Killers In Our Midst

We also have a fair enough grasp of the principle that says that justice delayed is justice denied.

We also have a clear and fair enough appreciation of what the lawyers are talking about when they say that people who are in the protective custody of the state should be safe from harm and hurt.

A problem of the first order surfaces in any system where presumably innocent men and women – on remand – are obliged to suffer undue hurt or harm; particularly when and where state authorities are complicit in their detention.

In this regard, every right-thinking Bahamian has a right to know what is really going down in our country as one murder trial after the other returns either with no conviction or ends in a sometimes mystifying mistrial.

That things now routinely turn out this way begs any number of questions concerning the competence of some of our senior police officers.

In addition, there is a slew of right-thinking Bahamians who are wondering among themselves about the live possibility that there are killers in their midst.

When one defendant is acquitted questions and speculation surge forward concerning the possible identities of the real culprits.

We reference the tragic case of the late Harl Taylor who was murdered and the situation Troyniko McNeil found himself in when he was charged with the designer’s murder.

Troyniko McNeil is today a free man; thanks to the diligent work of his team attorneys and to the services provided this country’s legal system by twelve good, true and decent Bahamians.

As the record now shows, this jury of McNeil’s peers found that he was not guilty of murdering Harl Taylor.

In addition, we are reminded of the fact that Mr. McNeil’s ordeal began with conclusions reached by the police that he was – in all likelihood – the man who did the deed that ended with the death of Mr. Taylor.

But there is more, McNeil – like others accused of crimes against person or property – was presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Today – with his innocence confirmed – we can like other Bahamians say that we are somewhat concerned by what seems – yet again – another instance where the prosecution’s case has proven to be well off the mark.

While one or two such instances might warrant no deeper analysis or commentary from people like us, we are today quite discomfited by what seems police work gone shoddy.

Here of late in sensational case after sensational case, juries have either not been able to agree on a verdict or [if in agreement] have decided to acquit rather than convict in any number of these instances.

And then, some persons on remand are housed in conditions that are horridly wrong.

Clearly, then, no civilized government should ever countenance such outrages against people who are said to be in the protective custody of the state.

We have heard reliable witnesses say that, "the animals at the Humane Society live under far better conditions than the inmates at Fox Hill Prison.

Some witnesses tell us that they have witnessed inmates carrying human waste from their prison cells in garbage bags and the same barrels used to cart out waste were also used to transport food to the inmates.

We are also told that some attorneys fear that a prison that will unleash frustrated ex-convicts into the community perpetuates recidivism.

It is to be noted that some of these lawyers are also claiming that prison officers are very demoralized and that their jobs were hazardous to their health.

Regrettably, in the custody of the state is often times little more than a euphemism for brutality, barbarism and impunity.

Sad to say, it is this abusive culture that stands as a monumental blot on this nation's reputation at home and abroad.

In a sense, this is one of the cruelest aspects of an already miserable penal institution – a situation where truly innocent men [like Troyniko McNeil] are sent – and where they who are presumably innocent are sometimes left to fester and rot – on occasion for years on end.

The wrong done these innocent people is simply unconscionable; and that the wrong done such people is on occasion rooted in shoddy police work serves to compound an already dreadfully wrong situation.

Things can and should be done differently by some of the ‘big-wigs’ who today dominate the prosecutorial side of the criminal justice system.