A man who says he took a small box cutter into a bar to open beer bottles has been given a nine-month suspended sentence for producing the knife during a scuffle with another customer.
Rudolph Anthony Brown, 62, had told the court during his trial that he carried the box cutter into the bar with him because he did not like it when the bartender opened his drinks and put a tissue at the top of the bottle.
He had said he had never intended to use it as a weapon.
Brown was convicted following trial of one count of carrying a restricted weapon at night. The jury acquitted him of a count of common assault.
The charges arose from an incident on the night of 30 July 2023 when Brown became involved in an altercation at Kelly’s Bar in West Bay with another man.
Grand Court Justice Cheryll Richards, delivering her sentence on Monday, said the defendant had admitted during cross examination that he knew he should not have had a knife in the bar.
“He said he took it with him because it was a small one. He took it not to cause any problem but to open his drinks,” Richards said.
The judge said she had taken into account his unblemished record and the recommendations of his probation officer who noted that his actions had been “out of character”.
She said Brown, a Jamaican national who has been working in Cayman for 23 years, with some breaks in between, was a respected figure in the community, according to the social inquiry report submitted by his probation officer.
That report noted that he was unlikely to reoffend and had no history of aggressive behaviour or violence.
Richards described Brown’s personal circumstances as “extraordinary”.
“He has not been in trouble for 62 years. He’s a mature man. The offending is out of character. He has been resident in the community almost continuously for many years and is very respected,” she said.
Using a starting point of 15 months in custody, with a range of nine to 24 months, and taking his mitigation into account, Richards determined that the lower range was appropriate and suspended his nine-month sentence for two years.
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