Carlney Campbell had his conviction for the attempted murder of Jose Morales overturned on appeal and replaced with the offence of wounding with intent.

Campbell at the age of 18 and disguised as a police officer in blue overalls was convicted of trying to murder Morales in an elevator at the Treasure Island Resort on the West Bay Road where Morales lived, receiving a sentence of 15 years.

On Friday (3) Cayman’s Court of Appeal reduced his sentence on the new offence to only six years.

Campbell had succeeded in stabbing Morales in the head and in evidence Morales stated that when struggling with his attacker, Campbell said, “I’m sorry, man. They paid me to do it!”

The “it” was assumed to mean murder and no evidence had been produced to substantiate that in fact “it” meant murder. On this basis the appeal judges overturned Campbell’s attempted murder conviction and substituted it with the lesser offence of wounding with intent.

This lesser offence had also been placed before the jury.