The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

AFFIDAVITS filed to petition FOR the release of 42-year-old Alfairs Agregory Higgs -  who has been jailed for nearly four years without charge - state the mentally ill man has begun to lose track of time.

Mr Higgs is a schizophrenic, according to relatives, who say he was on medication before he was arrested by police for disorderly behaviour in 2015 and has been imprisoned ever since without being charged.

His family now fear his incarceration has taken an “irreversible physical and mental toll on him”.

Attorney General Carl Bethel yesterday told The Tribune his office was “aggressively investigating” the matter along with the Ministry of National Security.

Callenders & Co attorney Crispin Hall, and Mr Higgs’ sister Candace Mills yesterday filed writs of habeas corpus on his behalf, alleging Mr Higgs’ constitutional rights are being violated every day he remains in detention.

Mr Hall said: “This is a prime example of why we should honour and respect the rule of law within the country. When we brought those cases with the long term Carmichael Road Detention Centre detainees there was some outrage by some segments of society, where the persons said, ‘oh, they were of Haitian descent’.

“Here we have it a man born in West End, within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, his father is Bahamian man, can be held and imprisoned unlawfully. There is a complete breakdown within the structure of rule of law in the country,” he continued, “there is a breakdown in the respect for rule of law and due process within the country and it creates an environment for situations like this to happen.”

Mr Higgs was born to Turks Islander Linda Ellen Higgs and a Bahamian man on December 2, 1975. His birth registration was included in a supporting affidavit. His father is not listed on his birth certificate; however, the Tribune has spoken with Mr Higgs’ father and withheld his name due to his profession. Mr Higgs’ father made an urgent appeal for his son to be released.

It is alleged Mr Higgs’ arrest stemmed from growing frustration as he tried to regularize his status at the Immigration Department, and as such, he was arrested with a number of identification documents like his birth certificate and an expired travel document.

Ms Mills’ affidavit read: “Alfairs has told me he has been beaten repeatedly in the Fox Hill Prison over the years by other inmates and as a result he suffers from severe abdominal pains for which he has not been treated.

“Alfairs told me that he is often abused by the other inmates,” her affidavit continued, “and on one occasion when I visited him he raised his shirt to show me fresh wounds resulting from having been stabbed and the prison officer instructed him to put his shirt down.”

“In addition to the constant abuse, after being unlawfully detained for so long it is apparent to me that Alfairs is beginning to lose track of time.”

The Tribune was contacted by Ms Mills, 33, and Mr Higgs’ father following the newspaper’s coverage of long-term detainees at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, and the high-profile case of Bahamian-born Jean Rony Jean-Charles.

Yesterday, Mr Hall added: “So it’s not a surprise you have a person like Alfairs who can be detained for nearly four years without charge because we have often seen this happen, and that’s because there is a complete disregard for persons to have a fair hearing. And that’s why it’s so important and significant that these matters are paid special attention to, and these matters are brought not only before the courts but to the country at large so they can see what is going on.”