Pageant queen’s crown still in question

Cayman News | 22/08/2022 | Cayman News Service

Tiffany Conolly is crowned Miss Cayman Islands Universe (from social media)

(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan congratulated Tiffany Conolly (24), the newly crowned Miss Cayman Islands Universe, on Friday but said he recognised public concerns about the criminal charges she faces, adding that his ministry, which sponsors the pageant, has only recently discussed the situation with the committee. Bryan remained tight-lipped about the controversy over the pageant queen’s upcoming trial but said more information would be released next week.

Conolly, from West Bay, is due to face trial in October for assault. She has denied six counts of assault and damage to property relating to an incident at an ex-boyfriend’s home last year. Although she was charged in January and pleaded not guilty in March, well before the pageant took place, the committee allowed her to enter and she went on to win the title just over two weeks ago.

Part of the role of Miss Cayman Universe is to act as an ambassador for the Cayman Islands and promote the tourism product. But as Conolly faces pending charges, her crown is in question. According to the court filing, she is accused of assaulting her former boyfriend and his father after going to their home uninvited, smashing up two cars and punching and kicking at least one police officer

At a press briefing on Friday, when CNS asked Bryan about the situation, he said that he was doing an assessment through his ministry. “I want the public to know that I recognise the various number of concerns that have been highlighted. It is a delicate situation but we will have more information hopefully sometime next week for the public,” he stated.

The charges have raised a catalogue of issues about how she was allowed to enter the competition, given the criteria for entry. There are also questions about when the committee knew she had been charged and how they had squared the idea of the contestant winner being in the dock just two months after being crowned, as well as the impact of this on the pageant itself.

The committee has said very little publicly about the situation but during a radio appearance on Star FM they said she had “met the entry requirements” because she has not been convicted and has denied the allegations.

The Miss Cayman Islands Universe application form, which outlines the entry qualifications, does not ask prospective contestants about any criminal charges they may be facing, but they must provide a police record and proof of “good character with no criminal record” aside from traffic matters. Applicants must be unmarried and must not have given birth.

The committee has stated that they became aware of the charges sometime after Conolly became an official contestant and that she had not disclosed them before that since there was no requirement under the rules for her to do so. However, it is not clear when or why the decision was taken to allow her to continue to participate once they became aware of the charges.

In a statement released last week, the committee said they were reviewing the facts about the situation. And in a brief statement to the Cayman Compass last week, a spokesperson for the committee said they were “consulting with the relevant stakeholders in order to make the appropriate determination as to how we proceed”.

The application form says the winner must “conduct herself with decorum and not commit any act of an immoral or illegal or other similar nature which in the reasonable opinion of the Committee will bring the National Winner or the Pageant into disrepute or contempt”.

Conolly was sponsored by her employer, Island Naturals, which CNS contacted following social media posts that the company had withdrawn its support, and we are awaiting their response to confirm or deny that.

Within three days of the last Miss Cayman Islands Universe pageant in September 2021, the ministry released a congratulatory statement acknowledging Georgina Kerford as the winner. But so far, there have been no official government communications identifying or congratulating Conolly as the 2022 winner.

https://caymannewsservice.com/2022/08/pageant-queens-crown-still-in-question/