The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 23-year-old Freeport man was charged yesterday with negligently causing grievous harm in connection with a shooting incident on Grand Bahama.

Deshawn Anthony Rolle, 23, appeared before Magistrate Charlton Smith. It is alleged that on August 8, at Freeport, the accused shot a woman.

According to reports, shortly after midnight on August 8, police received reports that a woman was taken to Rand Memorial Hospital by private vehicle with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The female was detained and listed in serious, but stable condition.

Rolle, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, was denied bail and remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until December 11.

In a separate matter, Jerome Fernander was charged with causing damage to a police vehicle, removing a vehicle without the owner’s consent, and failing to stop when requested by police.

It is alleged that on August 8, the accused caused damage to the front crash bar of a 2016 Ford Taurus, the property of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, in the amount of $650. It is also alleged that he removed a taxi, the property Betty Cambridge, from the Grand Bahama International Airport.

Fernander initially pleaded not guilty to the charges of causing damage and failing to stop when requested by police, and pleaded guilty to removing the vehicle without the owner’s consent.

The prosecutor read the particulars of the guilty plea. On August 8, sometime around 2.50pm Jermone Smith reported that someone stole his taxi while it was parked with the keys in the ignition and left unattended at the airport’s domestic terminal. Sometime later officers spotted the vehicle on Polaris Drive and requested for the driver to stop. The driver refused and continued at a high rate of speed. The vehicle eventually came to a stop at a cul-de-sac on Man-O-War Circle. The prosecutor said the driver put the vehicle in reverse and rammed the police vehicle causing damage to the front crash bar.

When the magistrate was about to address the guilty plea, Fernander claimed that he had pleaded not guilty to removing the vehicle without the owner’s consent. He appeared to be confused about his initial pleas. The judge put all the charges to him again and he pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Magistrate Smith asked the accused if he been a patient at the Diah Ward, a psychiatric ward in Grand Bahama. Fernander said that he was a patient of the Diah Ward six months ago. The prosecutor then informed the judge that it appears that Smith may have some mental challenges.

As a result, the judge remanded Fernander to Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre for evaluation and treatment. He informed Fernander that the matters were adjourned to September 30, when he would return to court to enter pleas to the charges.