An Anguillan hotel worker who says he was the first in the room after Connecticut banker Scott Hapgood restrained Kenny Mitchel, a 27-year-old resort employee whose death Hapgood is now charged with, says he watched as Hapgood straddled him for 30 minutes after their fight until police arrived. 

Geshaune Clarke is a bellman at the Malliouhana Resort in Anguilla where Hapgood was vacationing with his family in April. 

He says he was the first to arrive in the family’s room after Hapgood tackled Mitchel to the ground in the bathroom. Mitchel, he says, had arrived at the door unannounced claiming to want to fix the sink. Hapgood says that he then produced a knife and tried to rob him and that he fought him to protect his daughters. 

Mitchel died after their fight and the cause of death was listed as asphyxiation and blunt force trauma to the head but he was alive for 30 minutes after initially coming to blows with Hapgood.

Now, as Hapgood awaits his next court date in Anguilla after making an initial appearance on Thursday, Clarke is speaking out. 

He told  CBS that he arrived and the fight was over. Mitchel, he said, was lying on his back and Hapgood ‘over him’. 

He claimed that for 30 minutes, Hapgood refused to let go of him, insisting that he would only get up when police arrived. 

‘Kenny [was] on his back and Mr. Hapgood was over him,’ he said, adding that Hapgood’s forearm was on Mitchel’s neck.

‘I keep telling him, “I understand but you need to give him proper breathing space.” [Kenny] said, “Can I speak?” 

‘Then in that same position, Mr. Hapgood looked down at him and said, “You don’t have a f*****g thing to say.” 

‘He stated that he would not move, he would not get up, he would not do anything until police were present,’ he said. 

Hapgood does not refute holding Mitchel down until police arrived. He previously told through his representatives that he feared the hotel workers might have been working together to attack him. 

Clarke says that before police arrived, Hapgood’s wife started recording the scene on her phone. 

‘I saw, when she pressed the record button,’ he said.

Hapgood spoke outside court on Thursday to insist that he was innocent. 

Many of the details of what happened inside the hotel room and beforehand remain unknown and he is eager to share his version of events at trial but is frustrated by the court’s handling of the case. 

He will next return to court in September but it remains uncertain when the trial will actually begin. 

In a statement outside court on Thursday, he said: ‘I’m grateful for the opportunity to appear in Anguillan court today because every court appearance means we are one step closer to putting this nightmare behind us.

‘A nightmare for my family but also for the people of Anguilla. We came to your beautiful island for a vacation just like many thousands of others do each year. 

‘We came here because of how welcoming you all are. Unfortunately, my family and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time and in an instant, a tragedy resulted which has changed our lives forever.

‘We all want the same thing – justice. For me that means proving my innocence. To that end, I ask the AG to bring a case swiftly so we all can move on and heal.   

‘We will continue to be trapped by delays when all we want is to present the evidence to conclusively prove my innocence,’ he said. 

In a message to the island’s residents, he continued: ‘Lastly, to the people of Anguilla. I understand your anger.

‘I have read the same false facts and untrue stories about what allegedly happened in that room on that fateful day in April. If I lived here and believed those stories, I’d be angry too. But the stories you’ve read and heard are not what happened and someday I’ll be able to tell the real story in a legal setting.

‘The sooner that day comes the better.’  

Mitchel’s brother was among relatives who attended the hearing. They want to see the UBS banker put behind bars. 

‘As long as he takes some jail… you take a life. You understand?’ he said. 

Hapgood said he would do what he did again in order to protect his children at a press conference before he returned to Anguilla earlier this week.

The case has outraged local residents of Anguilla who say he should never have been granted bail. The banker returned to his home after being granted $74,000 bond in April. 

He has vowed to attend every court appearance on the Caribbean island and is flying with a private security detail after being warned by local police that the situation could become dangerous for him if he stays on the island too long. 

His next hearing is on September 9. SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

ANGUILLA (WTNH) — Scott Hapgood appeared in court for the preliminary hearing in the manslaughter case against him Thursday morning.

No media was allowed in the courtroom for the preliminary hearing Thursday. Kenny Mitchel’s wife and brother were outside the courthouse and also not allowed into the hearing.

Hapgood was accused of killing maintenance worker, Kenny Mitchel, at a hotel in Anguilla during a family vacation in April.

The hearing Thursday was in regards to the preliminary inquiry into the case in relation to time management and to ensure efficient conduct of the preliminary inquiry.

In an interview on Radio Anguilla Thursday afternoon, Anguilla’s Acting Premier said,

“It is important that what we do here in Anguilla – and the steps that we make – that we do not do anything that would prejudice the case before the court……We know that there are so many emotions that are running high on this matter, and it is expected because we feel that someone in the prime of his youth has been taken away in such an unfair manner and we commiserate with the family and with the friends and with all persons that knew him. And so we want to also ensure that justice is served and that he, Mr. Mitchel, is able to obtain the justice that he is entitled to….The way in which we do it is by allowing the system to operate.”

Before leaving the courthouse, Hapgood read a brief statement to the media in which he said he asked the judge for a quick case, that he understands the frustrations of the people of Anguilla, and also that he hopes to tell his side of the story.

The next hearing date for the trial proper has been set for September 9th, 2019.

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