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VOLUME:117 No.33, JANUARY 9TH, 2020

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GUILTY AS CHARGED Conviction rate hits 80% as trial backlog clogs courts system By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net THE conviction rate for serious offences has increased to almost 80 percent, Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday. Mr Bethel, speaking during a ceremony marking the opening of the 2020 legal year, said the conviction rate is 78 percent, up almost ten percent from the 70 percent record in 2018. However, Mr Bethel also revealed that of the 529 scheduled trials for 2019, just 150, or 28.36 percent were completed. Of those completed, 103 resulted in convictions while 29 resulted in acquittals. The Attorney General

said it is “clear” that a completion rate of less than 30 percent for criminal trials scheduled in any given year is “far below” where his office “needs to be if we are to effectively address the ongoing backlog of serious criminal matters”. Mr Bethel further revealed that of the scheduled cases, 36.67 percent were served with a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI), thereby fast-tracking the matter to the Supreme Court. However, Mr Bethel said the average time for being served with a VBI is now two months, a “significant improvement” in the time previously taken to bring an SEE PAGE SIX

PAPERS REVEAL TRUTH OF BAHA MAR’S SALE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHA MAR’S current owner leapfrogged all rival bidders in less than two weeks to become the property’s chosen buyer despite its $1.3bn offer coming from outside the formal sales process. Documents previously kept from public view reveal the breathtaking speed at which Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) emerged from nowhere to become the mega resort’s purchaser following Sarkis Izmirlian’s failed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection bid in 2015. Tribune Business can reveal that the privatelyowned Hong Kong

conglomerate, which is controlled by the billionaire Cheng family, had agreed a “Heads of Terms” with the former Christie administration less than a fortnight after its second “indicative” offer was submitted to Baha Mar’s receivers on August 2, 2016. The “Heads of Terms”, which set out the key points of the commercial agreements between CTFE and the Bahamian government, were “agreed” during the week that began on August 15, 2016, and provided investment incentives and concessions “for the proposed purchaser and only the proposed purchaser”.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

POINTED PROBLEM DIRECTOR of Labour John Pinder is unhappy with the disproportionate number of foreign workers to Bahamians at The Pointe’s construction site. Full story - Page 3 Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

NO QUICK SOLUTION TO ‘DON’T BLAME PARENTS HOSPITAL BEDS CRISIS FOR POLICE FAILURES’

By LEANDRA ROLLE lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday that the issue of bed shortages at Princess Margaret Hospital will not be resolved until emergency care services at the Elizabeth Estates and South Beach clinics have expanded and renovations at PMH’s emergency department have been completed. “There has been movement, but the problem

(of bed shortages) is not fully corrected,” he told reporters during a press conference at the Ministry of Health yesterday. “The only thing that’s going to correct it will be to get the emergency department renovations completed and to get the Elizabeth Estates and South Beach alternative options completed and those projects are moving along. “At the same time, we need to upgrade the SEE PAGE FIVE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

RIGHTS Bahamas said the commentary of Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson on police brutality is “an excuse for and an indication of lazy RBPF training policy” and called on him to take responsibility for the conduct of officers. During a press conference on Tuesday, the police chief connected police brutality to poor parenting and

dishonesty from civilians interviewed by investigators conducting background checks into prospective officers. While it agreed with parts of the commissioner’s views, the humanitarian group said yesterday: “Human Rights Bahamas demands that the commissioner and Minister of National Security Marvin Dames expeditiously review officer training politics and ensure that a priority is placed on SEE PAGE FIVE

SCHOOL SECURITY UPGRADE ‘OVERDUE’ Enjoy the By SYANN THOMPSON Tribune Staff Reporter sthompson@tribunemedia.net

A DAY after two students were stabbed at C V Bethel High School, Bahamas Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson said she has been making a clarion call for more than a decade to strengthen school security. Ms Wilson said incidents like these in high schools are not new and that a more aggressive plan has to be

BUT’s Belinda Wilson put in place to protect not only students, but teachers, administrators and staff

on school campuses. “This is 2020 and for the last 15 years I’ve been saying the same thing over and over about safety and violence in the schools. It’s not the first time that an incident has happened at C V Bethel, not only student-on-student (violence), but student-onteacher and these incidents are not just specific to C V Bethel,” she said. Police reported that two male students, a

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