csjreport

When Deshawn Newbold heard his name called as the 2026 Headboy of C.W. Sawyer Primary School, he was following in the footsteps of his two older brothers.

And somewhere in that moment, a family legacy came full circle. Deshawn’s older brother, Dominique Jr, known as DJ, was Headboy in 2019. His second brother, Devin, followed in 2022.

Now, Deshawn has completed an extraordinary three-for-three achievement that his parents, Rantica and Dominique Newbold, never imagined when their boys first walked through the school’s doors.

For Rantica, the moment was overwhelming.

“I was overjoyed. It was exciting,” she said. “All I could think was, ‘He did it, he did it, he did it.’”

She knew how much Deshawn wanted the position and she knew the example his brothers had already set.

“His older two brothers had set the bar high.”

The pressure was real, but so was the preparation.

Deshawn’s father said the family’s approach was simple, ‘Put in the work and trust God with the outcome.

“I knew he wanted it. He had put in the work,” Dominique said.

His brothers helped prepare him too, randomly throwing interview questions at him throughout the week and cheering him on as he worked toward the ceremony.

Devin even told his teacher he would be late because he was determined to be there when his little brother was crowned.

When Deshawn received the title, his brothers were among the first to celebrate him.

They hugged him and told him, “You did it. You did it.”

For the Newbolds, the achievement was never about competition between the brothers. Their rivalry is playful—arguments over trophies, grades and accomplishments, but underneath it is genuine support.

“They want each other to do well,” Dominique said.

In fact, Devin’s success had helped Deshawn believe the goal was possible.

“It made him realise it was in reach and is possible,” his father said.

After two brothers had done it, Dominique remembers thinking: “We two for two. We can go three for three.”

The family had already seen Deshawn’s potential from kindergarten. “He loved to work,” Dominique said. “He was not a lazy child.”

And watching all three boys excel at C.W. Sawyer carried another layer of meaning for their father, who attended the school himself.

His first-grade teacher even went on to teach one of his sons.

“I have always seen the leadership skills in each of them,” he said. “But the reality of actually watching it happen was breathtaking.”

Yet the Newbolds believe the boys’ greatest achievement is not a title. At home, they are taught to remain humble, show respect, use good manners and help others whenever they can.

And as a Christian family, they are reminded that their abilities and opportunities are gifts from God, but that hard work still matters.

Rantica said she feels especially blessed because her sons are not only intelligent, but respectful and responsible.

“To have three of them excelling and with good mannerisms was just amazing,” she said.

Perhaps the most powerful reminder of what the family has built came away from the school grounds. When Dominique’s father died last year, grief overwhelmed him. His sons saw their father cry and came to comfort him.

In that vulnerable moment, he saw something beyond academic achievement or leadership titles. He saw three young men who understood that their father needed them.

“That is a moment that I would never forget as long as I live,” he said.

The youth choir sang without him.

Inside Bible Truth Ministries on Saturday, their voices rose with the words, “I pray we all be ready.”

But there was one voice missing. Anton Bowe should have been there singing with them.

The 16-year-old was remembered at a spirited funeral surrounded by classmates, teachers, family and church members—three weeks after his life was suddenly cut short by a lightning strike while at R.M. Bailey High School.

For those who knew Anton, the silence left behind was difficult to describe.

Kevin Edgecombe, vice principal of C.H. Reeves Junior High, said Anton had touched countless lives.

“He was family. We watched him grow from a young boy.”

His personality, Edgecombe remembered, could fill an entire room.

“His laughter was unforgettable and his energy impossible to ignore.”

Anton was also known for respecting his elders, showing kindness and lending a helping hand whenever someone needed it.

Now, Edgecombe said, his laughter is missing from the hallways where so many had watched him grow.

Antone’s connection to C.H. Reeves ran deep. His aunts taught at the school, he was a former student, making the young student even more familiar to the wider school family.

To his classmates, however, Antone was more than someone they went to school with.

Mya Reckley, a fellow student in 11R at RM Bailey, described him as a big brother to the class.

“There was never a dull moment with him around,” she remembered.

“Anton was someone all of us depended on and counted on.”

She described him as optimistic and thoughtful—a person who had a way of making others feel less alone.

When she learned that he had died, the grief hit her physically. She lost her appetite.

Anton had become part of the emotional fabric of the people around him.

“He made people feel less alone when he felt alone himself,” Reckley said.

“He lived a life that was full and tender at the same time.”

At church, Anton was equally present.

Pastor Ellison Greenslade remembered him as a faithful member of the congregation who attended Sunday School and was regularly present for both the 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. services.

For Greenslade, Anton’s presence was a gift.

“An angel was amongst us,” he said.

There were tears for the teenager who should have had so much more time.

The saxophone rendition of Gone Too Soon filled Bahamas Faith Ministries as family and friends gathered to say goodbye to Stefan “Legend” Davis.

But beyond the grief was a celebration of a man remembered for his art, laughter, love of   culture—and the people he made feel like family.

Stefan, a prominent Bahamian artist and entrepreneur, died nearly three weeks ago in a Florida  car crash. According to Miami-Dade police, a man attempting to evade police ran a stop sign and crashed into Stefan’s vehicle.

His daughter, Tajaie Davis, described her father as her best friend and quite literally her twin.

“He was a lover of people, a lover of the arts, a lover of Junkanoo, a lover of culture but most importantly, a lover of family,” she said.

“He had a special way of making even a stranger feel like they were blood.”

Tajaie spoke of the safe space her father created for her to be “bold, ambitious and strong and unstoppable.”

Her greatest heartbreak is knowing he will not be there to see her marry or meet the children she hoped to have.

Still, she believes her father is in heaven, “painting the city gold.”

For close friend Obie Knowles, Stefan was the brother he never had.

They once formed a rap group called Black Juice and performed a few shows before Stefan eventually stepped away to focus on his art and pursue airbrushing seriously.

Stefan opened his first airbrushing booth at the Mall at Marathon and became known for helping others with his craft.

“We had our ups and downs like any brother,” Knowles recalled. “We would go weeks without talking but got back together like yesterday.”

“I could do anything for Stefan.”

Close friend Kyrie Albury remembered Stefan’s protective nature during their final trip together.

On September 2, while travelling toward Miami, another vehicle swerved toward them. Stefan looked at Kyrie and said:

“I gat you. You’re covered.”

Those words now carry a weight Kyrie will never forget.

Pastor Brooks Russell said Stefan and his fiancée initially sought marriage counselling, but the conversations eventually became about strengthening their relationship with Jesus.

Stefan told him he wanted his family, friends and everyone he knew to “know Jesus as Lord and Saviour.”

Culture Minister and friend Leslia Brice remembered Stefan as her big brother from Taylor Street, a man who protected her as they grew up and made sure she reached home safely.

“He created something out of nothing,” she said.

“That was his superpower.”

“A talent arrived way before his time,” she remembered.

The Bahamas is now challenging how US undercover agents operated here — just months before Jonathan “Player” Gardiner goes to trial in New York

The timing is hard to ignore.

For months, the Jonathan “Player” Gardiner case has been unfolding in US courts, exposing allegations of cocaine trafficking, Bahamian political connections and an undercover DEA operation that reportedly reached inside Parliament.

Now, the Davis administration is taking issue with how that investigation was conducted on Bahamian soil.

So the obvious question why now?

The Bahamas has long cooperated with US authorities in the fight against drug trafficking. OPBAT, the joint Bahamas-Turks and Caicos-US counter-narcotics framework, has been operating for more than four decades. The existence of that cooperation is not disputed.

But the Gardiner investigation appears to have crossed into a different and more sensitive territory.

US court filings allege that undercover DEA operatives and cooperating sources operated in the Bahamas during a years-long investigation. One affidavit alleges that a cooperating source, accompanied by another man, met an unnamed Bahamian politician inside Parliament in October 2024 to discuss a proposed cocaine shipment.

That politician — “Politician-1” — remains publicly unidentified.

The allegations became even more politically explosive after Gardiner was arrested following the May 12 plane crash and the US filings brought his alleged political connections into public view.

But the Bahamas did not suddenly discover the issue this week.

The Davis administration had already sought information from Washington about “Politician-1,” while Bahamian authorities began examining the allegations.

What is new is the escalation.

On September 18, Bahamas Ambassador to the US Wendall Jones led a delegation to the US Justice Department that included RBPF Assistant Commissioner Dwight Adderley and National Intelligence Agency Director Anthony Ferguson. The meeting was about matters the Bahamian side considered troubling concerning US operations in the Bahamas.

Now Jones says the complaint is that DEA agents operated without the required Bahamian permission, according to the Tribune.

US Ambassador Herschel Walker has fired back, calling the accusation “fake news” and pointing to the countries’ longstanding counter-drug cooperation.

And the timing is significant because Gardiner has now elected to stand trial with his co-defendants on March 1, 2027. His defence is seeking additional time to review discovery and prepare pretrial motions.

It raises a legitimate question: Could the dispute over how the DEA operated become part of the wider legal and political fallout from the Gardiner case?

That is the part worth watching.

What did Gardiner and the other defendants allegedly do? And were US investigators operating within the legal and diplomatic framework governing foreign law-enforcement activity in The Bahamas?

The first question belongs to the US courts and the second is now becoming a diplomatic dispute between two countries that have spent decades cooperating against the same threat.

And Wendall Jones is sitting directly in the middle of it as the Bahamian diplomat carrying the government’s concerns to Washington, alongside the country’s senior intelligence and police officials.

The Bahamas is now saying that cooperation has rules while Washington is saying, don’t confuse cooperation against traffickers with wrongdoing by the investigators.

With a March trial approaching and “Politician-1” still unidentified, why is the fight over the DEA’s methods becoming a problem now?

Jillian Pinder’s stepdaughter speaks of grief, anger, relief and a family changed forever

“My dad was sent to prison today.”

For Jillian Pinder’s stepdaughter, those words marked the beginning of another kind of grief— losing her stepmother and the father she thought she knew.

In a deeply personal social media post following her father’s remand to prison, she described being overwhelmed by emotions she was still struggling to understand.

“I’m sad. I’m angry. I’m hurt,” she wrote.

“And honestly, there is also a part of me that feels a sense of relief.”

It’s the complicated reality that can follow a tragedy when the people involved are not strangers, but family.

Jillian Pinder, a 56-year-old teacher at TG Glover Primary School, died on July 13, weeks after she was attacked and stabbed in the neck on June 4.

Her husband, George Pinder, has been charged in connection with her death, alongside another man. He faces murder, conspiracy to murder and abetment to murder charges.

For Jillian’s stepdaughter, however, the court proceedings are only one part of what she is now carrying.

“I’m grieving more than one thing,” she wrote. “I’m grieving my stepmother, whose life was taken. I’m grieving the family we were supposed to be.”

She said things she had heard her father say about his children and his wife had caused deep pain.

“Words can leave wounds that people cannot always see,” she wrote in a social media post.

But she also made a deliberate choice not to allow anger to consume her.

Instead, she said she wants to acknowledge her pain, protect her heart and give herself permission to feel whatever comes.

There is, she wrote, no single correct way to respond to a tragedy like this.

“I don’t have to choose between being sad and being relieved. I can mourn my stepmother while also mourning the parts of my own life that have been changed forever.”

Her words also turned toward the people she is determined to protect, her family, her daughter and, especially, her siblings.

“My whole heart goes out to my stepmother, to her loved ones, and to everyone whose life has been changed by this tragedy,” she wrote.

“Right now, I’m choosing peace.”

She said she is choosing to let the truth come to light while giving herself permission to heal.

She may never understand why things happened the way they did, she wrote, but she knows she deserves the space to grieve, to process it, and eventually find peace.

“I did not cause this. I cannot change the past. And I do not have to carry all of this alone.”

“I always think about Miss Pinder. She was so beautiful. She was such a sweet teacher.”

For those who knew Jillian Pinder, 56, they remember her laugh, jokes and kindness. The teacher who poured into her students, the aunt who called for advice, the mother whose children were at the centre of her life.

And, perhaps most strikingly, family remember her faith.

Pinder, a teacher at TG Glover Primary School, died on July 13, weeks after she was attacked and stabbed in the neck on June 4.

Her husband, George Pinder, and another man have since been charged in connection with her death. They face murder and conspiracy charges, with George Pinder also facing a charge of abetment to murder. The allegations are waiting to be proven in court.

But as the legal process begins, Jillian’s family is determined that the woman she was should not disappear behind the case.

Her niece, Janine Capron, remembered a woman whose relationship with her family was filled with laughter.

“Our calls were always some joke or story. She loved to laugh!” Capron wrote.

Jillian was often the first person to send birthday and anniversary messages. She showed up for family milestones and, when difficult conversations were necessary, she remained family.

“She was always the first message for birthdays or anniversaries. She showed up for every family event and milestone,” Capron wrote.

Then came the phone call that changed everything.

Capron recalled rushing to Nassau after learning Jillian had been attacked. When she entered her aunt’s ICU room, she broke down in tears.

But Jillian comforted her. “I am still here,” she told her.

Capron said Jillian recounted what had happened and repeatedly expressed that she simply wanted her life.

“He can have it all, I just want my life,” Capron recalled her saying.

And there was something Jillian reportedly told her attackers. “I forgive you.”

Her niece said those words have stayed with her.

“I haven’t gotten to that place yet,” she wrote.

For a family still struggling to understand the loss, forgiveness is not simple, neither is grief.

Jillian’s family has created the Justice for Jill Facebook page as they seek answers and support for her children.

“As we continue to remember and fight for Jill, we ask that you please keep her beautiful children lifted in prayer,” the family said.

Her niece Anna Capron wrote that the family trusted God even when they could not understand the delays.

“We may not be able to bring her back, but we can make sure she is never forgotten,” she wrote.

That may be the family’s greatest act of remembrance.

After praying at a memorial for his schoolmate, R.M. Bailey student Cameron Strachan is using his own journey to encourage young Bahamians to hold on to faith, education and purpose.

When Cameron Strachan stood before his schoolmates at the memorial service for his schoolmate, Anton Bowe, he was praying from a place of knowing what it means to go through a difficult season.

The 11th-grade R.M. Bailey Senior High School student delivered a heartfelt prayer that moved students, teachers and administrators.

But behind that powerful moment is a young man who says he has faced some of the hardest years of his life.

While attending A.F. Adderley Junior High School, Cameron says he struggled with his mental health— a period he describes simply as “the hardest years of my life.”

His academic performance suffered. Yet somehow, he kept serving.

He was eventually appointed Head Boy.

“For me, it was only by the grace of God,” Cameron said.

Today, he wants to use what he has learned to encourage other young people who may be quietly fighting battles of their own.

Cameron’s faith began taking shape at an early age in his Nassau Village home, where he was raised by his mother alongside his younger sister.

His mother taught them Psalm 91 and made sure they recited it repeatedly.

“Until we lived by it, until we lived in it,” Cameron recalled.

That foundation has remained with him.

And when tragedy struck his school community, Cameron felt compelled to stand before his peers and pray.

For him, school should be more than a place where young people receive an education. It should also be a place where they can find encouragement, support and a sense of safety.

“I believe that this campus is where students are going to be set free and delivered from whatever they are going through,” he said.

Cameron now hopes to become Head Boy of R.M. Bailey next academic year. But he believes leadership is about being someone another young person can approach when life becomes difficult.

His philosophy is simple: “It’s good to be book smart and Bible smart.”

His ambition is to become a police officer and eventually study law and theology, combining his desire to serve others with his Christian faith.

Adapted from Ministry of Education Bahamas

Minister of Finance Michael Halkitis finally addressed the growing controversy surrounding the National Investment Fund in Parliament on Wednesday in the House of Assembly.

But after eight minutes, the government explained its position but did not necessarily answer the questions.

Halkitis’ central argument was straightforward. He said Parliament authorised the government on March 10, 2025 to borrow up to $300 million and deposit the proceeds into the NIF for national development and infrastructure.

He also said the Public Finance Management Act governed the administration and application of those resources through the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

And, importantly, Halkitis said the government sought advice from the Attorney General on the interaction between the Public Finance Management Act, the NIF Act and the relevant parliamentary authority.

The government, he said, acted in accordance with that advice.

Then came the spending figures: Halkitis said $310.9 million in NIF proceeds had been used for public infrastructure and strategic national assets.

Of that, $210.6 million went toward buildings, roads, water infrastructure and other public assets, while another $100.3 million was allocated to aviation infrastructure, including projects in Long Island, Cat Island, Exuma and San Salvador.

This is a broader government account of where the money went, according to Halkitis, but it also raises new questions.

The central controversy has been about authority and governance.

Central Bank Governor John Rolle previously confirmed that the NIF Board of Governors had never formally convened to conduct business, while an account in the NIF’s name existed and transactions began in July 2025.

Halkitis’ response was that the Ministry of Finance operated within the authority provided by the Public Finance Management Act, supported by legal advice.

But the public has not seen that legal advice, nor did the eight-minute response provide a transaction-by-transaction accounting showing precisely when money entered and left the NIF, who authorised each movement, or which specific projects received each payment.

Then there is the broader NIF story involving the hundreds of millions in excess borrowing receipts previously disclosed by the government.

These figures need to be reconciled so Bahamians can see the complete picture.

Halkitis has provided Parliament with the government’s explanation, but the next stage should be evidence. Can the government provide the legal advice, the financial records, the transaction trail, and the project-level breakdown?

Ultimately, this is a question about how public money was authorised, controlled, spent and should be accounted for.

Corporal Steven Duncombe, for many of his friends, was the kind of person you could call when you needed help.

When his colleague John Rolle reached out recently to ask Duncombe to escort his family to his nephew’s funeral on Saturday, September 5, 2026, he did not hesitate.

“I gat you bro,” Duncombe told him.

Rolle said in a social media post that he knew he could count on Duncombe. What he could never have imagined was that, less than two weeks later, he would be preparing to mourn the man who had promised to stand by his side.

“I can’t believe it,” Rolle said, remembering Duncombe as a brother and someone who was always willing to lend a helping hand.

Steven Duncombe, a 37-year-old serving member of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, died following a traffic accident in the area of Prince Charles Drive and Garden Road.

Duncombe’s police motorcycle collided with and a white Suzuki motor vehicle. Duncombe was found suffering from injuries, while the Suzuki’s female passenger also reported sustaining head injuries.

Despite medical efforts, Duncombe succumbed to his injuries shortly after 3 a.m. on Monday.

But beyond the circumstances of his death, those who knew him are remembering the life he lived and the impression he left.

To many, Duncombe was a serious and dedicated officer who took pride in his work as a police cyclist. To others, he was “Stevie,” “Luca” or simply a friend who could turn an ordinary moment into a memory.

Vana described him as “the people’s favourite rider” and “our favourite Facebook police officer.”

The Royal Bahamas Police Staff Association remembered his unwavering dedication to service, professionalism and commitment as a police cyclist, qualities it said reflected the very best of the Force.

Others spoke of his time serving in Harbour Island, describing him as one of the finest officers to work there.

Michael Clarke remembered a man who could make people laugh until they cried, even while dealing with his own challenges.

Clarke said their friendship was filled with teasing, arguments and jokes. They were, as he put it, “like Tom and Jerry”—but always with love underneath.

“Most times, I was funny but Stevie was funnier!” Clarke recalled.

He also remembered Duncombe as someone who supported his efforts without question and regularly offered encouragement.

“Bey Mike, don’t worry about that. Keep doing you,” Duncombe would tell him. That encouragement, Clarke said, was typical of the man he knew.

Clarke said their last conversation took place just days before the accident.

“The parties, outings, real-life conversations, check-ins… will be cherished forever,” Clarke said, describing Duncombe as “a true gentle giant and a kind soul.”

For Duncombe’s cousin, the loss remains almost impossible to process. After hearing the news, the cousin said they posted a message on his Facebook wall, only to delete it moments later because no one else had posted yet.

There was still a small hope that the information was wrong—that a call would come saying Duncombe had received a second chance.

“You broke a lot of hearts,” the cousin wrote, struggling to understand how Duncombe’s name could now appear alongside the words “rest in peace.”

Raven Hepburn shared a similar disbelief, remembering how loved ones had hoped Duncombe’s brief responses before his death were signs that he was fighting his way back.

“He fought,” she wrote, describing him as a fighter whose time had ended far too soon.

Kjay Worrell recalled the “Atlantis runner days” and said Duncombe had always been solid.

Member of Parliament for Seabreeze Leslia Brice described Duncombe as a stellar gentleman, a first-class officer and a man who performed his duties with excellence, always with a smile.

Duncombe was 2007 graduate of Nassau Christian Academy.

President of the Bahamas Union of Teachers Belinda Wilson knows how to make a negotiating position memorable.

“Get your tennis ready.”

Wilson used the phrase last week as teachers prepared for possible industrial action, implying a strike and a message that her members should be ready for confrontation.

Days later, after an agreement was reached at the Office of the Prime Minister, Wilson had a different instruction.

Her language changed. “Put your tennis back in the house. Your umbrellas back in the house.”

But the strategy behind it may not have changed.

For almost a year, Wilson had been applying pressure on the government over the teachers’ outstanding financial issues. She accused government negotiators of failing to negotiate in good faith, questioned the rationale behind its salary offer and warned that industrial action could take several forms.

Her strongest bargaining chip was the possibility of a strike.

Some 90.5 percent of teachers who participated in the union’s survey supported industrial action. Last Thursday, teachers at some public schools called in late. Government responded by activating contingency plans involving supply teachers, teacher reserves, former teachers and administrators.

The message was clear that a prolonged dispute could disrupt the education system.

Yet Wilson ultimately did not have to take the confrontation to its most disruptive stage.

Instead, she returned from the negotiating table declaring the union “elated.”

Did Wilson win because she forced government to move—or because she knew when to compromise?

The union initially sought a 20 percent salary increase over three years. The final agreement stretches the arrangement across five years, with teachers receiving a minimum salary of $30,100 and a maximum of $54,000, along with lump-sum payments and expanded hardship allowances for Family Island teachers.

Wilson openly acknowledged the change. “We pulled that back,” she said.

That admission is important.

Effective union leadership is extracting enough value from negotiations that members believe the final agreement was worth the fight, rather than the original demand.

Wilson appears to have understood that.

Her public rhetoric was confrontational when pressure was needed. Her message became celebratory when an agreement was secured.

That may be the real Belinda Wilson playbook: Escalate, mobilise, apply pressure, negotiate, compromise, then declare a win.