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Convict escapes from court holding cell

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Updated: Escaped convict London Rahming was captured around 1pm on Sunday, September 25.

NASSAU- Police are searching for a convict who escaped from their custody on Friday.

London Rahming, 25, escaped from the cell block at the South Street Magistrates’ Courts before he was conveyed to the Bahamas Department of Corrections to begin serving a 15 month-long prison sentence for violating his bail conditions.

Rahming received the sentence after pleading guilty to damaging his ankle bracelet by cutting it off.

He was granted $9,900 bail in July after being charged with attempted murder after he live-streamed himself shooting at an occupied home on March 14.

Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022

Child rapist gets credit for time-served in plea deal

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NASSAU-A man has pleaded guilty to raping a 10-year-old girl in 2010.

Reginald Sweeting, 62, finally owned up to his heinous crime by taking a plea deal in the unlawful sexual intercourse case.

Pursuant to the agreement, Senior Justice Bernard Turner gave Sweeting credit for the three years, nine months and two weeks that he had spent in custody before he was released on bail.

This means that Sweeting won’t spend any more time in prison as long as he pays his victim $5,000 in compensation and stays out of legal problems for the next two years.

However, Sweeting will be sentenced to one year in prison if he breaches either condition.

Sweeting, then 50, robbed the little girl of her innocence on January 21, 2010 when she went to his home to get an item for her grandmother.

Once inside, Sweeting pushed the girl onto a bed and sexually abused her.

Despite the lapse in time, his now 22-year-old victim was still interested in pursuing the case. But with Sweeting’s guilty plea, a trial was no longer necessary.

Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022

Women to stand trial for set up robbery

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NASSAU- Two women accused of orchestrating an armed robbery at 700 Wines and Spirits last year will be arraigned in the Supreme Court next month.

Prosecutors allege that Evena Belton, 39, and Latoya Wallace, 37, were behind the August 30, 2021 armed robbery at the liquor store’s John F. Kennedy Drive location.

Belton and Wallace were arrested and charged after police issued wanted posters for them.

They were committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court on a charge on a charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery when they received a voluntary bill of indictment.

They are scheduled to appear before Senior Justice Bernard Turner for arraignment on October 21.

Jamaican charged with two robberies

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NASSAU- A Jamaican man has been charged with the robberies of two businesses that occurred within days of each other.

Prosecutors say Wayne Smith, 24, and others, robbed 700 Wines and Spirits of $41,000 on September 10.

Smith, a resident of Taylor Street, is also accused of robbing an employee of $20 and an iPhone 11, valued at $800.

What’s more, prosecutors say Smith and accomplices robbed Restaurant Supplies Number 2 on Mackey Street of $18,220.80 on September 12.

He’s also charged with receiving $6,460 believed to be proceeds of the robbery.

Smith didn’t have to enter pleas to the charges when he appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain and he was refused bail.

However, he can apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

 

Teen charged over school stabbing

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NASSAU- A 14-year-old student at Anatol Rodgers High School has been charged with the attempted murder of another student at the school.

Prosecutors say the teen stabbed the victim multiple times in the back during a fight on the campus on September 12.

The alleged assailant fled the scene by jumping over a fence, and was arrested at his home later that day.

The minor was not required to enter a plea to the charge when he appeared before the Juvenile Court on September 20.

Police crack down on bail violations

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NASSAU- Police have formed a unit to arrest defendants who are wearing ankle bracelets for bail violations.

In the past week, members of the newly-formed Electronic Monitoring Unit arrested 38 men for alleged breaches of their bail conditions.

The suspects have been accused of either not keeping their curfew or failing to charge their tracking devices when the batteries become depleted.

Violating bail conditions became a criminal offense in 2016. Offenders could face prison sentences of up to five years and fines up to $50,000.

However, multiple people wearing ankle bracelets have alleged that the devices are faulty.

Metro Security Solutions, a fledgling company, was awarded the contract for the monitoring program in December 2021.

It’s unclear why the contract was taken from Migrafill Security.

 

Man gets 20 years for double shooting

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NASSAU- An allegedly abusive man who killed his girlfriend’s sister and tried to kill her brother has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Fritz Geffrard, 29, received the sentences after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the January 3, 2021 shooting death of Jilny Fleureme and the attempted murder of her 10-year-old brother.

Geffrard had initially been accused of murder, but the charge was reduced to manslaughter as part of a plea deal.

Geffrard was dating the victims’ older sister, Wilmide Fleureme, but her parents didn’t approve of the relationship.

A day before the incident, Wilmide’s parents moved her from Geffrard’s home with the help of police.

They had told the officers that Geffrard was abusive to their daughter.

This prompted Geffrard to go to the family’s home and shoot the relatives that he met there.

Police arrested Geffrard following a car chase and recovered the gun used in the crimes.

Geffrard told police that he had an out of body experience during the shootings.

Geffrard pleaded guilty to possession of the 9mm pistol days after the shooting and was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

The sentences for the manslaughter and attempted murder will be served at the same time.

Girl, 7, dies after swing set collapses

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NASSAU- A seven-year-old-girl is dead after she was crushed by a falling swing set on Thursday.

The unidentified girl was using the swing when it collapsed, police said.

The tragic accident happened around 7pm on September 8 at Sutton Street, off Kemp Road.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Court reserves ruling in too sick for jail case

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What happens if an inmate is too sick for prison? That’s the issue the Court of Appeal is grappling with after American Ronald Ralph Moorhead Jr appealed his one-year sentence for gun possession.

He received the sentence following a guilty plea on June 21, the day of his arrest.

Police arrested Moorhead after officials at the airport in Marsh Harbour, Abaco found a handgun and five rounds of ammunition in his luggage as he prepared to return to the U.S.

Moorhead is licensed to carry the gun in his home state of Georgia.

The central issue of the appeal is an admission by Corrections Commissioner Doan Cleare that the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services did not have the resources and manpower to treat and manage his medical condition.

Moorhead has a severe case of type 1 diabetes that requires around-the-clock monitoring.

As a result, Moorhead was granted bail pending appeal on June 24 due to his exceptional circumstances.

According to the U.S. State Department’s Human Rights Report, conditions at the country’s only prison “were harsh due to overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor ventilation, and inadequate medical care.”

The prosecution has conceded that it would inhumane to imprison Moorhead, and suggested a fine as an alternative sentence.

Moorhead’s lawyer, Christina Galanos, also suggested a $10,000 fine, the amount of his cash bail.

However, the Court of Appeal panel agreed that a fine is not an option under the Firearms Act.

Galanos then suggested a sentence of three days—the time Moorhead already spent in custody.

Sir Brian Moree asked whether a convicted murderer, rapist, or burglar with the same medical condition should also be exempted from prison.

As the country’s highest local appeal court, all lower courts would be bound to follow the court’s decision.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on a case that could have far-reaching implications.

Copyright ©️ Bahamas Court News 2022

 

 

Kofhe Goodman denied leave to appeal

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NASSAU- The Privy Council ended the criminal career of child molester and murderer Kofhe Goodman when it refused him leave to appeal his conviction for the murder of Marco Archer.

Now, 47, the serial predator will be a senior citizen by the time he’s released from prison.

In 2018, following a second trial, Goodman was sentenced to 55 years for Marco’s murder.

Eleven-year-old Marco was kidnapped as he walked to a store in the Brougham Street area on September 23, 2011.

Prosecutors said Goodman took Marco to his home to sexually assault him—and he killed Marco for fighting back by hitting him in the back of the head.

On September 28, 2011, police found Marco’s naked body wrapped in a sheet in the back of Goodman’s home on Yorkshire Street.

The clothing that Marco left home in was found in a garbage bin in the front of the building.

Marco’s murder capped Goodman’s criminal career that began in 1989 at age 15.

Then, known as Elvardo Ferguson, Goodman was charged with the October 22, 1989 murder of 10-year-old Norris Adderley, who was found dead in bushes with his pants pulled down. He was killed by a blow to the head.

At the preliminary inquiry into Norris’ murder, a 10-year-old boy testified that Goodman offered him a ride on his bike.

When he accepted, Goodman took him through a track road in Garden Hills. There, Goodman put lard on his “doggie” and told the child to suck it.

Then Goodman took the boy to an unfinished building and told him that he would kill him “just like he killed Norris.”

Goodman took off the boy’s pants, told him to lay down, and lubricated with lard, before sodomizing the boy.

In an interview with police, Goodman said another person had killed Norris. However, he admitted to sexually assaulting him.

Goodman was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to unnatural carnal knowledge in 1993.

Prosecutors withdrew the murder charge.

Following his release from prison in 1996, Goodman almost killed a 10-year-old boy, who refused to comply with his sexual demands.

On July 20, 1996, the boy met Goodman as he walked through a track road in Garden Hills.
Goodman promised the boy money if he helped him look for a plastic bag that was in the bush in Montell Heights.

While in the bush, Goodman ordered him to take his pants off.

When he refused, Goodman stabbed him multiple times about the body with a screwdriver.

The boy lost consciousness and was found by a woman walking through the shortcut. She raised the alarm and he was rushed to the hospital.

On August 14, 1998, Goodman was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the boy’s attempted murder.

With time off for good behavior, Goodman was released from prison in December 2010.

Months after his release, Goodman was accused of raping a 12-year-old boy in March 2011 after luring him to an abandoned building by promising him cash.

On August 17, 2011, Goodman was accused of kidnapping an 11-year-old boy from Augusta Street.

Goodman took the child to his home at Yorkshire Street, where sexually assaulted him. After the assault, Goodman took the boy back to Bain Town.

Police dropped the ball in the investigations and didn’t charge Goodman for those sexual assaults until after Marco was found murdered.

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