The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

JUST weeks before he was expected to testify against a man accused of robbing him, businessman James McPhee was allegedly killed by the same suspect in a deadly hit-and-run, according to his family.

McPhee, a husband and father of three, was found with severe lacerations and other upper-body injuries early Sunday, two days after celebrating his 59th birthday on Independence Day.

Police suspect he was deliberately struck.

Two off-duty police officers, travelling east in a private vehicle near Spikenard and Carmichael Roads, reportedly saw a silver Suzuki strike McPhee as he lay in the roadway.

Police later pursued the vehicle in a high-speed chase and exchanged gunfire with the occupants. One suspect was wounded and arrested, while the others escaped and remained at large.

Relatives said the arrested suspect was the same man accused of robbing McPhee last year before being released on bail pending trial.

McPhee, who owned a heavy-equipment and environmental-health business, reportedly subdued the alleged robber and handed him over to police. He was expected to testify in the case later this year.

His twin brother, John McPhee, said the family believes the killing was connected to the upcoming trial, based on the information it has received. However, he said relatives would allow police to complete their investigation.

“As far as we are aware, the case was supposed to have started shortly, so we do believe that there is a connection between the assailant wanting to, I guess, remove any possibility of having a witness in the trial,” he said.

Mr McPhee said his nephew had recently raised concerns about whether his father needed greater protection because of the pending case and his role as a businessman. He said the son believed his father should apply for a concealed gun.

“My brother indicated that would’ve been a very difficult process to navigate based on the current climate in The Bahamas,” he said.

It is not clear when the suspect was released from jail on bail. Mr McPhee acknowledged that bail formed an important part of the legal process but said it carried risks.

“People do have a right to have bail,” he said. “It just obviously that that access to bail has its benefits and its risk and for us, that bail proved to be the risk that resulted in the unfortunate loss of my brother's life to to the assailants who obviously were not up to anything good.”

The killing shattered a family that had celebrated the twins’ 59th birthday only two days earlier.

Mr McPhee said he was leaving the Paradise Island area when their older brother called and delivered the news.

Although the twins did not speak every day, he said they shared a bond forged while growing up in Mayaguana, learning about boats and navigating childhood without their mother, who died when they were young.

He described his brother as ambitious, patriotic and the more jubilant of the two.

“I always tell people that you know we were born in the year of the revolution, 1967,” he said. “We got majority rule, but we were also born on the day that would become Independence Day.”

He said the date helped shape both men’s deep attachment to their country.

“Through no coincidence, we became both very patriotic and two people that really loved The Bahamas,” he said. “I often say to myself that he loved The Bahamas more than The Bahamas loved him.”

James would often begin singing when he called his brother, who would answer simply by saying hello.

“That was one of his approach, and you know he would always use those songs to connect us to you know pastimes, our childhood, and familiar spaces, whether it was a boating trip, but he was that type of person,” Mr McPhee said.

Relatives regarded James as the male matriarch of the family, someone who pulled loved ones together and commanded their affection.

He was also intensely devoted to his business and regularly spoke about investing in and expanding it.

Mr McPhee began his career as a welder, later became a firefighter and eventually opened a heavy equipment and environmental health company on Carmichael Road.

His brother said he would have loved to watch his young daughter graduate from school.

His sons, meanwhile, already miss the Sunday dinners he prepared for them, as cooking was one of his passions.