The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE wife of murdered millionaire podiatrist, Phillip Vasyli, will contest a Supreme Court judge’s repeated refusal to grant her bail, The Tribune has learned.

Donna Vasyli’s documents were filed to the Court of Appeal before 4pm yesterday concerning the 54-year-old’s attempt to be released on bond before trial in connection with the March 24 murder at their Old Fort Bay home.

Vasyli, who has been in custody for six weeks, is hoping the appellate court will rule differently and impose the stringent conditions she herself has proposed in order to alleviate concerns that she is a flight risk.

On Friday, Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs, who was ordered by the Court of Appeal to reconsider his initial refusal of bail a month ago, denied bail a second time to the Australian widow.

“The law requires the applicant to demonstrate why bail should be granted,” the judge said in his ruling. “Bearing in mind that the applicant is not a citizen, and I accept that she is a permanent resident of some 20 years vintage, and has stated that she has a home in Australia and has access to finances, I am not minded to exercise my undoubted discretion to grant bail for the following reasons.

“The applicant is charged with a serious offence that carries a severe penalty. The applicant will be tried within a reasonable time within the context of prevailing circumstances in the Bahamas. The prosecution has sufficient probable grounds for the charge.

“There is no good reason to conclude that the circumstances of her husband’s death point in any other direction at this stage of the process but to her. The seriousness of the offence and the severity of the penalty are incentives for the applicant to abscond and fail to appear for her trial.”

Mr Vasyli, 59, was found lifeless in the dining room of his luxury home with multiple stab wounds. He was the owner of four podiatry clinics – three in Sydney, Australia, and one at the Old Fort Bay Medical Centre in New Providence.

His wife was charged six days later in connection with his death. Before being remanded to the Department of Corrections, she was told that her case would be fast-tracked to Supreme Court for trial through the presentation of a Voluntary Bill of Indictment.

The VBI presentation is scheduled for May 20.