If parliamentarians pass a Witness Protection Bill brought to the House of Assembly last week, it would become an offence to insult a person because he or she will be a witness in a judicial proceeding.
Anyone found guilty of such an offence would face a year in prison.
But the Bill would also provide general protection of witnesses in an attempt to curb what officials say has become a disturbing trend of witness intimidation and tampering.
The proposed legislation would make it an offence to “threaten, use violence, cause violence, damage or cause loss of employment to a person because [he or she was] or will be a witness in a judicial proceeding.”
It carries a penalty of ten years in prison.
The bill would also allow depositions taken before a magistrate at a preliminary inquiry to be admitted at a trial on a wider scale than presently permitted due to the absence of a witness subject to certain conditions.
Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Turner recently told The Bahama Journal that officials in the Office of the Attorney General are concerned about growing cases of witness tampering.
“The government has a concern about what is apparently acts of witness intimidation and witness tampering in the judicial system in The Bahamas and the government has an obligation to ensure that the laws continue to remain effective to ensure that peace and order prevails,” Mr. Turner said in September.
During that same interview, he said, “Over the last several years there have been cases, both at the Supreme Court and Magistrate levels, in which witnesses have apparently been interfered with.”
“Witnesses have substantially changed their testimonies in several instances. Witnesses have not returned to court having been summoned and subpoenaed and in several very unfortunate cases persons who have been witnesses in matters have been killed prior to their testifying.”
It’s why the Witness Protection Bill was brought to the House. It would also make it an offence to attempt to bribe a witness into not testifying or giving false testimony.
Under the new law, a witness would also face punishment for seeking or accepting bribes.
The bill would authorize the establishment of a Justice Protection Programme and would give the Minister of National Security responsibility for setting up an Administrative Centre to oversee the programme.
The government would use money from the Consolidated Fund and the Confiscated Assets Fund to fund such a programme.
Where the attorney general after consultation with the director of public prosecutions and the commissioner of police determines that it would be in the interest of the safety of a witness that measures be taken to place the witness within an environment either within or without The Bahamas for the purpose of ensuring his or her safety and the attainment of the interest of justice during the relevant period, the attorney general may take the matter to the Administrative Centre to take measures as it considers necessary.
It could mean placing the witness in the Justice Protection Programme.
But the Administrative Centre shall not place a prospective participant in the programme unless it is satisfied that the person has provided the Centre with all the information the Centre considers necessary for deciding whether he should be included in the programme.
Before being enrolled in the programme, a participant must disclose details about his or her outstanding legal obligations; outstanding debts; criminal history; cash balances in bank accounts; business dealings; and general medical condition.
The Centre may also decide to include members of a witness’s family in the Justice Protection Programme.
Officials in the Administrative Centre would among other things arrange for the provisions of safe houses; coordinate and relay to appropriate regional authorities relevant information on threat and risk assessments and other related matters; develop guidelines for the effective operation of the national programme; and establish budgetary requirements of the programme.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs would also be empowered to enter into any memorandum of understanding or agreement with representatives of a foreign state as it relates to the protection of witnesses.
In his recent interview with The Bahama Journal where he spoke about cases of witness tampering, Mr. Turner said, “One instance of it is one instance too much and certainly we’ve had more than one instance. It has affected the outcome of cases in this jurisdiction and so it is a problem.”
From: The Bahama Journal
