The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was found dead yesterday in the old City Market building on Market Street with blunt force trauma to the body.

Police said he was the victim of a homicide, which would mark the first for the year in New Providence and the fourth nationwide.

Superintendent Shanta Knowles, police press liaison officer, spoke to reporters at the scene. She said: “Very few details we have at this time. We know that shortly after 12noon, we came here to the old City Market building on Market Street where we discovered a male with blunt force trauma to his body. That is as much information as we have at this time.”

Officers told the press the case appears to be a homicide.

The victim appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s, however police did not know the identity of the victim. Supt Knowles also confirmed that police “don’t have any reports of a male being missing.”

When asked by reporters if it was known what type of weapon could have inflicted the victim’s injuries, Supt Knowles said: “It appears to have been different objects. Right now, I can’t nail it down to say exactly which one, but we know that the body has blunt force trauma to various parts of the body.

“However we are asking members of the public— we know that this thoroughfare or this parking lot is used by lots of persons to travel from Market Street onto East Street, or in that vicinity – (we ask anyone) who may have seen anything that can give us clues or leads into this matter to give us a call on the Crime Stoppers line. The number is 328-TIPS (328-8477). At Central Detective Unit, 502-9991/2. Or on our emergency lines: 911 and 919.”

Three people were murdered earlier this month in separate incidents which all occurred in Grand Bahama.

Two severely decomposed male bodies were also found in Abaco last weekend, though officials are still waiting on autopsy results to confirm the cause of death.

On Tuesday, Minister of National Security Marvin Dames commended the efforts of police in Grand Bahama and Abaco and promised to continue the efforts to reduce crime in the country.

He said: “It will not be business as usual anymore. We will police differently. We have already begun that process and as a result of early efforts, we are beginning to see some positive change in the right direction. We will continue to do it.”

Mr Dames added: “As I said before, we are not here to play games with crime. We understand how important reducing the crime levels in this country is to the overall stability of our nation.

“And so, you will continue to see our police operation from island to island, wherever we need to go to flush out the criminal element that has operated throughout this country for far too long. They have come to realise that their time has come because we are solving these matters, but we are putting in place an aggressive preventive strategy to continue to bring the numbers down.

“But as we do it, we clearly understand that you are not going to have a year with no homicides. No country can boast of that. But I can assure you one thing, those persons who feel the need to engage in criminal activity, we will use everything within the scope of our powers to isolate you and to put you where you belong.

“We have to get back to a place where Bahamians can live in their communities without having concern about our young men killing up (each other).”

On Tuesday, Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson released crime statistics for 2017. Those numbers show an overall decline in crime by 14 per cent compared to 2016, however there was a 10 per cent increase in murders.