Bahamas Court News

NASSAU- A man who clobbered a policeman in a viral video was yesterday sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment.

Julian Butler, 23, apologized for the caught-on-camera assault of a uniformed traffic officer that caused a traffic jam on the Tonique Williams Darling Highway on July 5, 2021.

Butler shoved and punched the officer and tried to unholster his firearm in the disturbing incident, the court heard.

He got the better of traffic cop Tyrese Smith until a policeman who witnessed the assault came to his rescue.

Sergeant 3395 Travis Strachan ran towards the men and pulled his gun on Butler, while ordering him to stop resisting.

Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt rejected a plea by Butler’s lawyer Glendon Rolle for a conditional discharge.

Ferguson-Pratt said she “shuddered to think” about what could have happened if Sergeant Strachan hadn’t come to the officer’s aid.

She said, “I want to send a clear message to would-be offenders that this is not a matter where the court would just say naughty boy don’t do it again.”

The incident stemmed from a routine stop after Butler, who was riding a scooter, ran the red light on Cordeaux Avenue.

Butler stopped initially, but he sped off before Officer Smith could write him a ticket.

With Smith in pursuit, Butler weaved in and out of traffic and rode into oncoming traffic on the highway.

The chase ended when Butler fell off his scooter as he tried to cross the median, according to the prosecution. However, Butler’s lawyer said the officer kicked his client off the bike.

Butler was also fined $1,000 or four weeks in prison for driving in a manner dangerous to the public; driving a vehicle without third-party insurance, and driving a vehicle without a valid driver’s license.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA – A Bahamian drug dealer who collected a duffel bag with cocaine worth US$200,000 from an airport has been sentenced to 46 months in prison.

Darron William Smith, 28, faces deportation after completing his sentence.

Smith picked up the bag after it arrived on a Jet Blue flight from Nassau, Bahamas on February 15.

He had been living in Florida with relatives since October 2020. Smith’s aunt drove him to the airport after he received a call from The Bahamas from a person who knew a mutual friend.

Smith said the stranger asked him to collect the bag from the airport. According to Smith, he expected to receive another phone call with additional instructions once he had picked up the duffel bag. Smith said that the caller promised him $1,000 in payment.

But Smith never received the money because law enforcement officers intercepted the cocaine before he arrived.

After drug sniffing dogs at the airport detected the 3.94 kilos in the duffel bag, U.S. Customs and Border protection officers stationed at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport waited to see who would collect the bag.

The officers pounced after Smith collected the bag from the carousel.

Smith tried to run but was taken into custody.

NASSAU- A jealous man who tried to kill his former girlfriend because she had dumped him has lost a bid to appeal his 30-year sentence.

A Court of Appeal panel on Wednesday found that Gary Thurston’s intended appeal had no prospects of success and affirmed his sentence.

In a fit of jealousy, Thurston, 36, went to Stephanie Kemp’s home in Ridgeland Park West on April 6, 2016, and shot her in the chest with his shotgun.

He then callously pressed the barrel of the shotgun to her chest and said, “If I can’t have you no one could have you.”

According to the prosecution, Thurston attempted to kill Kemp after he murdered her schoolmate Sekeno Collie because he thought they were dating.

Collie was on Kemp’s front porch when Thurston arrived. He was killed as he was about to leave.

Thurston also shot Kemp’s mother, Conceta Lawrence. She lost her ring finger in the shooting, as she put her hands up in defense as Thurston shot at her. She was also shot in the thigh.

Earlier that day, Thurston had stolen Kemp’s cellphone when he visited her home begging for another chance. After she rejected him, he confronted her about the identity of “this G person” in her phone.

Kemp told him that it was not important since they were no longer an item.

The three-judge Court said that Thurston was fortunate that the jury did not convict him of the murder of Collie and the attempted murder of Lawrence because the evidence was “overwhelming.”

The shooting happened four days after Kemp called it quits.

The couple met at church in January 2015, and eventually Thurston moved into Kemp’s home. She lived there with her two children from a previous relationship and her mother and sister.