The rumour mill has gone the rounds from nasty foreigners to satanic cults to slavery rings to organ salesmen to maniacal butchers. And even actual names of well-known people in the community have been circulating.
But now it appears that those responsible for the first boy’s death are none other than 12-year-old Jake Grant’s own playmates.
Are the remaining disappearances linked? Are we looking for a serial killer?
A sexual predator targeting vulnerable young boys? Or are we confronting a series of random incidents in one location with common characteristics?
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, “we are treating each of the five missing cases as a distinct and separate matter.”
Well, this was certainly news to us. People have long been commenting on the links and commonalities among the five cases.
But it will be another few months before the four suspects are brought to trial for manslaughter, and meanwhile we don’t even know if a body has been found. The police seem determined to remain “tightlipped” as Bahamians like to say.
We are aware of the danger of giving out information that might alert a criminal to his potential capture. And we acknowledge the restrictions of our British-inherited legal system. But we refuse to accept that silence is all we can expect from the authorities in a matter of such public import.
The Miami Herald is reporting more information than Bahamians are currently receiving from the police. We don’t see the Ministry of Tourism’s PR types having much effect on the American press. So why should they be concerned about what information Bahamians have access to in their own country?
Information and its dissemination are the essence of a free press. That’s something those in positions of authority in The Bahamas need to learn and then to keep in mind.
Also worthy of holding on to is the concept that information belongs to the public, not the politicians and the bureaucrats.
Editorial, The Nassau Guardian
