“I would have preferred for all the prisoners who took part in the incident to die because they took the life of a harmless individual,” said 76-year-old Olivia Bowles, who spoke with The Bahama Journal from her home in Orange Creek, Cat Island.
“All of the criminals who kill people and are allowed to live in the prison getting fat should be hanged.”
Forrester Bowe, one of the prisoners who participated in the break, is waiting for the Privy Council in London to announce a decision on an appeal he and Trono Davis, another murder convict, filed, challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory death sentence.
Attorney General Alfred Sears has told The Bahama Journal that the government and the country cannot begin to address the issue of capital punishment until a decision on the matter is made.
But yesterday, the grieving mother of Corporal Bowles said hangings should resume immediately. There has been no hanging in The Bahamas in six years.
Mrs. Bowels also said she hopes police will soon capture Corey Hepburn, the only prisoner who was not immediately captured following the escape.
She said it gives her a terrible feeling in her heart knowing that he was still on the loose.
“I feel sick and afraid to know that the prisoner is still at large,” Mrs. Bowles said.
“A person like him should be killed one time because they killed my child so something should now happen to them. It’s hard for me to express [myself] right now how I am feeling. I don’t even know where to begin, but I am very saddened that my son had to suffer like that.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt said in the House of Assembly yesterday that Corporal Bowles had been gagged before he was stabbed several times in his chest.
Mrs. Bowles said although she had received no formal communication from the prison, media reports indicate that her son died an horrific death.
“He didn’t deserve to be treated the way he was treated,” she said.
“To my knowledge I think he was treated really badly being tied up and beaten and stabbed and he didn’t deserve that because that son of mine was well loved by his family and friends and even strangers.”
She said her son was loving, mannerly and quiet.
“He grew up in Cat Island, so he wasn’t like these boys today who like trouble,” Mrs. Bowles said.
She said that as a young boy her son was always interested in joining the armed forces, and although she was not 100 percent supportive of the idea, she said she allowed him to make his own decisions in life.
“Since he was mannerly and that was his goal, I allowed him to move to Nassau to pursue his career,” Mrs. Bowles said.
She believes Her Majesty’s Prison offers too many amenities for prisoners, such as television and sports.
“When you go up there, you go for punishment not to live like you’re at home,” Mrs. Bowles said.
“That’s why we need to implement capital punishment because what happens is when the criminals serve their time and come out in society they sometimes commit more heinous crimes. So we must take action and get rid of them one time.”
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
