The Tribune

Parents told by Fox and Smith to share recordings if they die

By TRIBUNE STAFF

newsroom@tribunemedia.net

THE father of Michael Fox Jr said his son sent him voice notes before he was killed in May and told him to release the recordings should something happen to him.

Sandra Smith, the mother of Dino Smith, said days before her son was killed in January, he similarly informed her about the existence of voice notes that could one day be important. “I didn’t know my son was gon’die,” she said.

“My son hold me, say mummy, some voice notes in Mikey’s phone. If anything happen to us, get the voice notes from... and send it to the news or somewhere.”

Ms Smith said she never got the voice notes. Mr Fox Sr said he had them but was not responsible for their release last week. The parents’ comments in separate interviews provide some context into the origin of the recordings, which have plunged the Royal Bahamas Police Force into an explosive controversy. Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis described the voice notes as “terribly disturbing” on Tuesday night.

The recordings purported to capture a financial quid-pro-quo arrangement involving Fox Jr, Mr Smith, a lawyer and a senior officer, who has taken garden leave as authorities investigate the matter.

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander has said the reliability of the voice notes must be determined. Mr Fox Sr and Ms Smith insist the recordings are authentic, not manipulated or produced through artificial intelligence.

Mr Fox Sr said even if his son did not send him the voice notes directly, he would trust the recordings because he recognises his son’s speech patterns and phrases.

He said the voice notes were made last year after police issued wanted flyers for his son and Smith. The flyers concerned the theft of $1,475,000 from an unattended security vehicle transporting cash for the Bank of The Bahamas to a private airport on November 2. Smith and Fox were ultimately not charged, but they were killed in January and May. Two other men have since been charged with the crime.

“That is the voice of my son,” Mr Fox Sr said yesterday. “There are matters leading up to that and he send the voice note to me and told me that if anything were to happen to him please use the voice notes to clear his case.”

Mr Fox Sr said numerous people knew he had the voice notes, and he had long considered what to do with them.

He said he was happy when Sylvens Metayer, a man who considers himself a whistleblower, seemingly released the recordings last week. Mr Metayer, whose Facebook page says he lives in Atlanta, Georgia, was shot during a Facebook Live on Monday night after making disparaging claims about Bahamian government and police officials. He survived, but his condition and whereabouts are unknown.

Since the recordings were released, Mr Fox Sr said he has had a meeting with police, including the new CID head. He said they asked if he released the recordings.

Meanwhile, Ms Smith said she was shocked when she heard the voice notes last week.

“I said my Jesus Dino didn’t lie,” she said. “He keep telling me about it.”

“I was so scared when Dino said stuff about the voice notes. I never thought death would’ve come so soon.”

“Someone sent me the voice notes (last week). I listen to the last part of it; that’s him in it. That’s him talking to Mikey.”

She said her son started getting threats when he became associated with “Mikey”, whom he met in prison.

“They shoot my child 51 times,” she said, adding that her son left behind four children, one born after he was killed.

“I rather my son to be in jail than to be dead because he coulda help with his kids.”

She said she has not slept well since her son was killed.

Smith was killed alongside Chatere Wells, 27, in a brazen daylight shooting on Prince Charles Drive on January 3.

Before he was killed in January, Smith was shot in December, shortly after being released from police custody without being charged concerning the $1.5m bank security car robbery. Chief Superintendent of Police Chrislyn Skippings said earlier this year that Smith was questioned but refused to give information about who shot him.

Fox Jr was bound to a wheelchair after a shooting on Ida Street in 2015 left him paralysed. Police said he was the leader of the Fox Hill Outlaws gang. He was killed on May 6.