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Freeport courts close because of coronavirus case

David Stewart
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Freeport courts close because of coronavirus case

FREEPORT – A positive coronavirus test from a police prosecutor in Freeport, Grand Bahama has resulted in the isolation of court staff and prosecutors.

The officer tested positive on Thursday, prompting health officials to begin contact tracing and testing. He is reportedly recovering at home.

Bahamas Court News understands that magistrates, support staff, prosecutors and judges will remain in isolation until they receive their test results.

The judiciary on Sunday announced the temporary closure of the Garnet Levarity Justice Centre. Courts have remained open with limited operations since March.

A press release said, “This action is taken out of an abundance of caution pending the completion of ongoing investigations by health officials.”

Grand Bahama has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot since the country reopened its borders to international traffic on July 1. Of the 49 new cases recorded since then, 31 are on Grand Bahama.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis placed restrictions on the island to curb community spread.

Dr. Minnis imposed a 7pm to 5am curfew that takes effect today.

Additionally, he banned gatherings, inclusive of religious services, weddings, funerals and sporting activities. This not include students taking national exams.

Effective midnight Wednesday, international and domestic borders will close to all incoming and outgoing air and sea vessels.

The prime minister banned ferry boat operations between East End, Grand Bahama and Crown Haven, Abaco as of 5am today.

Restaurants can only offer takeout and curbside services, while bars and all fish frys remain closed.

 

Man jailed for illegal gun

Lisa Brown
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Man jailed for illegal gun

NASSAU- A man who was found with a gun in his pocket has been jailed.

Edward Paul, 27, told arresting officers that he bought the 9mm pistol for $1,100 to protect himself.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes sentenced Paul to 15 months in prison after convicting him of illegal gun possession.

Police officers stopped Paul at Dumping Ground Corner on July 15 because he was behaving in a suspicious manner.

The officers told Paul that they suspected he had drugs or guns.

They found a 9mm pistol with nine rounds of unfired ammunition in his right front pocket.

Estranged daughter loses challenge to father’s will

Lisa Brown
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Estranged daughter loses challenge to father’s will

NASSAU-A terminally ill man who disinherited his entire family had “good reason” to cut them out of his will, a judge ruled.

John McKenzie, 87, who died in July 2016, left his entire estate to his neighbour William Taylor and his daughter Nathania Taylor.

His daughter, Mona McKenzie-Culmer, disputed the will on behalf of her mother, Adina Martin-McKenzie, who left her father almost 30 years ago.

Despite not seeing her father for years, Mrs. McKenzie-Culmer challenged the validity of the will. Still, Mrs. McKenzie-Culmer agreed that the Taylors were “like family.”

Dismissing the lawsuit Justice Donna Newton said, “I agree with counsel for the defendants that the deceased had a good reason for disinheriting his family.”

Justice Newton said the will was not “inconsistent” with his relationship with his estranged family. She said when Mr McKenzie made his will on September 11, 2015 he was of sound mind.

The plaintiff’s lawyer said the will was prepared under “suspicious circumstances” since Mr Taylor hired the attorney who prepared the will. Mr. Taylor’s son also brought the lawyer and the attesting witnesses to Mr McKenzie’s home.

In her testimony, Mrs McKenzie-Culmer claimed that she was “close” to her father. Despite their close relationship, she did not visit her father on learning of his illness.

She said she called him four to five times a year. Yet, she didn’t remember her father’s telephone number when cross-examined.

Mrs. McKenzie-Culmer said that her cousin Roger Mortimer kept her informed of her father’s wellbeing.

Mr Mortimer said Mr McKenzie appeared to be of sound mind before his death.

According to Mr Mortimer, he last saw the plaintiff visit her father in the 1980s when he lived with his uncle.

Mr Mortimer said he started taking care of his uncle about three years before his death.

He learned that his uncle left him out of the will about a month before he died.

Best friends

The gardener Stanley Lightbourne said that Mr Taylor and Mr McKenzie were best friends.

Mr Lightbourne said that the Taylors looked after Mr McKenzie. According to Mr Lightbourne, Mr Mortimer stopped visiting his uncle when he learned he was to inherit nothing.

For his part, Mr Taylor said he knew Mr McKenzie since 1971 and they bought their properties in Gleniston Gardens in 1983.

He said when Mr. McKenzie wife walked out with the children he didn’t “want to see or speak of them.”

Mr Taylor said that Mr McKenzie asked him to get a lawyer, but he denied influencing the contents of the will.

Justice Newton said, “It seems to me that the devise is evidence of Mr McKenzie’s love towards his best friend and daughter.”

Daughter wins court battle for late mother’s home

Haitian man arrested with multiple passports

Lisa Brown
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Haitian man arrested with multiple passports

ABACO-Police in Abaco arrested a Haitian man after they found him with multiple passports and a large sum of cash.

The arrest took place shortly before 7am Saturday at the Leonard Thompson Airport in Marsh Harbour.

Security screeners called police after they discovered he had over $11,000 and three Haitian passports.

Police said the man did not provide a “satisfactory account” of how he got the items.

‘Car Wash’ appeal date set

Lisa Brown
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‘Car Wash’ appeal date set

NASSAU-Social media personality Alesha “Car Wash” McNeil’s appeal against her child cruelty conviction will be heard on July 22.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes jailed McNeil for three months on June 15 after accepting her guilty plea.

She spent 21 days in custody before being freed on $1,500 bail, pending appeal on July 7.

Police arrested McNeil after she beat her boyfriend’s seven-year-old son with a belt. The child’s mother filed a complaint with police after seeing marks on the child’s back.

McNeil, 23, did not have a lawyer at her initial court appearance on June 15. She told the court that the boy’s father gave her permission to discipline him.

According to McNeil, she beat the boy because he was more interested in singing her song than learning how to read and write. She became a household name after videos of the full-figured woman dancing went viral.

Attorneys Ryazard Humes and Bjorn Ferguson represent McNeil.

Meanwhile, McNeil’s occasional collaborator Jonathan “Daddi Whites” Russell will abandon his appeal against his child cruelty conviction on July 22.

Russell admitted the charge after a video of him putting a Bud Light beer bottle to a two-year-old boy’s mouth went viral.

Known for his crass videos, Russell told the court he deleted the promotional video for a bar immediately after receiving backlash.

 

Homeless man stole disinfectant spray

Lisa Brown
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Homeless man stole disinfectant spray

NASSAU-Police arrested a homeless man for theft after he was caught shoplifting.

A security officer at Super Value on Prince Charles Drive tried to stop Bryan Decosta after he noticed a bulge in his pants.

Decosta, 36, ran away and threw the items in a garbage bin. An off-duty police helped to catch Decosta.

They recovered a can of Beep disinfectant spray and a two-pack of Air Wick air freshener valued at $13.41.

Decosta told Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux that he planned to re-sell the items. He asked for the chance to repay the store.

Instead, Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux placed him on probation.

Police shoot armed robbery suspect

Lisa Brown
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Police shoot armed robbery suspect

NASSAU-A police officer shot and wounded an armed robbery suspect after he allegedly pointed an object at him.

The shooting took place shortly after midnight Saturday at East Avenue.

Police spokesman ASP Audley Peters said a robbery victim stopped officers at they patrolled Collins Avenue and Sixth Terrace.

The man told the officers that he’d been robbed at gunpoint by group of men who ran towards East Avenue.

Officers went to the area and saw a group of men in the streets. They ran as the police approached. During the pursuit, one of the men “brandished and object which was believed to be a firearm,” ASP Peters said.

Aware of an “imminent threat towards his life” the officer shot at the men, hitting one of them. The injured suspect is in stable condition in hospital. The other suspects evaded police, ASP Peters said.

Police did not say they recovered a firearm. Neither did they reveal what the man allegedly pointed at the officers.

Pit bulls that attacked woman ordered destroyed

Lisa Brown
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Pit bulls that attacked woman ordered destroyed

NASSAU – A magistrate on Friday ordered three pit bulls that seriously injured a woman put to sleep.

As for the dogs’ owner, Jason Barr, he has until October 2 to pay $3,150 in fines to avoid going to prison for one year.

The incident happened around on February 21, 2020 at Sequoia Street, Nassau Village.

Barr, 44, admitted responsibility for the February 21 mauling of Casmena Gardiner when he appeared before Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux.

Ms. Gardiner was rushed to hospital by ambulance after her neighbour’s dogs bit her multiple times about the face and body, the court heard.

Animal control seized the animals after the attack.

Barr told the magistrate that he thought he’d secured the dogs, but they “weren’t secure enough.” Barr said he rushed home from work after he learned about the incident.

He said he wanted to apologize to Ms. Gardiner once again.

After Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux issued a destruction order for the dogs, Barr claimed that only one of them bit Ms. Gardiner.

Despite Barr’s claim, the magistrate did not amend her order.

Family feud leads to drug arrest

Lisa Brown
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Family feud leads to drug arrest

NASSAU-A feud between two relatives led to a drug arrest.

Police went to Alfred McKinney’s home on July 6 after his cousin Kristin McKinney said he pulled a handgun on him.

Officers responding to the complaint, smelled a strong scent of marijuana.

The officers found 45 packages of marijuana, with a combined weight of two ounces, hidden in speakers.

As a result, police charged McKinney with assault with a deadly weapon and drug possession with intent to supply.

However, when McKinney appeared in court his cousin said he didn’t want to proceed, so the prosecutor withdrew the complaint.

McKinney pleaded guilty to the drug charge when he appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.

His lawyer Ian Cargill asked the court for leniency. He said that McKinney didn’t sell drugs but had been smoking marijuana for years.

The magistrate fined McKinney $500 on the drug charge.

Murder suspect jailed for bail violation

Lisa Brown
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0
Murder suspect jailed for bail violation

NASSAU- A murder suspect has been sentenced to eight months in prison for violating his bail conditions.

Dwayne Harris Jr., 27, is accused of the 2016 murder of Government High School student Mizilana Beauchamp.

Ms. Beauchamp died after she was hit in the head with a rock while taking a bus to school.

Prosecutors say Harris and two other men hurled rocks at the bus after they had a dispute with the driver.

A judge required Harris to sign to at the Carmichael Road Police Station from Monday to Friday as a condition of bail.

Rather than asking the judge to relax his reporting condition, Harris took it upon himself to stop coming to the station on March 25.

Prosecutors allege that from March to July, Harris committed a spree of property crimes.

He’s accused of stealing, bumpers, headlights, grills, and car batteries during the crime spree.

However, Harris has denied this.

 

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