The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

CHAIRMAN of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee Paul Farquharson said the group has seen an increase of people seeking criminal record expungements for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Mr Farquharson told reporters yesterday at the Ministry of National Security that the committee had about 50 applications for record expungement in 2020.

“The word is getting out all over The Bahamas because there a lot of people on the Family Islands that have records and so this is a process that will affect us for a long time,” he said.

So far, 11 people had their records expunged this year and the chairman added the committee had just interviewed about ten applications for the same process.

Although he could not provide the breakdown of the applications seen, he said the committee hears matters from a cross-section of applicants including men and women, young and old such as those convicted of murder down to assault, fraud, and particularly possession small amounts of marijuana.

“These matters that have been lingering for years,” he said. “We have many applications that come before us from persons who would’ve committed one offence over the span of 20 or 30 years and still carry this burden of a police record and that record prevents them from travelling, getting a bank loan, getting a job.

“We have almost I believe 1,400 or so persons from police statistics that have been charged with drug offenses I believe in 2019. You could imagine the years before that. You would have thousands of persons who are walking around and probably in a valley of despair with this record holding them down.”

When asked if they have seen an increase of seeking record expungements of possession of small amounts of marijuana, he replied “I think so”.

Mr Farquharson spoke of the hardships experienced by two young men, Davah Cash and Calvin Sargeant, due to convictions they received in their youth. He presented the men with instruments to expunge their record.

Mr Cash does volunteer work as a part of a programme by Governor General C A Smith and is a member of the crime watch in Montell Heights.

In the summer of 2008 when he was 16, he entered a store, attacked and robbed a man with a piece of two by four.

He only got away with $5 but was subsequently charged with armed robbery. Mr Farquharson explained the charge was one of the offenses that cannot be expunged by the committee but can be considered by Prerogative of Mercy.

The Rehabilitation Offenders Act outlines offences that cannot be expunged by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee which includes murder, manslaughter, treason, kidnapping, rape, possession with intent to supply 10 pounds of marijuana or two pounds more of cocaine. However these offences can also be considered by the Prerogative of Mercy.

Mr Farquharson acknowledged an “albatross” that hung around Mr Cash’s neck for almost ten years because of the charge.

The 27-year-old thanked God for where he had brought him from and where he is about to go.

“By His grace He has used Mr Farquharson and his team in areas where I desperately needed help,” he expressed. “I could go on and on about my testimony because my life is a testimony. I am proof that second chances are real and they are very much a part of our daily lives.

“I grew up in Montell Heights. I was exposed to gang activity, gun violence, and all these lifestyles that often pledged the youths of the nation now and only until I seek the Lord and I realize that it’s only him and I have my wellbeing.”

He is now employed at Island Wholesale.

Mr Sargeant’s troubles started in 2016 when he was 21 years old and worked as a security officer at a nightclub. One night there was a disturbance at the nightclub. The police arrived and he and the police got into an argument and therefore he was eventually arrested for assaulting an officer.

Mr Farquharson said more businesses need to give young people in this country an opportunity, mercy, and forgiveness.

“We have a very unforgiving society in this Bahamas who do not want to give these young persons a chance, but this committee is all about trying to reach especially persons and first-time offenders.”

The committee chairman appealed to young persons with criminal records, especially for minor offenses, to apply to have their records expunged.