Things seem to be changing for the better with The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service with another successful prosecution. Hopefully, the tide has turned and the criminals at large will soon be quaking in their boots. Better still they might decide it is too risky and turn away from their present way of criminal activities. Yes, I do believe in fairy stories.

Elmer Wright, who was only 16 when he committed the crime of robbing Mostyns Esso last year, was found guilty on Thursday (10) by visiting judge, Justice Smith. Mr. Wright was very lucky to have escaped an even bigger crime of attempted murder. However, he was convicted also of possession and use of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition relating to the gas station heist and firing at two police officers, which were in a pursuing car.

Three robbers held up the gas station in June 2010 but only Wright was arrested and charged. They threatened a female attendant in the store and a customer was butted with one of the rifles they had. They fled with over $1,000 in cash. A police car on routine patrol spotted the robbers making their getaway in a vehicle and gave chase. In Northward Road, the suspects abandoned the car, and Wright fired his shotgun at the
police car.

If someone fires a shotgun at a car I am driving I would have no hesitation in believing he is trying to kill me. Justice Smith, however, said the fact that the defendant had fired towards such a large target and had missed the vehicle completely created reasonable doubt and he could not be sure the defendant was attempting to kill anyone, so he acquitted him of that count. I must wonder then exactly what Wright was trying to do. Thankfully, Wright is a lousy shot for both himself and the police officers who were unarmed. I can only imagine that the police officers were definitely of the opinion he was trying to kill them.

Now for something totally different…. A friend informed me last week about the controversial issue of how many directorships are reasonable for an independent director or how much time should be allocated to each fund and even the rate of fees they charge. On Friday 18th November Cayman Fund Focus 2011’s “Call of Duty” will be discussing this topic. Jason D. Papastavrou, of private investment firm Aris Capital Management, LLC will be going head to head with Don Seymour of DMS Management. It will be interesting to find out how many of these directorships these gentlemen actually hold. The role of independent directors in fund structures and director standards have been pushed to the forefront after the Grand Cayman Grand Court judgment delivered in August of this year in the case of Weavering Macro Fixed Income Fund (In Liquidation) v Peterson and Ekstrom.

On 26 August 2011 the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands handed down a landmark judgment which saw two independent directors of a failed hedge fund hit with a damages bill for US$111m. In a reasoned judgment, Mr. Justice Andrew Jones stated unequivocally that when it comes to exercising a supervisory role the independent directors of a company can only discharge their duties properly if they “apply their minds and exercise an independent judgment, in the ordinary course of business, in respect of all the matters falling within the scope of their supervisory responsibilities” and at no point may they “assume the posture of automatons”.

It would now seem merely to pay ‘lip service’ to the legal requirements of directors will be a thing of the past. It might be more than just criminals quaking in their boots at this judgement.