The Grand Court has granted conditional release for the third time to a convicted murderer, who committed burglary while on parole after serving 24 years in prison for killing a female shopkeeper in West Bay.
Phillip Glennon Ebanks, 58, was jailed in November 2019 for breaking into a woman’s house in May that year, while being free ‘on licence’ from his sentence for murder under the Conditional Release Act.
This is the third time Ebanks has been released on licence. The first was after he served his sentence for murder in 2013, and the second in 2019 after he served a prison term for committing two burglaries in 2015.
Ebanks was originally jailed in 1989, after he was convicted of the 1982 fatal shooting of Una Yates, known as ‘Miss Che-Che’, during a robbery of West Bay grocery store when he was 17 years old.
In his order releasing Ebanks on Thursday, 16 Nov., Justice Richard Williams said he was satisfied the prisoner had been “rehabilitated to the extent that he would not again be a risk to the public if he were released”.
In his earlier court appearances, Ebanks had blamed his drug use for his burglary offences.
The judge imposed a lengthy list of conditions to Ebanks’ release, including that he reside at the Hope for Today Foundation – a facility for addicts – for a minimum of six months; and be placed on a 24-hour electronic monitor for the first seven days after release, and thereafter between 6pm and 6am for the next three months.
Richards also ordered Ebanks to submit to random drug testing and attend group and/or rehabilitative programmes.
The judge said if a case status report, to be submitted to the court three months after Ebanks enters Hope for Today Foundation, shows he has not complied with any of the imposed conditions, the court “may then review whether to revoke his release on licence”.
He added, “Having regard to all the recent reports filed, as well as Mr. Ebanks’ conduct in the prison and on the whole compliance with regulations, it does appear that he would now comply with the conditions attached to his licence.
“Although I am concerned about the various breaches of his licence and the nature of his reoffending when previously released on licence, it appears that he more recently has taken advantage of the opportunities made available to him.”
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