The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

FORT Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins last night questioned the competence of Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson after he said she “goofed” on two major cases that “caused the government and The Bahamas grave embarrassment”.

During his contribution in the House of Assembly, Dr Rollins, who is also the opposition’s shadow minister of national security, said there are “junior members of the Bar” who would not have made the mistakes Mrs Maynard-Gibson did that caused “this administration to be left with its pants hanging”.

Dr Rollins said the attorney general’s “sloppy justice” resulted in charges being dropped against six men accused of being members of a gang and a Jamaican woman, previously convicted in The Bahamas’ first human trafficking case, having her conviction and sentences quashed by the Court of Appeal.

“The AG’s office tried a matter in our courts of a group of persons said to be a part of organised crime...It is embarrassing that the attorney general can bring forward charges in the court of our country with legislation that took two years to pass and yet when it goes before the court and the court enforces punishment, they have to withdraw the (charge) because the act had not yet come into force. My God. How embarrassing,” Dr Rollins said.

Last December, prosecutors dropped charges against six men who were accused of being members of a criminal gang. The men were the first to be charged under the new anti-gang law.

Prosecutors alleged that the men were members of a gang from June 2012 and November 6, 2015.

According to published reports, in his ruling on bail, Justice Bernard Turner pointed out that the offence did not exist until it was created by the Penal Code Amendment Act of 2014.

The men were arraigned on November 11, 2015 however the new law was not gazetted until November 12, 2015, according to an Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs document obtained by The Tribune.

“Swift Justice became no justice at all,” Dr Rollins added. “Swift justice became sloppy justice. It does not end there because this same administration hailed the conviction of a Jamaican national on human trafficking charges, but guess what, the legislation that we debated in his place called for such matters to be prosecuted in the Magistrate’s Court, they tried it in the higher court, the Supreme Court, which had no jurisdiction to hear such a matter. And so they get the conviction, the woman spends more than one year in jail on a 15-year sentence and then has to be told the conviction is null and void. She is likely going to sue The Bahamas for improper incarceration and the government once again walked away with egg on its face.

“You had your one and only human trafficking conviction and you could not get that one conviction right,” he said.

However, a second woman, Apolonia McLean-Smith, has been convicted of human trafficking but her trial was heard in Magistrate’s Court.

“But we have an AG who is made a Queen’s Counsel by this same administration suggesting that she is an example among her colleagues and doesn’t even know to advise her administration or those under her authority what is the proper court to try a matter,” Dr Rollins added. “Well, by damn! I am sure there are junior members of the Bar who would not have made such a mistake and caused this administration to be left with its pants hanging down. Shame.”

Prime Minister Perry Christie defended Mrs Maynard-Gibson, who is a senator, and advised members that the matter involving the Jamaican woman is being appealed to the Privy Council.

“I think it is beyond dispute that she is a highly competent and qualified person. The attorney general sought international opinion, from London lawyers and today they have advised that the matter should be subject to immediate appeal to the Privy Council and special leave to appeal should be applied for and that it should be asked to sit as quickly as possible because of the serious implication the decision has resulted in. The attorney general herself advised me today that she has been advised to appeal the decision and ask for an early hearing as opposed to the government moving immediately and amending the law.”

Chevanese Sasha Hall, the first person convicted in this country of human trafficking, had been in custody since January 2013. She was convicted in March 2014 of six human trafficking related offences.

Last Thursday her sentence was quashed after it was argued that her matter was supposed to be heard in the Magistrate’s Court rather than the Supreme Court.

Ms Hall is expected to be deported.

Last week, the Court of Appeal said the attorney general did not have the jurisdiction to fast-track the human trafficking case to the Supreme Court for trial as the crimes she had allegedly committed were not indictable.