“The Man with the Golden Gun” was a James Bond thriller that was made into a movie with the same name and starred Roger Moore as James Bond and the late Christopher Lee as the man with the golden gun.

Here in the Cayman Islands we have our own version and if you think the book and movie version was totally implausible so was the defense offered by the four men with the golden gun who robbed Blackbeard’s liquor store at Grand Harbour on December 17th last year.

The golden gun was not like the one Christopher Lee used in the movie. That one consisted of customised everyday objects, so it could be smuggled and put together. The single-shot, 4.2mm weapon consisted of a golden cufflink (the trigger), a Colibri Molectric 88 gas lighter (bullet chamber), a golden Waterman fountain pen (the barrel) and a cigarette case (the handle).

Our robbers used a gold coloured spray-painted pump-action shotgun. They also had a silver handgun.

Unlike the suave and sophisticated Lee our robbers looked like punks, acted like punks and were scumbags belonging to the breed that seemed to have risen out of the wrath of Hurricane Ivan.

Three of the gang went into the liquor store armed and masked, terrorized the cashier and a customer stealing CI$4,604.42 and US$582 and the customer’s purse that contained a photograph of a relative

The fourth man was the driver.

25 minutes after the robbery took place the four men, Devon Wright Jr., 23; Randy Connor, 24; Bron Webb, 21; and Andrew Lopez, 21 were arrested at a Prospect residence. The police recovered from the premises a large amount of cash, clothing and a purse that contained a photograph of the store customer’s relative. From another part of the premises the police found the golden gun with three live rounds. The gun was also found after testing to be in full working order. The handgun was not found.

Even though the men were caught almost red handed, the men knew nothing about the robbery and it was committed by strangers. One of the apprehended punks was discovered wearing the same coloured underpants that were visible from the CCTV footage shown to the court. That was a coincidence. The premises was also owned by one of the accused mother and it was the mother’s car that had been used as the getaway vehicle.
So in our version of the Bond thriller, four strange men steal a car from outside a house, use a golden gun to rob a business premise and steal a customer’s purse, escape using the same car and park it back at the same house they stole it from. They also deposit the stolen money including the customer’s purse inside this house and the golden gun. These four strange men then run away leaving our scumbags to take the blame.

According to one of the accused the house is used by all number of strange men who come and go as they please. And they even wear the same coloured underwear as one of the accused.

It did actually take five hours for the jury to find all the men guilty but to be fair I have simplified the accused’s defense.

In the book and movie version the Man with the Golden Gun was a hired assassin with a dwarf as his assistant. He also had a high-tech solar power plant that he had taken over, the technology for which he intended to sell to the highest bidder on an island in Red China waters.

Now which version is more believable?

I am sure the Men With the Golden Gun will be working on their appeal. They might like to watch the movie version for inspiration.

IMAGE: Christopher Lee www.theguardian.com