The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder said he met the government on the hook for $1m damages for unlawful immigration detention practices arising from “eight to ten” lawsuits when he took office.

He said during his tenure, no habeas corpus application had been filed for deportation-related matters, saving the government millions.

He was responding to questions at an Office of the Prime Minister briefing last week after the Privy Council ruled on the case of Kenyan national Douglas Ngumi.

The appellate court ruled that Mr Ngumi was unlawfully detained for all but two days while officials organised his deportation. Local courts had concluded it was reasonable to detain Mr Ngumi for at least three months while arranging his deportation. 

The Privy Council rejected Mr Ngumi’s request for more damages than the $750k the Court of Appeal ordered him to receive.

Mr Ngumi, who Fred Smith, K.C, represented, had sought $11m.

Mr Pinder told reporters that his office had accepted the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal rulings, emphasizing that Mr Ngumi lost the key part of the case at the Privy Council. 

“The Court of Appeal slightly increased their damages,” he said. “The other side again appealed it to the Privy Council. These aren’t Attorney General Office appeals or government appeals. These are appeals on the other side.  They were seeking $11 million in damages against the government of the Bahamas. (They) appealed to the Privy Council, and let me be clear, despite the headlines in the press (last week Thursday), they lost.  They were not awarded the $11 million. The only thing the Privy Council opined against the government was the period of time he was unlawfully detained. So they extended that period of a couple of months and awarded an extra $50,000.”

“So that’s what happened in the case. Now we have never disputed the ruling and findings in the court below. In fact, on coming to office, I must have had … eight, ten habeas corpus matters in front of me, of which, at the detention centre, there was such a delay in deportation. Just think about this. I saw eight to ten of them in the first month or two. Each one of those damages are awarded in the range of $80 to $90,000. That’s almost a million dollars in damages.

“We instantly put in a reform mechanism where our lawyers meet at the detention centre weekly. Every single week I have a group of lawyers meet at the detention centre to ensure the process of law and order, as appropriate, is followed. Since coming to office, we have had no habeas corpus matters filed against the government of The Bahamas on a delay with respect to deportation, not a single one of them; saving again, the public’s purse, millions of dollars on unnecessary damages.”