NASSAU- A man is in custody accused of deliberately running over his girlfriend after an argument on Monday.
Police said the incident took place through Key West Street around 3pm.
After he ran over the woman, the man hit another car.
The impact caused his vehicle to overturn.
He tried to run away from the scene, but witnesses detained him until police arrived.
Police said the woman is in stable condition.
ASSAU- A man killed in a traffic accident partly contributed to his death, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.
Justice Ian Winder accorded 30 percent of the blame to fatality victim Jason Culmer, who had been driving under the influence of alcohol.
Culmer, 47, died immediately after a Volvo tanker truck driven by Trevor Johnson crashed into his Honda CRV on September 20, 2013.
Culmer was headed east on Carmichael Road and Johnson was going in the opposite direction when the accident occurred.
At the time of his death, Culmer supported his ex-wife, Anthea Culmer, and their two sons on a $45,000 salary.
She sued Johnson on behalf of her minor child, while the adult son, Justin, sued on his own behalf.
The suit alleged that Johnson caused the accident due to his negligence.
On the other hand, Johnson testified that Culmer caused the accident by coming into his lane.
However, his evidence did not align with the findings of traffic reconstructionist Reserve Superintendent Richard Rahming.
He concluded that Johnson “was partially in the east bound lane, where the point of collision impact occurred.”
According to the evidence, rainwater had settled in Johnson’s lane.
Justice Ian Winder said, “I am prepared to find that due to the considerable buildup of water in his lane, he drove his vehicle toward the center of the road at the time he collided with the deceased.”
The Judge also found that Johnson was speeding because after the collision his vehicle traveled another 80 feet before it came to a stop.
While finding that Johnson’s negligence caused the accident, the Judge determined that Johnson’s alcohol use contributed to it.
Forensic toxicologist Insector Cyprian Collie said that Culmer was in the “excitement phase” of alcohol use, which causes, among other things, loss of judgement, reduced visual acuity, peripheral vision and glare recovery, sensory-motor incoordination and impaired balance.
Justice Winder said, “On this evidence, I am satisfied, it is more likely than not, that the deceased failed to take ordinary care of himself, and that this failure was likely a contributory cause of the accident.”
The Judge did not find that Culmer driving with a valid inspection certificate or license disc attached to his windshield played a role in the traffic fatality.
As the trial was only to determine liability, Justice Winder did not award any damages. He has directed the Supreme Court Registrar to assess 70 percent in damages and costs for the plaintiffs.
Lessiah Rolle appeared for the plaintiffs and Wellington Olander represented Johnson.
NASSAU- A man is behind bars on charges that he repeatedly sexually assaulted a friend’s daughter when she was 11 and 12.
The mother found out about the assaults when she allegedly caught the 41-year-old in bed with her child on November 8.
Prosecutors allege Damien Brown, of Martin’s Close, began assaulting the girl on December 31, 2020.
He allegedly raped the child every month since that date.
Brown did not have a lawyer when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans today.
He faced 12 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse. However, he was not required to enter pleas.
Brown, a barber, returns to court on February 28, 2022.
GRAND BAHAMA – A man is in custody after he allegedly led authorities to $5 million in cocaine during a raid.
Officers from the DEU, DEA and OPBAT descended on an apartment in Russell Town, Eight Mile Rock around 12am Monday.
Police said that after searching a first unit without finding anything illegal, a man took them to the unit next door.
The officers found nine suitcases filled with the cocaine.
The drugs have a total weight of 638 pounds, with a wholesale street value of $5 million.
NASSAU- A security guard accused of misconduct was unfairly dismissed because of his employer’s inadequate investigation into claims of wrongdoing, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.
Godfrey Bowe, who worked as a chief supervisor at ICS Security, the company owned by former FNM candidate Stephen Greenslade, was dismissed without notice on October 6, 2017, after more than five years of service.
Supreme Court Justice Diane Stewart found that at the time of Bowe’s dismissal there had been no fair and reasonable investigation into his alleged misconduct.
In fact, the Judge found that Bowe did not learn the details of his alleged misconduct until his trial.
Bowe supervised security staff assigned to Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation, JFK and Sandal Royal Bahamian Hotel.
On October 4, 2017, Greenslade, the company’s chief executive officer, told Bowe that he had received complaints about him.
Based on those unspecified complaints, Greenslade suspended Bowe for two days and asked him to hand over his duties to another employee.
When he returned to work, Greenslade told him that he would be reassigned to the department that dealt with debt collection with no loss of pay. Greenslade told him he would no longer work with line staff due to the number of subordinates who had quit.
However, after working a full day, Greenslade called Bowe and told him he had decided to fire him immediately.
For his part, Greenslade testified that Bowe’s alleged mistreatment of staff “was repugnant to the company’s interests.”
He asserted that if Bowe remained the company risked losing more staff and a major client.
According to Greenslade, Bowe intimidated many employees and they were afraid to report him. However, after his dismissal they “felt comfortable enough” to make complaints.
Those complaints, according to Greenslade, included mistreatment, intimidation and sexual harassment.
Greenslade said he also received reports that Bowe had workers delivering food to his pastor in the company’s car.
Bowe was also accused of leaving his post for hours to run personal errands in the company’s car.
Justice Stewart said she found Greenslade’s explanation for a lack of written complaints against Bowe “unacceptable.”
The Court ordered an award of $8,959.26 for basic pay, $1,130 in vacation pay, as well as legal costs.
NASSAU – After spending eight years in custody, Daniel Coakley has another shot at freedom after the appellate court ordered a retrial “in the interests of justice.”
The Court took the rare step in reopening Coakley’s appeal, three years after affirming his convictions for kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.
The charges concern the 2013 murders of Senior Immigration Officer Shane Gardiner and his girlfriend Tishka Braynen in Fresh Creek, Andros.
Prosecutors alleged that a plot by Coakley, Zintworn Duncombe, James Johnson, and Cordero Saunders led to their murders.
Hunters found the pair’s decomposed bodies in makeshift graves at Newbold Farms on December 21, 2013, almost a month after their disappearance on November 24.
Coakley was the first of the four men to appeal, but his convictions were affirmed.
In 2020, his co-accused were granted new trials based on “the failure of the trial judge to make a proper inquiry of the jury after the altercation between the forewoman and the alternate juror”.
Coakley did not raise this ground at his first appeal.
Arguing for a second chance appeal, defense lawyer Christina Galanos said the “material irregularity” affected the entire trial.
The Court ruled, “The present application involves exceptional circumstances as the material irregularity which the court found in the Saunders, Duncombe and Johnson appeals affected the entire trial and therefore the safety of all the verdicts.
“The interests of justice require that the applicant should undergo a retrial as well his co-accused.”
NASSAU-A compulsive thief has been jailed for stealing five bottles of bath wash from Super Value.
Clarenton Johnson, 52, of First Street, Coconut Grove, committed the thefts after leaving mass on November 7.
An off-duty police arrested Johnson after he left the store.
Johnson had stuffed the stolen items into his suit, the court heard.
The officer brought Johnson back to the shop and alerted the store manager, who called police.
In an interview, Johnson admitted stealing the items, worth $44.75.
He told the officers, “I just can’t stop stealing.”
Johnson, who has a long history of petty thefts, has been jailed for two months for his latest crime.
NASSAU- A man accused of murder has been granted bail with strict conditions after a judge ruled his trial faced a delay.
Ricardo Stubbs, 27, was arrested and charged last February over the shooting death of Jahkeil Armbrister.
Prosecutors allege that Stubbs was one of two gunmen who rushed into Armbrister’s home in Flamingo Gardens on January 23, 2020 and killed him.
In granting bail, Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson said that Stubbs’ trial set for May 30, 2022 “would likely be vacated” due to delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stubbs has to wear an ankle bracelet and keep a 6pm to 6am curfew as a condition of his $20,000 bail.
Additionally, Stubbs has to surrender his passport and report to a police station three times a week.
Stubbs must surrender to police on the day of his trial.
NASSAU- Police fatally shot a man who allegedly pointed a gun at them Saturday morning.
According to police, officers from the Operations Unit went to Alexandria Boulevard, Nassau Village around 3am to investigate reports of an armed man at a bar.
Responding officers saw a man who matched the description of the suspect.
That’s when the suspect allegedly got into his Nissan Cube to leave.
Officers, who had their guns drawn, beckoned the driver to stop and exit the car.
Instead, the man allegedly sped towards the officers, who fired at the oncoming car.
The driver kept going and crashed into a parked car.
With police on his trail, the man turned into Matthew Street, where he crashed into another parked car.
The officers exited their car with the intention of arresting the man.
However, they shot the suspect after he exited his car brandishing a firearm.
The suspect died on the scene. Police recovered a pistol.
A coroner’s inquest is expected to held into his death at a later date.
NASSAU- A teenager who allegedly stabbed another student at Prince William High School has been charged.
Police allege that 14-year-old boy stabbed another male student in the chest on Tuesday, November 9.
The minor faced charges of causing harm and unlawfully carrying arms when he appeared before the Juvenile Court with his guardian.
He denied the causing harm charge and admitted unlawfully carrying an army knife.
The teenager remains on police bail and returns to court on February 2, 2022.
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