The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

A 12-year-old Abaco boy accused of causing the negligent death of 15-year-old student Kyron Curry took his father’s boat without permission, Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazer said, explaining why prosecutors did not charge the child’s parents.

Ms Frazer said the father was initially detained after the fatal fishing trip, but prosecutors could only act on the evidence contained in the police file.

“My understanding of what the file revealed, the young man moved the boat without his father's permission,” she said.

Residents had said the boy’s parents had been repeatedly warned about letting the child operate the vessel.

“We don't shy away from parents who need to be held responsible, but according to the file, it did not reveal the father, who was in fact in custody, gave that young man permission to do so,” Ms Frazer said.

The 12-year-old boy was charged last week Friday with causing the negligent death of 15-year-old Kyron Curry, a tenth-grade student at Patrick J Bethel High School.

Kyron died last month after he fell into the water during a fishing trip near Nunjack Cay, less than ten miles from Green Turtle Cay. Police said the group had been travelling on a 17-foot Cobia vessel with three other teenagers.

The boat belonged to the 12-year-old operator’s father.

Police said the other passengers were 12, 15 and 16. The teens told police Kyron was standing on the bow, holding a rope, when he fell. They said they heard a loud sound and saw blood in the water.

After failing to find him, the boys raced back to Green Turtle Cay for help. Boaters later mobilised and recovered Kyron, unconscious with a fractured skull. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The tragedy shocked Green Turtle Cay and triggered calls for stronger enforcement of boating laws and greater parental accountability in cases involving children.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Wayne Munroe said yesterday that parents should face criminal liability only when they are personally culpable.

“If a parent is personally culpable, then yes,” Mr Munroe said. “If you, for instance, have a firearm and you leave it out, if your child gets it and uses it, that's negligent. If somebody else gets it and uses it, it’s negligence.”

Mr Munroe said people are judged according to their own culpability. He said while a child can be criminally liable after the age of ten, parents should only be charged where their own failure contributed to the offence.

The debate over parental liability follows another recent case involving a child.

In May, a Bimini father was charged with child cruelty and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life after an eight-year-old boy was shot in the head by his 12-year-old brother and had to be airlifted to Fort Lauderdale for emergency brain surgery.

At the father’s initial court appearance, the 12-year-old was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation before the court determined whether charges should proceed.