The man who police say killed little Marco Archer was arraigned in the Supreme Court recently, but not on charges related to the 11-year-old’s murder.
In a move designed to fool the Bahamian people into thinking that they are moving forward with the prosecution of the man responsible for Marco’s brutal murder, Bahamian police paraded Kohfe Edwardo Goodman to court, but it was all an exercise in public relations.
With crime out-of-control, the Bahamian govrnment wanted to make it look as if one of the most gruesome crimes of last year was being addressed by the courts.
But, that’s not true.
Mr Goodman was actually brought to court to receive a trial date for other crimes he allegedy committed.
Goodman was charged in the Supreme Court with two separate counts of unlawful sex with 12-year-old boys. He had been previously charged for those same crimes in a magistrate’s court. He was not required to enter a plea when he was first arraigned before Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell last November.
Goodman pleaded not guilty to both charges in the Supreme Court yesterday.
In the first case, Goodman is accused of having sex with one of the pre-teen boys on March 12, 2011.
But he claimed that he was not on the island when the alleged incident happened.
As an alibi, Goodman said from February 25 to April 25 he was in Grand Bahama.
Goodman said that several people, including the captain of the boat he traveled on, can verify that information.
Trial for that case is set for November 5, 2012 at 10 a.m. before Justice Indra Charles.
In his second case, Goodman is charged with having sex with a minor on August 17, 2011.
He is also charged with forcible detention.
It is alleged that he took and detained the boy to have sex with him.
Asked if he wanted to present an alibi in that case, Goodman elected to give one at a later date.
He has 21 days to do so.
Trial was set for January 21, 2013 before Justice Roy Jones. The matter was set for mention on March 30.
But from the headlines of one of the local papers, one got the impression that Mr Goodman was being brought to court on matters related to Marco Archer’s death.
“Marco suspect to enter plea,” blared the Tribune headline. Yet, Mr Goodman was not entering a plea for the Archer murder, he was entering pleas for unrelated crimes.
This appears to be a case of intentionally misleading the pulic by both the Tribune and the government.
The truth is, the prosecution of Marco Archer’s murderer has gone nowhere.
