NASSAU, Bahamas, May 3, 2020 — Former Labour Minister Shane Gibson, who was acquitted in November of 2019 of all 15 counts of bribery charges brought against him, has written a strongly worded letter to the relevant authorities questioning the promotion of Assistant Superintendent of Police Debra Thompson to Superintendent of Police by newly appointed Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle.
“I noted with interest the media reports, and later the confirmation by Police Commissioner Paul Rolle, that Debra Thompson had received a promotion from Assistant Superintendent of Police to Superintendent of Police,” Gibson said in his letter. “The decision to promote Ms. Thompson was made despite my pending complaint against her and the fact that I was not afforded an opportunity to be heard in regard to the same.”
Gibson noted that the decision to promote Ms. Thomson was made “even though she received condemnation by Justice Indra Charles in a ruling dated 8th March 2019.”
Referring to his constitutional application to quash the indictment against him, Gibson noted that Justice Charles said, “Unkind as it may be, ASP Thompson struck me as an officer with very little investigative skills despite her impressive rank in the RBPF. I say this because prosecution witnesses should not be brought together to discuss their evidence, exchange their account and decide as to what to say and what they should omit to say in their statements and evidence.”
The letter, dated May 1, 2020, was sent to: Reverend Phillip Stubbs, Chairman, Police Service Commission; Reginald Ferguson, Member, Police Service Commission; and Paul Farquharson, Member, Police Service Commission.
“Further in my trial, where I was acquitted of all the charges against me, Debra Thompson under cross-examination admitted to numerous incidents of impropriety in the conduct of the investigation against me,” Gibson declared.
He cited the following as a few examples:
- She initiated a meeting between the two main prosecution witnesses against me so they could “synchronize” their statements;
- She admitted that in hindsight she had acted improperly in arranging the meeting to “clear up the ambiguities” in each of their statements;
- She altered the original statement taken from Johnathan Ash (the complainant against me) to include ruinous and scandalous allegations against me.
- These alterations were made three (3) months after Johnathan Ash signed his original statement;
- The altered statement kept the original date of Johnathan Ash’s original statement which could be misleading.
“What makes the decision to promote Debra Thompson more egregious is that she admitted that it is common practice for two witnesses to be brought together to synchronize their stories and accounts of matters in dispute,” Gibson said. “This leads one to believe that my case is not the first time she has been involved in this unethical and unlawful practice.”
Gibson added: “I write to advise if Debra Thompson’s promotion is not rescinded within fourteen (14) days of the date of this letter, I will institute proceedings before the Supreme Court for Judicial Review of the decision to promote Debra Thompson and seek an order of certiorari to quash this recommendation. I look forward to hearing from you in due course.”
