R v Phillip Glennon Ebanks

• Jurisdiction: Cayman Islands
• Judge: Justice Richard Williams
• Judgment Date: 16 November 2023
• Docket Number: CAUSE NO. IND 39 OF 1988
• Court: Grand Court (Cayman Islands)

R

and

Phillip Glennon Ebanks

Before:

Hon. Justice Richard Williams

CAUSE NO. IND 39 OF 1988

IN THE GRAND COURT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

CRIMINAL DIVISION

HEADNOTE

Release on Licence hearing

Appearances:

Ms. Lee Halliday-Davis of Brady Attorneys for Mr. Ebanks

Ms. Sarah Lewis for the Crown

Mr. Brent Hydes ( Hope Foundation) Ms. Josephine Richards (Probation Officer)

PERFECTED TRANSCRIPT OF EX TEMPORE RULING

Application – Position of the parties

1 I am tasked, at the conclusion of this hearing held in Open Court, with determining whether Mr. Ebanks should now be released on licence. Having regard to the nature of the hearing, Mr. Ebanks has a right to legal representation, and he has been represented by Ms. Halliday-Davis.

2 The Crown does not oppose the application. The Crown invites the Court to consider making the conditions recommended by the Probation Officer in her report. 1

Information required by the Court and factors to be considered

3 In previous applications concerning Mr. Ebanks, guidance was given about the information required by the Court at such applications and the factors to be considered. At paragraph 6 of the Judgment delivered by Forte J ( P.G. Ebanks v R [2009] CILR 449) on 2 September 2009, the Court of Appeal approved the approach taken by Henderson J at a case management hearing on 5 October 2007. Therefore, when an earlier licence application concerning Mr. Ebanks came before me in January 2018, I had regard to Henderson J's guidance as to what sort of evidence can and should be admitted at this type of hearing. Henderson J stated:

“Since this is a proceeding which takes place after conviction, hearsay evidence should be admissible and may be given such weight as the court thinks fit, always having regard to the source of the evidence and the way in which it was obtained. The following list, although not intended to be exhaustive, identifies many of the questions upon which evidence is needed;

• (i) the nature and circumstances of the offence;

• (ii) any comments made by the sentencing judge in relation to the need to protect the public;

• (iii) the background of the offender, including the nature and circumstances of any previous offending;

• (iv) whether the offender has made positive and successful efforts to address the attitudes and behaviour problems which contributed to the commission of the offence;

• (v) the offender's attitude towards and behaviour with other prisoners and prison staff, including the nature of any offences against prison discipline committed by the offender;

• (vi) the opinion of the prison service on the degree of risk to the public which would result from the offender's release;

• (vii) a recent social enquiry report containing the opinion of a probation officer on the suitability of the resettlement plan and a dwelling where the offender proposes to live;

• (viii) a recent psychiatric and/or psychological examination of the offender;

• (ix) any indication of predicted risk as determined by a validated actuarial risk predictor model or any other structured assessment of the risk to the public which would result from the offender's release;

• (x) whether the offender is likely to comply with any conditions attached to his licence to be at large;

• (xi) any past breaches by the offender of a condition of a licence to be at large.”

4 With the above in mind, I gave directions for further information and the following have been filed and carefully considered by me:

• • 9 December 2021 — Social inquiry Report. Ms. D'Aguilar

• • 22 February 2022 — HMP Prisoner Profile

• • 14 July 2022 — Psychiatric Report Dr. McGill

• • 27 January 2023 — Psychological Report, Paulette Gayle

• • 2 June 2023 — Department of Community Rehabilitation Report — SIR

• • 7 June 2023 — Hope Foundation Report

• • 9 Nov 2023 — Department of Community Rehabilitation Report — SIR

5 In addition to the above documents and all the earlier filed reports and written evidence placed before the Court at his previous application for release, I have also considered an affidavit from Mr. Ebanks on 20 July 2023. I do not see the need to repeat the factual background set out in the earlier filed documents or judgments of this Court.

Principles to be applied

6 At paragraph 10 of Forte J. A's above-mentioned Judgment, he noted that there were no statutory provisions relating to licence applications in the Cayman Islands. With that in mind, at a previous licence hearing for Mr. Ebanks, I found that:

“…. the Court of Appeal agreed with Henderson J that the English provisions found at s.28 (6) (b) Cr (Sentences) Act 1997...