Attorney General John Delaney has once again provided inaccurate statistics on the number of people convicted of murder during the Free National Movement's (FNM) term in office, The Nassau Guardian can reveal.
Last year, The Guardian exposed Delaney's claim that 12 people were convicted for murder in the first half of 2011 as untrue.
Following this paper's expose, Delaney admitted that the numbers he provided to the Senate were "not completely accurate".
In February, Delaney tabled the names of people convicted during the Progressive Liberal Party's (PLP) term of 2002 to 2007 and compared them to convictions recorded during the FNM's term from June 2007 up to February 21, 2012.
According to the numbers provided by Delaney, nine people were convicted of murder under the PLP compared to 26 under the FNM.
However, a check of those names revealed five people tried during the FNM's term should not have been included. Of the 26 names provided by Delaney, one of those people had his conviction quashed on appeal. Jamal Bastian was convicted of the murder of Theotis Johnson on July 16, 2007.
The appellate court overturned the conviction on September 22, 2010 after the Crown conceded it could not be supported by the evidence.
Delaney also included serial killer Cordell Farrington as one of the people convicted of murder during the FNM's term. In fact, Farrington pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of Deangelo McKenzie, Desmond Rolle, Mackinson Colas and Junior Reme in 2003.
Farrington was convicted of murder in the death of his live-in lover Jamal Robins in August 2006, but the Court of Appeal changed the conviction to manslaughter in 2008 because he suffers from a "severe personality disorder".
Delaney claimed that Mario Flowers and Sylvester Aritis were convicted of murder in the death of PC Ramos Williams in 2010. However, Aritis was cleared of Williams' death by a majority verdict of 8-4. He was, however, convicted of the attempted murder of Williams' partner, Antoine Curry.
Another man, Andy Francis, had his murder conviction for the stabbing death of Khodee Davis reduced to manslaughter on appeal in June 2011. However, Delaney still included Francis in his list of murder convicts.
Delaney also included the name of a man who was tried for murder, but convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter in his list.
Leroy Rolle was convicted of manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend's son, Levano Brown, in 2010.
Delaney did not include Makisha Brown, the little boy's mother on his list, although she was also convicted of manslaughter in her child's death. The Court of Appeal quashed Brown's conviction in October 2011. Rolle's appeal is scheduled for this week.
And The Guardian found that Delaney excluded a name off his list. Edney Burrows and Andre Dieejuste were both convicted of murder in September 2011 for the death of Jason Smith. However, Delaney omitted Dieujuste's name. Both men were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
All of the convictions under the PLP's term were for murder and have been upheld on appeal.
Veteran defense lawyer Michael Hanna said there is clearly a need for a statistician in the Office of the Attorney General. He told The Guardian yesterday, "If you were to take the statistics for what it means and examine it to its core, clearly they need a statistician in the AG's Office, someone who could be relied upon to inform the public as to what the facts are.
"The Bahamian public expects better of an attorney of the caliber of John Delaney and his high-powered director of public prosecutions, who we are told is the creme de la creme of the English-speaking Caribbean.
"She ought to work in tandem with him to give him the facts. It appears she is asleep at the wheel. She has been here long enough to know the facts and get it right with no politicizing the real issue of crime in the country."
The issue of murder convictions and the state of the judicial system in general are featuring prominently during this election season.
At a recent political event, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham provided the same figures on murder convictions made public by the attorney general.
Ingraham was responding to repeated criticisms from Deputy Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Philip Brave Davis that under the FNM government, the murder rate has increased sharply, but there has been a low level of convictions.

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