The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Privy Council’s “deeply rooted philosophical objection” to capital punishment means it is unlikely there will be another hanging in the Bahamas.

That was the verdict of Sean McWeeney QC, Chairman of the Constitutional Reform Commission, responding to public questions about the issue fielded at the commission’s first town hall meeting.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London is the apex of the court hierarchy for The Bahamas. It acts as the final court of appeal and decides whether murderers are hanged.

Mr McWeeney told the crowd last week: “There is absolutely no question if you examine the judgments of the Privy Council over the last ten years or so there is a deeply rooted philosophical objection that they have to capital punishment.

“Frankly, the Privy Council has gone out of its way sometimes, even to the point of appearing to be ridiculous, to find ways and means of moving the gold post on this. They would establish certain minimal requirements before the death penalty can be opposed. Then you meet those changes that they’ve asked for and as soon as you do they say “by the way here is a list of new things you have to meet.”

“The point is that it is perhaps not going too far to say that they are manipulating the system to achieve a philosophical objection which is the abolition of capital punishment because they just don’t believe in it.

“I regret to say that as long as the Privy Council remains your final court of appeal, it is extremely doubtful that you will ever be able to hang any one.”

It was suggested at the commission meeting that the government move to do away with the council.

However, Commission member, former Attorney General Carl Bethel, said that Bahamians would still not find desirable results in the Caribbean Court of Justice.

While the Bahamas is not affiliated with that court, to remove the Privy Council would inevitably see the Caribbean Court as the next court of appeal.

“The Caribbean Court of Justice has so far not found any ground to disagree with the Privy Council’s views on hanging. So it may well be a false hope for the masses to believe that if we just change the court we’ll change the result,” Mr Bethel said.

The last execution of a convicted murderer was the hanging of David Mitchell in 2000 under the former FNM administration.