The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday he plans to meet with the Director of Public Prosecutions sometime this week concerning the issue of persons on bail being murdered.

Mr Munroe said: “I have asked the Minister of State in the Office of the Attorney General Jomo Campbell, who has responsibility for interactions with the Office of the DPP, to arrange a meeting with himself, myself, the commissioner of police and some of the higher command with the DPP as soon as possible.

“I am trying to see if it can be arranged this week,” Mr Munroe said.

Asked about the issue of accused offenders getting bail, he said: “Quite often it depends on what you tell the judge, because judges act on the material that’s before them. If in my view, these persons ought not to be readmitted to bail and the judge does it, then there is a requirement for you as a prosecution to appeal to the Court of Appeal. We need to understand if that is happening.”

This comes after two men on bail for serious crimes were shot dead in separate incidents over the weekend, continuing a trend that has been occurring in recent months.

Some have argued that offenders are safer inside prison rather than being granted bail, due to the high frequency of people on bail being killed.

Mr Munroe also said that he and court officials have agreed to get firearm trials completed within 21 days of court dates.

He said: “We met with the chief justice and the chief magistrate and it has been agreed that we’re going to seek to get the firearms trials completed in 21 days from the day you go to court.

“We’re going to meet with the Office of the DPP with responsibility for prosecuting the matters in the Supreme Court, which would be the murders, the serious offences. That office is charged with objecting to bail. So we want to understand precisely what is happening there,” Mr Munroe said.

“We’ve sorted the matter to our satisfaction with the firearms trials for them to be done and dusted in three weeks, completed. We now are turning our attention to the issue of trials in the Supreme Court, particularly these murder trials that are outstanding,” he said.

Mr Munroe made these comments yesterday at Baha Mar where the life and legacy of those victims and survivors of the tragic sinking of the HMBS Flamingo on May 10, 1980, were remembered.

Of the 19 crew members, four Bahamian Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers lost their lives after being mistakenly attacked by Cuban military fighter jets. The ship sank in waters off the Ragged Island chain and the bodies of the four who died were never recovered.