A British family has vowed to keep pressure on the government to have the case concerming their toddler’s death reopened.
Two-year-old Paul Gallagher Jr was killed in a speedboat incident on Paradise Island three years ago.
London-based newspaper The News Shopper reported that Paul and Andrea Gallagher are receiving overwhelming support from locals there and have pledged that they will not give up in their fight to have the Bahamian government let British authorities reopen the case.
The News Shopper joined the Gallaghers’ fight last month and recently reported that the campaign’s goal of getting 1,000 signatures will soon be realised.
“News Shopper’s Justice for Paul campaign is continuing to go from strength to strength. So far we have received more than 700 signatures of support,” the article said. “We must keep up the pressure on the Bahamian Government.”
Recently, Virgin Atlantic Airways mogul Sir Richard Branson called the incident “ghastly” and joined the campaign, calling on Atlantis owner Sol Kerzner to ban jet skis.
Orpington MP John Horam, who represents the area where the Gallagher family lives, also joined the family’s fight for “justice.” The boy was killed on the beach of the Atlantis resort when a boat used to pull an inflatable raft broke free and struck him. At the time of the incident the child was transported to Doctors Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on August 10, 2002.
Less than a year after the incident, a Bahamas Coroner’s Court jury ruled little Paul’s death as accidental. The pathologist reviewing the case listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, causing a fractured skull, haemorrhaging and lacerations of the brain.
However, the ruling of accidental death did not sit well with the Gallaghers and the News Shopper’s “justice for Paul campaign.”
But Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Mark Wilson in a previous interview said the British family’s continuous query of The Bahamas’ investigation into their toddler’s death is “completely ridiculous” and should have never come about. He added that the relevant government agencies have done all they can and, as far as they are concerned, a proper investigation was conducted.
“First of all it was ridiculous to begin with because what they did in their court was to determine that the investigation that was conducted in The Bahamas was flawed,” he said. “That has to be ridiculous because we certainly don’t do that when our citizens meet any kind of tragedy in other countries. We rely on their authorities to conduct a proper investigation. And as far as we are concerned we conducted a proper investigation, inclusive of a coroner’s investigation.”
Mr and Mrs Gallagher also accused the government of going back on its word to allow Metropolitan police officers to reopen the case. According to Mr Wilson, the government never agreed to allow the Met officers to conduct their own investigation, only to review the files.
By: IANTHIA SMITH, The Nassau Guardian
