Black Immigrant Daily News

A former 17-year veteran with the Royal Barbados Police Services, who was also an officer with the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS), has been sentenced to 5 years for an indecent assault on his girlfriend’s female friend (the “victim”).

The former RCIPS officer’s girlfriend, a previous employee with Workplace Opportunity Residency Cayman, was also sentenced to 4 1/2 years for her involvement in the crime.

In addition to the custodial sentence, the court imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on the couple for a period of 3 years prohibiting them from any direct or indirect contact with the victim after their release.

Regarding the details of the indecent assault, these were recounted in-depth the case summary/ judgment.

According to the summary, after the victim was invited to a planned a birthday celebration for the former RCIPS officer, and following time spent at a bar, the former RCIPS officer reportedly pulled the victim’s dress to hold her back and “tried to put his head under her dress. “

The case summary continued: “When the victim was ready to leave, because of the incident that happened when she was trying to exit the vehicle… she attempted to contact her boyfriend to ask him to collect her from the location. She was unsuccessful in her attempts to contact him and so left with [the former police officer and his girlfriend].”

The ordeal continued when they got back to the vehicle outside the bar, where the case summary explained that the former police officer’s girlfriend told him to “get into the back seat with the victim.”

According to the case summary, as they approached the Camana Bay roundabout, the former police officer started to hold the victim down and “pushed his head under her dress, pushed her underwear aside and started to perform oral sex on her.”

The former police officer’s girlfriend also reportedly participated in the indecent assault against the victim.

The case summary then describes how messages were recovered from the phones of the former police officer and his girlfriend, where the former police officer “could be seen bragging” about the incident. “He can then be heard laughing on the voice note,” the case summary stated.

The case summary continued to detail how messages recovered from the phones include a message where the former police officer, having been informed of the complaint, instructed his girlfriend to delete the conversation from her phone.

Although the victim started to give evidence during the trial about the event, the case summary stated that she was unable to “conclude her evidence” and “did not return to court on the adjourned date to complete her evidence.”

The case summary explained: “She was being cross-examined. The court was furnished then with a medical report which detailed, so far as relevant, that at the end of the previous day’s hearing the victim had been hospitalized and examined by a doctor. The doctor’s conclusion upon examination of the complainant was:

She is currently not capable of providing any further testimony. It is possible that if she is given the opportunity to recover in a stress-free environment that she may be able to resume responding to questioning, however this cannot be guaranteed.

It is my assessment that [Ms X] is not capable of proceeding further until she has had adequate opportunity to recover. This possibly will also entail further therapeutic intervention.

Based on the foregoing, the court said it was satisfied upon the Crown’s application that the victim was unable to continue further with her testimony.

For the indecent assault committed by the former RCIPS police officer and his girlfriend against the victim, the case summary said that any time spent by the former police officer and his girlfriend in custody prior to the sentencing would be deducted from the sentence.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Billing issues continue to be the category with the highest number of complaints to the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR’s) Consumer Affairs Unit (CAU).

The OUR said in its latest Quarterly Performance Report (QPR) for the April-June 2022 quarter, of the 1,268 customer contacts to the CAU during the period, 50 per cent related to billing matters which included high consumption, disputed charges, adjustments to customers’ accounts, and estimated billing.

Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) and the National Water Commission (NWC) continued to account for the most billing contacts, with 359 (28 per cent) and 222 (18 per cent), respectively, the regulator said in a release Thursday.

Columbus Communications Jamaica Limited (trading as Flow) accounted for 32 (three percent) while Cable & Wireless Jamaica Limited (also trading as Flow), Digicel (Jamaica) Limited, and contacts not utility-related, accounted for the remaining 19 (one per cent).

The OUR said similar data were reflected for the January-March 2022 quarter, which showed that of the 1,579 contacts to the CAU during that period, 51 per cent pertained to billing matters.

According to OUR’s Consumer Affairs Specialist Collette Goode, “The data captured in our latest QPR is not surprising, as billing continues to be the predominant area of concern for utility customers who contact us.

“We make every effort to assist the customers by investigating their complaints after they have exhausted the complaints handling procedure at their utility provider,” she said.

The OUR’s latest QPR also detailed the Guaranteed Standards (GS) performance of JPS and NWC during the April-June 2022 period.

It said JPS, in its compliance report on its GS performance, indicated that it committed just over 12,500 breaches during the quarter. This is a 39 per cent decrease compared with the preceding period, OUR said.

These breaches attracted compensatory payments of approximately $30.2 million, all of which were applied automatically to the affected customers’ accounts, it added.

The NWC’s GS compliance report for the review period indicates that 1,545 breaches were committed during the review period. Like JPS, NWC is reporting a decrease in the number of breaches committed. For them, it is 36 per cent less than the preceding period, OUR said.

“These breaches had a potential payout of approximately $6.1 million, while actual payments amounted to $876,342.00, or 14 per cent of total potential payments, and were made by way of automatic credits to the affected accounts. The remaining 86 per cent of potential payments not made, represented those breaches for which the required claim forms were not submitted for validation,” OUR said in its release.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

LOOP: Prime Minister Gaston Browne has told the Antigua and Barbuda electorate to pay close attention to what’s taking place in the United Kingdom as he believes it is a foreshadowing of what could come if they vote for the opposition United Progressive Party (UPP).

Browne has chided the UPP for selecting candidates for the upcoming General Election who are relatively new to politics and do not have experience running a government or large organisation.

In a post on Facebook, Browne stated “Many parallels with UK politics and the UPP. Incompetence, inexperience and a lack of commitment, fuelled by unbridled political ambition breed instability, chaos and confusion.”

“Let’s protect our state from the dead hands of [Harold] Lovell and the other charlatans and incompetents in the UPP.”

“I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected,” Truss said as she announced her resignation.

Truss, who was described by commentators as being inexperienced, was facing turmoil in the party after her disastrous economic plan and tax cuts sent the pound plunging and her government into chaos.

She will remain as prime minister until a successor is chosen.

Truss said the election to find a new Conservative Party leader will take place next week.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Canada-based Omai Gold Mines on Thursday announced that its mineral resource estimate across its gold property in Guyana has more than doubled.

In a statement, the company explained that this updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is based on its two gold deposits – the shear-hosted Wenot deposit and the adjacent intrusive-hosted Gilt Creek deposit – both located in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

“This updated Mineral Resource Estimate includes an expansion to the Wenot Mineral Resource which was announced in January 2022 and incorporates the Gilt Creek Deposit that lies below a former pit that produced 2.4 million ounces of gold. Together, these deposits contribute to a more than doubling of the Company’s Mineral Resource Estimate on the Omai Property,” OGM stated.

According to OGM, this 1,907,600 ounces of gold (Indicated) Mineral Resource Estimate is a 171 per cent increase over the January MRE of 703,300 ounces; while the 1,777,600 ounces of gold (Inferred) is an 89 per cent increase over the January MRE of 940,000 ounces.

With regards to the Gilt Creek Deposit, which is north of the Wenot Deposit and below the past-producing Fennell Pit, some 1,151,000 ounces of gold (Indicated) at a grade of 3.22 g/t Au and 665,000 ounces of gold (Inferred) at a grade of 3.35 g/t Au were recorded.The company said an underground mining approach was applied for this MRE. It was further noted that the Deposit is open to depth and holds the potential for lateral expansion.

In relation to the Wenot Deposit, the 756,600 ounces of gold (Indicated) is an eight per cent increase over the initial January 2022 MRE. This new estimate shows that the 1,112,600 ounces of gold (Inferred) was an 18 per cent increase, while 1.34 g/t Au grade of Indicated MRE was a two per cent increase and 1.72 g/t Au grade of Inferred MRE was a 15 per cent increase.

For this MRE, a constrained pit approach was applied at the Deposit, which has excellent exploration potential along the Wenot shear corridor.

“We are extremely pleased with the results of this updated 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate. In addition to more than doubling our NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate in nine months, we were able to accelerate and exceed our goal of bringing the Gilt Creek Gold Deposit and a Wenot Deposit expansion into the Company’s MRE before year end 2022,” President and Chief Executive Officer of OGM Elaine Ellingham said.

The Wenot Mineral Resource Estimate incorporated 10,647 assay results from 579 diamond drill holes totalling 81,991 m within the mineralized wireframes. The Gilt Creek Mineral Resource Estimate, on the other hand, incorporated 7,056 assay results from 46 diamond drill holes totalling 27,997 m within the mineralised wireframes.

According to OGM President, “While modelling and evaluating the historical data on the Gilt Creek Gold Deposit earlier this year, we were impressed by the extent of the gold-bearing quartz stockwork and disseminated mineralization within this lower part of the Omai quartz-diorite stock. We are pleased that the higher density of drilling within the upper part of this deposit allowed two-thirds of the Gilt Creek Deposit MRE to be classified as Indicated, and at the 1.5 g/t Au cut-off grade, the 1,151,000 Indicated ounces are at an average grade of 3.22 g/t Au. It is significant that mining of the upper 250m of this intrusive produced 2.4 million ounces of gold, illustrating the robust potential of this deposit. The Gilt Creek Deposit holds potential to expand both laterally, where there has been limited drilling, and to significant depths, providing the potential for expanding the Gilt Creek Deposit through future drilling.”

CEO Ellingham went onto note that the company’s initial plan was to complete further drilling on the Wenot Deposit prior to this MRE. However, the opportunity to accelerate the inclusion of Gilt Creek into the MRE drove the decision to proceed with the updated MRE rather than continuing with Wenot drilling at the time.

Nevertheless, she pointed out that when drilling resumes later this year, additional drilling at Wenot will be included as part of the program and is expected to contribute to future Mineral Resource updates.

“The Wenot shear corridor can be traced 8 km (kilometres) across the Omai Property. Wenot’s past production of 1.37 million ounces of gold plus our current Wenot Mineral Resource Estimate is both hosted within about 2.5 km of strike along this shear corridor. Much of the corridor has seen little exploration and it is one of our priority areas for both our current and 2023 exploration programs,” Ellingham posited.

Meanwhile, OGM said that while the Mineral Resource Estimates have been underway, the exploration team commenced a geochemical survey along the eastern extension of the prolific Wenot shear corridor. The shear and the central shear contact can be traced at least an additional 5 km east of the Wenot pit, across the Omai Property and this is a high-priority area for exploration. The combination of anomalous gold values in historic auger samples and magnetic data suggests several areas along this trend as holding potential for new discoveries.

It was noted that trenching has commenced on the lower flank of Broccoli Hill in the vicinity of a large magnetic feature that we believe could be another intrusive body, similar to that hosting the Gilt Creek Deposit. The compilation is underway on the exploration work completed earlier this year in a number of areas, to refine drill targets.

According to the gold company, there are several interesting target areas across the Omai Property that warrant exploration and we will balance investigating their potential with continuing to build Mineral Resources at the Wenot and Gilt Creek Deposits.

In the past 18 months, OGM said it has been very successful at building a substantial Mineral Resource base. For the remainder of 2022 and into 2023, the company expects to continue this strategy of expanding its Wenot Mineral Resource in the short term, balanced with pursuing targets with high potential for significant new discoveries.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Virgin Islands is home to 31 new British overseas territory citizens who recited the Oath of Allegiance and Pledge of Loyalty to the United Kingdom during a naturalisation ceremony this month at Government House.

At the Oct. 6 ceremony, Governor John Rankin congratulated the new citizens and reminded them that with citizenship status comes great responsibility.

“The new freedoms you now enjoy also come with new responsibilities: moral responsibilities as well as legal ones,” he told them. “To uphold our shared values, including respect for democratic rights and freedoms and respect and concern for others less fortunate than ourselves.”

He added that when the citizens are exercising their new freedoms for travel and employment, they should remember that they are ambassadors for the VI and the UK.

“Your contribution to the development of this community has already been substantial,” he added.

The ceremony was chaired by Registrar General Stephanie Benn, who also gave the welcome remarks.

Mr. Rankin distributed the certificates and led the new citizens in the affirmation and pledge. Nolma Chalwell delivered the invocation.

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