NASSAU- Police are investigating a murder after a man’s bullet-riddled body was found on a sidewalk Monday morning.
A pedestrian called police after finding the man on Cowpen Road before 7am.
Police suspect that the victim, believed to be in his 20s, was killed elsewhere.
Officers are looking for a suspect and a motive for the crime.
Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022
NASSAU- A man who surrendered to police soon after the murder of his ex-girlfriend was granted $30,000 bail three weeks after being charged.
As part of his bail conditions, 47-year-old Lynden Vincent must wear an ankle bracelet and report to the police station closest to his home.
Prosecutors allege that Vincent is responsible for the October 31, 2022 murder of 42-year-old Patrice Sawyer, who was shot dead outside of her home in Johnson Road.
According to police, Sawyer went outside after someone called her on her cellphone.
Vincent applied for emergency bail due to claims that the prison wasn’t properly managing his diabetes. The prosecution objected to his release, alleging that the prison was able to deal with his condition.
Senior Justice Bernard Turner overruled the objections and granted bail.
However, Vincent’s bail hasn’t been signed yet.
Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022
NASSAU- A 21-year-old man has been charged with three recent murders.
Prosecutors say Rupert Dean Lane resident Machino McKenzie is responsible for fatal shootings that occurred within days of each other.
Prosecutors allege McKenzie gunned down 22-year-old Averyon Duncanson shortly after he gave a friend a ride to a liquor store at Foster Street on November 12.
Duncanson, otherwise known as 20 inch, was waiting for the friend who went inside the store, when he was killed by the occupants of a sport utility vehicle.
McKenzie is also charged with the October 30 murders of Andrew “Mice” Burrows and Lakeithra Stubbs at Rockcrusher Road.
He also faces attempted murder charges in relation to Rickara Collie and Johnny Severe, who were shot in the same incident.
McKenzie didn’t have to enter pleas to the charges when he appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.
Bail was denied and McKenzie is next due in court on February 2, 2023.
NASSAU- Two men accused of causing a deadly tour boat explosion through negligence could face a second trial, if the Court of Appeal allows an appeal against their acquittal.
The DPP’s Office has appealed a judge’s decision to direct a jury to acquit Four C’s Adventures founder Clayton Patterson Smith and his captain Roderick Watson of charges stemming from a June 30, 2018 explosion in Exuma that killed an American tourist and wounded four others.
The excursion to see the swimming pigs became a tragedy minutes after the boat left the dock.
Smith, who built the boat that prosecutors contended did not meet industry standards, was charged with negligently endangering the vessel’s passengers.
The pair were jointly charged with manslaughter by negligence in the death of Maleka Jackson.
Watson, the captain, was charged with negligently causing harm to Jackson’s husband, Tiran, Stephanie Schaffer, Stacy Bender and Paul Bender.
According to the prosecution’s case, the boat was unregistered and unlicensed and uninsured. Watson did not hold a captain’s license and he allegedly allowed an eight-year-old boy to fuel the tour boat.
Justice Jeanine Weech-Gomez said although the explosion was caused by a fuel leak, none of the witnesses recalled smelling fuel before the explosion.
The prosecution submitted that the defendants owed a duty of care to the victims.
Justice Weech-Gomez decided, “However, the duty of care is a creature of civil law and any charge brought against the Defendants under the Penal Code must be proved to the Criminal standard, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt and not on a balance of probabilities.”
NASSAU- A tour boat company owner and his captain have been acquitted of causing a deadly boat explosion through negligence.
Justice Jeanine Weech-Gomez directed a jury to acquit Clayton Patterson Smith, the founder of Four C’s Adventures, and Roderic Watson of causing the June 30,2018 incident.
The boat, which was carrying American tourists, burst into flames on its way to the famous Pig Beach in Exuma.
Maleka Grimes Jackson was killed and her husband Tiran was seriously injured. They were celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.
Stephanie Schaffer, who was vacationing with her family, had both legs amputated, suffered a spinal injury and brain damage. Schaffer’s mother, Stephanie Bender, and stepfather, Paul Bender, were also injured.
A boating expert claimed the vessel had multiple faults, which all could have caused the explosion.
However, Justice Weech-Gomez found that the prosecution’s case, taken at its highest, was such that a jury properly directed could not convict upon it.
Smith and Watson were charged with manslaughter by negligence and Watson alone was charged with negligently causing harm to the survivors.
Smith faced an additional charge of negligently endangering a vessel.
Murrio Ducille KC and Bryan Bastian represented the defendants.
NASSAU- Police are looking for the culprits responsible for a drive-by shooting in Fox Hill.
Two men were standing outside the Jungle Club around 7pm on Tuesday when the occupants of a dark car opened fire.
A 58-year-old man, who was shot in the leg, is detained in hospital. The second man, who was grazed to the upper body, was treated at the scene and released.
NASSAU- A teenage boy has been charged after allegedly stabbing a Doris Johnson High School student as he walked home after school.
The 14-year-old victim was walking with a friend on Fox Hill Road on September 20 when a 15-year-old allegedly leaned out of a bus and stabbed him in the chest.
The teen was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The 15-year-old has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the incident.
He was refused bail when he appeared in the Juvenile Court.
He returns to court in February 2023.
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NASSAU- A woman who took a plea deal in a murder case is back in trouble with the law.
Davanya Lawes, 24, was jailed for a year after she admitted to attacking Patricka Newman outside of the Baller’s Lounge on Andros Avenue on August 31.
Lawes was arrested after police circulated a wanted poster.
Lawes claimed Newman had provoked the incident by making jeers about her brother’s murder.
But Magistrate Algernon Allen Jr said jail time was appropriate given Lawes’s criminal record.
In 2019, Lawes was sentenced to two years in prison for playing a part in the January 25, 2018 murder of teen mom Breanna Mackey.
As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped the murder charge and Lawes pleaded guilty to causing grievous harm.
Lawes was among six young women who ganged Mackey as she walked along Key West Street in a dispute over a cell phone.
Thea Williams, the woman who stabbed Mackey during the attack, was jailed for 25 years.
Copyright © Bahamas Court News 2022
NASSAU – A man accused of a November 4 fatal shooting made his first court appearance on Monday.
Jerron Woodside is accused of the murder of Larenz Johnson at Palm Breeze Drive, off Carmichael Road.
On the day in question, police responding to reports of gunfire met Johnson dead in the driver’s seat of a Kia Soul with a bullet wound to the upper body.
Woodside, a resident of Palm Breeze Drive, has been refused bail and he’ll return to court on March 2, 2023.
Police have arrested three suspects in the murder of 22-year-old Malik Fernander.
Fernander’s bullet-riddled body was found through a track road in Rolleville, Exuma on November 10.
Fernander, who was on bail for a double murder and attempted murder, had recently moved to the island from New Providence to work in the construction field.
Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022
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