Bahama Pundit

The Condition of the Royal Bahamas Police Force

by Craig Butler

With the rate of crime being what it is, we the people are looking to the police for answers. We need them to reassure us that all is going to be well. We need them to tell us that they have a handle on the situation.

The important question is: can the police provide these things? Unfortunately, I must say 'no'.

The prime minister has said that he decided to send two of our senior police officers (Assistant Commissioners Greenslade and Dames) to Canada for advanced training.

I like the prime minister as he has always struck me as someone who has the best for the country in mind. However, with the greatest respect, let there be no more talk about political interference in the police as both PLP and FNM governments have shown that they have an inability to keep their hands off.

Fixing the Bahamian Justice System

by Larry Smith

“(Trial by jury) is the most transcendent privilege which any subject can enjoy, or wish for - that he cannot be affected either in his property, his liberty, or his person, but by the unanimous consent of twelve of his neighbors and equals." -- Sir William Blackstone

Does it matter whether Bahamian trials proceed with nine- or 12-person juries?

Some research says larger juries are indeed more representative. But in a small place like this, where there are inordinate delays in jury selection in an already dysfunctional court system, cutting the number of jurors makes sense.

The government recently introduced a measure to do just that - going from 12 to nine jurors in non-capital cases, reducing the number of peremptory challenges by lawyers to seven, and requiring a majority vote of six of the nine jurors to decide non-capital cases.

This amendment to the Juries Act is set for final debate in the House today. But the opposition is, of course, opposed. They say the measure is "useless" and argue that the government is "tinkering with a fundamental right". According to Fred Mitchell (who was a cabinet minister just a few months ago), the government should "simply cause speedy trials to take place."

Fixing the Jury System in the Bahamas

by Craig Butler

This past week the government began a parliamentary debate on a bill to amend the Juries Act. The main thrust of this amendment is to reduce the number of jurors in non-capital cases from 12 to nine

I was called by a reporter from the Nassau Guardian and asked to comment. I stated that I had no problem with such a move as I was on the side of justice and I thought that a jury of nine could still deliberate fairly. On reading the article that was produced, I was surprised to see that I was the only person quoted in favour of the proposal.

On closer inspection, however, I realized that the others asked were simply grandstanding, as they had avoided the question completely and tried to shift the emphasis to what was wrong in the judicial system. This was particularly annoying when coming from the president of the Bar Association.

Bahamian Immigration Problems

by Craig Butler

I don’t know if any of us who were born here and consider ourselves to be proud Bahamians really understand what predicament some of our compatriots find themselves in. Not only don’t we understand but many of us are also completely unsympathetic.

Like the outside child (and I use this analogy because many could identify with it) who never feels complete acceptance from the legitimate siblings, but who is also not responsible for the situation in which they find themselves, we treat the children of illegal immigrants with contempt and disdain.

Other countries have adopted a much more liberal approach to those that are born within their boarders, and many Bahamians can personally attest to this as they go to South Florida to have their children so that they may have the benefit of being American citizens.

However when the children of (particularly) Haitians and Jamaicans who are born here seek to assert their rights many of us would wish to see them fail. It is a shame that they only have the right to apply for Bahamian citizenship on reaching the age of majority - meaning there is no guarantee that they will receive it.

Life is Cheap in the Bahamas

by Craig Butler

Within the space of five days two young men had their lives stubbed out for nothing at all. I have to ask myself 'why?' And honestly I don’t have an answer. Is life now so cheap that we take it without a second thought?

Our young men are angry and their inability to control their emotions causes them to act impulsively. This results many times in consequences that could easily have been avoided had someone stopped to think, but more likely than not has ended in tragedy for two families.

Always remember it is not only the victim’s family that are grieving after suffering the loss of one dear to them, but the perpetrator's family have to endure the shame of it all and the fact that their child will now be dragged before the courts to face justice and on each occasion they will ponder the question to which there is no answer...What if?

Land Wars Continue on Rum Cay

by Larry Smith

A pivotal ruling has been made in one of two injunctions filed by prominent Bahamians over the past year in an effort to stop foreign speculators from carving up and selling thousands of acres of disputed land on the 45-square-mile island of Rum Cay.

The land wars have fueled a controversy that involves powerful Nassau lawyers (on both sides of the political fence), the few dozen poor and formerly enslaved inhabitants of Rum Cay, wealthy second home owners, and a bevy of foreign and local fortune seekers.

A March 26 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Thompson extends one of the injunctions and awards costs to attorney Craig Butler, a grandson of the late governor-general Sir Milo Butler, who is representing the family's claim to more than a thousand acres in the west of Rum Cay.

The ruling also appears to validate the Butler claim, making it more difficult for other claimants. Rum Cay has been at the centre of a maze of competing land claims in recent years, with several developments underway - some spurious, some real.

Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law in the Bahamas

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

The debate over the independence of Bahamian high court judges has exploded again, and with a vengeance. There can hardly be a more important issue since it is about the rule of law and goes to the very heart of our democratic governance and the protection of our rights as citizens.

The administration of Prime Minister Perry Christie has shown little regard for the conventions which are so important to the proper functioning of our parliamentary democracy and to its own proclaimed code of ethics.

Mr. Christie, who knows better, has allowed some of his ministers to violate the most fundamental conventions and rules of cabinet government without even the mildest of reprimands. These violations have been pointed out repeatedly in this column.

Arrest of Bahamian Bag Handlers in Florida Creates Political Firestorm in Nassau

by Larry Smith

"This is a different era. It's a different mindset. Today, we cloak our children in wrongdoing." -- National Security Minister Cynthia Pratt.

The arrest of five Nassau airport baggage handlers in Florida last month unleashed a storm of self-righteous protest among Bahamians. And - with an election in the offing - opposition politicos are having a field day.

They accuse the government of "colluding" in an "extra-judicial rendition" of unsuspecting Bahamians to imprisonment in another country. Some go so far as to say the men were officially kidnapped.

By this account, the unwitting baggage handlers were "tricked" into traveling to the US as part of an elaborate scheme to circumvent their right of due process under Bahamian law.

All of the cabinet ministers who would logically be in a position to know what happened have been put on the defensive and have denied any foreknowledge.

They include Cynthia Pratt (who oversees the police), Fred Mitchell (who handles foreign relations), and Allyson Gibson (who is responsible for prosecutions). Mitchell also said that Glenys Hanna-Martin (who is in charge of the airport) had no prior information, and neither did the managers of Nassau Flight Services, who employed the unfortunate bag men.

But the opposition insists otherwise. They say that Bahamian suspects should not be enticed to travel abroad to facilitate their arrest and prosecution by foreigners: "Somebody is lying. There is more to this than meets the eye," one political source told Tough Call.

Law and Principles are for Every Season

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!

That exchange is from the celebrated play, A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt, which was first staged in Britain in 1960 and several years later made into a movie. It is, of course, about Sir Thomas More, the brilliant scholar, lawyer and statesman who was Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII.

Bahamians Must Look to Themselves to Fight Crime in The Bahamas

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

The new commandant of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Commodore Clifford Scavella, sent shivers down the nation’s spine last week when he declared that some 250 members of the Force are corrupt and needed to be removed while another 250 “can go either way depending on which way the pressure comes from”.

As if to underline the Commodore’s comments, there were reports in the media about an ugly incident which inflamed passions at Mathew Town, Inagua. It is alleged that some members of the Force stationed at that island brutally assaulted a resident and threatened others who tried to intervene.

Notwithstanding the Commodore’s confidence that the other half of the Force is a dedicated and committed lot, we need to be seriously concerned. We are already aware that there is an unacceptably high level of corruption in the Royal Bahamas Police Force and in at Her Majesty’s Prison Service.

Judge Scolds Bahamas Government Over Separation of Powers

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

A Justice of the Supreme Court has just given the executive branch of our government a well-deserved public scolding for playing fast and loose with the Judicature and for becoming confused over the difference between the two and the separate roles of each of these constitutional institutions.

In delivering his dramatic ruling of 6 November 2006, Justice John Lyons did a great service to the nation by speaking out courageously about what he perceived to be an attack on the independence of The Bahamas Judiciary.

There may be controversial aspects of the judge’s stunning pronouncement but there is much in it that citizens of this country should take to heart. It should be posted on the internet for all to read.

Mr. Lyons takes issue with a press release emanating from the Attorney General’s Office and which presumes to review the performance of high court judges in the context of the Attorney’s General’s so-called “swift justice” initiative.

Lawyer/Client Privilege in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

Although you might not know it, a constitutional battle has been raging here for the past five years.

The government is in the metaphorical dock, fighting a war of attrition in the hope that Maurice Glinton and Leandra Esfakis, the two maverick lawyers leading the fray, will give up and go away.

The battle is over the confidentiality of lawyer-client relations – something which experts say is a cornerstone of our justice system.

Glinton and Esfakis sued the government soon after the Ingraham administration rammed a package of 11 financial laws through parliament in December 2000 under heavy pressure from Western countries and the Financial Action Task Force those countries had set up to regulate international banking.

Capital Punishment in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

Let the punishment be equal with the offence.
Cicero

"As I read the New Testament, I don't see anywhere in there that killing bad people is a very high calling for Christians. "
James Park, former execution officer, San Quentin Prison, California

"The death penalty is a poor person's issue. Always remember that: after all the rhetoric that goes on in the legislative assemblies, in the end, when the deck is cast out, it is the poor who are selected to die ."
Sister Helen Prejean

“The recidivism rate for capital punishment is zero. No executed murderer has ever killed again. You can't say that about those sentenced to prison, even if you are an abolitionist.”
Wesley Lowe

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Ever since the 7th century BC, when Greece’s Draconian legal code made death the only penalty for every crime, the world has been moving away from capital punishment.

This is despite the fact that every country is still ready and willing to kill thousands and even millions of human beings to defend themselves or to exert their political will.

More than a hundred countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice - the United States and Japan being the only developed democracies that still carry out judicial killings. There are currently over 3,000 people waiting to be put to death in the US.

In the ancient world, death sentences would be carried out by extravagant methods like crucifixion, drowning, burning, boiling, stoning, beheading, disembowelment and impalement.

But about 1500 years ago, hanging became the preferred method of execution in Britain, from where we derive our legal code. Until the late 19th century, the “long drop” (as it was known) was still the penalty for hundreds of crimes - including shoplifting, poaching and “being in the company of gypsies”.

Protecting our Consitutional Rights

by Larry Smith

Eighteen years ago, a police squad led by Sgt Drexel Cartwright burst into a Freeport home and arrested a public school teacher from California who was visiting her crippled father.

Twenty-nine-year-old Tamara Merson was summarily frog-marched to the police station and held for three days with male prisoners in filthy, unsupervised cells.

According to a judge, “it was 57 hours of the most harrowing and excruciatingly degrading experiences a young lady visiting the Bahamas could possibly encounter.”

“The conditions were horrific,” Tamara told Tough Call recently. “Like the black hole of Calcutta. There were no toilet facilities and I was in a small space with a dozen men. One masturbated in front of me. One defecated on the floor. I was terrified of being gang-raped.