The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE Royal Bahamas Police Force is “looking into new devices to use” for transporting prisoners to and from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade said yesterday.

His statement came one week after 26-year-old murder convict Ormand Leon managed to slip off his handcuffs and jump from a police bus, which was on its way to prison on February 2.

Mr Greenslade encouraged Leon to turn himself in because “nothing good will happen” if police continue to chase him. He also refuted claims that somehow police officers not performing their duties may have led to the escape.

“What I recognise now is we are going to have to look at different devices because the traditional devices we have used have sometimes let us down,” he said at police headquarters. “But this escape was not a question of whether the officers are capable, but it’s when you tell me I am going to prison for an extended period or I am going to be sentenced to death, that person then says ‘boy this is final’ and their head kicks in and that person becomes animalistic.

“So we second guess, we do an investigation to determine could we have done things better and in my view the answer is yes, but I don’t want us to lose focus on the issue which is the young man that has escaped and escaped into a community where people have seen him.

“We know because some of them have called us, they have accommodated him and hid him. We are still looking for him and we are all armed and capable believe me when I tell you that. He needs to turn himself in, nothing good will come out of it if he doesn’t turn himself in. “He escaped, we aren’t upset with him, we just want to give him a ride home. We want to bring a bad man to justice before he reoffends.”

Mr Greenslade also said law enforcement has to look into ways of improving restraints.

“So what I have is a handcuff that would have been used in that occasion. I know I have to have a handcuff that is different, that would not allow a repeat of that. If I say anymore, I will tell a bad boy how to take his handcuffs off because what I want to know as a commissioner is how he would have gotten those handcuffs off but after doing an analysis of the device I understand how that can happen but let me tell you, I fixed that already.”

Leon is described as a brown-skinned male, of slim build, who is said to be about 5ft 9in to 5ft 11in. Police said he frequents Moore Avenue, Homestead Street and Miami Street. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

Police urged members of the public not to approach him but instead to call 919 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477) if he is seen.

Moments before the escape, Leon 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.

Leon is facing up to 60 years imprisonment for the Wilson Tract shooting.

Hanna was shot twice in the chest and three times in his right arm. He died of his injuries at the scene.