The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE brutal slayings of 53-year-old Nora Johnson and her son, 24-year-old Dario Dean must have rattled the nerves of many Bahamians who have been witnesses of serious crimes, such as murder. I was astounded after reading in one of the national dailies that both murder victims were slated to testify in an upcoming murder trial. A popular down-market newspaper tabloid had even reported on this tragic story by saying that the family had moved on several occasions in an effort to elude drug gang hit men who had vowed to get the young man. If this story is true, then the obvious question is why wasn't this family in some sort of protection programme by the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the government? Furthermore, how is it even possible that the government of The Bahamas has allowed gangs to operate and flourish in Nassau?

Several days before the May 7 general election, another individual, who was also slated to testify in another murder trial was gunned down in his residence. According to the press, the trial was only two weeks before his demise. In both of these disturbing incidents, key witnesses of two separate murders were forever silenced. So far this year, there have been 66 murders in The Bahamas. Obviously, with so many killings, there are many persons who have witnessed many of these homicides being committed. But they are afraid to come forward for fear of being targeted by the murderers and their loyal goons. When one reads the troubling stories mentioned above, I honestly cannot blame any Bahamian witnesses for refusing to come forward. I am beginning to understand why the murder rate is so high in Nassau. Career criminals are determined to evade Fox Hill Prison by any means necessary.

Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Senator and Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell recently told his senate colleagues that some 25 Bahamian witnesses were bumped off since the former Free National Movement (FNM) government abolished the witness protection programme. However, former FNM Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest denied Bell's allegations. In fact, Turnquest stated that his government, if anything, had enhanced the programme with the establishment of the Witness Care Programme and Witness Amenity Act. Witnesses can now give their testimony through video conferencing.

Turnquest, to the best of my knowledge neither confirmed nor denied Bell's shocking revelation concerning the murders of 25 witnesses under the FNM administration. If Bell is accurate in his claim about the number of individuals who were killed, then we do know for a fact that at least 27 Bahamian witnesses have been murdered between May of 2007 and June this year. And this despite the government having a witness programme in place. I don't think the powers-that-be understand or fully appreciates the magnitude of this new disturbing trend. If the FNM government never did dismantled the witness protection as Turnquest claimed, and I do believe him, then one wonders how did the state allowe that many witnesses to be murdered. I simply refuse to believe that these 25 murders were coincidental or random acts. Their murderers knew exactly what they were doing. I think we need to stop beating around the bush and call this thing for what it is. Another thing, the PLP promised to hit the road running from day one with this crime crisis that is gripping Nassau. No one from the Christie administration has yet to say which exact date the witness protection programme was implemented. In fact, on the Love 97.5 Radio talk show Jones and Company on Sunday, June 10, hosts Wendell Jones and Godfrey Eneas asked Attorney General Allison Gibson Maynard which exact date since May 8 was the programme reimplemented by her government. She could not give a definitive answer. She did say, however, that the programme was reimplemented in May. Jones then told Gibson that he will not allow her government, after a month since the general election, to continue blaming the former Ingraham administration for the ongoing crime crisis. He told her that a witness (Dario Dean) was bumped off on June 5. If this programme was reimplemented in May, as the attorney general said, then the programme had failed to protect another witness. This means that not even the PLP's witness protection programme is 100 per cent fool proof, notwithstanding Bell's laudatory comments.

Frankly, I am not at all surprised that two more witnesses were gunned down, despite the PLP being the government. With New Providence being such a small island, where will the government keep the many persons who will need protection from hit men who will be looking to bump them off?

Secondly, after the trial has ended, will the witnesses remain in the programme; and if so, for how long?

Several years ago a young man made the courageous decision to testify in a high profile murder trial in Nassau. After his testimony had sealed the deal for the prosecutors, the young man was gunned down by an individual who is believed to have been angry at him for testifying. The shooting was obviously a payback for testifying in court. He survived the shooting, but was left paralyze from the waist down. I saw the young man and his attorney on TV begging the the then government for financial assistance. According to his attorney, after acquiescing to the government's repeated requests to stand as a witness, his client had been hung out to dry. He was no more use to the state. They had gotten what they wanted out of him.

Something else to consider, witnesses will obviously have to continue some semblance of a normal, mundane life. They will still have to work; go to the grocery store, clinic, church and other places that people normally go to. Will the police officers assigned to protect them accompany them at all times to these places? Furthermore, does the Royal Bahamas Police Force have the manpower and financial resources for such an massive undertaking? These are questions that the PLP government must answer before it asks Bahamians to hazard their lives by testifying in these murder trials. Given the fact that two more witnesses have been bumped off in Nassau, I am not totally convinced that this programme is feasible.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama.

June 10, 2012.