By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

TALL Pines MP Leslie Miller yesterday advised lawmakers that if they did not have the “guts” to support capital punishment then they should abandon the anti-crime fight altogether and let criminals “take over” the country.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Mr Miller suggested that government interference was preventing the courts from carrying out the death penalty - referring to a conversation he is supposed to have had with a senior Supreme Court judge.

The Progressive Liberal Party MP was responding to questions from the media on the initiatives announced by National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage last week - which Mr Miller called a “total absolute waste” of time without enforcement of the death penalty.

He also took aim at the disparity in commentary from Prime Minister Perry Christie and Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, as he reiterated his support for hanging.

“The prime minister says that the Bahamas is tantamount now to the Wild, Wild West,” he said. “The commissioner says we’re just emotional in our sense of what is going on. Well if seven people get kill in 48 damn hours, if that ain’t something to get upset about then someone need to tell me what is.”

There has been a spike in murders recently, with 15 homicides recorded in February alone with the total so far this year standing at 29 up to press time.

When Mr Christie and Commissioner Greenslade made their conflicting comments last week, seven homicides had been recorded since the evening of February 10 and the morning of Monday February 13. There have been two more homicides since then.

Mr Miller added: “I believe that the initiatives being undertaken now is fine to assist but unless people appreciate the fact that they will pay for their crime, that there is a price to pay, that when you take a life yours will be taken, nothing will happen as far as I’m concerned.

“These guys don’t give a damn what they do because they know they will wake up the next morning, catch a shower, eat three meals, and go to bed. So why should they be concerned about you or me or anyone else? They can kill knowing that there is no repercussion for their life and unless we bring in capital punishment, that is on the books, we’re only wasting our time as far as I’m concerned, a total absolute waste.”

Mr Miller claimed: “In my constituency, I met a senior Supreme Court judge last week, he and his wife and he said to me ‘you know Mr Miller you all always criticising the courts about not being able to hang. It is you and your colleagues that is prohibiting us from hanging.’ He said there’s one person at Fox Hill prison now who is eligible to be hanged, what gone happen to him, nothing so what we making noise for?

“If you ain’t got the guts to hang nobody just leave it alone and let them take over the country. Just let them run amok the way they been doing and just let them kill all of us. They ain’t gon’ kill me because it’s gonna be them before me.

“I can promise you that,” the former minister of trade and industry said.

Last week Wednesday, Dr Nottage announced several anti-crime strategies including “lockdowns,” mobile police vans and an armed forces partnership. At the time, he admitted that people involved with “gangs, drugs and guns” are committing murders.

Dr Nottage said intelligence has suggested that there are connections between many violent incidents on the streets of New Providence and inmates at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and recently released prisoners.

Outside Parliament yesterday, Dr Nottage said: “My response is that we are doing everything to counteract the perceived increases in crime. I think that the law enforcement agencies have adopted the recommendations which we’ve put in place, so I expect that we will see a significant downward trend in crime over the next - I understand the concern, but I think we are putting in place measures which will alleviate the situation.”

When asked about the impact of crime on tourism, Dr Nottage said: “The one thing that we do know is that there are very few crimes committed against tourists, that they come here in their thousands and are able to walk about the place safely. So there’s no experience among tourists of serious crimes, they can go to the beaches, they can go shopping, they can use the taxis and horse and carriages.

“For the cruise ship passengers,” he added, “my understanding is they have been very impressed by the role the police is playing in the downtown area. So what more is there for me to say?”