THE Court of Appeal's affirmation of an historic Supreme Court ruling on citizenship rights means there is light at the end of the tunnel for some residents who have long sought to be recognised as citizens of The Bahamas and to benefit from that recognition, one of five plaintiffs in the matter said yesterday.

Shannon Rolle, 22, said he was 12 years old when he began asking his mother why he could not enjoy certain privileges like other children, an inquiry that sent him on a long and difficult process to secure citizenship.

Born to an unwed Bahamian father and a Jamaican mother, he said he hopes that soon people like him will no longer endure the hurt of not being able to travel or find a job because they lack a passport.

“Some people turn into murderers and thieves when they find out how hard it is to get a passport when in this situation,” he said yesterday.

“You can’t even get a McDonald’s job without a passport.”

In a three-to-two decision, the Court of Appeal on Monday affirmed Supreme Court Justice Ian Winder’s ruling that children born out of wedlock in the Bahamas to Bahamian fathers are automatically citizens, regardless of the nationality of the mother.

Attorney General Carl Bethel has said his office will appeal the ruling.

Nonetheless, Mr Rolle is happy, even though he secured Bahamian citizenship last year by going through the normal citizenship-application process while his case continued to make its way through the Supreme Court.

“I’m a citizen now, but I went through the ropes dealing with the situation to get my citizenship,” he said.

His younger siblings, Lavaughn Rolle, 21, and Casshonya Rolle, 20, are also plaintiffs in the case and have not received Bahamian citizenship yet.

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