After a burglary at his home last week, newlywed political leader Cassius Stuart is calling for the Government to entrench stiffer crime penalties into Bahamian legislation.
Stuart, who was off the island when someone broke into his home, was still a bit angry during his interview with the Guardian, given that his pregnant wife, Dr Sharmaine Gray, daughter of Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Alfred Gray, could have been in jeopardy had she not been working at the time.
“My house was broken into two days ago by some punk. I want them to know and I want the Government to know that if anybody breaks into my house and touches my family, I am not going to wait for them to execute them, I will execute them myself. I am not interested in tolerating the nonsense in this country, ” he charged. “We have to begin to let these people know that we will break them. The law will break them. They break into my house. They violated my house where my wife and my baby could have been hurt. Something has to be done to address that situation and something has to be done now.”
The couple’s Garden Hills home was burglarised ” in the middle of the day” while Dr Gray and a house-guest were at work. His wife arrived home shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday to find plastic bags from the kitchen cupboard, all over the floor in the front room, and noticed that locked cabinets had been opened. Dr Gray immediately walked back outside to her car and called the police. The burglar appeared to have entered through a side window.
“For the last four years, the BDM has been advocating for stiffer penalties against these criminals, but it is apparent that this Government does not have the balls to deal with the crime situation,” he said. “This past year there have been many homes on the Eastern Road and the Garden Hills area where I reside which have been broken into. It seems that we don’t have a control on this problem. We have to begin to enforce stiffer penalties on these individuals who feel that they can go into individuals’ homes and violate their privacy for their own personal gain. I am sick and tired of this nonsense and we have to begin to do something about this.”
Crime has been rampant under both the FNM and PLP administrations, added Stuart.
“Under ‘Mother’ Pratt, we have had more breakouts of the prison. We as private citizens have to make our homes a prison with bars so that the criminals in the street can run rampant. The Government has to act like they are serious. They have to do something with this crime issue. They have to show the people – tax paying citizens of our country – that they can protect us. What is the use of having a Minister of National Security when nobody in the country feels nationally secured,” said Stuart. “I don’t even feel secured in my own home.”
The Nassau Guardian
