Man charged with Christmas burglary

Gregory Derron Myles, 45, was remanded in custody on Thursday, 29 December, after he was taken to Summary Court in Grand Cayman accused of a burglary committed in the early hours of Christmas. 

Crown Counsel Dennis Brady opposed bail and detailed the allegations. He said the children in the household had gone to bed not too long before the complainant realised that the smoke alarm was chirping. Not wanting the sound to wake the children, he drove to a gas station to buy batteries for the alarm. Arriving home, he got a ladder out of the garage and installed the batteries. 

He had left the garage open and when he was putting the ladder back, he saw a strange bicycle and then a man walked away from the garage. He challenged the man, who replied “Nothing, sir” and walked away. The householder could see the intruder because his Christmas lights were on in the yard. He noted a bulge in the back pocket of the man as he walked away. 

He then checked the console of his vehicle in the garage and realised his wallet was missing. It had contained credit/debit cards, about US$200 and CI$100 and other items. 

He phoned police, reported what had happened and gave a description of the man. The report was received at 2.57am. Shortly after 4am, police encountered Myles on a street in George Town. They recovered a wallet from him and it contained a receipt that had been issued to the householder. Myles told police the wallet and money were his, but he could not explain the receipt. 

Defence attorney John Furniss told Magistrate Valdis Foldats that Myles would be pleading not guilty to the burglary and possession of a small quantity of ganja allegedly in his possession when police encountered him. The attorney said Myles would plead guilty refusing to supply a specimen of urine for drug testing. 

He accepted that Myles had previous convictions for burglary and had completed his most recent sentence about a month ago. He suggested bail could be granted with a curfew and electronic monitoring. 

The magistrate said the case against Myles was strong, since he had been found in possession of items he could not explain shortly after they were reported stolen. He said he considered Myles’ previous convictions and withheld bail based on the likelihood of further offences being committed. 

The matter was set for mention again on Wednesday.