Dorian Dolan Hunter was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, on Friday, 26 Sept., after he pleaded guilty to theft for illegally selling an amputee a car for which he still owed money to the Credit Union.
The Credit Union later repossessed the vehicle, leaving its buyer, who had recently had his leg amputated, with no means of transport, the court heard.
According to the summary of facts in the case, referred to by Grand Court Justice Cheryll Richards, KC, in February 2023, on Cayman Brac, where both men live, Hunter sold the purchaser a Honda vehicle for $14,000.
Hunter, 43, provided the buyer with a certificate of vehicle ownership “which gave no indication that the vehicle had a lien or financial encumbrance”. In addition, Hunter signed a written bill of sale, drafted by the purchaser, “which represented that the vehicle was unencumbered”, Richards said.
However, she said, at the time of the purchase, the Credit Union was already in the process of repossessing the vehicle. The following month, it seized the Honda, leaving the victim without a car and without the funds he had paid to Hunter.
The judge noted that between 25 March and 24 May 2024, Hunter paid the victim back $3,875 in small instalments, leaving a balance of $10,375.
Referring to the man’s victim impact statement, Richards said, “The repossession of the vehicle caused him to do without transportation to get to and from his medical appointments. For two months, he was in need of transport to get to and from those appointments, having recently been in a traumatic incident, as a result of which one of his legs had been amputated.”
In reaching her sentence, the judge considered that Hunter had previous convictions for rape, indecent assault and handling stolen goods, and that he had waited until the day his trial was set to begin to plead guilty to the charge. She also took into account that he is the sole breadwinner in his family, as well as character references from the National Drug Council and his employer, and the fact that, if he were jailed, he would lose his job and thus be unable to pay the victim back.
She rejected a recommendation from a probation officer that a sentence of community service and compensation was appropriate, saying, “The custody threshold is perfectly passed in this case, given the serious nature of the complaint. This was deliberate dishonesty which persisted over a period of time.
“The defendant claimed to be seeking money to discharge obligations with the Credit Union, yet failed to do so. Again, this must have been deliberate dishonesty, well knowing the likely consequences for [the victim].”
As well as sentencing Hunter to the 18-month suspended sentence, she ordered him to pay $10,375 in compensation to the man who bought the car, $7,000 of which is to be paid by Monday, 29 Sept., and the remainder by 15 Dec.
Hunter, at an earlier hearing, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of obtaining property by deception – charges the prosecution subsequently indicated it did not intend to proceed with. Richards discharged Hunter on those charges.
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