A school principal accused of the indecent assault of a female student testified he did not think it was inappropriate for him to put his hand on the teen's shoulder.

Pastor Thomas Nottage, the principal of Grace Christian School of Excellence, is on trial before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt for indecent assault.

Prosecutors allege that Nottage called the 13-year-old into his office as she waited to be picked up on January 29, 2020 and told her that he loved her before he forcibly kissed her.

Defense lawyer Keith Seymour suggested to the student that she made the false claim to get back at Nottage for spanking her for being disrespectful – a claim the complainant denied.

During his testimony, Nottage categorically denied kissing the student; however, he admitted to calling her into the school while she was outside waiting for her ride.

According to Nottage, he wanted to speak to the student because he overheard her say “something” about the administration to her friends before they started to laugh.

He also admitted that he was alone with the student when the interaction occurred.

Prosecuting attorney Inspector Samantha Miah asked, “Mr. Nottage, do you accept that as a principal that it was inappropriate for you to place your hand on [name omitted].”

He replied,” No, I do not.”

Miah suggested that Nottage didn’t have a “good reason” to call the girl into the office because he admitted he didn’t know exactly what she had said.

Nottage replied that he pulled the student in to “address her comments and her attitude”.

When Miah reminded Nottage that he had previously testified that he wasn’t sure what the complainant had said, he claimed that he had questioned her about the nature of her comments.

Nottage replied, “I don’t recall.”

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said some squatters have failed to comply with his 14-day warning to vacate Crown Land.

After a recent National Pine Forest ride in the Carmichael Road area, it was discovered that a woman and her family had been living there illegally in a school bus.

The minister had previously told reporters that the Department of Social Services was made aware of the situation. He noted it would be up to the family to take the assistance that is available and that no one can force people to get help.

However, in an interview with The Tribune on Friday, Mr Munroe revealed that the woman found living in the bus has not been receptive to the warning to vacate.

“I understand Minister Obie Wilchcombe, his permanent secretary, and another member from Social Services were taken up there to have a discussion with her,” Mr Munroe said. “Where she has refused to move. So, when we get around to that section of the work that has to be done, a decision will have to be made about exactly how to approach it. “

Mr Munroe added that the Ministry’s position still stands for squatters to vacate Crown Land.

“She cannot live occupying and trespassing on anyone’s property, much less the property of all The Bahamian people, “ Mr Munroe said.

The minister said officials will be in charge of executing the plan of clearing illegal activities on Crown Land.

“At the end of the operation we intend to bring law and order to the areas in New Providence, Andros, Grand Bahama, and Abaco,” Mr Munroe said.

The minister said every operation will be different depending on the circumstances.

“In every area we find different challenges and assess the best way to address them,” the minister said. “An execution plan will come up for every area then there will be a matter of dealing with it.”

ATTORNEY General Ryan Pinder said officials are seeing an influx of Cuban migrants into the country in higher numbers than before.

Mr Pinder made the revelation in the senate yesterday in response to Senator Maxine Seymour’s concern about an $800,000 allocation for rent/living accommodations for the Department of Immigration in the 2022/2023 Budget.

Senator Seymour said: “Rent, living accommodations in general, I noticed that we’ve allocated $800,000. Last year would’ve been $270,000 actually spent and then before that $610,000.

Mr Pinder replied: “As we see an increase in illegal migrants coming in, we would want to put immigration officers on-site. We would want to better operationalise officers based in Iguana for plans that we have in the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that the remote court facilities are adequate there to be able to have magistrates come in, but you do need immigration officers there.”

He then quoted from The Miami Herald on Cuban migrants.

“If you’ve noticed The Miami Herald actually a couple days ago, said the Cuban migrants coming into South Florida this last year is larger than the Mariel boat lift number. I think they’ve had some 180,000 thousand Cubans.

“We’re seeing illegal migrants,” he continued, “Typically you would see them primarily leave from Haiti, but we’re seeing a significant amount of Cuban migrants coming in now and we think that we have to redeploy immigration officers throughout the archipelago to better fight this.

“Our numbers of illegal migrants, seizures, and repatriations is through the roof, frankly and much higher than we’ve ever seen before and so this is an effort to try to mitigate that activity and in part of that you have to redeploy immigration officers throughout the archipelago and this is going to be the living expense to be able to house them.”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis expressed concern about Cuba’s absence from the 2022 Summit of the Americas, saying sanctions on the island nation have sparked desperation among residents posing an “existential threat” to the national security of The Bahamas.

The situation, Mr Davis said at the time, had left the country to grapple with irregular migrants from Cuba.

In May, The Tribune reported that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force had seen a marked increase in illegal migration activity over the last three months, with nearly 1,500 migrants arrested in Bahamian waters within that time frame.

The statistics at the time showed there had been 1,892 migrants apprehended by local authorities since the beginning of the year, with most of those arrests taking place in March.

January and February saw 329 and 253 apprehensions. In March, 741 migrants were apprehended, while 491 foreign nationals were arrested in April. So far in May, 78 migrants have been arrested in Bahamian waters.

Apprehensions of Haitians were the highest at 1,688 followed by Cubans at 192, Columbians and Ecuadorians at four each, three Hondurians and one African, according to the latest RBDF report. There were also 30 interdictions.

The Budget was passed in the Senate.

A MAN was ordered to attend anger management classes by a magistrate yesterday for assaulting his former girlfriend.

Pedro Brennen, 48, represented by Attorney Kevin Farrington, appeared before Magistrate Shaka Serville on a charge of assault.

At around 7am on June 2 at Felton Bale Subdivision, Fox Hill, Brennen was arrested after he fought with his then girlfriend Careama Stubbs, who, it was claimed, he beat about the body.

In court, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge.

As part of his plea of mitigation, Mr Farrington said his client lost control in the heat of the moment due to the difficult affairs of the heart. In addition to telling the magistrate that Brennen was remorseful for his actions, Mr Farrington argued against a custodial sentence citing his client’s clean record and positive contribution to society.

The attorney also pointed out that the accused is the father of nine children who rely on his support, none of whom are the children of Ms Stubbs.

In view of this, Magistrate Serville told the accused he needs to spend time reflecting on his actions. As such Brennen was spared a custodial sentence. However, as part of his conditional discharge he was ordered to attend anger management classes at CCAC for six months.

Should Brennen default on his counselling, the magistrate warned him that he will face appropriate consequences within the maximum penalty of a $150 fine or three months in prison.  

He was further warned not to have contact with his ex-girlfriend to allow each of them to separately heal from the experience.

The accused is expected to return to court for mention of his counselling on December 7.