Cayman’s ‘dancing policeman’ Fabian O’Connor Sr. has accused his son of trying to run him down while he was on duty directing traffic and tourists at a busy intersection in downtown George Town.
Fabian O’Connor Jr., 23, is charged with committing a reckless or negligent act on the morning of 23 Aug. 2023, when, according to his father, he drove his black Toyota Noah bus at the auxiliary constable, causing him to fear for his life and safety, and to jump out of the way of the oncoming 10-seater vehicle.
Giving evidence on Friday before a Grand Court jury, O’Connor Sr., 45, said he had been on duty at the traffic lights at the junction of Seafarers Way and Fort Street near the cruise terminal directing traffic around 8:58am.
When the lights changed to green, he said, he saw the Toyota veering towards where he was standing, and he had to quickly move to the edge of the road to avoid it. When it kept coming, he said, he moved onto the pavement to avoid being hit.
He said he recognised the driver as his son, as the vehicle came to a stop by him. O’Connor Sr. told the jury his son called him an expletive and said, “You’re not here to stop, wasteman.”
He said he had been afraid and shaken up following the incident.
Another officer who was on duty with O’Connor Sr. that morning also gave evidence on Friday. He told the court that he did not hear the exchange between the father and son, but he did hear his colleague telling the driver to stop. The driver drove off instead along Seafarers Way heading south, the jury heard.
That officer testified that he had seen the vehicle moving toward O’Connor Sr., prompting him to move out of the way.
No CCTV of the incident was recovered, the court heard. An investigating police officer had searched for footage on 28 Aug., five days after O’Connor Sr. filed a report, but no government or local business camera were found to have caught the encounter on video.
O’Connor Jr., taking the stand on Monday, denied trying to run his father down, claiming instead he was merely pulling over to have a word with his dad, as they had become estranged in recent years and he wanted to talk to him to “clear up some matters” between them. He said he had been travelling no faster than 3-4 miles per hour.
The jury heard of a fractured family dynamic among the O’Connors, with the son stating that his father had not attended his wedding, had called the police to help take back a car he says O’Connor Sr. had given him as a gift, and had refused to speak to him for nearly two and a half years.
O’Connor Jr. also claimed that his father had repeatedly blocked his efforts to join the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, and that he had tried to get him to lie about still living with him after he had moved out of home during child maintenance proceedings.
The defendant told jurors he believed his father was trying to set him up by alleging he had attempted to run him down.
Under questioning from his defence lawyer Clayton Phuran, O’Connor Jr. disputed that his father was in the road carrying out traffic and pedestrian management when he pulled his vehicle over. He said the officer was standing in the “sheltered area”, outside the Turtle Bay store and not on the street.
He insisted he was driving very slowly, at 3-4 mph because traffic was bumper to bumper and there were many tourists walking about and stepping onto the road. He said he turned his hazard warning lights on and pulled the bus up to the double yellow lines on the left-hand side of the road, so he could talk to his father.
He claims the words he spoke were, “Good morning. When you going to stop fighting against your youth?” He said “your youth” referred to him and his siblings. He admitted calling his father a “wasteman” after, he said, O’Connor Sr. pulled out his radio and threatened to have him arrested.
Crown prosecutor Angelique McLoughlin suggested to O’Connor Jr. that he had been upset and angry at his father for many reasons, and when he saw him that morning directing traffic, wearing a police uniform that he claims his father was blocking him from ever wearing, he decided to confront him.
The defendant adamantly denied this, saying he was calm at the time, was not upset and had just wanted to try to clear the air with his father. He also insisted he did not use curse words when he spoke to his father, who, he said, he respected.
McLoughlin and O’Connor Jr. clashed over what the son had meant when he called his father “wasteman”. She produced a Google definition, which defined the word as a “stupid person”, while he said it was from Jamaican dialect, meaning a person who fails to meet their duties in life, stating he meant he was not “doing his duties as a father”.
The prosecutor said the words O’Connor Jr. admitted saying to his dad appeared to contradict his testimony that he had merely wanted to “stop and clear things up with their father in an amicable way”.
She told him, “Had he not gotten out of the way, you would have run him over.” Again, O’Connor Jr. denied this.
The case continues before Justice Cheryll Richards.
Related Videos
