The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A YOUNG man from Grand Bahama has claimed his life was disrupted for four years because the Office of the Attorney General had failed to notify him armed robbery charges had been dropped against him since 2014. 

Jarado Mark, 26, who had been on bail awaiting trial, learned on April 10 at a hearing in the Supreme Court the charges had been withdrawn by the Office of the Attorney General in January 2014, but he was never notified. 

For the past six years, Mr Mark had to report and sign in to a police station twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays. 

Mr Mark, a father-of-three, said while he is glad the matter was withdrawn, he and his family were put through a lot of unnecessary stress. He intends to sue the government over the matter.

“For six years straight after coming out of prison after spending six and half months (on remand) for this matter, I had to sign in with the police, and I was getting pressured from my jobs - it was very hard,” he said.

“I did not mind the first two years in 2012 and 2013, but for an (additional) four years on top of that, that is ridiculous,” he complained. 

“They treat you when you go in there (prison and court) like you are not human, like you are a criminal. They talk to you any kind of way and treat you any kind of way; they treat you like you are an animal.”

He said trying to support his family was also very difficult because he could not secure a stable job. 

“I had a family and children to feed. And because of the economic state of Freeport, my family had to move to Nassau, and I also tried to move there and sent a letter to the AG’s Office to have my sign-in transferred to Nassau so that I could look for work. Three years went by, and I never got an answer – I was under a lot of pressure,” he said. 

According to a local advocate, Reverend Glenroy Bethel, founder of Families for Justice, up to April 16, days after he was informed of the dropped charges, Mr Mark was still required to report and sign in to the police station even after presenting police with the document from the Office of the Attorney General that the charge against him was withdrawn.    

“They (officials in the Office of the Attorney General) had never called him and told him they dismissed the matter four years ago. They had him going to the police station and signing for four years,” said Rev Bethel.

“We want to bring this matter to the public’s attention; we have constitutional rights in this country, and we intend to take this matter further,” he said. 

In 2012, Mr Mark was among several people taken into custody by police investigating an armed robbery at a business on East Sunrise Highway. He was formally arraigned in the Magistrate’s Court and was remanded for six months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services before applying for bail in the Supreme Court.

Rev Bethel said Mr Mark was informed by legal officials that the armed robbery matter would proceed by a voluntary bill of indictment bypassing a preliminary inquiry in the Magistrate’s Court and fast-tracking it to the Supreme Court for trial. 

Meanwhile, he was required to report twice weekly to a police station pending his trial.

Rev Bethel explained Mr Mark, who had always maintained his innocence, sought his assistance and he subsequently filed a constitutional motion in the Supreme Court on his behalf. The matter was heard before Justice Estelle Gray Evans about two weeks ago.   

It was during the hearing that he and Mr Mark, he said, learned the Office of the Attorney General had withdrawn the charges since 2014, but had allegedly lost the document in their files. 

“We learned the AG’s Office had decided to dismiss the charge against him. We were happy at first, but when looked at the documents we noticed that the charges had been dropped in January 2014,” Rev Bethel said.  

“He had never missed any court dates, and they never called to tell him the matter was dismissed. His parents had put up property for his bail,” he said.  

“They had him signing to the police station for four years. When we asked why they did not contact him, they said the document was lost in their files,” he claimed.  

Rev Bethel stated they also learned during the hearing there was no VBI filed in connection with the armed robbery charge against Mr Mark in the Supreme Court.  

Although Mr Mark said he had been instructed to take the document showing the matter was dropped against him to the police station, he claimed that police refused to accept it.  

“I feel a lot of things going on in the system need to be fixed. People who are in positions they don’t deserve to be there because they are not doing their jobs because… I was reporting to the police station for four years straight because of a document they say they lost in the system - that is not acceptable,” he said. 

Neil Brathwaite, a senior prosecutor in charge of the AG’s Office in Freeport, said he could not comment on the matter as no official complaint has been brought to his attention.

Meanwhile Rev Bethel said Mr Mark intends to bring a civil suit against the Government.

“The AG never brought forth any evidence to prove the case. But this is the kind of injustice we intend to fight. We intend to bring a civil lawsuit against the government of The Bahamas because for four years he could not do anything,” he said.