Attorney General: Removing Privy Council a major task

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson yesterday said while The Bahamas is “obliged” to enforce the death penalty in accordance to law, the removal of the London-based Privy Council would require “serious consideration” and “extensive consultation” with the Bahamian people. 

Mrs Maynard-Gibson, speaking with students at the Eugene Dupuch Law School, suggested that while the country has an unfettered obligation to execute capital punishment as per the laws “on the books”, the abandonment of the Privy Council - whose views have made it harder for hangings to be carried out in this country, is a decision that “no politician, no member of parliament should take on their own”. 

She also said it is “challenging” to define “the worst of the worst” as related to criminal matters, citing the Privy Council’s previous stance on whether convicted persons should receive the death penalty. 

The enforcement of capital punishment and the abandonment of the Privy Council as this country’s highest court would seemingly go hand in hand, as it is the Privy Council that has served as an obstacle to The Bahamas carrying out the death penalty after declaring in 2006 that the country’s mandatory death penalty upon a murder conviction was unconstitutional. 

In June 2011, the high court overturned Maxo Tido’s death sentence in connection with the killing of 16-year-old Donnell Connover, whose body was found off Cowpen Road, battered and bruised and her skull crushed. There was additional evidence that parts of her body were burned after her death. 

But the Privy Council concluded that the murder was not an example of the “worst of the worst”. 

Last week, retired Justice Neville Smith, QC called for the country to abandon the London-based Privy Council and establish its own final court of appeal. 

Justice Smith said the country should not allow itself to become a “hostage” to the Privy Council, arguing that the country would be much better served utilising a two-tiered court system minus the Privy Council, with the Court of Appeal serving in its place. Justice Smith suggested that a five-judge panel could be utilised for “more complex appeals”.

“I think that is something that cannot be done lightly; it’s something that requires serious consideration and most importantly extensive consultation with the Bahamian people,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said yesterday. “The system of justice is here to serve our people, and that’s a decision that no politician, no member of parliament, should take on their own.” 

Regarding capital punishment, Chief Justice Sir Hartman Longley said last month it would take a massacre similar to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris for the death penalty to be imposed in The Bahamas. The attacks Sir Hartman referred to, which took place a year ago, resulted in the death of 12 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo when gunmen burst in and opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles. 

That prompted some, like Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller, to label Sir Hartman’s line of thinking as “utterly ridiculous and stupid”; the firebrand MP also questioned “what world” Sir Hartman lives in. Democratic National Alliance leader Branville McCartney also asked “how many more must die” through violence before lawmakers do what is necessary to protect the public and carry out capital punishment. 

“Undoubtedly this is a real challenge,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said. “What I want to say is capital punishment is on the books of our country; it is a law of the land. When I had to go and defend our human rights record in Geneva in 2012, and I was under severe attack for us still having capital punishment on our books, I pointed out to those countries that were attacking the Bahamas, that every single one of those countries, bar none, has capital punishment on their books. 

“Think about the United States of America. Acts of terrorism, what’s the punishment? Do I need to go on? It’s on our books. Now it is challenging to define the worst of the worst. What we have to do, in my view, is keep pushing, keep pushing. Because it’s easy for things to collapse when after a conviction or an appeal has been filed, it gets thrown back some place.”

She added: “We define law by making sure it gets before the courts and we give the courts an opportunity to make decisions and we respond to those decisions.” 

In November 2011, parliament passed legislation to define the types of murder constituting the “worst of the worst” guidelines set out by the High Court. 

Despite this, Sean McWeeney, QC, chairman of the Constitutional Reform Commission, doubted whether the changes will matter to the Privy Council. 

Speaking on the matter in April 2013 in response to a question raised at the commission’s first town hall meeting, Mr McWeeney said that “as long as the Privy Council remains your final court of appeal, it is extremely doubtful that you will ever be able to hang anyone”.

The last person executed in The Bahamas was David Mitchell in January 2000.

Comments

TruePeople says...

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Posted 2 February 2016, 1:30 p.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

We need to keep the Privy Counsel if we are to attract any foreign investment.

Posted 2 February 2016, 1:44 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

The Privy Council should not be our final Court of Appeal for criminal matters ....... but if we want to keep it for civil/international finance/investment matters ...............thats fine. That is why we cannot enforce our constitutional laws pertaining to capital punishment and other penal code laws ........ European liberal thinking is not reflective of our pro-religious, conservative society

Posted 2 February 2016, 1:53 p.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

That is a very interesting concept. Good idea.

Posted 2 February 2016, 4:17 p.m. Suggest removal

GrassRoot says...

I think it should stay even for purposes of criminal matters, else no politician in this country will ever face a non-corrupt judge. if giving up the execution of the death penalty is the price, I am happy to throw this in.

Posted 2 February 2016, 9:30 p.m. Suggest removal

Sickened says...

There is no worst of the worst. Just as there should be no Privy Council.

Posted 2 February 2016, 2:18 p.m. Suggest removal

realfreethinker says...

What the hell are these idiots talking about a dead person is a dead person. you cant get any worse than that. It is "the death penalty" right. That should be the standard.

Posted 2 February 2016, 4:45 p.m. Suggest removal

birdiestrachan says...

I do not believe in the death penalty. and the privy council should remain others wise the rich will go free and the poor will die . it will be all about who knows who.and who is your Mama and Papa. there are innocent people in jail and guilty people are walking about free.

Posted 2 February 2016, 8:30 p.m. Suggest removal

GrassRoot says...

agree. getting rid of the privy council is part of PLP/AG's agenda. last nail in the coffin of Bahamian democracy.

Posted 2 February 2016, 9:31 p.m. Suggest removal

Islandgirl says...

I agree with you on this.

Posted 3 February 2016, 9:53 a.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

Birdie, you may have a point there.

Posted 2 February 2016, 9:15 p.m. Suggest removal

Godson says...

Neurosis can account for when blood cells begin to feed on their own kind. For any organism to continue to survive, it is necessary for it to go outside of itself for nourishment. To put it mildly, IGNORANCE is the propulsion driving the idea to do away with the Privy Council.

We must be tolerant of these ignoramus because it is for higher humanity to do so having been good and humane to even lower creatures and animals. Any way, have you all registered yet to vote in the next general election? If not, GET POLITICAL and be part of the positive change - register now and encourage others to do so as well.

'GET POLITICAL', as apart from 'GETTING into the POLITICS'. By registering and GETTING POLITICAL, you are empowered to make a choice; with politics, the choice is already made for you and don't necessarily have to be a positive choice.

'GETTING POLITICAL' does not mean that you are an adherent and follower of any 'party'. It is a statement that you deiced to retain the power of choice to yourself.

LET'S GET POLITICAL campaign encourages and promotes your empowerment. EMPOWER YOURSELF!!! REGISTER TODAY!!!

Godson "Nicodemus' Johnson

Posted 3 February 2016, 7:30 a.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

The PLP under Perry Christie qualifies as the "worst of the worst" .......... when will we hang them????????

Posted 3 February 2016, 12:03 p.m. Suggest removal

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