A Supreme Court judge has condemned the misconduct of three police officers who repeatedly disregarded a magistrate's orders to bring a defendant before the court.
In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, Senior Justice Jon Isaacs said the officers may have kidnapped Ronny Baptiste by preventing him from accessing the court.
As a result, Isaacs forwarded a copy of his decision to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson for whatever action she considered appropriate against Sgt 1617 Collie, 2150 Hall and 2662 Bannister.
Baptiste, who was accused of unlawful carnal knowledge, was not brought before Magistrate Ancella Evans-Williams in Abaco on at least four occasions as the prosecution waited on a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI) to move the case to the Supreme Court.
Baptiste, who was unrepresented, brought the matter to the court's attention when he was arraigned before Isaacs in December 2012.
Isaacs quashed the VBI after and ordered the release of Baptiste after finding that the officers "failed to adhere to the rule of law".
During an inquiry into what went wrong, Collie admitted that he directed officers Hall and Bannister not to transport Baptiste from the prison, although airline tickets had been purchased for his transport, because the VBI was not ready.
Collie admitted that he knew he usurped his authority by telling the officers to ignore the order of attendance. However, he tried to explain his actions by referring to a shortage of manpower and resources.
Isaacs said there may be "a systemic misunderstanding of the breadth of the authority of the police, to wit, that they can countermand orders made by magistrates or any other court of competent jurisdiction in The Bahamas.
"If that is indeed their view the sooner they are disabused of it the better, lest they fall afoul of the law they are sworn to preserve."
He found that Collie interfered in the administration of justice. The judge said, "He has by an impermissible device thwarted the defendant's right to apply for bail on those occasions he was not brought to court.
"I am satisfied that prosecutor actively thwarted the defendant from coming to court because the promised VBI was not ready on the adjourned dates."
Isaacs said the officers may have committed the offense of kidnapping as section 286 of the Penal Code states that a person is guilty of kidnapping if he unlawfully imprisons a persons and takes him out of the jurisdiction of the court without consent or if a person is imprisoned to prevent him from applying to a court for his release.
He concluded, "I had forewarned officers Collie, Hall and Bannister that there may be consequences for their actions; hence it cannot come as a surprise to them that I will be forwarding a copy of my decision to the attorney general for such action as she deems appropriate."

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