Death sentences for two convicts
Prosecutors had their request granted yesterday when Acting Justice Jethro Miller sentenced convicted police killers Edwin Bauld Jr. and Wilfred Gerard McPhee Jr. to death. The 26-year-old men were convicted last year of the October 2007 murder, kidnapping and robbery of 28-year-old Police Corporal 2683 Edison Bain and finally learned of their fate on Tuesday. Immediately after the jury comprised of six men and six women brought back the unanimous guilty verdicts in October of 2009, Prosecutors Vernal Collie and Erica Kemp informed the court of the Crown's intent to seek the death penalty for both men. Thirty-two witnesses, including Bauld's ex-girlfriend Gahnise Campbell, testified during the four-week-long trial.


NIB staff members walk off the job
More than 100 staff members of the National Insurance Board (NIB) walked off the job Tuesday morning to demonstrate their displeasure at the lack of a new agreement between NIB and the union representing them. The decision by the workers to briefly walk off the job was described by NIB Director Algernon Cargill as "illegal". Around 10:30 a.m. a stream of NIB employees, represented by the Union of Public Officers (UPO), filed out of NIB's Blue Hill Road headquarters en masse for a 10-minute meeting outside the compound before returning back to work. "We just want everybody to know we are in negotiations. We are not happy with what is being said and told to us. And we will stand firm," said UPO president Jerome Swan to union members outside NIB's headquarters. "Thank you. This is only the beginning. We will leave it right there."


Anxiety still high among CLICO policyholders
Ruth Russell is two months shy of her 79th birthday and every day she carries the burden of not knowing when the CLICO debacle would come to a satisfactory conclusion. For many years, CLICO has been her life insurance carrier and its collapse early last year dealt her a devastating blow as she feared for the safety of her policy. "It's been a financial burden on her then and still today," said her daughter, Minister Wendy Russell. "It's even worse because we are not sure what would be the outcome... She cannot get any other life insurance. We are still paying [in line with] the directive of the prime minister. I don't know whether we are foolish or not but we are still paying her premium in hopes that some positive resolution would be brought to this situation very shortly."


Man charged with killing love rival
A man accused of the fatal stabbing of a much younger love rival appeared before a magistrate on a murder charge yesterday. Kirkwood Storr, 47, of Bernard Road, is charged with the February 28 murder of 18-year-old Livingston Davis. Prosecutors allege that the men got into a fight at the Bain Town home of a mutual love interest. Davis left the scene, but crashed his car on Poinciana Drive, according to initial police reports. Police found David dead with multiple stab wounds to the chest and back when they arrived at the crash site. Police said they apprehended Storr, off Johnson Road, last Friday after they circulated his photo in the media and received a tip.


Bahamas students win Caribbean law challenge
Students from the Eugene Dupuch Law School won the 2nd Annual Caribbean Court of Justice International Moot, held in Trinidad and Tobago on March 6. The law school's team was comprised of Tecoyo Bridgewater (lead counsel), John Minns (junior counsel) and Gwendolyn Brice-Adderley (researcher). The team advisor was Mrs. Carla Card- Stubbs, a tutor at the law school. The moot
, was organized by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which viewed the exercise as an excellent means of not only familiarizing law students with the tenets of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, but also of bringing the treaty to life and making discussion and analysis of it a continuous, ongoing and active process in the Caribbean. Download the treaty here



Paul Moss resigns from PLP
Attorney Paul Moss, who mounted an unsuccessful challenge against Perry Christie for the leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party at its November 2009 convention, has resigned from the PLP. "The same careful and considered deliberations that I referenced in 2007 have now propelled me to this decision," said Moss, who became a card-carrying member of the party in May 2007. "Then I felt that the PLP was at the stage where it would have to regroup and rebuild. I believed that the party needed an injection of new blood to shore up and bolster not just its image but its very existence. I advocated that the party should keep all that was good and solid, while identifying, embracing and utilizing new talents with which to build. "Almost three years later, that has not happened. Much of the PLP leadership belongs to an earlier generation, where old ideas and old ways of doing things remain, stubbornly the order of the day. There appears to be no room or patience for fresh, new perspectives. And so the time has come for me to make my exit."


Baha Mar deal with Chinese partners nears
Baha Mar Vice President of External Affairs and Communications Robert Sands has confirmed that Baha Mar Resorts is making "excellent progress" toward inking a deal with Chinese investors who will be key in helping finance construction of the multibillion-dollar project. Several months ago, Baha Mar executives met with Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress Wu Bangguo, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and other government officials from China and The Bahamas. During that meeting they also signed framework agreements with the Export-Import Bank of China and China State Construction Engineering Corporation for them to be financial participants in Baha Mar.


Grant responds to Hanna-Martin on road safety
A war of words over road safety has erupted between the two major political parties. Minister of Public Works and Transport Neko Grant issued a press statement in defense of the government's record on the issue. "It is unfortunate that former Minister of Transport Mrs. Glenys Hanna-Martin would brazenly mislead the Bahamian people about the (Free National Movement) FNM's record on road safety. That she has done so while ignoring her own party's weak record on road safety is disingenuous and disappointing," said Grant. On Sunday opposition shadow minister and former transport minister Hanna-Martin said in a press statement that the number of traffic fatalities should cause the government to bring into force seat belt legislation, including the mandatory use of child restraints. She pointed out that over the last 12 months 56 people have died in traffic accidents, and half of the victims were under the age of 26.


Trial of Melvin Maycock Sr. postponed
The start of the second escape trial of accused drug lord Melvin Maycock Sr. has been postponed because of a magistrate's illness. Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis was scheduled to begin hearing the case yesterday; however he is on sick leave. The case is now set for May 17. Maycock Sr. who was the subject of a police manhunt for four years, allegedly swapped places with his son, Melvin Maycock Jr., while he was detained at the Elizabeth Estates Police Station on suspicion of drug trafficking in February 2008. Maycock Jr. and police officer Sergeant Troy Lewis are charged with facilitating the alleged swap.


Relief funds forwarded to Haiti
Officials from the Bahamas Red Cross said that more than $350,000 has been forwarded to Haiti to fund relief efforts. "We sent two wire transfers out, one for approximately $345,000 and an additional $10,000 which was specifically earmarked for shelter management," Red Cross Director General Caroline Turnquest told The Nassau Guardian yesterday. The initial $345,000 would go towards the emergency appeal made weeks ago by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for $203.5 million to assist 300,000 people for the next three years in Haiti.


Police up focus on visitor safety
The Ministry of Tourism's Director of Safety and Security John Nixon assured yesterday that The Bahamas is still a very safe place to visit. Nixon stressed that it has always been that way and will remain so long as the Royal Bahamas Police Force spares no effort in ensuring the security and safety of visitors. "We work 24 hours a day. We are in all the tourist centers, downtown, Long Wharf, Fort Fincastle, and it has made a tremendous difference for us," he said. "We implemented a CCTV pilot program about three years ago and it has been good to us. We were able to do a lot of work from it. The police have been very successful from it and it is the start of big things to come."


Pastors Forum donates $3,000 to aid Haiti
The Bahamas Conference of Methodist Churches (BCMC) received yesterday a donation of approximately $3,000 from the Pastors Forum to go towards its relief efforts on the ground in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The presentation was made to BCMC President Rev. William Higgs yesterday at the Freeport Bible Church by a number of the local pastors who make up the forum. Senior Pastor of Freeport Bible Church Wilbur Outten explained that the group was formed in April 2009 and is comprised of 12 pastors. The idea, he explained, was to have the church leaders come together and pool their resources to impact the community. All churches involved are encouraged to adopt a community in the vicinity of their respective churches, and make attempts to assist the residents with their spiritual and social needs.