The Bahamas has acknowledged that its criminal justice system needs help

Adopting organized crime laws in The Bahamas

thenassauguardian editorial

The annual drug report prepared by the United States government usually provides interesting commentary on the state of drug trafficking to and through The Bahamas.

In the 2011 report, the U.S. government again made suggestions to the Bahamian government to reform the criminal justice system in this country.

“However, a need still exists to reduce the long delays in resolving extradition requests and other criminal cases as an existing trend of law enforcement successes have been undermined by an overburdened Bahamian legal system,” said the U.S. State Department in the report.

“As mentioned in previous annual reports, we continue to encourage The Bahamas to increase the resources and manpower available to prosecutors, judges, and magistrates.”

The Bahamas has acknowledged that its criminal justice system needs help. The government has set in motion a series of reforms aimed at reducing the backlog of cases before the court and speeding up the rate of prosecution in the country.

The U.S. made another suggestion in the report that should be considered.

The State Department noted that the country lacks legislation criminalizing participation in an organized criminal group.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) is a U.S. federal law that provides for long criminal sentences and civil penalties for actions performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.

Simply put, those proven to be involved with an organized crime group are jailed for long terms.

The U.S. government has used these laws effectively against the mafia. In The Bahamas, no such law exists.

According to the drug report, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos estimate that there are 12 to 15 major drug trafficking organizations operating in The Bahamas.

A RICO law in The Bahamas would provide another tool to local law enforcement to take down some of these drug gangs.

However, local police and prosecutors would need to learn to conduct more comprehensive investigations for such a law to work.

Rather than arresting one criminal for one offense, investigators and prosecutors would need to build a case against entire organizations.  Evidence would need to be marshaled chronicling the various crimes it commits. The actors in the criminal activity would then need to be defined and linked to the criminal organization.

Comprehensive indictments would follow and large numbers of criminals would be brought to court at the same time.

These investigations could take years. But when done well, they cripple or dismantle entire criminal organizations.

For such a thing to work, The Bahamas would also need to change its overall prosecutorial response to drug trafficking. Traffickers are currently prosecuted in Magistrates Court where the maximum sentence is five years in jail. Some smugglers have been found in possession of millions of dollars worth of cocaine and they have only faced that five-year sentence, or less if they pleaded guilty.

The law needs to prosecute based on weight. Those found in possession of large quantities of drugs should face trial in the Supreme Court where serious penalties can be issued. RICO prosecutions, if adopted, would also take place in the Supreme Court.

Organized crime is a threat to democracy. Those who do not believe this need only look at Mexico. The cartels there are at war with the state.  And in some jurisdictions in that country, the cartels are winning the war.

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched his war on the cartels in 2006, more than 30,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence.

The Bahamas must consider legislative tools such as the RICO law in the U.S. to assist in the local fight against narco-trafficking. We cannot just continue to hope that the U.S. requests the extradition of our major drug dealers. We must develop the capacity to lock them up for long periods of time in this country.

Sep 13, 2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Caribbean Blog International

The Bahamas lacks legislation criminalizing participation in an organized criminal group

Adopting laws against organized crime
thenassauguardian editorial



The annual drug report prepared by the United States government usually provides interesting commentary on the state of drug trafficking to and through The Bahamas.

In the 2011 report, which was released last week, the U.S. government again made suggestions to the Bahamian government to reform the criminal justice system in this country.

“However, a need still exists to reduce the long delays in resolving extradition requests and other criminal cases as an existing trend of law enforcement successes have been undermined by an overburdened Bahamian legal system,” said the U.S. State Department in the report.

“As mentioned in previous annual reports, we continue to encourage The Bahamas to increase the resources and manpower available to prosecutors, judges, and magistrates.”

The Bahamas has acknowledged that its criminal justice system needs help. The government has set in motion a series of reforms aimed at reducing the backlog of cases before the court and speeding up the rate of prosecution in the country.

The U.S. made another suggestion in the report that should be considered.

The State Department noted that the country lacks legislation criminalizing participation in an organized criminal group.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) is a U.S. federal law that provides for long criminal sentences and civil penalties for actions performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.

Simply put, those proven to be involved with an organized crime group are jailed for long terms.

The U.S. government has used these laws effectively against the mafia. In The Bahamas, no such law exists.

According to the drug report, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos estimate that there are 12 to 15 major drug trafficking organizations operating in The Bahamas.

A RICO law in The Bahamas would provide another tool to local law enforcement to take down some of these drug gangs.

However, local police and prosecutors would need to learn to conduct more comprehensive investigations for such a law to work. Rather than arresting one criminal for one offense, investigators and prosecutors would need to build a case against entire organizations. Evidence would need to be marshaled chronicling the various crimes it commits. The actors in the criminal activity would then need to be defined and linked to the criminal organization.

Comprehensive indictments would follow and large numbers of criminals would be brought to court at the same time.

These investigations could take years. But when done well, they cripple or dismantle entire criminal organizations.

For such a thing to work, The Bahamas would also need to change its overall prosecutorial response to drug trafficking. Traffickers are currently prosecuted in Magistrates Court where the maximum sentence is five years in jail. Some smugglers have been found in possession of millions of dollars work of cocaine and they have only faced that five-year sentence, or less if they pleaded guilty.

The law needs to prosecute based on weight. Those found in possession of large quantities of drugs should face trial in the Supreme Court where serious penalties can be issued. RICO prosecutions, if adopted, would also take place in the Supreme Court.

Organized crime is a threat to democracy. Those who do not believe this need only look at Mexico. The cartels there are at war with the state. And in some jurisdictions in that country, the cartels are winning the war.

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched his war on the cartels in 2006, more than 30,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence.

The Bahamas must consider legislative tools such as the RICO law in the U.S. to assist in the local fight against narco-trafficking. We cannot just continue to hope that the U.S. requests the extradition of our major drug dealers. We must develop the capacity to lock them up for long periods of time in this country.

3/9/2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Capital punishment serves no useful purpose

Ending the death penalty
thenassauguardian editorial



Execution remains the most severe punishment prescribed by the state for the crimes of murder and treason. The punishment of death is regularly issued in The Bahamas against those who commit murder. Treason prosecutions are virtually non-existent.

Despite the regularity of the issuance of the death sentence, executions are uncommon. There has not been a hanging in The Bahamas since David Mitchell was executed on January 6, 2000.

In the 1993 Pratt and Morgan ruling, Her Majesty’s Privy Council ruled that it would be cruel and inhuman to execute a murder convict more than five years after the death sentence was issued.

This ruling slowed the execution process. Murder trials take a long time to come up in this country and the appeals process after the death sentence is issued also takes years.

The country hanged 50 men since 1929, according to records kept at Her Majesty's Prison. Thirteen were hanged under the 25-year rule of the Pindling government (1967-1992); five of them were hanged under the first two Ingraham administrations (1992-2002); and the remainder were executed between 1929 and 1967.

In 2006, the Privy Council also issued a ruling stating that the section of the Penal Code requiring a sentence of death be passed on any defendant convicted of murder "should be construed as imposing a discretionary and not a mandatory sentence of death."

Five years after the first murder convict was sentenced to hang by a judge, using her discretion (then Supreme Court Justice Anita Allen), it appears that Maxo Tido will never be executed for the gruesome murder of a teenage girl.

His appeal against his conviction and sentence was scheduled to be heard by the Privy Council yesterday.

He was convicted on March 20, 2006 of the 2002 murder of 16-year-old Donnell Conover. In 12 days, it will be five years since Tido was sentenced to death and his matter was yesterday still in court.

The government has acknowledged that hangings are unlikely considering the five-year rule and the amount of time it takes for the appeals process to take place. However, despite this acknowledgment, capital punishment remains the legal punishment.

This commentary is not intended to offer an opinion on whether or not capital punishment is a fair or reasonable punishment. We have expressed our views on capital punishment in another editorial in this paper and remain steadfast that capital punishment is not an appropriate remedy. It serves no useful purpose.

What is clear is that even though it is the law of the land, it is virtually impossible for the death sentence to be carried out. Appeals against the sentence add to the backlog of cases before various courts. If the five-year rule remains, we need to end the death penalty for practical reasons.

The appeals waste time and money.

Anecdotally, the majority of Bahamians appear in favor of executions. This includes many of the powerful and vocal Christian clerics. Successive governments, it seems, fear even raising the issue of ending the death penalty.

As we all consider ways to reduce the number of matters before the court in order to make the criminal justice system more efficient, we must put this issue up for debate. Emotionalism is useless. The facts are the facts. Hangings, though desired by many, are unlikely to occur.

We must now at least start the discussion of the post-hanging period in The Bahamas. New laws are needed creating categories of murder. A proper definition of life in prison must also be brought forward along with a proper system of parole.

These are the issues that need to be debated when it comes to dealing with those who murder.

As long as the Privy Council rule remains in effect, murderers will appeal and appeal until the time for execution has past.

We must be realistic and accept that the days of execution in The Bahamas are over. Our laws ought to reflect this reality.

3/8/2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

The victims of crime in The Bahamas

The victims of crime
thenassauguardian editorial


The Bahamas should not become comfortable with, or used to, chronic delays in its criminal justice system. Impediments to justice are a further indignity to those who suffer at the hands of the violent. The vicious and debased things done to mothers, daughters, fathers and sons, sometimes during their last moments on earth, occupy media headlines for a day. Then, they are forgotten in the maze of confusion and disorganization called the Bahamian criminal justice system.

On Monday night armed men robbed and threatened to kill Bishop Elkin Symonette of Ebenezer Mission Baptist Church and his wife following a prayer meeting. The robbers later attempted to burn down the church.

During a series of armed home invasions in the Chippingham/Fort Charlotte area earlier in the year a woman was raped.

That woman will never be the same. Rape is a violation of the body, soul and mind. And sadly, based on the backlog of cases before the Supreme Court, there is no guarantee that the Office of the Attorney General will prosecute that case anytime soon.

Three men were charged in a magistrates'court early in July with burglary, robbery and rape. The courts will decide if they are guilty or not.

The sharp rise in the level of crime in this country is tragic. It's heartbreaking.

It is even more heartbreaking when you hear what actually happened to the victims; the level of fear that remains with those who survive; the depth of the loss felt by family members.

Bishop Symonette's wife, Inez, said the fear experienced during the robbery was inexplicable.

"I can't explain how I felt,"she said during a Nassau Guardian interview.

It is remarkable that the heirs of men and women who argued against the inadequacy of colonial rule would so poorly manage the criminal justice system.

Cases have been badly investigated and many not prosecuted.

Meanwhile, the victims and families of victims sit enraged and frustrated.

There are two logical consequences to the continued rise of violent crime in The Bahamas. One is vigilantism. Those who come to conclude that the criminal justice system is not concerned about their pain may soon, in greater numbers, seek their own justice.

The other consequence should concern our ruling class.

The poor, the working and middle classes of this country have no private security or police guards to protect them at night.

They have been preyed upon.

If solutions are not found soon to our crime problem, more and more of the privileged will also fall prey to the violators.

It would be a sad development in our country's history if this is required for change to take place.

10/19/2010

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamian Communities have called for police to stop the bloodshed

'Stop the bloodshed'

It is also up to the Bahamian People in The Bahamas to ensure the place in which they live is a community

By MEGAN REYNOLDS
Tribune Staff Reporter
mreynolds@tribunemedia.net:

A spike in murders once again has everyone on the alert.  Communities have called for police to stop the bloodshed.

They want to see more officers on the streets preventing the murders - like the six that occurred in a space of just six days last week - from happening in the first place.

This is a challenge police will struggle to face on their own,

Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade explained as he sought to reassure residents of Pinewood in a walkabout with his senior officers on Tuesday...

But as residents saw the convoy of shiny police cars crawling through their corners with a small fleet of media vehicles, they closed their doors.

One young man came out to talk to Mr Greenslade, but upon seeing the magnitude of the procession, the swarm of police officers, and reporters with television cameras, others ducked back in behind the safety of their own four walls.

Talking to the police does not look good in Pinewood.

A man was gunned down here just days ago and that was the latest in a string of violent killings over the years.

Although the majority of people say they feel safe in Pinewood (85 per cent according to MP Byran Woodside's August 2009 survey), it is also well known that being too cosy with law-enforcement does not make you popular with "the people in power."

By "the people in power" they do not mean the police, or Mr Woodside and the political big-wigs, but the young men, and less frequently women, who are arrested, charged and arraigned in connection with crimes as serious as firearm possession, armed robbery, or violent assaults, and then walk freely from jail, their bail bonds secured by self-interested lawyers.

They are released and welcomed back into the working-class families of Pinewood Gardens, and other neighbourhoods like it.

These criminals are not foreign to us, Mr Greenslade said.

They are not from the immigrant Haitian or Jamaican communities who Bahamians so willingly blame for our social strains and rising violent crime.

None of the six murders over six days bear signs of Jamaican-style "yardie" killings.

The deaths were not connected to any particular ethnic group or nationality.

They were simply committed by people with "evil in their hearts", the Commissioner concluded.

He also said the bloodshed is not confined to "hot spots" or no-go danger zones to be avoided in order to avoid gunfire.

No, the senseless killings, the unconscionable shootings, such as that of pregnant Marie Claude-Saintilien, 23, and of 30-year-old Fresh Creek, Andros, resident Tevaris Minnis, the week before last, are not indicative of good neighbourhoods turning bad.

The deaths are not happening as a result of an influx of violent foreigners carrying out an attack in an otherwise peace-loving nation.

No, these violent crimes are being committed by people in our own families, living in our homes and in our neighbour's homes, in suburban areas like Pinewood Gardens, where they are not only known to us, but they are known to their local police officers, detectives, prosecutors, magistrates and prison guards.

"These are people known to you," Mr Greenslade said.

"These are our relatives, and they are in and out of the system, having been arrested and then allowed to walk freely in our communities. That is very powerful."

How or why those suspected of such serious crimes are released into communities at the risk of being a menace to society - which the Commissioner asserts they are - begs a bigger question and one the Commissioner was unwilling, or unable, to answer.

But his unnerving assertion, said to reassure Pinewood residents and other neighbours of the most heinous crimes that it is not their community that poses a threat but people in it, is still not the most comforting of statements.

Nor is it any comfort to know many of those who have been killed have also been through the wheels of the criminal justice system.

Because several of them are also due to appear as witnesses in court, or like the four-year-old boy shot in Pinewood recently, they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Perhaps Mr Greenslade wanted to somewhat diminish the power these bailed criminals have by showing the people being killed are also not strangers to crime.

It certainly puts a damper on the attraction of the gangster lifestyle presented by these freed suspects who serve as examples of just how much Bahamians can get away with.

Sadly they become role models for the most vulnerable youngsters who lack the support and protection of good parents and guardians who might tell them any different, Pinewood resident Angelo King, 21, told me last week.

They show these youth how easy it is to get by in a bad economy if armed with a handgun.

Dealing drugs, robbing people in the street and breaking into their homes at opportune times to steal whatever may be worth selling will surely help you get by without having to worry about the high unemployment rate, taxes, traffic, and all those other hassles and stresses associated with having a job and being a functional and productive member of society.

And with no repercussions - at least not in the criminal justice system - it would seem to many a smart path to choose.

Children as young as 10 are drawn into housebreaking rings and trained to steal anything worth selling instead of going to school.

Mr King said the only thing that saved him from the influence of this path was his basketball talent, which he developed and worked hard at to earn a university scholarship and then graduate degree in psychology.

He said more positive role models are needed, and the police Commissioner tried to live up to this need when he invited the 4ft members of the Bahamas American Football Alliance team to Police Headquarters to meet some positive role models.

He explained how it is possible to carry a gun on the right side of the law and still get to play in Nassau's great game of the Wild West.

Certainly police appear to be stepping up to the plate as the Commissioner responds to calls from the public to speak out when they need reassurance, and shake-up the force as necessary, increasing the number of detectives on the homicide squad from two to five in recent months.

Duty officers have taken more than 133 illegal firearms and over 2,600 rounds of ammunition off the streets since January.

And as the rate of crime continues to plateau at a stomach-churning level, with the occasional peaks and troughs making us feel either less sick or more so, police are consistently charging suspected criminals and bringing them before the courts.

As of Friday, at least three people had been charged in connection with three of the six murders, which took place between June 21 and 26, and the Commissioner expects investigations will result in the charging of suspects in the remaining cases.

Among those arraigned last week was Kendrick Sands, 33, of Matthew Street, Nassau Village, who was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Atlantis worker Kifftino Davis, 20.

Mr Davis, of Peardale Street off Wulff Road, was gunned down by an unknown assailant, near his home at around 2am last Sunday.

His mother said he was due to testify in the upcoming murder trial of Pinewood Gardens resident George Carey, 21, a friend and colleague of Mr Davis' who was stabbed multiple times near Lockhart's Bar, Wulff Road, in May.

For Sands it is the second murder charge he has faced in just over a year, as he was arraigned on charges in connection with the January 2009 Nassau Village shooting of Onando Newbold in February last year and had been released on bail.

After his arraignment on Thursday he was remanded in custody. Police also charged Prince McPhee, 34, of High Vista Estates, last week, in connection with the fatal shooting of murder-accused Bradley Ferguson in Sequoia Street, Pinewood Gardens, on Saturday June 26.

Ferguson had been acquitted of murder charges earlier this year, having been accused of killing pregnant Rosemary Bennett-Wright and her five-year-old son Jakeel Wright in March 2002, as well as of the attempted murders of Devonna Brown and Omega Fox.

Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and his team stopped near Ferguson's home during their procession through Pinewood, which is within site of the crossroads where seven murders had occurred in recent memory - including the double murder of a mother and son in January last year.

But police did not make clear whether this unmarked road - first said to be Sequoia Street and then Avocado Street - was also the place where Ferguson - armed with a handgun and bleeding profusely from multiple gunshot wounds - forced himself into the parked car of a mother and her three children and severely traumatised the whole family before he became the country's 47th homicide victim last Saturday.

Mr Greenslade spoke to people in the strip-mall business places on that corner in an effort to reassure upstanding members of the community that police were doing their utmost to prevent violent crimes, but he also had to remind the suffering public there is only so much he and his men can do.

With the criminal justice system bursting with a whopping 257 murder cases pending as of April this year - and areas of the prison also oversubscribed - the crime level is more than just a policing issue.

As Mr Greenslade said in his roundabout way - there are other executive bodies to also be held accountable.

Just last week Magistrate Carolita Bethel granted $10,000 bail to a suspect arraigned on several serious charges, including the shooting of a child in Pinewood Gardens two weeks ago.

Pinewood resident Tyson Deveaux, was charged in connection with the shooting of a four-year-old boy in Brazilletta Street, on June 14, an incident in which he also was shot.

He had previously been accused of the murder of Marlon Smith on April 19, 2009, and was also accused of the murder of Corrie Bethel on May 10, 2007.

When he was first arraigned on June 18, Deveaux was remanded in custody by Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez.

But when he reappeared before Magistrate Bethel, facing two additional firearms possession charges in connection with the Pinewood shooting on June 24, he was freed on $10,000 bail with two sureties - one being that he had to surrender his travel documents to ensure he stayed in the country.

Why the suspect in connection with such a serious succession of crimes was granted bail by a magistrate regarded as one of the strictest in Nassau's court system is not known, but the public has no choice but to welcome him back into their communities until he returns to court on August 14 for the rest of his future to be decided - or adjourned.

Because if some of them are not welcomed with open arms, the fear is that by resisting their return we will become the next bloody mess, and murder victim number 48, 49 or 50 - no small number for halfway through the year.

The Commissioner was right when he said their bail release is very powerful indeed.

Perhaps this is why Bahamians are so "tolerant" as the Commissioner said.

"I am very concerned that we as Bahamians are so tolerant," said Mr Greenslade.

"We cannot allow young Bahamian men to continue to walk the streets of our country 24/7 with illegal weapons, selling drugs in our communities, and poisoning our children.

"That's not a policing problem - that's a Bahamian problem.

"If a person is walking our streets on bail and believes he or she is above everybody else, I don't know how policing will prevent that.

"It's very important that all Bahamians report these matters.

"This is about all of us as Bahamians saying 'enough is enough'."

I am certain for many of those who heard or read his statements genuinely feel "enough is enough" whether they have experienced murder and violent crime directly, read about them daily in the newspapers, or choose to avoid the news altogether in an effort to protect themselves from having to digest the unsavoury facts.

I am sure the residents of Pinewood who were intrigued by the uniformed police chiefs parading through the area, but were too intimidated - either by the police officers themselves or the criminals living in their neighbourhoods - to speak to Mr Greenslade and his colleagues, have had enough of the crime.

Who wants to live in a community where you are afraid to speak out?

Where if you witness a murder, you could be the next victim?

Perhaps it is a situation people have become used to, but surely it's not the lifestyle of choice - and, yes, you do have one.

Unfortunately the intimidation of witnesses has become so common it may seem to be the only way of going about things.

As suspects' families celebrate the homecoming of their bailed loved-ones, witnesses of crimes that the suspects may or may not have been involved in, cower in their homes and lock their doors.

Pinewood mother Maria Scott lost her son Marcian Clarke, 31, four years ago. He was shot dead outside their Willow Tree Avenue home in Pinewood Gardens shortly before he was due to testify as a key witness in the murder of his former police patrol partner.

It's hardly surprising that after his partner was killed Mr Clarke left the police force for a job at Atlantis, but changing jobs was not enough to leave the front-line.

As a key witness, even his own efforts and the efforts of police could not protect him.

And with the recent case of Mr Davis's killing, it's little wonder people are so unwilling to come forward when it comes to informing the police.

As a reporter I have walked through neighbourhoods in Pinewood, off Wulff Road or East Street, to try to talk to residents about the latest crime, and the dozens of people sitting around who may or may not know something about it will not say a word.

Sometimes an unwary child will point me in the right direction, or divulge some interesting details, and very occasionally someone bold enough to speak out will do so.

But the long and short of it is - they do not feel safe to appear to be on the right side of the law.

Just as witnesses in murder cases whose names appear on court dockets and are called to testify in court may be vulnerable to freedom-hungry predators with blood on their hands, anyone who happens to see one of the dozens of cold-blooded killings committed in public places, and often in broad daylight, is also exposed to the vulnerability of a witness.

Ways of protecting witnesses could be worked out - by removing their names from the dockets, and having them sign a sworn statement rather than appear in court.

Ways of protecting people from bailed suspects could also be maintained by keeping enough officers on foot patrols in neighbourhoods to ensure the criminals are the ones who are cowering and not the law-abiding citizens.

This simple suggestion was put to me by a pair of bright young men who spoke candidly about Pinewood, the home they know and love, as a place neglected by anyone with the power to change it, as it lies hidden from critical eyes in some central south-eastern area of New Providence to be visited only by those who live there.

They brushed off the police "walkabout" as a PR exercise that would not change the problems of their community, because under the scorching mid-morning sun, there is little criminal activity for them to survey in Pinewood Park.

The officers need to be there on the streets day and night if they are going to maximize police efforts to stop the bloodshed; then even if the criminals are going to be freed on bail, at least they will not get the opportunity to strike again.

As Mr Greenslade said, without these "evil-hearted" individuals the neighbourhoods would be safe, so the balance has to be altered to bring it back to the good.

Young people in Pinewood want more resources to be given to community groups, or invested in the beautification of the community, and they need positive role models.

They criticised their FNM MP for not doing enough to support community groups, and for letting community resources fall into disrepair.

And taking the criticism with the sensitivity of an insecure teenager, or a politician, Mr Woodside chose not to return my call to answer questions about why the swings in Pinewood Park hang broken, why the basketball hoop has not been repaired for years, or why the garbage cans are overflowing, and the grass is overgrown and dumping is so common on empty lots, home to rusting abandoned vehicles.

Instead, Mr Woodside released a press statement highlighting what he had done to clean up the area, including spending nearly all of the $200,000 allotted to the community between 2007 and 2009 on community projects, including a clean-up campaign ($34,500).

And to be fair to Mr Woodside, it's not really up to him to baby-sit the children, teenagers and young adults who keep breaking the basketball hoops, or are reluctant to stop tinkering with rusted broken down cars over the decades so new cars may feed off their old parts.

It is also up to the people themselves to ensure the place in which they live is a community.

If Kevin Moss, the 20-year-old Pinewood resident who spoke to me this week, is as passionate about helping the young people in the community as he said he is, surely he can do that without a handout from his MP.

Yes, he needs support, but if the handful of families who want to keep Pinewood crime free can work together, perhaps they can crystallise those common ideals they have for their children and their neighbours' children, and realize those opportunity for the next generation.

By taking their own angle on the fight against crime, through increasing positive activities, showing they are not afraid, and being courageous enough to reclaim their neighbourhoods, they can help improve their communities while the police keep an eye on those system-worn suspects they know to look out for, and court administrators can get to work on addressing that mammoth backlog churning out bailed suspects who put us all at risk.

July 05, 2010

tribune242

Crime in The Bahamas 'scaring away investors'

Crime 'scaring away investors'
By BRENT DEAN ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ brentldean@nasguard.com:



Co-owner of the Grand Bahama Port Authority Sir Jack Hayward has warned that the Government of The Bahamas must find solutions to the escalating crime problem in the country before countries such as the United States issue travel advisories warning their citizens not to come to this jurisdiction.

"Any moment now the American Embassy could be advising American citizens that this is an unsafe country to travel (to)," said Sir Jack yesterday in an interview with The Nassau Guardian.

He also noted that the worrisome situation is scaring some potential investors.

At the end of the first half of 2010, there were 47 homicides in The Bahamas. The country appears on pace to near 100 homicides for the year.

The Bahamas set homicide records in both 2007 and 2009. The current homicide record from last year is 87.

The current homicide count puts the country on pace to record its third homicide record in four years.

Sir Jack said that the disturbing crime trend in the country could threaten both tourism to, and investment in, the country.

"When a potential investor or a potential visitor sees the headline, Up to record levels – More than last year, and so on, they are obviously going to say, 'Hey is this a safe place to travel?'," said Sir Jack.

"I mean the government has got to do something about the crime rate."

The government acknowledges that the Bahamian criminal justice system is facing significant challenges.

Two weeks ago in the House of Assembly National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest revealed that more people who are charged with murder are on bail than on remand at Her Majesty's Prison.

Up to April 30, 130 people charged with murder were on bail and an additional 127 were on remand, according to Turnquest. In total, there were 257 outstanding murder cases.

The government has attempted, in terms of personnel changes and infrastructure investments, to address the crime problem, which has worsened in recent years.

Since the Free National Movement (FNM) came to office in 2007, there have been three commissioners of police; three attorneys general; two chief justices; and the second director of the Department of Public Prosecutions is soon to take office.

The government has bought the police a new fleet of vehicles and it is spending more than $20 million upgrading the court system.

The new Magistrates Court complex at Nassau Street is expected to be completed within the next few months.

Sir Jack expressed concern about the high number of accused murderers on bail.

"God knows what they are doing? The whole thing is out of control," he said.

As recently as 1991, the homicide count in The Bahamas was as low as 28, according to police records.

The international homicide standard countries seek to be at or under is five murders per 100,000 persons. Ideally, The Bahamas would have around 18 homicides per year if it was near this mark.

The projected population count for The Bahamas this year by the Department of Statistics is 346,900.

If the homicide rate continues on the same pace in the second half of 2010, The Bahamas would have a homicide rate of around 27.17 per 100,000 population.

The Bahamas is moving towards a homicide rate comparable with countries in the region that have serious crime problems.

In 2008 the homicide rate for Jamaica was 59.5 per 100,000 population; it was 39.7 per 100,000 population the same year in Trinidad and Tobago, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.


July 1, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Clogged Courts... Clogged Justice

Confusion around the courts
tribune242editorial:


NATIONAL Security Minister Tommy Turnquest told Parliament Wednesday that at least 252 persons charged with murder are still awaiting trial. Of that number about 130 are out on bail.

It would be interesting to know how many of those on bail have been charged with a second murder, or have themselves become the victim of another criminal's drive-by shooting. Up to April 30, 130 murder accused were still out on the streets waiting to be called in to face justice.

Lawyer Philip Davis told the House that a murder trial usually takes a month. He estimated that it would take more than 20 years to clear those now waiting for their cases to be heard. "A near impossible" task to deal with, he observed.

The courts are not only clogged with too many cases, but also cases cannot move smoothly and swiftly through the system because of constant delays, either for lack of witnesses, summonses that have not been served, or lawyers who need adjournments because of a conflict in their own calendars.

A businessman, who was to testify this week for a theft at his office, after waiting four hours outside court for the case to be called, vowed that in future unless death were involved, he would never again call in the police to get entangled in the judicial system. "It is ridiculous what happens at the court," he said.

He said his case was set down for Tuesday and Wednesday this week. He arrived at the court at 9.30am on Tuesday. There were so many prisoners already there that everyone was asked to leave the court to make room for them.

He waited with the crowd under the almond tree in front of Café Matisse to find some shelter from the blistering sun. Later he hurried under an awning to be protected from the rain. "I am a middle aged man in good health, but can you imagine what would happen to an older person, not in good health, under these conditions?" he asked. He battled with the sun and rain for four hours before his case was called. When he entered the court room at 1.30pm he was told: "Come back tomorrow."

The next day, he went even earlier to secure a seat at the back of the court. He said that a sympathetic policeman who knew what he had gone through the day before helped him find the seat. His case was the second to be called on Wednesday. He gave his evidence, but believes that there will be at least two more adjournments in the magistrate's court before the case can make it to the Supreme Court.

In the two days that he was there only two cases went ahead. About 40 had to be adjourned because either witnesses had not shown up, or summonses had not been served.

On Tuesday he said in one case alone 15 witnesses were called. Not one was present. Of the 30 cases that day, no one had shown up to give evidence. Each case had to be set down for a new date.

Even a prisoner complained about the non-functioning system. He told the court that that day was the fifth time that he had been brought before the court, but each time his case had been adjourned because no one was there. "This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed.

Also at no time did the businessman feel secure. He said there should be somewhere for witnesses to wait so that they do not have to be so near to the prisoners.

He said all the staff and the police at the court were friendly. However, it was obvious that the court was under staffed.

"It was a total eye opener for me to our criminal justice system," he said as he vowed never again to willingly expose himself to such an experience.

As for murder cases, Mr Turnquest told the House, government will specify an amendment to a bill now before parliament that three years is a reasonable time to hold murder accused in prison to await trial. In our own experience, we know of a case that involved the brutal murder in 2006 of one of our own staff members. The man accused of her murder was back on the streets after only 14 months. He is still a free man and no more has been heard of her case.

Under the constitution, said Mr Turnquest, a person accused of murder has a right to bail if they are not brought to trial in a reasonable time. With the slow pace at which many matters proceed before the courts this has allowed many charged with serious offences to be released on bail, sometimes coercing witnesses or committing other heinous crimes, he said.

"There's no question that the granting of bail to persons charged with murder is particularly controversial and emotive in our country. The public is concerned and rightly so that persons charged with murder are given bail and remain free to coerce, compel, and influence others and tragically to kill again," said Mr Turnquest.

"It is critical that more persons charged with murder have their cases decided by the courts and we believe that this Bill is a step in the right direction," he said.

We suggest that a court be designated just for murder cases with its own staff to bring in the witnesses and keep the cases moving through the system.

June 18, 2010

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