The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Free National Movement Senator John Bostwick II abandoned his bid to appeal a conviction for possession of ammunition yesterday.

When the matter was called in the Court of Appeal, his lead lawyer Wayne Munroe, QC, informed Justices Dame Anita Allen, Stella Crane-Scott and Roy Jones that Bostwick II had filed a notice of abandonment of appeal which had already been drawn to the attention of the registrar the day before.

As a result, the appellate president, Dame Anita Allen formally dismissed his appeal and affirmed his conviction and the $15,000 fine imposed by then Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.

Outside of the Claughton House building which houses the appellate court, Mr Munroe explained the rationale behind the move.

“As his lawyer, I gave him advice,” Mr Munroe said. “Cases have to do not with what the state of affairs is but what the proof is and appeals have not to do with what the state of affairs are, but complaints about what happened below.

“It’s a decision that a litigant takes. We had an involved conversation. I was satisfied that it does not hamper anything he wishes to do with politics and we had a frank discussion and I can’t go into the details of it but the decision was arrived at. He’s decided to carry on with doing what he has to do and this matter is now behind him,” Mr Munroe added

Bostwick II, when pressed, said the withdrawal was not an admission of guilt.

When asked if he still had political aspirations, he said: “Most definitely.”

“The steps taken today have fully freed me to do what I have to do now, what must be done now, which is to fight for our country.

“It’s not a (slight) setback in that I am still able to offer myself and serving the country is what I really want to do, you know? So it is now to focus on what comes next and to leave this episode behind.”

The 45-year-old lawyer was convicted of the criminal charge in December 2015 but had sought to have the Court of Appeal quash the conviction concerning a magazine clip that was found in his luggage during a check by security at the Grand Bahama International Airport in May 2015.

Throughout his trial in Magistrate’s Court, Bostwick II maintained his innocence and claimed he was set up in a “vicious and diabolical” plan to tarnish his character and reputation.

He testified that he went through the security checkpoints at the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau without any incident on the day in question before proceeding to the departure lounge to await the flight. He was en route to Grand Bahama to attend a friend’s wedding.

He said when he arrived at the airport in Grand Bahama, he was approached by individuals and started talking to them.

He claimed that his bag was periodically between his shoulder and the ground prior to his arrival to the Our Lucaya Resort where he said he left the bag unattended in the room of the groom who was to be married on the resort property. The bag was also left unattended in the rental car when visiting the groom’s new home on the island prior to his departure flight, he said.

Bostwick II said when he got to the airport, he was approached by people who said “they were excited to meet the future prime minister.”

It was when he proceeded through the security screening after placing his backpack on the conveyor belt that airport security discovered the magazine clip.

However, then Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes rejected his claims that he was framed as “unconvincing and unbelievable” and highlighted inconsistencies between the former senator’s testimony concerning the day in question, surveillance footage and his statement in police custody.

Bostwick II was fined $15,000 for the offence. He is the son of John Henry Bostwick, QC, and former Foreign Affairs Minister and Attorney General Janet Bostwick, the first woman to be elected to the House of Assembly.

Bostwick II was sworn in as an FNM senator in February 2013. He was fired from the post in May 2014, shortly after he was arraigned.

He ran on the FNM’s ticket in 2012 as the standard bearer for Bain and Grants Town, but lost.

Article 48 (1) (f) of the Constitution notes that a person cannot be elected as a member of the House of Assembly who “is under sentence of death imposed on him by a court in the Bahamas, or is serving a sentence of imprisonment (by whatever name called) exceeding 12 months imposed on him by such a court or substituted by competent authority for some other sentence imposed on him by such a court, or is under such a sentence of imprisonment the execution of which has been suspended.”

Under the 2015 amendment to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, minor criminal offences remain on a person’s record for five years from the date of conviction.

Garvin Gaskin, director of public prosecutions, and Cephia Pinder-Moss appeared for the Crown in the brief appellate hearing yesterday.

Lisa Bostwick-Dean and Ryszard Humes also appeared with Mr Munroe in the matter.