The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are investigating the circumstances surrounding the stabbing death of a 17-year-old youth on the weekend, which pushed the country’s murder toll to a record breaking 128 for the year.

According to initial reports, around 11pm Saturday a fight broke out during a youth party at the Black Legends Hall located off Prince Charles Drive.

Police said four males were injured during the fight and taken to hospital. One of the young men who was stabbed died of his injuries in hospital on Sunday morning, police said. The other three victims remain in stable condition.

Police did not identify the victim yesterday, but The Tribune understands he is Ceddy Stanford Cooper of Kemp Road.

Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander, acting officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit, told The Tribune yesterday that officers are still working to figure out the specifics of Saturday’s event. However, he said, initial evidence suggests two rival gangs fighting sparked the incident.

He said four men are helping police with their investigation.

In the wake of the latest killing, Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney criticised the Christie administration for the government’s approach to the nation’s crime issue.

“So far this year, we have learned that none of us are safe from the ever increasing levels of crime and criminality facing our nation,” Mr McCartney said in a statement.

“All of us, be we preacher, politician, child, or senior citizen, cannot escape the impact of crime. Whether we ourselves have fallen victim to the criminal element or have had family members taken from us as a result, one truth is certain: we are all in this together.”

Still Mr McCartney said that the chief responsibility of any government is to keep its citizens safe; a responsibility he said the Christie administration has completely failed to meet.

The former Bamboo Town MP said that the 128 lives lost so far this year are proof that the Progressive Liberal Party “has failed us.”

Mr McCartney said despite claims of having the answers to the nation’s crime woes, Prime Minister Perry Christie and the members of his Cabinet have not only failed to execute the laws in existence - referring to capital punishment - but have not effectively addressed the inefficiencies within the judiciary, the systematic issues preventing true reform to take place at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and stamp out corruption in governmental departments.

“With less than two months left in the year, the Bahamas has surpassed the highest number of murders ever recorded in our nation’s history,” Mr McCartney added. “As the country marks this tragic milestone, we are reminded of the hundreds of young men and women whose lives were abruptly ended as a result of violent crime.”

Last Monday the country recorded two murders after a man, who was shot late last month, died in hospital and another man was shot multiple times and killed while walking off West Bay Street.

The previous murder record came in 2011, which saw 127 killings that year.

The PLP, which was in opposition at the time, used the problem of crime and murders as an election tactic. The party campaigned on the platform that it had the promises to lower violent crime while the Ingraham administration did not. However, since coming to office, the Christie administration has been grappling with the same issue.

In 2014, the country recorded a total of 123 homicides.

Murder by month sidebar

2015 (according to The Tribune’s records)

January – 10

February – 15

March – 12

April – 12

May – 14

June – 11

July – 15

August - 11

September – 14

October – 11

November (so far in 2015) - 3

2014 (according to police statistics)

January – 11

February – 8

March – 11

April – 14

May – 16

June – 4

July – 7

August – 13

September – 4

October – 11

November (total for 2014) - 11