The Tribune

RODNEY Moncur is questioning whether the government has revoked his appointment as a Justice of the Peace after documents he signed were reportedly rejected.

The embattled community activist said an engaged couple told him they were turned away by the Registrar General’s Department when they presented marriage documents that had been signed by Mr Moncur.

“They were told that I don’t have the authority to sign papers anymore,” he told The Tribune yesterday.

In a letter to Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes, delivered on April 19, Mr Moncur wrote: “Whereas under the Public Seal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, pursuant to Section 5 of the Magistrate Act, Your Excellency appointed me on the 23rd day of November AD 2010, a Justice of the Peace for New Providence.

“And whereas on the 30th day of November AD 2012, I was duly sworn into the Office of Justice of the Peace by Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez.

“That pursuant to my office as such Justice of the Peace, I have upheld all the laws of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

“That it has come to my attention that doubts have arisen as to whether or not my appointment within New Providence, as such Justice of the Peace is still in effect.

“Accordingly, I am writing Your Excellency for confirmation of my status as one of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace. If my appointment has been revoked, I humbly beg Your Excellency to so advise me thereof and the date and the reasons for the revocation.”

Copies were also delivered to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson and her senior staff.

This development has caused Mr Moncur to wonder if his medical prescription is going to be “interfered with.”

He explained that under the previous government, he was granted aid for the procurement of prescription drugs necessary for the treatment of certain medical conditions from which he suffers.

“I hope they don’t take that away,” he said.

Mr Moncur has been the focus of media attention over the last several weeks after he accused the police force of double standards, noting that they charged him with posting “indecent photos” on the internet, but no action has been taken against police officers who allegedly circulated the gruesome crime scene images of murder victim Nellie Brown-Cox.

Amid growing public concern about the police’s new internet censorship policy, Mr Moncur challenged Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade to be consistent and bring the photo leak officers to justice.

Mr Moncur has been charged with “committing a grossly indecent act” by posting a picture of a man who died in police custody on his Facebook page.

There has been a huge response on social media to his arrest, with a Facebook group called Free Rodney Moncur gaining more than 4,000 members and Rodney Moncur’s name trending on Twitter. A number of people raised concerns over freedom of speech, and also raised the question of the crime scene photographs in the Brown-Cox case.