Top officials meet on murders

Police will step up their presence on the streets of Cayman following three murders in West Bay, Premier McKeeva Bush announced Monday following a meeting of top government and police officials. 

In a public statement, Mr. Bush said government officials had told Police Commissioner David Baines and Governor Duncan Taylor, at the meeting called by the governor, that “enough is enough, we need action and we need action now”.  

He said the Commissioner of Police has assured the government that “over the days to come we will all see a stepped up police presence – and we have seen more presence of police officers since we met with the commissioner and governor last week”. 

The top level meeting was called following the third of three shootings in five days in West Bay. 

Preston Rivers, 18, was shot dead near Thatch Palm Villas on Andersen Road in West Bay about 10.30pm Saturday night. On Thursday night, Andrew Anthony Baptist, 24, was gunned down shortly before 9pm Thursday in a yard of a house on Sand Hole Road in West Bay. Two days earlier, Robert Macford Bush, 28, was shot in the head as he sat in his car on Captains Joe and Osbert Road on Tuesday night. 

The premier said he would be talking to pastors and concerned citizens and that a group would be meeting “with parents and individuals involved in gangs and affected thereby, to find out what can be done to stop this senseless slaughter”. 

Earlier this month, the government gave an extra $4.6 million to support the police’s efforts to fight crime in Cayman as reports of violent crime and armed robberies escalated. 

Mr. Bush, in his statement which he gave on radio, said: “This growing trend of violence in our country has been recognisable for many years. I have had many concerns – concerns which I have made known to all of the commissioners of police, including the current Commissioner. I have voiced the importance of forcefully addressing the severity of this issue from long before my inception to office in 2009 and in these years leading up to the senseless executions which we are witnessing today.” 

In a statement released over the weekend, following the third fatal shooting, Governor Taylor said he was “horrified and disgusted” by the murders. 

He called the meeting with Commissioner Baines, Premier Bush, Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks, Attorney General Sam Bulgin and Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards – all of whom are members of the National Security Council – on Monday. Mr. Taylor said they would explore “every possible way, within the law, in which we can deal with this intolerable escalation of violence”. 

“We will look very carefully and critically at what we are doing now and consider creatively and exhaustively the range of other possible options available to us. This level of violence is completely unacceptable and we must and will do whatever is necessary to stop it continuing. That is our priority,” the governor said. 

The governor said police had increased the number of uniformed and armed officers in West Bay since the murders last week and that the police commissioner had told him this higher levels of police presence would be maintained “for the foreseeable future”.  

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service had also set up dedicated investigative teams to secure evidence, he said. 

“I want to ensure that we give the commissioner and the RCIPS every possible assistance in meeting this latest challenge to our security,” Mr. Taylor said, prior to the meeting. 

Referring to several arrests made following a spate of murders in early 2010, Mr. Taylor said police had risen to that challenge. “They took firm action against suspects and made a number of arrests which took dangerous individuals off our streets and led to a period of almost a year without a murder. I am confident that the perpetrators of these recent and shocking crimes will be caught and charged too. I will not rest until that happens,” he said. 

He called on the public to help and come forward with any information they had about the murders to help police catch the killers, saying any information would be treated in confidence. 

“Please do the right thing: help stop this senseless killing and make our communities safer places for us all. If you know where a gun is, tell the police or Crime Stoppers and you may save a life. I also urge those of you who know family members or friends who are linked to gangs to challenge them and help prevent them engaging with individuals who may ultimately ruin your and your family’s lives,” the governor said. 

Call for curfew  

A small group of five demonstrators from West Bay congregated outside the Glasshouse on Monday morning to appeal to the government to implement a curfew in the district to curb shootings, as well as to announce a march that is scheduled for 11pm, this Thursday, 22 September. 

“We need to institute a curfew in West Bay. I have lived there for 84 years and I am greatly concerned about the community. What’s worse is that there seems to be no solution,” said John Jefferson, who served in the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly from 1968-1976.  

He added that he was ashamed that the district, which was once one of the most progressive, with the most captains, boilers and engineers on ships as seamen, had now regressed to a state of anarchy and violence.  

Ethel Jackson, a former school teacher, who was also on hand for the appeal, said she was convinced that the church was where people needed to start in order to get the community back on track in the Cayman Islands.  

“Power lies in our churches, we have got to get back to that and start a ministry in the streets,” she said. 

Holding signs that read slogans such as “We need more praying mothers” and “This is worse than Ivan,” members of the group said they were appealing for the government and community to take on several suggestions to fight crime, including parents knowing where their children are; fathers being a part of their children’s lives; the formation of a street ministry to compel people to come back to the church; teachers getting their teachers associations to assist in being a part of the solution; MLAs representing all of the people in their constituencies and not just those who vote for them; the re-hauling of the education system and getting business people involved.