'Our system needs to change to stop this'

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

HOUSE Speaker Halson Moultrie said the country needs a “systemic improvement in the entire criminal justice system” after the dead bodies of a mother and daughter in his constituency were found yesterday.

“It seems from the information I’ve been able to glean so far that it appears to be some domestic violence, some love triangle that went very wrong,” he said.

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Alicia Sawyer and her daughter Ednique Wallace.

“I had a chance to speak to the father of the young girl that was murdered and, of course, he’s distraught about everything. What we’re trying to do as a result of this recent spur of murders, particularly as it relates to young people, is to see if we could bring the community together.”

The killing of the eight-year-old girl yesterday is the second child killing this month. Another Nassau Village child, Reyes Williams, seven, was killed on September 20 during a drive-by shooting outside his home.

Speaker Moultrie said the country should do more to deal with repeat offenders, illegal gun trafficking and to prevent people suspected of serious crimes from being given bail.

“While I agree that you should have a speedy trial and you should be released if you don’t have your trial in a reasonable time, I don’t accept that we are putting the mechanisms in place to prioritise certain types of crime,” he said.

“Violence against the person, rape, murders, should be prioritised and brought before the court as quickly as possible. I believe that repeat offenders, particularly who have been convicted, should be put in a special category when it comes to applications for bail.

“We just need to find a way to speed up the process. You can’t have a circumstance where someone is charged with a serious crime and there is 18 months, three years before you can proceed with a trial date. You can’t have someone waiting that long when he or she can be innocent. We need a systemic improvement in the entire criminal justice system particularly with respect to serious crimes against the person.”

He continued: “There’s no justification for someone to feel they can pick up arms and take the life of anyone no matter what the circumstances are in any relationship. The solution I believe is in the education process but in the interim I think we need to take a more serious, serious approach to eradicating the proliferation of illegal firearms throughout the Bahamas, not only in Nassau Village.

“The same effort we put into eradicating this COVID where the police were present throughout the communities and every street corner, we could put a dragnet operation in place to acquire as many of these illegal firearms as possible in this country. We have to take a concerted effort to accomplish that. So far I know police have been doing a wonderful job finding people who commit crimes, but these are after-the-fact measures and we need to find a way to take a more preventative approach by first of all going after the guns,” he said.