Bahamas Court News

Police have charged a 37-year-old who is suspected of getting a teenager pregnant.
Prosecutors said Justin Pratt had multiple illegal hookups with the girl between June 1, 2019 and January 14, 2020.
Police arrested Pratt last week after the child was found at his home in the Carmichael Road area.
The 14-year-old was examined by a doctor who confirmed that she’s pregnant.
Pratt, a security guard at Sandilands Rehabilitation Center, denied six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse at his arraignment today.
He was denied bail and returns to court for trial on March 3.
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Nassau- A woman from Jamaica has been sentenced for re-entering The Bahamas under another name.
Shanice Silent, 24, of Kingston, Jamaica, was banned from returning after she was deported in 2016 for overstaying.
But Silent was able to beat the system with a name change and a new passport.
Traveling under the name Cataleya Forbes, Silent was admitted on November 3, 2019 and given permission to stay in the country until March 2020.
The deception was uncovered when Silent was arrested by immigration during a raid on a Nassau nightclub on January 11.
Her true identity was discovered following investigations. Silent admitted changing her name by deed poll and getting another Jamaican passport.
Silent pleaded guilty to misleading an immigration officer on Friday.
She was sentenced to one month in prison. Her sentence will be extended by six months if she doesn’t pay a $3,000 fine.
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NASSAU- A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for armed robbery.

Akeem Jackson, 25, is allegedly a leader of the Jamaica-based Clansman gang.

Jackson, who is also known as Bobo Sparks, held up a woman immediately after she collected an asue draw of almost $16,000 from a salon in the Palmdale area.

Police witnessed the June 4, 2018 holdup and chased Jackson, who opened fire on them in an attempt to escape.

Jackson, who is in the country illegally, was shot four times before his arrest. They found a gun and the stolen money on him.

Jackson pleaded guilty to armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each charge but the sentences will be served at the same time.

Jackson, who was named as the most wanted man in the St. Catherine North Police Division in Jamaica in 2016, will be deported once he completes his sentence.

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The son of former Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes has been acquitted of sexual assault on a minor.
Joseph Foulkes was on a trial for a second time on charges that he forced himself on a 13-year-old girl, who wasn’t old enough to consent to the act.
Foulkes was jailed for 10 years after he was convicted at his first trial in 2015. But the Court of Appeal reversed the jury’s finding and ordered a second trial in 2018. Foulkes was released on $9,500 bail weeks after the order for a new trial was made.
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A man accused of firing a gun has pleaded guilty to firearms charges.

Leevan Bannister, 26, allegedly fired gunshots in Nassau Village around 3:30am on January 14.

Soon after the alleged shooting, police pulled over his car in the Sea Breeze area.

They found an AR-15 assault rifle, a magazine and 30 rounds of ammunition on the back seat.

After his arrest Bannister allegedly told arresting officers that he got the gun from Dave, a white American, at Cabbage Beach.

Bannister admitted having the items when he appeared in court on Thursday.

He’s been remanded to prison until a sentencing hearing on March 10.

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NASSAU-A man struck his wife after she hit him in the face with her bloodied sanitary pad, a court heard.

His angry wife threw the soiled pad after she confronted him about another woman who had recently moved into their neighborhood.

But police charged the husband with assault after his wife filed a complaint.

The man’s name has been withheld to protect his privacy.

He pleaded guilty to the assault charge when he appeared before a magistrate today.

He told the court, “I love her. I’m going to make it up to her.”

The magistrate asked him why he hit his wife.

The man replied, “She hit me in the face with a pad.”

The astonished magistrate asked, “With blood on it?”

The man said, “Yes.”

The magistrate asked the wife what possessed her to use the soiled pad as a weapon.

She explained, “A Haitian woman just moved in our area and he told me to be careful of her.

“But 10 minutes later I saw them talking.”

The man maintained that the conversation was innocent.

He said, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m going to make it up to her; I love her.”

Although the husband admitted the charge, the magistrate did not record a conviction.

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NASSAU-A corrections officer who forged a sick slip paid fines totaling $1,500 to avoid spending four months in prison.

Garenda Pinder, 25, gave himself an extra day off by altering a sick slip he’d received from the South Side Clinic on August 13, 2019.

Pinder had also missed work the day before and asked Dr. Mercianna Moxey to backdate the document.

He made the change himself after the doctor refused, the court heard.

Pinder’s supervisor had suspicions about the authenticity of the sick certificate and launched an internal investigation.

Once the investigation concluded, Corrections Commissioner Charles Murphy called police who arrested Pinder on Monday.

Pinder pleaded guilty to charges of forgery, possession of a forged document and fraud by false pretenses at his arraignment today.

Pinder now has a criminal record and he’s lost a job that he had for four years.

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NASSAU-A packed courtroom watched in horror as a drug suspect died from an epileptic seizure Monday morning.
According to witnesses, court staff and police were in a panic as 26-year-old Jermaine Adderley convulsed uncontrollably.
The tragic incident calls into question whether police have adequate training to deal with medical emergencies.
Adderley, according to his lawyer Keith Seymour, did not request his medication while in custody despite a history of seizures.
A coroner’s inquest will be held to investigate the circumstances surrounding Adderley’s death.
Adderley was arrested with Michael Newland, 39, and Tristan Johnson, 18, on January 10.
Police allege they had 7.8 ounces of marijuana, 187 ecstasy pills, 21 grams of ecstasy powder, which they intended to supply. They were also charged with possession of one gram of cocaine.
Seymour said his client who had a pending trial on charges of peddling narcotics and prescription drugs was a victim of circumstances.
Seymour said he was “simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes suspended court for the day because his staff was reportedly traumatized by the incident.
The arraignment of Adderley’s co-accused took place in another court.
Newland and Johnson were arraigned on the drug charges before Magistrate Jeanine Weech-Gomez.
They denied the charges and were denied bail.
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