attackers could come around the side from the back of the property and catch him in the open on his front lawn, so he remained inside.
He added the handle and door to his sister-in-law’s bedroom was “streaked with the blood of a man in the last seconds of his life” as he tried to find safety.
Jameson said, “He never made it, as we know. He died in his socks by his oven.”
He added the timing, based on the available evidence, suggested that Anstacio Rankine, 30, was “outside the bedroom window when the opening shot was fired”.
The grim details were revealed as Jameson delivered the summing up in the trial of Rankine and Rolan Welcome.
The two are charged with conspiracy to murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm on the night of Connor’s killing, 7 Dec. 2023.
Two other men said to be involved in the death have never been identified.
The court heard earlier that two weapons were involved in the killing – a semi-automatic Glock pistol and a revolver.
Neither of the two defendants opted to give evidence.
The court heard earlier that a key witness, Witness A, whose identity, including name, address and gender, were kept secret, had heard at least six or seven shots being fired on the night of the shooting.
The jurors and Justice Cheryll Richards were able to see the witness on a video screen and hear their voice, but the defendants, counsel, the media and those in the public gallery heard the evidence through a voice modulator that disguised the voice of the witness.
Jameson said during his summing up that there were unanswered questions, such as who supplied the weapons, but evidence showed the man who brought the guns appeared to be the same age, with “the same build and same hair” as Rankine.
He alleged that Welcome acted as lookout as the shooting took place and dismissed the defendant’s claim that he had acted under duress.
Jameson said, “He was part of the planning to murder Sven Connor and he was part of the activity that led from planning to execution.”
He added the prosecution did not have to prove who used which gun, but said the first gunman “had to be” Rankine.
He said, “Who pulled the trigger on the other weapon, we will never know.”
The trial continues.
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