A notorious drug gang, who was caught red-handed with major quantities of dangerous narcotics, has been released on bail thanks to a disturbing ruling by a Supreme Court judge in the Bahamas, and a ruling by the London Privy Council.
The Privy Council ruled, strictly on a technicality of law, that the Appeals Court in the Bahamas had no right to overturn Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Thompson’s ruling to grant bail to the five men. In a series of actions that point out the dysfunctionality of the Bahamas judicial system, the men; Austin Knowles, Nathaniel Knowles, Ian Bethel, Shane Breuy and Edson Watson, were released after winning a bizzarre legal challenge.
Mr. Knowles and his henchmen were arrested two years ago while attempting to transport drugs from the Bahamas to Florida.
After languishing in jail for a year they appeared before a judge of questionable ethics who granted them bail despite strong objections from the prosecution and the US government, who is vigorously seeking extradition. The ruling was overturned by the Appeals Court.
The judge, Justice Jeanne Thompson, has been criticized for foolish decisions on too many occasions to list here. When Thompson originally ruled to release the drug gang on bail she was blasted by the judicial community with President of the Court of Appeal Judge Dame Sawyer saying, “We strongly suggest that the learned judge recuse herself from the hearing of the proceedings”.
The entire case has been plagued with tricky legal maneuvers, questionable activity and possible corruption. Aside from the controversy surrounding bail, there were also questions regarding the men’s extradition order. The order to extradite the drug gang members was signed by Dr. Marcus Bethel, who was acting as Foreign Affairs Minister because Fred Mitchell was allegedly out of town. Rumour has it that Mitchell refused to sign the order for various reasons and was sent out of town so Bethel could sign the order while he was gone. Some go so far as to suggest that Mr. Mitchell never even left town.
Justice Thompson also foolishly ruled that Governor General Dame Ivy Dumont, Magistrate Carlita Bethel, the Superintendent of Prison and Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell must release all information regarding Mr. Knowles’ extradition. She apparently felt that the Governor General was not the country’s head of state and did not have the authority to transfer the power of extradition to Dr. Bethel.
Dame Joan Sawyer blasted the errant justice saying, “This order flies in the face of everything the judicial oath stands for. How can you order a minister to disclose the court documents in his possession? How could that be? It would not only be impossible in law, but you are trying to have him corroborate his own evidence.”
The nation is crying for an investigation into Justice Thompson’s association with the drug gang members.
“There is obviously something here that is not right and it warrants an immediate investigation,” said one prominent legal expert. BahamasB2B, the national website for the Islands of The Bahamas, has repeatedly called for an investigation into the entire judicial community as there are strong indications that there is more than one rotten appple in that bushel.
