As part of her new “swift justice” initiative, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson Maynard-Gibson announced on Monday that she will be taking steps to ensure that death warrants are read as soon as possible after someone has been convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
Minister Maynard-Gibson said condemned persons would no longer be allowed to “play the system”.
“People simply allow timelines to run and run and run,” she said, while a guest on Love 97ﾒs “Issues of the Day”.
Minister Maynard-Gibson pointed out that anyone convicted of murder is allowed 21 days to appeal.
She said that on the 22nd day or shortly thereafter she will be advising National Security Minister Cynthia Pratt, who chairs the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, to convene a meeting to move the process forward.
“[Mrs. Pratt] has already indicated her position in support of also carrying out swift justice and in support of the death penalty,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
“So we expect that the prerogative committee would meet and also if mercy is not shown that a death warrant would be read. We intend to make sure that the system is not played and that advantage is not taken.”
She believes this would send “a very strong message” about law and order in the Bahamas.
Prime Minister Perry Christie has also indicated his support of the death penalty, although his government has not read any death warrants.
Officials have explained that a recent Privy Council case would have made it impossible to execute anyone in the country before a ruling was handed down.
In April, the high court ruled that the mandatory death sentence is unconstitutional and that a judge should have discretion in sentencing.
Several weeks ago, using her discretion, Justice Anita Allen sentenced murder convict Maxwell Tido to death.
The Bahamas hanged 50 men since 1929, according to records kept at Her Majestyﾒs Prison. There are now 29 men under the sentence of death at the prison. Neil Brown, who was killed in the prison break in January, had also been on death row.
Since that ruling, the attorney general had said that the cases of all death row men, excluding Tido, would be remitted to the Supreme Court for their sentences to be reconsidered.
Given that just about half of the men under the sentence of death have been there for more than five years, as established by the Privy Council, it would be considered cruel and inhumane to execute them.
Officials have said that death row inmates are in no hurry to appeal because they would benefit from the five-year determination.
While on the show on Monday, the attorney general also agreed that the judicial system has “broken down”.
“That is why when the prime minister asked me to go and accept this position a very, very clear mandate was given about swift justice,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
Anyone on remand at the prison for two years without being tried is usually released on bail.
Itﾒs why there are more than 100 people out on bail who have been charged with murder, and more than 100 out on bail who have been charged over the years with armed robbery.
The concern about suspected criminals out on bail has been shared by various government officials, jurists, members of the public and the attorney general herself.
“It is simply unacceptable to hold somebody in prison on remand, untried for two years and it is also unacceptable as far as the people of our country, rightly so, are concerned to have people out on bail recommitting the various same crimes while they are out on bail,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
“That is why I am uncompromising and determined to send the message and to deliver the fact that we will deal with these matters expeditiously by a [voluntary bill of indictment] procedure.”
The attorney general has announced that in serious cases like murder and sexual offences, the preliminary inquiry phase will be eliminated and the matters would be forwarded to the Supreme Court for sentencing.
There are approximately 650 people imprisoned at Her Majestyﾒs Prison who are awaiting trial, according to Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming, who told the Journal last month that many of them have been charged with serious crimes.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
