The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE wife of murdered Australian podiatrist Phillip Vasyli had her hopes for a swift pre-trial release dashed in Supreme Court on Thursday.

Donna Vasyli, also an Australian, appeared before Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs for a bail hearing just three days after she was arraigned in Magistrate’s Court concerning the March 24 discovery of Mr Vasyli’s lifeless body in the dining room of their Old Fort Bay home. He had been stabbed.

However, the 54-year-old accused will have to apply for bail to the Court of Appeal as the judge ruled that Mrs Vasyli had not sufficiently satisfied the court that she should be granted bail.

The accused was denied bail when initially arraigned by Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt, who did not have the jurisdiction to consider a bond. Her lawyers Elliot Lockhart, QC, and Murrio Ducille, however, were able to get a bail hearing in Supreme Court before the Easter holiday.

Mr Ducille argued the bail application, which was opposed by Crown prosecutor Neil Braithwaite. “She strongly professes her innocence,” said Mr Ducille.

“She’s not a flight risk. She has no previous convictions and has substantial ties to the jurisdiction. She also has the right to presumption of innocence,” the lawyer noted.

Mr Ducille drew the court’s attention to authority cases in support of his client’s application for bail where former Supreme Court judges of the Bahamas granted bail to accused men in similar instances to Mrs Vasyli.

“There’s no evidence to suggest she’s a flight risk and no evidence to suggest she will pervert the course of justice or interfere with witnesses. In fact, on the charge sheet, all of the witnesses are police officers save for one,” the lawyer added.

Mr Ducille said the Crown had made much about his client’s access to resources and properties in other countries but cannot refute and had not refuted that Mrs Vasyli has worked and lived in The Bahamas for 20 years.

He contended that there was no evidence produced to substantiate the charge laid against Mrs Vasyli, adding “there’s absolutely nothing aggravating in this case to suggest she’s not a proper candidate for bail”. Mr Braithwaite acknowledged the principles behind the authority cases put forward by the applicant. “Our objection is on the basis of section 4 of the Bail Act with respect to part C offences. The applicant is charges with murder, a part C offence,” the prosecutor noted.

“We also rely on the amendment to the Bail Act of last year, where it is noted that the burden is on the applicant to satisfy the court on why bail should be granted. We submit that the affidavit of the applicant contains nothing to fully satisfy the court on why bail should be granted.”

Braithwaite said the contents of the applicant’s affidavit for why she should get bail and that she was not a flight risk “amounts merely to a promise”.

“The applicant does have access to significant resources,” the prosecutor said, adding that this was evident by where the alleged offence occurred, the exclusive Old Fort Bay community. “We say that is a factor the court ought to consider in determining whether the applicant is a flight risk. There’s nothing exceptional about this case except the alacrity with which the application has been moved.”

Senior Justice Isaacs, after hearing the submissions, began writing in silence for nearly ten minutes before giving his ruling.

“The applicant has been charged with the offence of murder,” he said. “Her husband was found dead in their home on or about the 24th March 2015, some nine days ago. Certainly there’s been no unreasonable delay in the prosecution of this case.

“With regard to the evidence, such as it is, it seems a reasonable position for the prosecution to take that a bail hearing is not the forum to reach any conclusion relative to her innocence or guilt. Strong denial of guilt by the applicant is not sufficient in the circumstances to move the court to grant bail,” the judge added, noting that “unlike the case of Mendez and Ayo, in which it was where the accused men were pursuing a felon, there is no such factor here”.

“The case of Benjamin Beneby merely underscores the point of the discretion to grant bail as an unfettered in the Supreme Court. Poratti shows that a balance must be struck between the rights of the accused and the community at large,” the judge further noted.

“In this case, as I said, there would have been no unreasonable delay. The speed at which this application has reached the Supreme Court is a bit unusual. Whether or not the applicant is a flight risk is a point of concern, accepted that she has substantial assets and is not a citizen of The Bahamas and has properties in other countries. Whether the applicant took part in the alleged murder is really an issue reserved for trial notwithstanding the presumption of innocence.

“I’m not satisfied that the applicant has demonstrated that bail should be granted in this case. Bail is therefore denied,” the judge said, advising Mr Ducille that “I don’t have to tell you that you don’t need leave to go to another place”.

Mr Ducille said “I understand … much appreciated.”