The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

While it gives me no pleasure to continue to point out the direct and indisputable role that Bahamian Judges and their inept decisions play in the continued breakdown of law and order in The Bahamas, I feel it would be irresponsible on my part not to highlight on a consistent basis the weekly instances that evidence that link.

Last Thursday, two people lost their lives to violence in New Providence. Both appear to have been out on bail, the first one on a charge of possession of an unlicensed firearm. In that case, the magistrate decided to grant bail, although the accused had been convicted of the exact same offence less than five years before.

That failure of discretion in itself suggests a judge or magistrate that should not be on the bench. But even more outrageously, on his conviction in 2012, the deceased was sentenced to a paltry two years’ imprisonment. The sentence was for two offences (possession of a firearm and ammunition) but, in typical permissive style, the judge decided that the sentences should run concurrently – basically meaning that one cancels out the other, in effect.

The predictable outcome of that light sentence and easy bail has now played itself out – and it will happen at least 50 more times before the year is over.

As the gatekeepers of the penal system, judges are in the unique position of being able to impose their norms and values upon a society.

Sadly, judging by what they do (if not what they say) many Bahamian judges apparently feel that possession of an illegal firearm remains a rather minor matter, worthy of a mere two years’ imprisonment, despite the country now being described as a virtual war zone by international commentators and Bahamians being too being afraid of casual violence to leave their homes at night.

Our Bahamian judges remain in an ivory tower far above the fray dispensing a kind of justice that seems to reflect the realities of cloud cuckoo land, rather than The Bahamas in 2016.

Once again, I will repeat the obvious: most of the violent crime taking place in the streets of New Providence today is the direct result of recklessly light sentencing for gun possession and violent crimes and, in my opinion, the incompetent misuse of discretion by judges and magistrates over when and to whom to grant bail.

ANDREW ALLEN

Nassau,

February 12, 2016.