theman
01-25-08, - 12:29 PM
By ARTESIA DAVIS,Guardian Senior Reporter,artesia@nasguard.com
Crime in society is a reflection of the lack of respect that leaders have shown for the courts, :hammer:Appeal Court President Dame Joan Sawyer :hammer:said yesterday.
:hammer:Dame Joan:hammer: made the comments before adjourning the case of Andrew Bridgewater, who is appealing a corporal punishment sentence for raping a six-year-old girl.
"It is for us as leaders to set the standard, by behavior and public pronouncements, how the rank and file should behave," said :hammer:Dame Joan:hammer:.
She pointed out that as prime minister, Perry Christie told supporters of alleged drug kingpin Samuel "Ninety" Knowles that they had a right to demonstrate against the appellate court's decision that he should be extradited to face trial in Miami, Florida.
And she said Christie criticized the court's decision in the Sidney Stubbs bankruptcy case while in parliament. :hammer:Dame Joan:hammer: said that Christie had claimed that he had received "the best legal advice" which said the court was wrong, although the court had followed the statute. And she said he "callously used public funds" to hire a foreign lawyer to take the case to the Privy Council.
:hammer:Dame Joan:hammer: said she was tempted to cite Rev. William Thompson for contempt when he called the tribunal a "kangaroo court." She said there was "wickedness in high places."
"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing," said :hammer:Dame Joan:hammer:. "If people are allowed to bad mouth the courts, what do you expect? You cannot incite violence and expect society to be peaceful."
Dame Joan also commented on the effect of the Privy Council decision that outlawed the mandatory death penalty for murder convictions in the case of Trono Davis and Forrester Bowe Jr.
She said the appellate court now has to wade through masses of paper as it revisits the sentences of persons whose convictions and sentences were previously upheld by the Privy Council before it gave its March 2006 decision.
"As far as society was concerned the conviction was valid. We now have to come back to these cases more than 10 years after the Privy Council declared the mandatory death penalty constitutional in Larry Raymond Jones."
Jones, who was convicted of a drug-related hit, was released from prison last year during a re-sentencing hearing which was held in the Supreme Court to comply with the Privy Council's current position on capital punishment.
"The system cannot withstand these vicissitudes," said Dame Joan.
The appeals court president said that although she did not agree with capital punishment, it was still a legal punishment for murder. She said the judgment suggested that there were degrees of murder, but this type of classification does not exist in The Bahamas.
Dame Joan pointed out that the country saw a record-breaking 79 murders last year. "If we show no respect for each other, we cannot expect society to be settled."
Dame Joan recently said the judiciary has been wrongly blamed for the crime situation.
While speaking at the opening of the court's legal year, Dame Joan said, "In my view, we must stop seeking to blame other people for what has happened to our young people in our country since all of us must accept our responsibility for what has now caught up with us."
Crime in society is a reflection of the lack of respect that leaders have shown for the courts, :hammer:Appeal Court President Dame Joan Sawyer :hammer:said yesterday.
:hammer:Dame Joan:hammer: made the comments before adjourning the case of Andrew Bridgewater, who is appealing a corporal punishment sentence for raping a six-year-old girl.
"It is for us as leaders to set the standard, by behavior and public pronouncements, how the rank and file should behave," said :hammer:Dame Joan:hammer:.
She pointed out that as prime minister, Perry Christie told supporters of alleged drug kingpin Samuel "Ninety" Knowles that they had a right to demonstrate against the appellate court's decision that he should be extradited to face trial in Miami, Florida.
And she said Christie criticized the court's decision in the Sidney Stubbs bankruptcy case while in parliament. :hammer:Dame Joan:hammer: said that Christie had claimed that he had received "the best legal advice" which said the court was wrong, although the court had followed the statute. And she said he "callously used public funds" to hire a foreign lawyer to take the case to the Privy Council.
:hammer:Dame Joan:hammer: said she was tempted to cite Rev. William Thompson for contempt when he called the tribunal a "kangaroo court." She said there was "wickedness in high places."
"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing," said :hammer:Dame Joan:hammer:. "If people are allowed to bad mouth the courts, what do you expect? You cannot incite violence and expect society to be peaceful."
Dame Joan also commented on the effect of the Privy Council decision that outlawed the mandatory death penalty for murder convictions in the case of Trono Davis and Forrester Bowe Jr.
She said the appellate court now has to wade through masses of paper as it revisits the sentences of persons whose convictions and sentences were previously upheld by the Privy Council before it gave its March 2006 decision.
"As far as society was concerned the conviction was valid. We now have to come back to these cases more than 10 years after the Privy Council declared the mandatory death penalty constitutional in Larry Raymond Jones."
Jones, who was convicted of a drug-related hit, was released from prison last year during a re-sentencing hearing which was held in the Supreme Court to comply with the Privy Council's current position on capital punishment.
"The system cannot withstand these vicissitudes," said Dame Joan.
The appeals court president said that although she did not agree with capital punishment, it was still a legal punishment for murder. She said the judgment suggested that there were degrees of murder, but this type of classification does not exist in The Bahamas.
Dame Joan pointed out that the country saw a record-breaking 79 murders last year. "If we show no respect for each other, we cannot expect society to be settled."
Dame Joan recently said the judiciary has been wrongly blamed for the crime situation.
While speaking at the opening of the court's legal year, Dame Joan said, "In my view, we must stop seeking to blame other people for what has happened to our young people in our country since all of us must accept our responsibility for what has now caught up with us."