Justice Alex Henderson sentenced Sven Conner (32) to four years imprisonment after submitting guilty pleas for a double arson attack in 2011.

Conner was convicted for two counts of arson and being reckless to life when he set fire to an air-conditioning unit at the residence of Theresa Brown and Eric Russell.

Not content with his first fire, after Brown and Russell had alerted the fire service to the first fire and they moved across to her mother’s home on the same property, Conner started another.

The court heard that Sven “Dappa” Connor, was in a stormy relationship with Theresa Brown and he helped her financially as she had four children that were not his. They separated when Connor was in custody for an unrelated incident and had given Brown some cash but he had found out that some of the funds had not been used as Brown had claimed.

After Connor had been released from prison in December 2011 he met with Brown and accused her of infidelity.

On the night of the incident, Connor at approx. 10:45pm, went to visit Brown and found her with another man, Russell, who said he was Brown’s new boyfriend. An altercation commenced that got physical and members of Brown’s family had to move in and stop it. Connor then made threats towards the family and fearing problems Brown sent her children to sleep with her mother in a nearby residence on the same property.

Connor had been drinking heavily and returned under the influence of the alcohol plus taking cannabis and started the fires.

Both fires were quickly put out by the Cayman Islands Fire Service and the damage was valued at CI$ 5,000.

Connor said his intention was not to harm anyone, but to frighten Brown, while he was in a fit of anger.

Judge Henderson agreed that this was not a case where the defendant had gone out with the intent to kill.

In the most recent prison report Connor had tested positive for cannabis and Defense counsel said this was “sadly more about the prison than the individual”.

Included in the prison report, it stated that Connor had some disciplinary issues but these were resolved, and that he was currently a member of the Inmate Counsel. In addition, Connor was taking classes for anger management that helped with the treatment of his depressive disorder, along with other courses.

Connor had written a letter detailing his remorse and desire to change his life and the Judge said he had taken this into account. He also received full credit for pleading “Guilty” at the commencement of his trial.

Although Connor had served a ten year prison sentence for manslaughter and was convicted of possession of an unlicensed firearm, the Judge said he was not permitted to punish him a second time for those.

He said a custodial sentence of six years was considered appropriate but he gave Connor a two year discount for his guilty plea.

Justice Henderson also ordered that Connor’s time in custody would be taken into consideration.