The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A WANTED fugitive due to be sentenced for murder remains at large nearly a week after he escaped from a police bus en route to prison.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Leon Bethel told The Tribune yesterday that 26-year-old Ormand Leon was still on the run notwithstanding an continuing manhunt by the Royal Bahamas Police Force to recapture him.

However, he directed queries on how the prisoner managed to escape from custody a few feet away from armed officers to a senior colleague charged with internal investigations.

Acting Deputy of Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson told this newspaper: “An investigation is ongoing but that is the most I can tell you.

“It would be inappropriate and against protocol to speak on the investigation which is not a part of normal criminal investigations and speaking publicly would prejudice that investigation,” he stressed.

He noted that a report would be given to Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade once the investigation is concluded.

Both DCP Ferguson and ACP Bethel assured the public that the police are working hard to bring the matter to a resolution.

Shortly before Leon’s escape, he was told by Justice Bernard Turner that he would learn on February 16 what sentence would be imposed on him for the July 10, 2011, murder of Fransisco Hanna.

Hanna was shot twice in the chest and three times in his right arm.

At trial, the prosecution produced a video confession of Leon telling police how he and his alleged accomplice had followed Hanna on the night in question, switched cars after almost being found out and then fled the area after the shooting.

Leon contended that the video confession was the result of inducement for his release from custody at the time. However, he exercised his right to remain silent when called on to give a defence.

Dennis Mather, 24, Leon’s alleged accomplice, was acquitted days prior to the verdict following the direction of Justice Turner to the jury that stemmed from legal submissions held in the panel’s absence on the close of the Crown’s case against the pair.

Both Leon and Mather had maintained their innocence in Hanna’s death and were respectively represented by Terrel Butler and Damian Whyte.

Leon is facing up to 60 years imprisonment for the Wilson Tract shooting and could be sentenced in his absence if he fails to surrender or is not recaptured.

According to Section 444(1) of the Penal Code, a prisoner could face a two-year sentence for fleeing justice.

The law adds that anyone who knowingly and willingly aids and abets a prisoner in escape shall be imprisoned for three years.

Section 445 further notes that negligence leading to the escape of a prisoner would result in a one-year sentence.

Anyone who harbours a fugitive, according to Section 448 of the Penal Code, can face upwards to five years in prison if the fugitive is facing the death penalty or sentencing for a crime, such as murder, which carries more than ten years imprisonment.