This concept was expressed yesterday by St Margaret’s MP Pierre Dupuch following extensive coverage in the Bahamian media of Knowles’ court proceedings and his extradition to the US.
“If Ninety is ever held in the bracket of folk hero then it would be truly disgusting,” he told The Tribune yesterday.
“Upholding a suspected drug lord as some sort of local hero, Mr Dupuch said, would be a sign of a “sick society.”
Mr Dupuch emphasised that while he is aware that Knowles may still have a case pending before a Bahamian court, and believes that the suspected drug lord is entitled to exhaust all his legal avenues, he is taking issue with the attitude of some Bahamians.
“I believe every man has a right to his day in court, I don’t dispute that. It’s just this pretending he is some sort of hero that is fundamentally wrong,” he said.
Some members of the Knowles family and some residents of his old neighbourhood in Fort Charlotte have in the past described the suspected drug lord as the area’s “Robin Hood.”
Some people in Fort Charlotte have gone so far as to call him a “folk hero”, who will be remembered for distributing gifts to children going back to school and at Christmas time.
Mr Dupuch, however, pointed out that these actions by Knowles should in no way cloud Bahamians’ view of the man.
“So he was generous, that’s good. But so was Al Capone. In fact he was one of the most generous men around at the time, he had bread lines for the people and everything, but that doesn’t excuse his involvement in slavery, prostitution, corruption and all the other crimes he committed,” he said.
By: KARIN HERIG, Tribune Staff Reporter
