Tue | Dec 5, 2023

NEWS IN BRIEF

Published:Sunday | October 1, 2023 | 12:11 AM
Police Commissioner of the Cayman Islands, Derek Byrne
Police Commissioner of the Cayman Islands, Derek Byrne
Car-stealing ring uncovered in Clarendon
Car-stealing ring uncovered in Clarendon
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Two killed in motorbike crash

PORTLAND:

A man and a woman died in a motorbike crash along the Orange Bay main road in west Portland on Friday night.

According to the police, shortly after 10:00 p.m., the man, whose identity was not known up to press time, was riding a motorbike with his female partner, Alecia Martin, aboard, in the vicinity of a police station.

He reportedly began doing some stunt moves, riding on one wheel, with the front tyre in the air. He lost control of the bike and crashed into a palm tree.

Martin was pronounced dead at the crash scene by a medical doctor, while the man died while undergoing treatment at hospital.

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Grants Pen woman abducted, shot in the head

ST ANDREW:

A woman was abducted in Grants Pen, St Andrew, shot in the head and left for dead on Friday night.

The woman, a trainee teacher, was assisted to hospital where she was admitted in serious condition.

According to police reports, she had gone to the Grants Pen Police Station to visit a male friend who works there and while outside she was abducted.

The woman, who is from the Grants Pen area, was reportedly taken to a location in the St Andrew South Police Division where she was shot in the head by her abductors.

“She lay there and play dead and dem leave her,” a source close to the probe told The Sunday Gleaner.

The Grants Pen area has been tense in recent weeks.

There was a triple killing last Sunday, which followed a murder and shooting the day before.

A curfew has been imposed in the area as a result of the violence.

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Police issue warning after car-stealing ring uncovered in Clarendon

CLARENDON:

The police are appealing to the public to exercise greater caution with their vehicles and to do business with reputable persons or entities when installing security systems, as the authorities have busted an organised car-stealing ring in Clarendon.

The syndicate was uncovered on Tuesday and efforts are now under way to apprehend the perpetrators.

According to the police, at around 3:00 p.m. a law enforcement team discovered a grey Toyota Prado Land Cruiser with missing registration plates hidden under bushes in Portland Cottage.

The vehicle showed no signs of damage or tampering, the police said.

Further investigations led to the discovery of a white chassis frame, and preliminary evidence suggested that it belonged to a Toyota Corolla Axio.

The police said subsequent information revealed that the Land Cruiser was reported stolen at the Old Harbour Police Station on July 30.

As investigations continue, the police shared that efforts to dismantle and disrupt the operations of crime syndicates in the area have intensified.

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Cayman Islands police seize gun used in killings in Jamaica

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (CMC):

Police Commissioner of the Cayman Islands, Derek Byrne, said members of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) recently seized a firearm that was used in at least five murders in Jamaica.

The commissioner told reporters that one of the many enhancements he has presided over during the last seven years was the development of ballistics, and based on this the territory is now a regional hub for firearms forensics.

Since he took over the reins of the RCIPS, Byrne has presided over the most significant budgets in its history, adding that the enhancements of the service led to significant successes, such as connecting the gun, which had made its way to the Caymans Islands and is now part of a major investigation, with the five killings in Jamaica dating back to 2019.

He said that the relationship with Jamaica remains very important as many of the guns found there originated from Jamaica, which is also fingered as being a source for most marijuana and other drug shipments.

Byrne, who is leaving the job in less than a week, will pass the baton to Commissioner-designate Kurt Walton.