A judge on Wednesday found Brian Emmanuel Borden guilty of the 2011 murder of Robert Mackford Bush.
Judge Alexander Henderson announced his verdict after reviewing the evidence from the judge-alone trial that ended last week. He imposed the only penalty prescribed by law in Cayman – imprisonment for life.
The court had heard that Borden was one of two gunmen who shot Mr. Bush after he stopped his car to pick up his girlfriend on the night of Sept. 13, 2011, in West Bay.
Judge Henderson noted that Mr. Bush died of two gunshot wounds to the head.
The defense had said the evidence could support a scenario in which two other individuals could have been the assailants. “I must give serious consideration to that hypothesis,” Justice Henderson said.
He pointed to the evidence of Marlon Dillon as being the crux of the case. Dillon told the court that Borden told him that he and Keith Montaque had “mashed up” Robert Bush and described the guns they used.
The judge said he could not convict Borden unless he was sure that Dillon was telling the truth.
He noted that Dillon is awaiting sentence for two robberies and had been associating with the Birch Tree Hill gang, of which Borden was said to be a part.
There were several cogent reasons to treat Dillon’s evidence with caution and it would be dangerous to accept the evidence of the confession unless there was supporting evidence, the judge indicated.
He said he was satisfied that Mayra Ebanks, who was with Mr. Bush when he was shot, did attempt to tell the truth according to her recollections and did not show bias for or against Borden.
He accepted evidence of Borden’s threats against Mr. Bush as supporting Dillon’s account of the confession.
The judge noted there had been reference to a romantic interest in Ms. Ebanks by Jordan Manderson, whom the defense had suggested was one of the gunmen. Justice Henderson rejected this because he doubted that Manderson would have discharged a gun so close to Ms. Ebanks’ head as she sat in the car with Mr. Bush.
In any event, all of the Birch Tree Hill gang members would have known that Mr. Bush picked up Ms. Ebanks most nights at the same location, the junction of Birch tree Hill Road and Captains Joe and Osbert Road.
He also rejected the defense scenario on the basis of dissimilarities in clothing worn by the gunmen and clothing worn by Jordan Manderson and his companion that night.
The judge referred to cellphone evidence and said he was satisfied that records showed Borden’s phone to be in the area of the shooting. Phone records also showed communications between Borden’s and Montaque’s phones. These were facts Dillon could not have been aware of when he told police about Borden’s confession to him.
Borden did not give evidence, and the judge said he was entitled to draw an adverse inference from this silence. Borden was well represented and well advised, Justice Henderson pointed out; he was satisfied that Borden’s silence was because he had no answer to the charge, or none that could stand up to cross-examination. That adverse inference plus the evidence he accepted as factual made him sure that Dillon was telling the truth about the confession he attributed to Borden.
Related Videos
