The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE charges against lawyers Fred Smith and Keod Smith following an incident on Jaws Beach last April were dropped by the office of the Attorney General yesterday.

Fred Smith was previously charged with causing harm to another man after allegedly knocking him down while Keod Smith had been charged with assault, threats of harm and causing damage stemming from an argument that allegedly occurred between him and Fred Smith last April.

Informing the men that the charges have been dropped, Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt said she was glad the two of them could “extend a hand of friendship and camaraderie”, adding: “Go your way and sin no more.”

Inside the courtroom, Fred Smith raised his hands in delight, shouting: “I’m declared innocent!”

He said outside court: “I am very pleased that the Attorney General has seen it fit to enter a nolle against me. I did nothing wrong.

“I continue to proclaim my innocence and I am glad the Attorney General has seen the light.”

He added: “It is most unseemly for my colleagues at the bar to be seen in this kind of fracas and I’m certainly glad that this unnecessary waste of my time is finished.”

“I have no ill will toward Mr Keod Smith, though I remain stunned and traumatised,” he said, referring to the incident in which the rear window of Fred Smith’s car was damaged. “I’m happy to live in Freeport where I feel safer,” he added.

Keod Smith thanked the Attorney General for dropping the charges against him. He said: “The matter has been given what it ought to have been given and now I can focus on what is really important for the Bahamian people and deal with issues that relate to the environment.”