The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Renew Bahamas CEO Michael Cox being spotted sitting on a forklift at a local scrapyard without a valid work permit ultimately led to him being charged with a criminal offence, though the immigration officer who spotted him did not say whether he was actually operating the machine.

Immigration Officer Corey Bonaby said he spotted Cox on the forklift at Sanasha’s Development and Heavy Equipment from a distance on October 5th, but by the time they made their way to the the UK native, he had already dismounted the machine.

Furthermore, the officer said Cox was dressed in “rugged” and “dirty” attire at the time, suggesting that the 41-year-old was engaged in some kind of physical labour.

However, Officer Bonaby admitted during cross-examination that he couldn’t say whether or not the forklift in question was actually in operation when he first spotted Cox, much less if it was actually on, and could only say that it wasn’t running by the time he approached him.

Nonetheless, Cox’s uncle, Maurice Cox, told Officer Bonaby on the date in question that he (Maurice) was working, that he was teaching other persons on the site how to load scrap metals into shipment containers to be exported, and that he was assisting his nephew in loading the containers.

Additionally, notwithstanding the allegations that both men were engaged in gainful occupation without leave of an immigration officer, Officer Bonaby admitted that he did not arrest the man allegedly responsible for hiring them, Sanasha’s owner Ronald Miller, despite his evidence placing Mr Miller in and/or near the worksite the day both Michael and Maurice Cox were arrested.

The evidence was unearthed during the pair’s trial before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans over a single charge of engaging in gainful occupation stemming from their alleged actions on October 5th.

It is alleged that on the date in question, the two Newcastle, United Kingdom natives were caught working in Summerset Estates without leave of the director of immigration to do so.

According to Officer Bonaby, on the date in question he received certain instructions from one of his superiors, Peter Joseph, to investigate a matter in the area of Summerset Estates. He said he had received a complaint that two Caucasian males, who persons thought were foreigners, were working at a heavy equipment site.

Officer Bonaby said he was thus instructed to lead a small team of officers to the area in question. When the bus he and the other officers was in pulled up to the rear, he saw a Caucasian male sitting on a forklift. He said the officers got out of the bus and splintered into different groups, with himself and three other officers approaching the man on the forklift.

By the time they got to the man, he was already off the forklift. According to Officer Bonaby, the Caucasian man he saw had on “highly worn-down” steel-toe boots, rugged jeans and a buttoned-down shirt.

Officer Bonaby said he questioned the man about his immigration status, to which he answered by identifying himself as Michael Cox and stating that he was a visitor, and that he had a work permit, but it had expired. Officer Bonaby said when he asked the man to provide proof that he was a visitor, he could not.

Officer Bonaby said Michael Cox told him that he wasn’t working, and was only at the location in question to visit a friend who owned the property, but said Mr Miller wasn’t in the area at the time.

Officer Bonaby said based on what Michael Cox was wearing at the time, he was cautioned and told that he was suspected of engaging in gainful employment and placed under arrest.

After that, two other officers took Michael Cox to the front of the yard while he searched for other persons in the area. After finding no one, Officer Bonaby said he then made his way to the front area of the area in question, where he observed Maurice Cox, donned in dirty blue overalls and rugged boots, who was already under arrest.

Officer Bonaby said he subsequently questioned Maurice Cox on what he was doing, to which the 51-year-old responded by saying he was working and teaching other persons in the area how to load scrap metals onto containers for export, and that he was assisting his nephew in loading them.

Fellow immigration officer Kyle Edwards subsequently testified that while Officer Bonaby was dealing with Michael Cox, he went to the front of a building on the Summerset Estates site, where he saw Maurice Cox standing behind a metal container wiping his hands. Officer Edwards said Maurice Cox was dressed as if he were involved in “industrial” activity of some sort, clad in dirty jeans, boots, gloves and a construction jacket.

Officer Edwards said he approached Maurice Cox and asked him if he had any legal status to be in the country. The officer said the man said he did have legal status, and went to his jeep to retrieve a foreign driver’s license which he showed the officer. Officer Edwards said he then asked Maurice Cox if that was all the proof he had, to which the man replied by saying he had no other proof of status.

After that, he said he turned Maurice Cox over to Officer Bonaby.

Officer Bonaby said before the pair was placed on the bus, he took pictures of them with his cellphone, which he later had printed off for possible evidential purposes.

He said the pair was ultimately transported to the Carmichael Road Detention Center where they were further questioned and processed. Checks were made of the Department of Immigration’s Permit Issuance System, which revealed that Michael Cox’s work permit to function as CEO of Renew Bahamas was granted in July 2016 and expired in July of last year. The system showed that he applied for a renewal but a decision has yet to be made by the DOI’s board.

Maurice Cox, meanwhile, entered the country as a visitor for 90 days, and has no application pending.

At the close of the prosecution’s case, Wayne Munroe, QC, attorney for the accused, made a no-case submission on behalf of his clients, arguing that no evidence was led to show that either man was gainfully employed, and that none of the statements attributed to them suggest they were working for any gain, profit or reward.

Additionally, Mr Munroe submitted that there was no evidence to show that either of his clients were working for Mr Miller, and argued that if there was, that man was also to be charged before the courts.

Firstly, Mr Munroe argued that at no time were the passports of the two men produced as evidence, which he said would serve as first-hand evidence of their respective statuses in the country.

To that end, and concerning Maurice Cox, Mr Munroe submitted that without his passport to confirm, there is no evidence that he is not a Bahamian citizen. Mr Munroe said that is because according to the Bahamas constitution, every person born in the Bahamas who was a citizen of the United Kingdom on July 9, 1973, became a citizen of the Bahamas on July 10, 1973, the date of independence.

Mr Munroe said as Maurice Cox was purported to be born on May 9, 1967, he could be a Bahamian citizen if in fact he was born here. However, the senior attorney suggested that without the accused's passport’s being provided for evidential purposes, there is no way to confirm or deny that assertion.

In response, Immigration Prosecutor Avia Beckford noted that based on the evidence, both Michael and Maurice Cox were landed as visitors by immigration authorities, and stressed that no immigration officer would, in light of the Immigration Act, land a Bahamian citizen as a visitor.

She also submitted that based on the evidence of what the two men were wearing on the date in question, she knows of no instances where people who aren’t engaging in physical labour would be casually clad in such attire. Ms Beckford also submitted that the fact that Michael Cox was spotted on a forklift in a scrapyard would raise suspicions that he was engaged in some kind of gainful employment.

The matter continues on January 17, 2019.

Both Michael Cox and his uncle are on $10,000 bail.