The Tribune

By DANA SMITH dsmith@tribunemedia.net FOX HILL MP Fred Mitchell said more should be done to combat witness intimidation as it has become a serious obstacle to the criminal court system. Speaking outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Mr Mitchell announced the PLP will reinstate the Witness Protection Programme should they win the up-coming general election. The programme still exists under the FNM, but the MP contends that it has been neglected by the Ingraham administration. Mr Mitchell said the Bahamas recorded more than 450 murders since 2007 as well as numerous other violent offenses - a "stark contrast" to the low rate of convictions. He could not offer an exact figure, but claimed only a small percentage of those responsible for the crime wave have been convicted and sentenced. "One of the hindrances to the swift administration of justice and the trial process is the intimidation of witnesses," Mr Mitchell said. "We have even seen where persons who were to have given testimony lost their lives before doing so - in fact, they were killed." He revealed prosecutors have complained their cases "can't get off the ground" because witnesses "suddenly become reluctant" to testify before the courts. Mr Mitchell reminded the press of the Justice Protection Bill which the PLP introduced and passed in 2006. After taking office in 2007, the FNM "stopped this programme," he said. "(The Bill) made it a criminal offence to use violence against, threaten, damage or cause loss of employment to a person because they will be a witness, with a penalty of 10 years in prison," he said. "The legislation went so far as to offer identity changes in the cases where it was warranted." Because they stopped the programme, the FNM "must be held accountable for this gross neglect of duty which unfortunately has resulted in the loss of the lives of many Bahamian brothers and sisters," Mr Mitchell said. Asked if there are any witness protection procedures currently in place, he said: "The Witness Protection Programme is there in theory. I know that several of our members of Parliament have raised this matter with the Minister of National Security, but at the end of the day the programme does not seem to be as it was envisioned when we first put it in place and we believe witnesses are vulnerable still and much more attention needs to be paid to it." The PLP appreciates the great need for witnesses to be able to carry our their civic duty "without fearing for their lives," and condemns the FNM for "allowing so many to be lost to witness tampering before lifting a finger to protect such persons," Mr Mitchell said. Last October, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said 19 witnesses in serious crime cases have suffered intimidation or harm as a result of their testimony in 2011.