THE TRIBUNE
Monday, June 27, 2016, PAGE 5
DNA leader seeks FATHER OF TWO SHOT unity after killers DEAD OUTSIDE of brother jailed NIGHTCLUB By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
DEMOCRATIC National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney issued an emotional appeal yesterday for a collective effort to break the cycle of violence following the sentencing of his brother Kurt’s killers. While last week’s sentencing marked the end of a painful chapter for his family, Mr McCartney said the relief was tempered with immense sadness when he considered the state of crime, the fear of crime and the protracted course of justice in the country. “Losing my brother is the most difficult thing I have ever faced,” he wrote in a letter to the Editor. “His passing has tested the limits of my own strength in ways that only those who have experienced loss can really appreciate. To have him taken from us in the way that he was is a reminder that we are all at risk.” Mr McCartney added: “While I am glad that my family has been able to receive some level of closure, I cannot help but think of the countless other families who are still waiting, patiently for their turn at justice.” Mr McCartney’s brother Kurt, a businessman, was killed in Gambier Village on October 24, 2013. Thorne Edwards and Lyndera Curry were convicted on charges of murder and manslaughter respectively on December 14, 2015. Last week, Edwards was sentenced 45 years for murder and 20 years for armed robbery. His sentences will run concurrently and were reduced for time spent on remand. His co-accused and former girlfriend Curry received seven years for her manslaughter conviction and five years for armed robbery. Her sentences were also reduced for the nearly three years she spent on remand. Mr McCartney noted that his broth-
BRANVILLE McCartney pictured at a DNA rally for Carmichael and Golden Isles on Friday. er’s case passed through the court system “relatively quickly”, pointing to the “stellar work” of police investigators and court officials. He said he was hyper-aware of the perception that his high-profile status and family background played a role in the “smoothness” of the process. “Sadly, many Bahamian families are denied the kind of justice they deserve for their slain family members,” he said. “Many cases often fall through the cracks of our backlogged judicial system, breeding feelings of pain and anger and discontent, which in turn act as a catalyst for revenge and vigilantism. It seems to me that we are caught in a vicious cycle where those who lose loved ones to violent crime then become perpetrators of violent crime, who in turn also become victims of violent crime. “And caught in the middle of this spin cycle of crime are law-abiding
men and women. People who are hard at work providing for their families, going about their daily routines, going to ATMs, congregating at community parks or walking to and from work.” Mr McCartney lamented that Bahamians lived in constant fear of criminals who seemed to be fearless. He referenced the home invasion and armed robbery of Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis on December 9, 2013, and the fatal shooting of Latore Mackey, the prime minister’s press secretary, on August 25, 2014. “Criminals show us every day that they could care less about human life or property,” he said. “No one is safe and while government officials would have us believe that crime is on the decline, I dare to say the fear of crime trumps those statistics.” Last week, Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage presented statistics in the House of Assembly that showed that overall crime fell by 29 per cent from January 1 to June 14, compared to the same period last year. Mr McCartney pleaded for political, community, and church leaders to set the moral compass for the citizenry by their actions. “We cannot be the kind of politicians who skirt the law but expect our citizenry to be compliant,” he said, “we cannot be the kind of teachers, pastors and mentors who say one thing but do the opposite. “Why? Because our children - mine and yours - are watching. Because they are taking their cues from us, because their inability to be productive law abiding citizens is a reflection of our failures as the generation responsible for teaching them.” Mr McCartney added: “We are more than numbers. We are human. We deserve to feel safe and be safe and where necessary, we deserve justice.” See Letters to the Editor, page 4
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Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander, said police are following a line of inquiry that suggests that something that transpired in or near the nightclub led to the killing. Police have not yet released the official identity of the man, but The Tribune understands that he is father-of-two Rasario Palacious. According to initial reports, police received a call shortly before 7am about a body of a male lying in the parking lot near a nightclub on Elizabeth Avenue. Police first reported that officers found a man who had apparent stab wounds. However, according to Chief Supt Fernander yesterday, the victim’s injuries appeared to be more consistent with gunshot wounds. The man’s body was discovered sprawled in the parking lot next to a vehicle. Officials believe that the body was in there for two to three hours. Police have sealed off the Elizabeth Avenue club and are now treating the establishment as an active crime scene. Saturday’s homicide pushed the country’s murder toll to 61 for the year. Last Friday, police said a man died in hospital shortly after he was shot in front of a property in the vicinity of Hampton Street and Montrose Avenue after 4pm.
He was approached by two men with handguns who drove up in a Honda Civic and shot him about the body. The gunmen left the scene and the victim was rushed by private vehicle to hospital, where he succumbed to his critical injuries. Last Tuesday, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage announced that overall crime was down 29 per cent from January 1 to June 14 compared to the same time last year. According to statistics he presented in the House of Assembly, from January 1, 2016 to June 14, 2016 murders fell by 22 per cent compared to the same period last year. Since last Tuesday, five people have been killed in five days. Dr Nottage has come under heavy criticism for his handling of the country’s vexing crime dilemma. There have been countless calls for his resignation, all of which have fallen on deaf ears. Ahead of the 2012 election, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) campaigned that it had the solution to crime, drawing attention to “490 plus” murders in the five years under the Free National Movement government. The fatal shooting of Saturday’s victim moved the total homicide count since May 7, 2012 - when the PLP assumed office to 519.
POLICE CHASE ENDS WITH GUN SUSPECT IN HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTOUT A MAN wanted for questioning in the possession of a high-powered assault weapon is detained in hospital after he was arrested following a shootout with police on Friday. According to police reports, around 8pm Friday officers received a report of a man armed with a firearm driving a silver coloured Nissan Primera on Water Street in the Big Pond area. A short while later, responding officers encountered the suspect driving the vehicle in the area. As the officers approached the suspect, he fired a shot at
them and sped off. The police pursued. During the chase, the suspect hit a Honda vehicle driven by a woman with three passengers, but refused to stop. The suspect then turned his vehicle around and drove head on towards a police vehicle, police said. The officers, in fear for their lives, shot the suspect and the vehicle came to a stop. The suspect was rushed to hospital where he is detained in serious condition under heavy police guard. Police want to question the suspect in connection with an AK- 47 assault rifle that
it was claimed he had left in a vehicle following a police chase several weeks ago. This incident occurred a day after police shot two men who led officers on a high-speed chase that ended on Marathon Road. According to police reports, on Thursday night three men with a handgun robbed the owner of a Superwash laundromat on Charles Saunders Highway of a handbag and cash before fleeing in a red Honda Fit driven by another male. Police immediately sent out an all-points bulletin (APB) for the vehicle.
THREE SUSPECTS HELD FOR DRUG POSSESSION THREE people were arrested for drug possession in Grand Bahama on Friday in two separate incidents. The first incident occurred in the Pioneers Way area where officers stopped and searched a black 2004 Honda Accord with two male passengers inside and discovered on one of the males a quantity of suspected marijuana. In the second incident,
officers of Operation Turf Sweep searched a residence on Pearl Way Drive, Sea Horse Village, and discovered a large black garbage bag containing four sealed packages of suspected marijuana. A man and woman were arrested and taken into police custody. Meanwhile officers in Abaco arrested a man and a woman on Friday for possession of dangerous drugs.
According to police reports, officers executed a search warrant at a residence located on Crockett Drive in Marsh Harbour and discovered a quantity of suspected marijuana. The two suspects, both of Freeport, Grand Bahama were arrested and taken into police custody. All of these suspects are expected to be arraigned next week.
THREE ARMED ROBBERIES IN A SINGLE DAY POLICE are investigating three armed robberies that took place on Saturday. Shortly after 10pm, a woman was closing a restaurant on Farrington Road, when a man with a handgun approached and robbed her of cash and a cell phone before fleeing on foot.
Then around 10.30pm, a man and a woman were sitting in a vehicle in front of their home at Coral Drive when three males with handguns approached and robbed them of some personal items before fleeing on foot. In the final incident,
shortly before midnight, two males with handguns robbed a man of his white Honda Accord, licence plate number 234737. The robbery occurred in front of a restaurant on East Bay Street. Investigations are ongoing in all of these incidents.
Shortly afterwards, around 8pm, officers on patrol spotted the car in the Nassau Village area. A chase followed that ended on Robinson Road near Marathon Road, where the vehicle came to a stop when it crashed into another car. The four male suspects got out of the car and opened fire on police. Officers returned fire and shot two of them. Police immediately arrested the four
men and recovered a handgun and all of the stolen property. Two of the suspects were taken to hospital, where at last report they were in serious condition under heavy police guard. Police suspect the four men to be responsible for a number of armed robberies over the past weeks and can confirm that one of the suspects is on bail for armed robbery.
Anyone with information on these incidents is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.