Relatives of murdered charity worker Nellie Mae Brown-Cox claimed they suffered embarrassment, mental anguish, nervous shock and extreme depression over the leaked crime scene photos of their loved one.
The claims are part of a lawsuit filed against Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade and then Attorney General John Delaney in the Supreme Court on October 19, 2011, but not made public before now.
Greenslade told The Nassau Guardian last week he could not comment on the status of his investigation into the leaked photos because of the lawsuit.
Brown-Cox was hacked to death sometime between April 6 and 7, 2011 in her apartment on Bougainvillea Avenue, South Beach.
Photos of the crime scene were published on the Internet on April 9, 2011. The pictures were widely circulated and that intensified outrage over the gruesome murder, which police had previously reported as a stabbing death.
The issue of the leak was brought back into the public’s consciousness after Prince Hepburn, a contractor and Brown-Cox’s boyfriend, was convicted of her murder last month.
The matter was also raised again in some circles after community activist Rodney Moncur was arrested and charged for posting on Facebook autopsy photos of a man who died in police custody in February.
Moncur’s matter is unrelated to the Brown-Cox photo leak probe.
The murdered woman’s relatives claim that Greenslade and Delaney were negligent, careless, reckless and showed no regard and consideration for their feelings in “allowing the photographs to go missing”.
They are seeking damages for negligence, life-long embarrassment and humiliation, unlawful publication, costs, interest and further relief as the court deems just.
Smith, Smith and Co. represents the family.
The family said numerous friends and relatives told them of the leaked photos that were circulating on the Internet. They said despite numerous requests, Greenslade and Delaney failed to divulge the identities of the officers responsible for the leak.
“The photographs that were published were extremely graphic and as a result thereof generated extreme gossip and talk throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the world at large,” the statement of claim said.
“These photographs were in the custody of the first defendant (Greenslade) and should have never been released to the public at large.
“The fact that these photographs were released on the worldwide web they can always be viewed by individuals throughout the world and as a result thereof has created irreparable damage to the plaintiffs.”
The document continued: “All of the evidentiary photographs and exhibits relative to the investigation were under the custody, care and control of D/Sgt. 88 Jones and D.C. 2179 Stubbs who were under a duty to secure all photographs and to ensure that these documents remained in the custody of the first defendant and would only be used for information in relation to their investigation.
“These photographs were to be used only in the prosecution of the accused murderer.”
Brown-Cox’s mother, Alice Brown, father Arthur Brown Sr., brothers Arthur Jr. and Kingston Brown., sisters Clementina Brown, Shantell Brown, Marshanal Brown, Antoinette Nesbitt and her two daughters Chelesea and Chivonnia Cox filed the suit.
The last apparent action in the case was a summons filed on March 29, 2012. Police found Brown-Cox’s mutilated body in the kitchen of her apartment.
According to the statement of claim, when police arrived at the scene they found blood throughout the apartment.
Brown-Cox’s right hand was severed with only the thumb portion remaining. Police found the remaining portion of her right hand under a clothes basket.
The bed was saturated in blood with a cutlass on the bed with bloodstains, the court document states. There was also a pool of blood next to the bed.
In June 2011, Greenslade said he had identified the source of the leak and that any officer found responsible would not escape punishment.
He promised then to issue a statement about the progress of the investigation, but never did.
By Travis Cartwright-Carroll
Guardian Staff Reporter
