Attorney General Sen. Allyson Maynard Gibson (centre) addresses the media at the AG’s office on Oct. 29, 2013, after the Supreme Court handed down the death penalty to Kofhe Goodman for the murder of Marco Archer. To her right is Vinette Graham Allen, the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the left of the AG is the Asst. Director of Public Prosecutions, Garvin Gaskin.
Nassau, The Bahamas – Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs Senator Allyson Maynard Gibson said the Government of The Bahamas is committed to conducting the most aggressive anti-crime programme that The Bahamas has ever seen. “The execution of justice is our top priority for this Government,” she said. “Swift Justice is dramatically reducing the time it takes to bring criminal matters to court. All of our resources are deployed. All stops are out.”
The Attorney General recalled that the death penalty was handed down in the Supreme Court in the matter of Anthony Clarke a few weeks ago and confirmed that the death penalty is being sought in the matter of Stephen “Die” Stubbs.
“We intend to fight any delays or any abuse of process with all the resources of the office,” she stated.
Referring to the conviction of Kofhe Goodman, given the death penalty for the murder of Marco Archer, the Attorney General said “justice was served in the Bahamas”. She addressed the media at a press briefing Tuesday, October 29 shortly after Justice Bernard Turner handed down the ruling in the Supreme Court. Vinette Graham Allen, Director of Public Prosecutions, Cleopatra Christie, Consultant, Cynthia Gibbs, Undersecretary and Garvin Gaskin, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions attended the briefing. Eleven-year-old Archer was last seen alive on Sept. 23, 2011.
She asked the public to support the judges, police and prosecutors in their prayers.
The Attorney General said the result of 10 courts operating simultaneously in 2014 would be that routinely serious matters are brought to trial within a constitutionally mandated reasonable period of time of 12 months, no longer than 18 months. She pointed out that another goal of the establishment of the 10 courts is to break the backlog of cases and routinely bring matters on within a reasonable period of time.
“We hope that when people see how serious we are about prosecuting serious crime that they would continue to be the positive impact on reducing crime that we have already seen we believe will be the result of Swift Justice,” the Attorney General noted.
Ms. Graham Allen said the Swift Justice initiative including working closer with the police from the initial stages of an investigation is “bearing fruit”.
“We intend with the honourable AG’s support, directives and guidance to improve on what we have started. We cannot say we are at the maximum level where we wish to be but we are working towards where we perfect that scenario. Best practices show that once the prosecutor gets in the mix from a report is made to the police then you will see the result that the cases are well prepared, they are well prosecuted and then the jury will speak. I always maintain the accused persons will have one of two choices either plead guilty or you’re found guilty,” she added.
