Bahamas Court News

ABACO – A hit-and-run driver who mowed down a woman and her child was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison.

Guerline Almonord, 34, failed to stop after she slammed into the woman and her child as they walked in Dundas Town, Abaco on May 25.

Almonord was rushing home when she veered into the wrong lane, hit the pair and kept going.

She shouldn’t have been behind the wheel because she didn’t have a valid driver’s license and third party insurance coverage.

Additionally, Almonord didn’t report the accident that sent her victims to hospital within 24 hours as required by law.

They have recovered.

Magistrate Ancella Evans sentenced Almonord to six months after she pleaded guilty to reckless driving. The offense attracts a maximum fine of $5,000 or one year in prison, or both a fine and imprisonment.

Almonord admitted the other traffic offenses and she paid fines totaling $1,650. She was represented Nathan Cooper.

NASSAU- Police on Monday charged suspects in two separate murders that occurred on the same street.

Prosecutors say that Philip Taylor, 21, of Dean Street, is responsible for the May 1, 2021 shooting death of Leonardo Nottage.

Police went to Polhemus Street around 9pm after they received reports of a shooting.

Nottage died on the scene.

Taylor was denied bail when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt and his matter. His next court appearance is September 28.

Marvin Augustin, 21, of Sunshine Way, and Romero Rolle, 21, are accused of the June 14 murder of Stervante Moss.

They are also accused of possession of a firearm with the intent to endanger the life of Chesanique Bethel.

Moss was headed home in his mom’s Honda Civic when the occupants of another car cut him off and shot him multiple times.

Augustin and Rolle were not required to enter pleas to the charges when they appeared before Magistrate Algernon Allen Jr.

They were denied bail and will return to court in October 6.

NASSAU- A 49-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman face a child cruelty charge after they allegedly had sex in front of an eight-year-old girl.

Marvin Martin, of Peardale, and Carol Bowe, of Ida Street, denied charges of sex in a public place and cruelty to children at their arraignment yesterday.

Police allegedly caught the pair having sex in a car on Balfour Avenue on June 15. The child was in the vehicle.

Martin and Bowe pleaded not guilty. They were each granted $8,500 bail and return to court on September 1 for trial.

NASSAU- A judge has refused to dismiss a murder charge against a man accused of beating another man to death, although an autopsy said he died from cardiac arrest.

Hosnell Samuels is accused of murdering Leonardo Joseph on January 6, 2017.

Prosecutors allege that Joseph died after a fight with Samuels at Golden Isles Road.

However, the pathologist Dr Kiko Bridgewater, in an autopsy performed on January 12, found that Joseph died from cardiac arrest.

Dr Bridgewater determined that the blunt force injuries to Joseph’s face were “not significant enough to directly cause death.”

Public defenders Dorsey McPhee and Brendalee Rae argued that Samuels’ continued prosecution would be an abuse of process. As a result, they asked Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson to dismiss the indictment.

However, the prosecutor Eucal Bonaby said the application was unfounded. Bonaby argued that it was solely the remit of the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring and end cases. He submitted that the application to dismiss the charge should be made at the end of the prosecution’s case.

Justice Grant-Thompson agreed. She ruled, “I have no responsibility for how prosecutions are bought, that is the role of the DPP.

“I do not consider that the facts disclosed an abuse of the process nor is it oppressive or vexatious. Therefore, I will not exercise my power to intervene. I have gently guided counsel for the DPP with a firm hand relative to these issues in case managements prior to trial.

“ I await the facts at trial or an administrative decision of the DPP, but I will not usurp his function.”