I read with interest Mr. Bernard Turner’s comments on the problem of witnesses not showing up for court.
First, it is unfortunate that it took the local media to bring enough attention to this problem to prompt Mr. Turner to react. ﾠHe has been informed of the problems in the judiciary numerous times over the years and has never even thought about addressing them until the press exposed this foolishness.
It is highly unlikely that Mr. Turner’s comments to the press were anything but PR fodder, like so much else of what comes from our government. Too many civil servants, Mr. Turner included, think the Bahamian public is so stupid that their concerns will be mollified by talk instead of action. ﾠGovernment by press release used to work more effectively, but Bahamians are growing increasingly wary of politicians who do nothing but talk of solutions rather than effecting them.
Mr. Turner, as Director of Public Prosecutions, is directly responsible for the poor performance of attorneys from the AGs office. ﾠThe situation we find ourselves in, with a legal system that is dysfunctional and corrupt, grew to become the festering problem it is under Mr. Turner’s incompetent leadership.
When Mr. Turner was informed of specific anomalies in a case that has obviously been perverted by corrupt members of the Bahamas legal system, he chose to ingore it. As did his boss at the time, Carl Bethel. The reason, they are both much too close, personally, to the very people who are perverting the course of justice in this country.
Mr. Turner, like Alfred Sears and his predecessor, Carl Bethel should all be removed from public service. All of them have proven themselves incompetent by failing (miserably) to address the problems in the courts and the legal system. Coming out of his cave only long enough to agree that there are major problems in the legal system is not enough. ﾠIn our opinion, Mr. Turner is a big part of the problem, which will not be eliminated until he is.
