The Bahamas High Commission in London came under fire last week from a British couple who are seeking justice for their son’s death.
The Bromley News Shopper branded a petition handover “a farce,” claiming that the Commission refused entry to the parents of a child killed by a speedboat at Paradise Island.
According to the article, a News Shopper reporter, Paul and Andrea Gallagher, the deceased’s parents, and John Horam, MP for Orpington, were refused entry to the High Commission when they went to hand over the 1,000-signature petition of support as part of an ongoing Justice for Paul campaign.
“They [the High Commission] didn’t answer the door, they disconnected the doorbell, they didn’t admit their cleaners, and it was slightly bizarre really.
It’s a public building after all,” reporter Sara Nelson said. “Paul’s parents were disgusted οΎ– they were very shocked. They thought the worst-case scenario would be handing over the petition to a clerk on a desk or something similar. They did not expect to be locked out.”
The News Shopper article added that a statement issued by the High Commission questioned the presence of a “battery of newsmen and cameras,” including Sky News at the petition delivery, which it considered “not necessary.”
The article continued that the commission’s statement also regretted “that the News Shopper did not inform them that the Gallagher family and their MP would be delivering the petition. Had they done so, an appropriate meeting could then have been arranged.”
Two-year-old Paul 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 Doctor’s 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.”
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Mark Wilson has confirmed that Met officers will travel to The Bahamas to “only review” the case.
He added that the government has set out its rules and has allowed the team to come into the country and review the case under Bahamas Government terms.
He explained that the British team can only review the documents and files of the case along with Bahamian authorities.
By: IANTHIA SMITH, The Nassau Guardian
