2024

The year 2024 was one of dramatic developments in the Bahamas, as the country faced scandals and unpredictable events that captured national and international attention.

Here are eight of the most impactful stories from the year:

1. The US Embassy issued a travel advisory as the murder rate climbed

January 24

The U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas issued a security alert, advising U.S. citizens to be aware that 18 murders had occurred in the capital since the beginning of 2024. The alert cited gang violence as the primary motive, noting murders have occurred at all hours, “including in broad daylight.”

Though no tourists were harmed or killed, it highlighted the need for improved national security as crime was seemingly spiraling out of control in Nassau.

2. Hubert Minnis challenged Michael Pintard for the FNM leadership but loses

June 1

Michael Pintard retained leadership of the Free National Movement despite the challenge by Former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis.

At the one-day convention, Pintard secured 486 votes to 163 for Minnis.

3. CDU Chief Michael Johnson was placed on ‘garden leave’ after a voice note allegation–bargaining with criminals in a 1.5m armour truck robbery

July 2024

Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, the head of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s (RBPF) Criminal Investigations Department, went on ‘garden leave’ and remains under investigation following serious bribery allegations. Voice notes circulated online, purportedly capturing him negotiating with an alleged gang leader, Michael Fox Jr., to dismiss charges in exchange for monetary compensation.

Fox and other deceased individuals were previously implicated in a significant armored truck heist.

4. Official Mario Bannister was charged in a murder case of a man found with hands and feet bound

August 2024

The managing director of Clifton Heritage Mario Bannister with two other men were charged with the murder of Philip Adderley, whose body was found with stab wounds and bound by hands and feet in waters near Stuart’s Cove.

After text and photos circulated implicating Bannister in the murder, Prime Minister Philip Davis dismissed him from the position.

5. Abaco MP Kirk Cornish was cleared of rape, assault and death threat against former girlfriend

October 31

North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish walked free after a jury found him ‘not guilty’ of two counts of rape charges of assault and death threats.

His former girlfriend alleged the incidents occurred between January 20, 2023 and April 4, 2023 when Cornish became controlling and abusive because she was speaking to male friends. She added that Cornish attacked her while at an Airbnb and once charged at her with a knife.

A short time later, she said she went into the bedroom to rest and Cornish raped her and spat in her face after he was done.

6. Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander resigned amid U.S. drug trafficking indictments against officers

December 4

Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander resigned following a U.S. investigation that indicted several Bahamian officers for police involvement in a large-scale drug trafficking operation into the US.

Prime Minister Philip Davis announced Fernander’s resignation in the House of Assembly following cries from the Opposition and the public.

The indicted officers were accused of facilitating cocaine smuggling into the U.S. by exploiting their official positions, adding to growing allegations of corruption within the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

7. MP Shanendon Cartwright threw mace from House of Assembly spurring a forceful removal of the Opposition

December 4

Member of Parliament for St Barnabas Shanendon Cartwright threw the mace out of the window of the House of Assembly when House Speaker Patricia Deveaux prevented the Opposition from speaking on the matter involving officers indicted for cocaine smuggling in the US.

Deveaux ordered the removal of Bannister from the House when members of the Opposition linked arms to prevent his removal. Officers forcefully ejected the FNM parliamentarians and Deveaux suspended them from two House sittings.

8. Chinese Construction firm filed for bankruptcy over 1.6 bn Baha Mar judgment

December 23

China Construction America (CCA), the contractor behind the Baha Mar resort project, filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection. The filing followed a $1.6 billion judgment against CCA due to construction delays and financial losses associated with the project. The bankruptcy raised concerns about the future of foreign investments and large-scale developments in the Bahamas.

These events have significantly influenced the socio-political and economic landscape of the Bahamas in 2024, prompting discussions on governance, public safety, environmental conservation, infrastructure, and international relations.

The year 2024 was marked by dramatic events. Many people were exposed to tragedies and violence, some incidents sparking fear and shock.

Here are the top eight news stories that left us sad:

1. Politician and Deputy Chair of Free National Movement fatally shot (March 27)

Former Parliamentarian Don Saunders who served as Deputy Chair of the Free National Movement, was tragically killed during an alleged robbery in Gambier Village. He was reportedly seated outside an establishment when two masked gunmen approached him and another individual, demanding cash. Saunders fled and was shot in the neck, dying on the scene.

The incident shocked the nation, highlighting concerns about public safety and leading to calls for enhanced security measures.

2. Social media influencer dies by suicide but family disputes the autopsy

Twenty-seven-year-old Destiny Hamilton, a social media influencer with over 20,000 followers, was found in a bathroom around 8.30 am with a laceration to her wrist, in Guana Cay, Abaco. Police classified the death as a suicide but her family disputed the pathology report, insisting the “story isn’t adding up”.

Her cousin, Bennae Beneby-Pinder insisted that she was full of life and loved living.

Hamilton’s mother, Gladys Hamilton initially agreed with the pathology report but later retracted her statements, requesting an investigation into the death of her daughter be reopened. “I feel in my heart my daughter didn’t kill herself,” she said.

3. Geovanni Rolle was killed on Father’s Day. A suspect was released and the case remains unsolved (July 16)

Geovani Rolle, 38, was killed after arriving at his workplace, near the airport during the early morning hours. A suspect was arrested in the departure lounge of the domestic terminal at the Lynden Pindling International Airport after the killing, but he was released.

Rolle’s family offered a $25,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to the arrest of a suspect responsible for his death but has since publicly expressed that authorities may have colluded with the suspect for his release.

4. Three brothers from Andros were killed in a car crash (September 3)

The nation grieved with the family of three brothers killed in Nassau when their vehicle crashed into a tree off Sir Milo Butler Highway. Philip McCarron,24; Philip D’Caprio,23 died on the scene and Deangelo Christie, 20, died hours later in hospital.

The brothers were reared in Andros but transitioned to Nassau for employment at Bahamas Telecommunications and Bahamas Power and Light.

Their mother Lovan Chrsitie pleaded for donations to help bury her only sons. “My heart is broken in ways I can’t even begin to describe…Any donation, no matter how big or small, will be a blessing as I navigate this painful journey.”

5. Two die after plane ditches in water (September 13)

A Piper Aztec with six people onboard ditched in waters about eight miles west of New Providence.  Emma Williams was en route to her mother’s funeral in Lowe Sound, Andros, and Allen Russell, believed to be in his 80s, and a beloved taxi driver in Andros, died onboard.

6. Boy, 8, commits suicide when mother said ‘no’ to watching YouTube  (October 11)

An older sibling found his brother, eight-year-old Mariano Chery, hanging from the security bars of a window in their home, in what police ruled a suicide. He was transported to the hospital but died.

The boy’s mother later told local dailies that he was denied access to watch YouTube when he became upset, wandered to his room, and was found unresponsive. “Mariano just wanted to watch YouTube, so I said Mariano, let’s watch one more movie. He said ‘Mummy, I don’t want to watch movie. Y’all never let me watch what I want to watch.”

The boy was a third-grade student at TG Glover. “I wish I could’ve catch him in time,” she told The Tribune.

Mariano was the youngest case of suspected suicide in the country.

7. Adriel Moxey was raped and strangled in bushes near her home, after disappearing when school was dismissed (November 20)

The 12-year-old student of Anatol Rodgers High School went missing and was found two days later in bushes through a track road off Faith Avenue South.

She was last seen leaving school, spurring the issuance of a MARCO alert. Her mother, Sasha Moxey, pleaded for her daughter’s safe return, but the child was discovered later that evening partially clothed with a string tied around her neck. Police confirmed she was sexually assaulted and strangled.

The killing spurred public anger.

Authorities said a suspect turned himself in to police and is expected to be charged with her murder, this week.

8. Seamstress found dead in her home after a dinner party with sisters. The suspect was found sitting on her bed (November 24)

72-year-old Vernencha Butler, returning from a birthday party for a sister, was found dead in her home after a break-in, around 3 a.m.

Two male relatives, on arrival at the home, discovered the suspect sitting on her bed, and Butler unresponsive. Police said she was assaulted by the intruder, who was arrested and taken into custody.

The sister of the country’s 12^th murder victim is stricken with grief after learning that her brother was killed in Dundas Town, Abaco on Tuesday night.

He reportedly only left home to purchase a soda and was to return home, but never did.

“Oh the pain,” Nicoya Penn lamented.

Thirty-eight-year-old Cieon Davis, also known as “Bolo”, was shot multiple times about the body on the island around 7pm. His body was found lying on the side of the street.

His sister was seen wailing near his body in the street, before emergency personnel arrived.

Niece Oshawnte Walker cried, “My want my uncle. I want him back home now.”

Unlike New Providence, this is the first homicide for the island which remains relatively crime-free. Dundas Town which is populated, is in Marsh Harbour, Central Abaco.

A national day of prayer was held in Nassau and Abaco on Monday, called by the Prime Minister Philip Davis, in hopes to bring comfort to victims of crime  after an alarming and spiraling rate of homicides since the beginning of the year.

Mark Handwerker who lives on the island begged, “Oh that’s enough people. [It’s] bad enough [that] it’s common in Nassau. We don’t need that here.

“Just stop.”

News reporter on the island Silbert Mills said he knew Davis from a young boy and was surprised since he was the first murder victim for the island.

Dira Diana visited the settlement and knew it to be tranquil. “It’s sad. just visited there and it was so peaceful and calm.”

“What the hell is going on in our land Abaco?” Angenell Gray questioned.

The crime epidemic in the country for the new year of 2024 which saw eight homicides in seven days has left us disgusted, angry and sad.

In response, Prime Minister Philip Davis has suggested a day of prayer for this “horrifyingly new level of brutality and barbarity.” He believes praying will bring “healing and comfort.”

But we don’t need “healing and comfort” any more than we need action and safety.

Prayer is equivalent to inaction.

We’ve prayed enough times. It’s now time to act.

When Moses was before the Red Sea as Pharaoh’s army made its advances at the children of Israel, Moses was “sore afraid” and cried out to the Lord. But the Lord tells him, “Stop praying. Go forward and do what I have instructed you to do.”

Most times, prayer is used as a delay tactic and we substitute prayer for action.

God won’t fix crime.

The government must strengthen and enforce the laws. The full weight of the law should fall on anyone who kills another person.

Our frail systems of justice and governance have churned out hardened criminals with only a spank on the wrist after they have committed numerous murders and other crimes. Murderers are given bail with an ineffective electronic monitoring system, which they take advantage of to cause further mayhem in our society.

In cases like this, we know what to do. The government simply refuses to act.

God has shown us the loopholes in the justice system.

Davis and his administration must now close these loopholes and put teeth in the law.

We can’t tolerate it anymore. It must end.

Like God to Moses, we tell Davis, “Stop praying and do something about it.”

The brazen daylight killing of a man and woman on one of Nassau’s main thoroughfares on Wednesday was shocking. At the end of the barrage of bullets, Dino Smith, who has had brushes with the law, and his passenger Chatere Wells were found dead in their vehicle on Prince Charles Drive while at the stop light.

The three gunmen, armed with high-powered weapons, escaped before police arrived, later abandoning their vehicle in the area.

Smith was a target, having been shot at weeks before he was killed, according to police.

Here is a brief look at what we know about Dino Smith’s time in the court system.

July 17, 2017

Dino Smith, 23 years old at the time, was arraigned in the Magistrate’s Court for the murder of Levardo Sherman Deveaux for an incident that reportedly took place July 10 of that year.

Police stated that he exited the rear of a vehicle on Fowler Street, off East Street, and shot Deveaux who was taken to hospital but later died.

Smith was denied bail and remanded to the Department of Correctional Services.

August 26, 2019

After sentencing for the killing of Levardo Deveaux, his conviction was quashed and he was permitted to appeal with no order for a retrial.

During the trial, Deveaux’s sister said her brother told her that Smith shot him. But Smith’s defence argued that Deveaux was his friend and a man named Georgie the purchaser of a gun he sold him, shot Deveaux by mistake while inspecting the gun.

A jury found him guilty but he appealed the conviction claiming the judge made a mistake by failing to direct the jury that the crime occurred with the assistance of others, and that the conviction was “unsafe and unsatisfactory”.

Justices Sir Hartman Longley, Madam Justice Crane-Scott and Justice Milton Evans presided over the matter and his conviction was quashed.

May 24, 2022

Smith, 28 at the time, was charged with his girlfriend Annette Johnson, for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

Police reported that on May 20, he was found with a black Austria Glock .40 pistol with the serial number erased and without a licence, along with 13 live rounds of .40 ammo.

Smith pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He was granted $7,500 bail and fitted with an ankle monitor.

November 8, 2022

Smith and another man Cleophus Smith, were accused of the attempted murder of Leonard Symonette on October 23.

They were remanded to prison and were expected to return to court for the presentation of their VBI on February 9, 2023.

November 2023

He was a suspect in the $1.5m robbery from an armoury car but was released without charges.

Gunmen shot at him days after his release from custody but he refused to provide police with information regarding the individuals responsible for shooting him, police say.