“THE COURTS are a disaster!”
This was the frustrated cry of a senior police officer as he fumed over the recent rash of armed holdups of residents – and now tourists – returning to their homes and hotels late at night.
The courts are like a revolving door, being manipulated by criminals who know and play the system, he said. Police no sooner catch them, take them to court than the following week “they are out of the pen.” Out on bail, the courts call it.
However, as the police see it, bail is only another opportunity to get back on the streets to commit another crime. No wonder the police are fed up with the system.
“This is a vicious problem we face in this country,” said the officer. No sooner do the police get one group before the courts, and turn their attention to another small gang of thugs, than the courts have released on bail the first group. And so it’s a never-ending race to keep up with the same handful of criminals, who, because of the bail system, police are powerless to keep safely in “the pen”.
Most of the time the police know exactly who they are hunting. It is a case of hideand-seek with the same young toughs, who are always one step ahead and laughing at the system. From the police officer’s point of view the courts are unwittingly aiding and abetting the criminals’ escapades.
The police would like-to. see all possibility of bail withdrawn for a second armed robbery charge. We would go a step further and advocate no bail for anyone charged with carrying a gun to commit a crime, be it first or second offence.
The fatal shooting of a passenger in a car on Augustus Street in the past week was reported by the press as an armed robbery. We understand that rather than a robbery, it was a drug dispute. The dead passenger was out on bail awaiting trial on a serious offence.
On Thursday evening a businessman returning to his home in the Yamacraw area, was confronted by an armed man as he pulled into his driveway. He was robbed of his watch, gunbutted and taken to hospital. He was fortunate that his injuries were only superficial.
Residents in Winton and Montagu have been held up and robbed. There have been two recent reports of rapes in the Eastern Road area.
It is bad enough for residents to be targeted, but when tourists are attacked then the criminals are threatening everybody’s bread and butter.
Early Friday morning – 12.30am – a young couple returning by taxi from a night on the town was held up at gunpoint as the taxi pulled up to Sandal’s entrance at Cable Beach. We understand that the father of the couple has taken their story to the newspapers in North. Carolina. This certainly will not help the Ministry of Tourism’s advertising campaign in this area.
And, of course, everyone is talking about the robberies of two popular restaurants – popular with both tourists and residents – at Cable Beach. Not only were the restaurants robbed, but so were the patrons. We wonder how many foreign newspapers are going to have those gory details?
It is true that crime happens everywhere, but the recent headline-catching crimes in Aruba and Trinidad are certainly not helping any resort in the Caribbean, particularly with the many Americans who are confused over their geography at the best of’ times. Crime in the Caribbean takes a broad sweep, and, unfortunately the Bahamas, which technically is not in the Caribbean, is caught in the large net. This is bad enough without the Bahamas making news of its own.
Also, a plague to the police are the hundreds of Bahamian criminals who are being deported back to their homeland from the US.
“As you know,” commented the police officer, “these criminals aren’t coming home to go to church!”
In this fight against crime everyone has to cooperate. It is not a battle that the police can win alone. Not only must the community cooperate for its own protection, but the courts have to play their part by making certain that the law is used as a strong deterrent.
And if this is not possible, then parliamentarians should study the bail laws and help the police by amending the law to withdraw bail for anyone charged with armed robbery.
Editorial from The Tribune, Nassau, Bahamas
