Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson brought a bill to Parliament yesterday that would allow certain firearms offences to be tried under indictment as well as summarily and strengthen the penalties for the offences under summary trial.
She did so while declaring that breaking the back of crime requires effective tools appropriate for the times in which we live.
Under the Criminal Law Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2006, the offences to which the provisions would apply relate to acquiring a firearm without a license, transferring a firearm to someone who is being monitored by the police or possessing a firearm or ammunition without a certificate.
“An analysis of the 2004 statistics reveals that the majority of violent crimes committed in The Bahamas were perpetrated with the use of a firearm,” she said. “During 2004, perpetrators leased or loaned firearms to others in order to commit criminal acts.”
“Ballistic analysis verified that a single firearm had links to multiple incidents like armed robberies, shootings, murders and grievous harm.”
In fact, she reported, a firearm found in a 2004 was linked to a 2004 attempted armed robbery and assault and in another instance a weapon found in an individualﾒs possession in 2004 was linked to a 2003 murder.
Itﾒs a predicament that law enforcement authorities have been lamenting.
Lawmakers are also seeking to increase the penalty prescribed for the offences under summary trial in section 32 from three months or a fine of $150 to imprisonment for a term of five years, a $5,000 fine and the forfeiture of the gun or ammunition in question.
Once passed, the amendment would also provide for either the prosecution or the accused to appeal to the Court of Appeal in the stance where bail has been granted or refused in the Supreme Court. Additionally, the bill provides for the appeal to be filed when the court has revoked the Crownﾒs application to have the individualﾒs bail revoked.
“At the moment, the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal where bail has been given or denied does not exist,” Minister Maynard Gibson pointed out.
She conceded that most people would agree that crime and the fear of crime are among the principal issues concerning Bahamians in 2006.
“Swift justice, the assurance that criminals will be swiftly caught, swiftly tried and swiftly punished will contribute to breaking the back of crime and the fear of crime,” Minister Maynard Gibson said.
In 2004, seven percent of 234 persons arrested were on bail, a phenomenon that the Commissioner of Police Paul Farquharson has also decried.
According to official statistics, out of the 126 suspects arrested for unlawful sexual intercourse, ten of them were repeat suspects. In October 2004, a 25 year old Flamingo Gardens resident on bail for murder was charged with two rapes and two attempted rapes which occurred between June and October 2004.
“To effectively carry out the task of breaking the back of crime and the fear of crime, effective tools, appropriate to the times in which we live are needed,” the minister said.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
