[xml][/xml]
The Bahamas Weekly Facebook The Bahamas Weekly Twitter
News : Local Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


Fred Smith: Bullard and Davilma are whistleblowers, not perpetrators
By Fred Smith President, GBHRA
Jan 18, 2017 - 11:57:38 PM

Email this article
 Mobile friendly page
(Statement) The Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA) has always supported, and continues to support, the crucial and valiant work of the officers and leadership of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. We have lauded Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade in particular as an exemplary defender of fairness and justice throughout his distinguished career.

It is therefore with profound regret that we express our bafflement and dismay at the Commissioner’s recent comments regarding the stalled investigation into threats against the lives and safety of members of the environmental group Save The Bays (STB).

In light of those comments, and on behalf of all members of STB who have been affected by these serious and ongoing threats, the GBHRA offers the following clarifications:

1) In suggesting the investigation has stalled because no one filed a complaint against Livingston Bullard or Wilsner Davilma, the Commissioner has displayed a clear misapprehension about the fundamental nature of this matter. The fact is, Bullard and Davilma are whistleblowers, not perpetrators. STB members have no complaint to make against these men. The complaints have always been against Peter Nygard and Keod Smith who, it is alleged in official court documents, hired Bullard and Davilma to harm or kill STB members. Nygard and Smith have been named in repeated official complaints and are the subject of a wealth of detailed evidence in the possession of the Police, yet officers have apparently failed to interview or question these individuals in any way.

2) Members of STB have never sought to “duck” or avoid the Police. As outlined clearly in my open letter of October 23, 2016, the affected parties stand ready and willing to meet with the Commissioner in order to deal with “any questions the police may have … thoroughly and comprehensively”. I have received no response to this letter to date.

3) The Police only ever sought to interview STB members after they reported certain urgent and very recent threats to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). All earlier attempts to harass, intimidate or harm STB members were not investigated in any way, as far as we can tell – this despite repeated official complaints made to police dating back to February 2015. It would seem that the police only became interested in talking to the affected parties after international scrutiny was brought to bear on the matter. Perhaps if STB’s complaints had been taken seriously in the first place, the murder-for-hire plot and subsequent threats might have been prevented.

4) The investigation into the murder plot against certain STB members dates back to March 2016 and official complaints by STB members to police go back to February 2015; the failure of Police to interview those affected over the past few months, regarding new and totally separate threats, cannot be used to explain why those earlier investigations have stalled.

5) Over the past few years, STB members have been subjected to a vicious and unrelenting hate campaign on social media. The RBPF has taken action against several individuals for threatening social media behaviour, yet has allowed STB’s attackers to continue unchecked. I would respectfully ask the Commissioner to explain why only certain people are allowed to savage names and reputations of individuals with impunity.

6) It is maintained that the Police have an obligation to investigate STB’s earlier complaints thoroughly and without bias. Likewise, the government has an obligation to protect STB members in accordance with the ruling of the IACHR, which remains in force. Until these prior obligations are met by the authorities, it would seem an exercise in futility to continue to file complaints locally and expect concrete results.

Both the GBHRA and STB remain at the disposal of Commissioner Greenslade and prepared to meet with him at his earliest convenience. In the meantime, we reiterate our position that the best way to resolve all these matters is to investigate STB’s official complaints dating back to February 2015 and the evidence filed with the courts in March 2016, which has been provided to the Police in full.

This communication, along with the Commissioner’s comments, will be filed with the IACHR in accordance with our obligation to keep that body abreast of developments concerning Precautionary Measure MC 706-16, of which certain STB members are the beneficiaries.


Bookmark and Share




© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com

Top of Page

Receive our Top Stories



Preview | Powered by CommandBlast

Local
Latest Headlines
72 Foreign Nationals repatriated To Haiti
Haitian Migrants apprehended 
on Sunday
RBDF Searching for possible Haitian Sloops and Migrants 

Update to RBDF coordinated Search and Rescue Mission for Missing Boaters
95 haitian nationals repatriated