NASSAU, Bahamas – Carlyle Bethel, the head of the Free National Movement’s Torchbearers Youth Association, wants judges to be more measured and compassionate when enforcing Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ emergency curfew orders, The Tribune, one of The Bahamas’ leading newspapers, reported.
He spoke on Tuesday, May 19, after Bahamians reacted bitterly to actions taken against those who appear to break curfew while trying to live during an unprecedented crisis. One judge’s decision to fine a teenager $700 for selling coconuts on the side of the road and another’s decision to fine two men who collected water from a public pump before 5 o’clock in the morning have sparked concerned commentary in recent days.
On Tuesday the opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and former parliamentarian Dr Andre Rollins hit out at what they view as unreasonable penalties imposed at a time when many Bahamians are struggling to make ends meet.
Magistrate Sandradee Gardiner fined Jason Williams $400 for selling roadside coconuts and another $300 for breaking curfew. Mr Williams, 18, landed before the courts after police stopped to question him and asked for a valid business licence, which he said he was “working on” getting. He was arrested and taken to the Grove Police Station, where he admitted to selling two jugs of coconut water and two or three coconut jelly pieces at his stand across from Mario’s Bowling Alley on Harrold Road.
Magistrate Gardiner warned him that if he failed to pay the fines he would be remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for one month on each charge, to be served concurrently.
His fines were paid after concerned citizens raised the money.
Mr Bethel said yesterday: “When the Torchbearers saw that the young man was arraigned and charged, we felt we should come together and assist him. We raised $700 to pay for the fine. We went (to court yesterday) and once there we realised (Families of All Murder Victims) was there and paid the fine.”
Mr Bethel said the Torchbearers will seek to either help the man find employment or connect him to the Small Business Development Centre to get a business licence.
“We cannot make a law for every situation, and that’s why you have the courts and magistrates to interpret each case and use the law as a guideline and apply their own measured judgment to each case so we can have a measured approach,” he said. See full article in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2020/may/21/carlyle-bethel/
