MAN FINED FOR CAUSING INJURY AND DAMAGING CAR

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was fined in court yesterday and ordered to financially compensate a man he admitted to injuring and damaging his car on Arawak Cay.

John Cates, 30, faced Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on a charge of causing harm and damage.

electorate whether they would support four constitutional amendments. One of those included Bahamian women being afforded the same right as their male counterparts, but it was rejected.

Attorney General Ryan Pinder said previously, with respect to the country’s citizenship laws, that the government is awaiting the Privy Council’s decision concerning a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the issue.

In 2021, the Court of Appeal affirmed a Supreme Court decision that

Bahamian men can automatically pass citizenship to their children regardless of whether their child is born out of wedlock to non-Bahamian mothers.

The government later appealed the court’s decision to the Privy Council and the matter is still pending.

Equality Bahamas director Alicia Wallace argued that Mrs Miller-Uibo is entitled to the “same human rights as all Bahamian women”.

“We are all subject to discriminatory law which needs to change for the benefit of us all. At Equality Bahamas, we talk about inter-sectionality as integral to feminist and women’s rights work because we know that we do not all experience discrimination in the same way or to the same degrees.”

“The ways we are treated are determined based on race, class, disability, geographic location, and as we well know in The Bahamas, our names which determine who we know and who knows us.

“Miller-Uibo’s pregnancy may bring more attention to the issue of gender inequality in nationality law and serve to renew the call for it to be addressed through ordinary legislation while the government develops an action plan and timeline, with women’s rights organisations, for a referendum as recommended by the CEDAW Committee in 2018.”

Ms Wallace highlighted the need for equal application of the law and rights for all woman, including the track star.

“It is important to note that there is significant power held by the minister who, through the Bahamas Nationality Act, can grant citizenship to the child of a Bahamian at his/her own discretion. Should MillerUibo apply for her child to be registered as a citizen of The Bahamas, citizenship would likely be granted.

“The minister may decide that her name and her status as an Olympian are enough to overlook her gender and what the law says about Bahamian women and citizenship. We all know that the law is not applied to all people in the same way. Not only is there gender inequality in our laws, but in enforcement, implementation, and practices. We need legal reform to ensure that we all have full access to our human rights and that all Bahamian women can confer citizenship on their children.”

At around 3.30pm on January 20 at Arawak Cay during a physical altercation, the accused injured Robert Young. During the incident, it is said Cates caused damage to Young’s red coloured 2017 Honda Accord, valued at $6,830. In court, Cates pleaded guilty. He was fined and ordered to compensate the complainant a collective $7,300.