By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE government must clarify why officials ordered that gun and ammunition charges dropped against a couple on claims it was a national security matter, FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis insisted yesterday.

Dr Minnis questioned how Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald, acting as Attorney General, was able to conclude the change in the status of the case which had been in the courts since 2010. The charges against George and Janet Hayes were discontinued on Friday, December 28.

He chastised Mrs Allyson Maynard-Gibson, the Attorney General, for failing to know the particulars of the case or how it should have been classified. 

The FNM leader made the charge at his party’s headquarters on Mackey Street following the announcement of John Bostwick II as the new Senator to replace

Zhivargo Laing.

“They will have to answer as to how this all of a sudden became a national security issue. There is a protocol policy in place. Has it been discussed at the national security level? ” Dr Minnis asked.

“Now with Fitzgerald coming in and identifying according to him a national security issue, it means that the current Attorney General did not do her job to recognise that it was a national security issue. So either the Prime Minister moves her, or Fitzgerald has to explain. 

“Damian Gomez, the Minister of State for Legal Affairs by right, we would have thought he would have been acting. So you then have to ask what is his purpose if you brought in the Minister of Education to act as the Attorney General.”

The Hayes each faced a charge of possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.

Not long after the charges were dropped, Mr Fitzgerald issued a statement saying he felt satisfied that grounds existed for his decision.

“In the absence of the Attorney General,” he said, “I acted as Attorney General. During the absence of Mrs Maynard-Gibson, I reviewed the file relating to Janice Hayes and George Hayes and satisfied myself that it was appropriate to discontinue the prosecution.

“As a consequence, I executed a nolle prosequi. This is a matter of national security and as a consequence I have no further comment on this subject.”

Authorities claimed that the Hayes were found with a .380 pistol and 19 live rounds of ammunition for the firearm on February 3, 2010.

They however, pleaded not guilty when they stood before the courts a few days after their arrest.