A Caymanian man has been charged with helping a man wanted in connection with an attempted murder to escape after they were rescued at sea from a drifting boat and taken to Jamaica.

Cayman police said the local man had been arrested when he returned home on an allegation of being an accessory after the fact by helping Michael Gollab, 22, a Jamaican national, to flee the country.

A police spokeswoman said the Caymanian, who has not been named, had since been released on bail.

The two, plus another Jamaican man, were plucked from the sea by a cargo ship en route from Cayman to Jamaica on 29 Aug.

The rescued men said the boat, called “J Big Cot”, had lost power and that it had been adrift for five days.

The ship docked in Kingston Harbour and the crew turned the three men over to Jamaican police.

Jamaica Constabulary Force officers identified Gollab after the ship arrived on 30 Aug. and arrested him in connection with the stabbing of a woman, said to be his girlfriend, in Cayman’s Ultra Lounge on George Town’s Smith Road.

Cayman police had been searching for Gollab since the 30 June stabbing incident.

A Cayman police spokeswoman said, “Gollab remains in police custody in Jamaica, where formal extradition proceedings are underway following his provisional arrest by the Jamaica Constabulary Force.”

The Compass reported on 3 Sept that Gollab had appeared in a Jamaican court for an extradition hearing and had been remanded in custody.

“Big J Cot” does not appear on the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry. The Jamaica Ship Registry confirmed it was not registered there either.

Police have appealed for anyone with information on the incident or knowledge of “Big J Cot” to contact George Town CID on 949-4222.