For Mary Robinson, 69, this holiday season comes with the gift of home and family. The Oklahoma grandmother, jailed on December 2, in the Bahamas for gun possession and inability to pay her $8,000 fine, is now free and on her way home in time for Christmas.
Robinson had been visiting the Bahamas on a Royal Caribbean cruise with her 12-year-old grandson when authorities discovered a loaded firearm in her purse. While she had legally owned the gun in the United States, she could not pay the fine and was sentenced to 24 months in the Bahamas Department of Corrections.
Her granddaughter, Graci Exendine, quickly mobilised and, in an urgent GoFundMe campaign, raised over $12,000 to secure her release, appealing to strangers and supporters to bring Robinson home.
The relief came this week. “Mary is at the airport waiting for her flight! She should be home tonight,” Graci posted on social media. “I want to again thank everyone who has helped get our Mary back home.”
Robinson’s lawyer, Bjorn Ferguson, explained that the grandmother “has a touch of dementia” and normally leaves the firearm in her vehicle. Somehow, it was forgotten in her purse before boarding the ship, the “honest mistake” that set off a chain of events that could have kept her away from family for months.
After her release, Graci updated supporters again: “I just talked to Mary. She is out. She’s staying at a hotel tonight, and then we’ll figure out her passport and flight tomorrow! Thank you everyone who has been keeping up with Mary and making sure she gets home to her people.”
A 31-year-old man was formally charged in the Magistrate’s Court on Monday with the murder of pregnant 30-year-old Lauren Saunders, whose disappearance and death last week gripped the nation.
What we know so far
The accused, Reuben Cartwright, appeared before Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley, accused of killing Saunders. He is reportedly the father of the unborn child.
Shackled at the feet, he was charged with one count of murder and denied bail.
He was not required to enter a plea, and the matter will be transferred to the Supreme Court and adjourned to January 22, 2026.
He has a right to seek bail in the Supreme Court.
Cartwright is reportedly a butler at Albany, the place where Saunders was also employed. Social media posts suggest a complicated personal relationship between the two.
Police have not commented on the motive.
What led here
Police arrested the suspect last Monday, two days after Saunders’ body was discovered in bushes off Munnings Drive, following an extensive search by family, friends, and law enforcement.
Saunders was last seen last Sunday, prompting an outpouring of concern on social media as relatives pleaded for her safe return. Her phone pinged in the bushes of Munnings Drive.
When her body was found, it quickly drew national attention and public calls for justice.
Why it matters
The case has reignited public discussion about violence against women.
The bottom line
As the accused begins the legal process, Bahamians are watching to see whether justice for Lauren Saunders will come swiftly.
Six months after Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson was caught up in an alleged quid pro quo with two deceased gang members in circulated voice recordings, he along with well known attorney Bjorn Ferguson, and Sergeant Deangelo Rolle were charged in the Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday with crimes linked to the case.
Johnson faced these charges–conspiracy to commit bribery, abetment to stealing, receiving, and accessory after the fact. It was alleged during the arraignment that he stole $90,000, the property of the Bank of the Bahamas
Ferguson was charged with accessory after the fact, while Rolle was charged with abetment to stealing.
Former Chief Superintendent and head of the CID Michael Johnson arrives at court.
Here is a timeline of events before charges were filed:
July 2-3
Sylvers Metayer, a Bahamian man based in the United States, known to have a gripe with the Royal Bahamas Police Force, shared voice notes with alleged voices of Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigation Department; a lawyer and two other men believed to be two gang members–Dino Smith and Michael Fox Jr, engaged in conversations about some type of financial exchange after a 1.4m heist.
Smith was killed in January and Fox was killed in May of 2024.
Another man connected to the heist was also later killed.
July 5
Free National Movement Chairman Duane Sands called for an investigation into the matter by international law enforcement partners– Scotland Yard or the FBI to oversee the investigation.
Police Commissioner at the time, Clayton Fernander appointed Chief Superintendent of Police Anthon Rahming as CID’s head in place of Johnson, promising an investigation into the matter led by the Security and Intelligence Branch (SIB) of the police force.
July 8
Fernander said Johnson was placed on ‘garden leave’ as authorities investigated the voice notes.
August 22
Fernander directed that police will no longer release statements regarding their investigation as public cries loudened for more details about the probe’s status.
Free National Movement Chairman Duane Sands soon criticized the police for their silence, calling for urgency to restore public trust.
August 28
Fernander announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had joined the probe.
The investigators were expected to arrive on August 14 but did not.
September 19
Fernander promised that the probe would be completed by the end of 2024.
“I know there are a lot of folks saying that the police cannot investigate the police, but we have a dedicated area focusing on investigating police officers — trained officers,” Fernander said.
September 25
A document was shared on social media announcing that Johnson was transferred from CID to the organization’s headquarters in the office of the commissioner, as a formality.
Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings clarified that Johnson remained on leave.
“It’s a standard procedure,” she insisted.
December 31
Johnson resigned from the Royal Bahamas Police Force, as announced in a press release, which added that other officers were implicated in the investigation but their matter would be handed to the deputy commissioner of police with responsibility for discipline.
January 2, 2025
Fernander who was the out-going commissioner since announcing his resignation earlier in December, announced on the sidelines of the New Year’s Junkanoo Parade that police arrested and interviewed Johnson and Ferguson and that the men were released pending further inquiries as his office awaited the Director of Public Prosecutions’ review and recommendation in the matter.
“We took our time, the investigators took their time, and that’s how we got to where we are today,” Fernander said.
January 7, 2025
Johnson, attorney Bjorn Ferguson, and Sergeant Deangelo Rolle were charged in the Magistrates Court and were not required to enter pleas.
Johnson’s bail was set at $25,000 while Ferguson and Rolle’s bails were set at $7,500.
The disgraced ‘crypto genius’ who established his 32 billion-dollar empire in the Bahamas and defrauded thousands of customers around the world, is going to prison after a conviction of seven charges of fraud.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s month-long case culminated in a guilty verdict around 7:40 pm on Thursday after four hours of deliberations in a Manhattan courtroom.
Prosecutor Damian Williams said Bankman-Fried “perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.”
“The cryptocurrency industry might be new; the players like Bankman-Fried might be new. But this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time,” Williams said after the verdict was read.
Bankman-Fried, founder of the digital currency exchange FTX, was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering that swindled customers of FTX and channeled the money to his affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried is expected to be sentenced on March 28, facing up to 110 years in prison.
Though Bankman-Fried issued a ‘not guilty’ plea and testified in his own defense, prosecutors had already reached a plea bargain with his conspirators who all pleaded ‘guilty’ for a lighter sentence. Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and FTX head of engineering Nishad Singh who shared a five-bedroom luxury penthouse in Albany, New Providence with Bankman-Fried, all testified against him.
As Bankman-Fried stood in his own defense, clean-shaven in a pressed business suit, which is a far cry from his unkempt curls and casual dress sense–he answered “I can’t recall” over 140 times while under cross-examination. His defense attorney Mark Cohen attempted to sum up his dealings as a mistake, admitting “there were significant oversights.”
An appeal seems eminent since Cohen stated that though Bankman-Fried respects the jury’s decision he maintains his innocence and will continue to “vigorously fight the charges.”
North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish was charged with rape, assault, and death threats on Wednesday for alleged abuse of his former girlfriend between January and April. The charges against the sitting Member of Parliament raised a legal question—do criminal charges disqualify Cornish from representing North Abaco in the House of Assembly?
The short answer is that even though Cornish is charged, the two counts of rape, two counts of assault, and one count of death threats against him cannot cause him to resign from the seat.
No law or rule stops him from staying in the House of Assembly while fighting the charges.
Cornish, a first-time MP, after winning the North Abaco seat in the September 2021 General Election, is not legally required to resign from his seat unless he is convicted and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison, according to Article 48 (1)(f) of the constitution.
If pressure from his party and the public builds, he can choose to leave his seat and the vacant seat would then require a by-election–when political parties put forward candidates as replacements for the MP who quit Parliament. Voters from the North Abaco constituency will choose who should succeed him.
In a statement released before his arraignment, Cornish defended his role as the partner in the two-year relationship with Warduia Lightbourne. “The charges are based on allegations which are totally false.
“I am fully confident that the facts which emerge during the judicial process will prove my innocence. I look forward to ending this nightmare…this was a breakup that was manipulated and exploited for political reasons—and nothing more.
“The truth will set me free.”
The charges are embarrassing for the Progressive Liberal Party and have thrust the mp’s conduct into the national spotlight since he also served as parliamentary secretary in the Prime Minister’s office before his resignation on Tuesday night.
While he is not the first sitting parliamentarian to be charged with a crime, it is a practical hurdle that could inhibit the governing party’s campaign in the next general election.
Prosecutors will charge actor Alec Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on set in 2021.
“I have determined that there is sufficient evidence,” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said.
“On my watch, no one is above the law and everyone deserves justice.”
Halyna Hutchins was killed on set in 2021
The big story
Baldwin was reportedly rehearsing a scene for the film Rust when the gun he held fired off, killing Hutchins. But he denied shooting Hutchins though he held the fatal weapon gun that fired off and hit the actress.
The ranch setting on the film Rust, where Hutchins was killed in 2021.
At the time he said, “I don’t know what happened on that set. I don’t know how that bullet arrived in that gun.”
The film’s armourer Hanna Gutierrez-Reed will also face charges.
Policy is that only cold guns should be onset–guns without bullets. It should have been checked and used as a prop only.
Former crypto-darling and billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried left the Bahamas on Wednesday around 8 pm, bound for the United States to face fraud charges in a New York court.
The extradition was the conclusion of his stay in the Bahamas since establishing his multibillion-dollar crypto headquarters in the Bahamas. And it marks the end of a tumultuous week since his arrest last Monday.
He intended to fight the extradition but eventually reversed the decision which landed him at Odyssey Aviation where he was carried by US Marshalls to New York, where he is detained.
He is represented by high-profile lawyer Mark Cohen who could apply for bail. It remains to be seen if it will be granted.
Bankman-Fried’s handover at Odyssey Aviation, Bahamas
Bankman-Fried’s arrival in New York, USA
Photo credit: The Royal Bahamas Police Force and Fox News
After former FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried signed extradition papers to face criminal charges in the United States, he will be handed over to US Marshalls.
The Bahamas judge Shaka Serville has approved all of the legal requirements for the extradition and was satisfied that Bankman-Fried was not “forced, coerced or threatened” into making the decision.
The 30-year-old will be handcuffed and placed on board a plane with an escort from the FBI and the United States Marshals Service which have already arrived in the Bahamas. They will then carry him to La Guardia or JFK Airport.
He will either go to the federal detention facility or a Manhattan courtroom in the Southern District of New York. If he is sent to court, there will be an initial hearing and arraignment before a judge and he will enter a plea to the 8 charges against him.
Following a tumultuous week since his arrest in the Bahamas, he is expected to arrive in the United States on Wednesday evening and will contest allegations that he funneled billions of dollars from his fallen exchange FTX, to his trading fund company, Alameda Research.
“Yes, I do wish to waive my right to such formal extradition proceedings,” he told the court on Wednesday morning.
His defense lawyer Jerone Roberts said his client was “anxious to leave” the Bahamas and requested that the “rule of specialty” be imposed which based on the Bahamas and US extradition treaty, states that a person can only be tried on the charges for which they are extradited.
Lincoln Bain, leader of the Coalition of Independents and eight members of his party were charged and released on bail following a clash with police in Parliament Square on Wednesday.
The group was reportedly detained overnight in jail and was charged before the Magistrates court on Thursday morning, facing a litany of charges including unlawful assembly, obstruction, assault, disorderly behavior and resisting arrest.
The group pleaded not guilty then was released on $1,500 bail.
They walked out of the front door of the Magistrates Court where they were greeted by cheering supporters. Bain and the eight accused were seen embracing the happy crowd which shouted, “Freedom is a must.”
Bain and some members of the group showed up in Rawson Square on Wednesday to give parliamentarians a copy of their immigration proposal and wound up in a fight with officers after Bain was asked to move from the steps and work within the precincts of the square.
A senior officer physically removed Bain from the steps when chaos erupted and he was eventually carried away in a police vehicle.
They will return to court on December 1.
They were represented by Maria Daxon and Donna Dorsette Major, both members of the COI.
A 27-year old man was charged with the killing of Abaco resident Angelita Pritchard.
Barry Swain appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis to face manslaughter charges. It is alleged he killed 35-year-old Prichard during a domestic dispute.
Swain, represented by Christina Galanos, was not required to enter a plea to the charge. He was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.
Police found the mother of seven on December 26th, unresponsive in a bedroom of her home and have since listed the cause of death as asphyxia.
In a social media post, Pritchard and Swain publicly declared their love for each other. Pritchard said Swain was her “gift from God.” He returns called Pritchard, his “queen.”
Swain returns to court on March 3.
Since the killing, appeals were made to assist the children of the woman. Baby items, canned goods, and clothing can be donated to the family through the Evergreen Mortuary Services. Monetary donations can be made to Joicelin Rusell at Commonwealth Bank, account number 7044103271.
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