The alleged gay lover of a senior policeman, who is also a relative of another senior policeman, appeared in court yesterday for the heinous murder of 11-year-old Marco Archer.
Kofhe Edwardo Goodman, also known as Elvardo Ferguson, 36, was arraigned before Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell in Court 6, Bank Lane.
Police were on high alert as Goodman was escorted to the court by officers from the Central Detective Unit. However, the arraignment occurred without incident.
Goodman was not required to enter a plea to the charge. Already the legal shenanigans were started when Goodman told the magistrate that he wanted his lawyer to be there for the arraignment. Conveniently, his lawyer was not present.
Oddly, Goodman named lawyer Geoffrey Farquharson as his attorney but Farquharson, who was seen in the immediate area, did not appear on Goodman’s behalf.
Not showing up in court, in order to have a case postponed, is a stall tactic used by many Bahamian lawyers
But to her credit, wise to the first stall tactic, Magistrate Bethell told Goodman that since he was already in court, she would proceed with the arraignment. While denying him bail, the magistrate told Goodman he could consult with his lawyer at any time while on remand.
Prosecutors plan to bypass a preliminary inquiry in the magistrates court and send the case straight to the Supreme Court by a voluntary bill of indictment.
Goodman is scheduled to return to court on February 16, 2012, at which time prosecutors expect to have the necessary documents prepared to send the case directly to the Supreme Court.
Marco Archer was reported missing on September 23, after he did not return from the neighborhood store where he went to purchase candy.
Police allegedly did not immediately respond to the disappearance because the little boy hadn’t been missing long enough.
Five days later, little Marco’s badly decomposed body was found in bushes behind an apartment complex on Yorkshire Street, off Bay Street on the Cable Beach strip.
Goodman is already on remand after being charged with having sex with two other little boys.
Shorty after police began suspecting Goodman of killing Marco Archer, they started looking into his previous activites and determined that he may have been the person who kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old boy on August 17, 2011. Further investigation revealed that Goodman may also have been repsonsible for the rape of another 12-year-old back in March, 2011.
It is alleged but not ascertained that police suspected Goodman of the two previous crimes months before Marco Archer’s murder, but did not arrest him due to his close homosexual relationship with a senior police officer.
On October 3, Goodman appeared before Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans and was charged with the two previous child rapes. He returns to court for a status hearing in those matters on December 16.
Back in 1993, Goodman was convicted of unnatural sexual intercourse. He did not go to jail however, allegedly because he was a relative of a senior police officer. He was later convicted and sent to jail for the attempted murder of a nine-year-old boy.
He was freed from prison last year, earlier than expected, allegedly after his gay lover police buddy intervened.
