The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration could bring amendments to Parliament as early as next month to strengthen the Immigration Department’s disciplinary powers, months after the Privy Council upheld findings that a senior immigration officer unlawfully detained and twice raped a woman in his custody.

Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell said changes to regulations are being prepared with the Law Reform Commission and could be ready when Parliament returns on September 16. Amendments to the Immigration Act are also being considered.

The reforms were discussed after officials were asked what action had been taken following the Claudia Edwards Bethel case, in which the civil courts found that Jamaican national Claudia Edwards Bethel was unlawfully detained and twice raped by senior immigration officer Norman Bastian while under his control.

“We expect that there'll be some changes in the regulations, which would come as early as when Parliament convenes on the 16th,” Mr Mitchell said, “and maybe even amendments to the statute to try and strengthen the position of the Director of Immigration with regard to being able to police these matters.”

He said the department’s existing disciplinary process is “a little awkward”.

Minister of State for Immigration Darron Pickstock said steps have already been taken to strengthen the disciplinary authority of both the director and deputy director of immigration.

Mr Mitchell said the department had previously disclosed that officers had been interdicted, but neither minister said how many officers were affected, what allegations they faced or whether any of the cases involved the treatment of detainees.

The questions followed Mr Mitchell’s apology in June to Ms Bethel’s family and estate after the Privy Council upheld the government’s liability for her unlawful detention and the sexual assaults committed by Bastian.

On June 11, the Privy Council upheld the finding that the government was liable for Ms Bethel’s treatment while she remained an immigration detainee. The case was sent back to the Bahamian courts for damages to be assessed.

Mr Mitchell subsequently apologised “unreservedly” to Ms Bethel’s family and estate and disclosed that Bastian had been retired from the public service “in the public interest”.

He did not say whether Bastian retained his pension or other retirement benefits.

The criminal rape case against Bastian was dismissed at the no-case submission stage in March 2016. He was never tried or criminally convicted.

The civil courts later found, on the balance of probabilities, that he falsely imprisoned and raped Ms Bethel.

Separately, Mr Mitchell said the Davis administration may consider legislation in response to a court ruling which, according to him, requires people who enter The Bahamas unlawfully to be convicted of an immigration offence before they can be repatriated.

“There’s a court case which binds the government,” Mr Mitchell said. “I do not agree with the decision, but it appears to bind the government to taking people who land here unlawfully to be taken to court, found guilty of an immigration offence before they can be sent back home.”

Mr Pickstock also revealed that more than 2,000 migrants had been repatriated “to date”, with Haitians accounting for the majority, but did not provide a breakdown by nationality.

“You see the large number being Haitian migrants,” Mr Pickstock said, “but we have any number of nationalities in the country, and they are all repatriated once they have gone through the process.”

He said more than 100 Haitian migrants were expected to be repatriated today.