A man accused of tampering with a Grand Court jury in the hopes of setting free former Cayman Islands Football Association executives, has been acquitted of the charge.
Allen Kennedy Ebanks was left in tears as the jury returned, after about 10 minutes of deliberations, their unanimous not guilty verdict to a charge of attempting to defeat the course of justice, on Wednesday 17 July.
The charge stemmed from an allegation that Ebanks, on multiple occasions in September and October of 2022, attempted to convince a jury member to persuade his fellow jurors to return not guilty verdicts in the money-laundering case of Canover Watson and Bruce Blake. Watson and Blake were ultimately convicted and received prison sentences.
Defendant claimed he spoke to juror about car
Although Ebanks accepts that he spoke to the juror, he refuted the allegation that tried to influence the man – offering, instead, an opposing version of events.
Ebanks testified that he was a taxi driver and would often attend court and Parliament during his breaks or between picking up passengers, and had attended the Watson and Blake case as a spectator.
He told the jury that he had received a settlement in relation to an accident, and had approached the juror, who he was familiar with as a mechanic, to ask him to review a new car before he purchased it.
He said he had called the juror and asked him, “What’s the word, yes or no?”, which he claimed meant finding out if the man would be able to look at the car or not. But the juror, he said, hung up on him, saying he knew what he was asking was wrong.
The juror then notified the judge, Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale, which eventually led to Ebanks being charged.
‘Lied about meeting judge’
In the final hours of the trial, Ebanks’ attorney, Richard Barton, told the jurors that the prosecution’s star witness, who made the allegation, was “a liar who could not be trusted”.
“Perhaps the most significant fact for you to consider is the reason [the juror] is said to have given his fellow jurors as to why he was required to meet with the Hon. Chief Justice,” said Barton.
He added that the complainant told his fellow jurors that he was going on vacation – when, in fact, he was meeting with the judge to discuss the allegation of jury tampering.
“He is a liar,” said Barton, adding that the juror denied the real reason multiple times, despite a transcript of the meeting with the judge.
“It might have only been a white lie, but, nonetheless, it is a clear example of why you cannot trust the evidence of [the juror],” said Barton.
He said the juror’s lie was made worse by a series of inconsistencies.
“[He] was inconsistent in various aspects of his account…,” said Barton. “Although, [the prosecution] has sought to minimise these inconsistencies, this factor is entirely relevant in order to determine where the truth lies and who to believe.”
Pointing to his client as the truthful party, Barton told the court that Ebanks’ story added up.
“He told you he was in an accident, and that he got a settlement, and that he used the money to purchase the car and paid the complainant to inspect it for him,” said Barton. “He didn’t have to produce the evidence, but he did, and the police confirmed that he was in an accident, and he showed the cheque that he received.”
Before closing, Barton told the jurors that the only sensible verdict that they had before them was one of not guilty – which they quickly returned.
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