Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis yesterday urged the government to get serious about the country's crime problem by having small laws enforced and "hanging" criminals. Minnis spoke out after three men and a woman were killed in separate shootings between Friday and Monday.

Monday's killing brought the year's murder count to 77.

"We must enforce the law, but all laws from petty crimes straight up," Minnis said. "People must see us as being serious and no government will succeed until the public understands what law and order truly is.

"As for crime, the government must do whatever is necessary, expedite cases and hang individuals.

"You must hang, hanging is on the books." No one was hanged under the recent Ingraham administration. Various landmark rulings of the Privy Council have made it increasingly difficult to carry out capital punishment.

There hasn't been a hanging in The Bahamas since David Mitchell met his fate at the gallows on January 6, 2000. The Bahamas hanged 50 men since 1929, according to records kept at Her Majesty's Prisons.

Five of them were hanged under previous Ingraham administrations; 13 were hanged under the 25-year rule of the Pindling government; and the remainder were executed between 1929 and 1967.

Minnis said even though the recent killings took place in inner-city communities he is afraid the news will spread to tourists, making prospective visitors afraid of the country.

Monday's victim was shot dead near the entrance of his home in Ridgeland Park West. Kesner Atlis, 57, of Sayle Road, answered a knock at the front door around 3 a.m. and was shot several times, police said.

Robert McIntosh, Gwyneth Duncombe and Rhajashe Pinder were killed in the weekend shootings. McIntosh was shot in front of a home in Nassau Village on Saturday night around 8 p.m.

Duncombe was a backseat passenger who was shot while in a car in the Pinewood Gardens area after 2 p.m. on Saturday. She and the two other occupants had just left a wedding reception before the shooting, police said. Pinder was killed around 9:15 p.m. Friday after he arrived at his home in Nassau Village.

Minnis also said he is deluged with complaints from the public about inadequate garbage collection throughout New Providence and said the government must do more to ensure the island is kept clean. He said he often sees "mounds" of uncollected garbage when he drives around the island.

"I am appalled at the state of our country. No tourist wants to visit a crime-riddled and funky island," he said.

"Under the PLP they are making the song 'Funky Nassau' true. "Nassau is becoming funky under them."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian