The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel yesterday called the absence of two police officers in court proceedings related to the Cabbage Beach access case “difficult to accept but not unusual”.

Mr Bethel said while the issue needed to be “looked into and documented”, there was no “great cause for concern” as police officers often find themselves having to choose between “their actual jobs” and court appearances.

He noted that the current government in particular has strived to ensure officers are rarely placed in such a dilemma, but said this has been hard to achieve.

On Monday, two officers expected to testify were no-shows during a hearing before Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister. One of the officers had previously testified in the matter.

The police prosecutor in the case subsequently made an application to withdraw the charges against the ten people who faced charges in connection with the destruction of a fence blocking access to Cabbage Beach during a protest in 2016.

Magistrate Armbrister ultimately opted to not acquit the group for legal reasons, but discharged them instead. He said while only two indictable charges against one or more in the group can be brought back against them, it is unlikely that will happen based on the fact the virtual complainant in the matter never showed up to court.

When contacted for comment yesterday, Mr Bethel said: “The belief may be that someone caused for these officers not to be there, when in reality these officers may have very well been on duty on an assignment or in court working some other matter.

“It is usually because of duty. Far too many cases are thrown out from want of prosecution because we have far too little officers. We have situations where we can’t sustain losing officers to their roles in court on the days in question. It is sad, but it is the reality.”

On Tuesday, former Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Thompson called on the senior command of the Royal Bahamas Police Force to give an account of why the pair failed to appear in court.

Mr Thompson called the officers’ absence a tragedy. He said in his day, a tribunal would be formed to investigate the officers in question.

He told The Tribune: “A tribunal would be called by the commissioner of police. . . It was that simple. You would face a disciplinary board to explain why you didn’t attend.”

Mr Thompson said there were cases in which officers have been punished with fines and even the loss of days off.

He also recalled a case in which an officer was punished by a judge for not showing up to court. He said in that case, the officer was made to sit in on court proceedings for an entire day.

The group of ten discharged Monday are expected to seek “substantial damages” from the government for being “maliciously prosecuted” in the case, according one of their lawyers, Branville McCartney.