The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

BAR Association President Elsworth Johnson said yesterday that Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage should “stick to gynecology” since he obviously lacks the “innovation and the intellectual aptitude” to solve the nation’s crippling crime problem.

He branded the national security minister as a “coward” who blames everyone but himself for crime.

Mr Johnson told The Tribune that Dr Nottage’s recent criticism of the judiciary was “out of order” and “inappropriate” and the minister needs to “man up” and take responsibility for the escalating crime instead of placing the blame on everyone else.

On Wednesday, Dr Nottage shifted blame to the judiciary for the country’s crime problem, as he blasted judges for failing to impose stiffer penalties and not properly enforcing laws that are on the books.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Dr Nottage said that some magistrates give lighter sentences to criminals because the accused is someone in society’s “good son”. He said it is hard to believe that some judges live in the same country and still only give criminals “a slap on the wrist” when they appear before them.

He also lamented the fact that the government is not commended when there is a lull in murders.

Mr Johnson said Dr Nottage is a “coward” who made his comments under the “cloak of privilege in the House of Assembly” because he knew the judges could not respond.

“He was giving the impression that the judges were responsible for crime. We live in a democracy, judges do not protect or defend or investigate. They are there to be fair. They do not make the laws. The crimes are not being committed by the judges’ children, so how are they to blame? If the honourable minster is dissatisfied then he knows what he can do,” Mr Johnson said, when contacted for comment.

“If someone is not happy with the judge’s decision, they can appeal, they have the best and brightest lawyers in the Attorney General’s Office. He wants to know how judges find it easy to live in the Bahamas, well the same way they have been surviving in refurbished buildings that cannot mees its purpose. The minister should concentrate on being a gynaecologist and leave prevention and apprehension to the commissioner (of police) and leave the interpretation of the laws for the judges.”

Mr Johnson said Dr Nottage is shifting the blame because he is embarrassed that he does not have the answers like “he claimed before the election.”

“He said he had the answer and we are still waiting. Now one day he is blaming the family, the next the children, the next the commissioner, everyone but himself. He lacks the innovation and the intellectual aptitude to resolve these issues. He needs to man up and stop attacking people who cannot respond. It makes him cowardly. “What is just as wrong is the senior members of the bar, who sat there and did not tell him that he was totally out of order. He was wrong and if he has a problem he should do the fit and proper things and go and make a complaint the right way.”

During his passionate intervention, he mentioned that no one acknowledges when there is a lull in murders.

“What is interesting is that last week there was a period where we didn’t have any murders, and I didn’t hear anybody say, ‘Oh, you all are doing a good job, we don’t have any murders.”

Dr Nottage also said on Wednesday that the government is “coming back to Parliament very shortly” with new measures to assist in the fight against crime.

His comments came during a bloody week, which saw seven people killed over a five-day span beginning last Friday.

Up to press time, the country’s murder count stood at 107 for the year and is on target to surpass 2014’s murder count of 123.