123 No. 123, Wednesday, May 20, 2026
‘TELL US IDENTITY
OF POLITICIAN-1’
Government in asks to US: share information on 3-year undercover
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Davis administration yesterday said it will again ask the US government for information about explosive allegations linking an unnamed politician to an international drug trafficking probe, even as a promised independent corruption watchdog remains unestablished. The statement from the Office of the Prime Minister followed The Tribune’s exclusive report on details contained in a US Drug Enforcement Administration affidavit tied to the arrest of convicted cocaine smuggler Jonathan “Player” Gardiner. It also makes clear
IDENTIFY - SEE PAGE TWO
“Any person involved will be held accountable without fear or favour, and the chips will fall where they may”
Senior Customs officer faces 77 charges in $58k bribery case
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
- Office of Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis 19 counts of bribery 19 counts of extortion 19 counts of money laundering 19 counts of fraud by false pretences
A SENIOR Bahamas Customs officer was charged in Freeport Magistrate’s Court yesterday with bribery, extortion, money laundering and fraud involving more than $58,000 allegedly solicited from a local business and an American man while she was stationed in Exuma. Pamela Williams, a chief customs revenue officer,
appeared before Magistrate Uel Johnson on 77 charges involving $58,045. The alleged offences reportedly occurred between March 2023 and April 2025. She left the court
BRIBERY - SEE PAGE FIVE
1 count of fraudulent breach of trust
BACSWN introduces aviation carbon credit platform
THE Bahamas Aviation, Climate & Severe Weather Network’s (BACSWN) unveiled its ground-breaking US certified aviation carbon credits platform to more than 200 climate scientists from nearly 90 countries who are attending the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting currently underway in Nassau. Presenting to the panel, Quincy Rolle, President and CEO of Tribune
Digital Labs and chief project developer behind BACSWN’s revolutionary platform outlined the company’s innovative approach of integrating advanced weather intelligence, realtime flight tracking and aviation emissions analytics to help airlines optimise flight operations, reduce fuel consumption and generate measurable carbon reduction outcomes.
BACSWN - SEE PAGE 12
SENIOR Customs officer Pamela Williams covers her head as she leaves court in Grand Bahama yesterday.
Photo: Denise Maycock/Tribune Freeport Reporter
MICHAEL STRACHAN, BACSWN’s Chief Operating Officer, sits with Bart van den Hurk, fellow co-chair of IPCC Wokring Group II.
Smith calls claims about his role in the crashed flight salacious and ill-conceived
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
PLP MP-elect for West
Grand Bahama Kingsley
Smith yesterday issued a statement about his alleged role in arranging an Election Day flight that crashed with a convicted cocaine smuggler aboard, calling them “salacious, defamatory and ill-conceived.” But he did not actually address whether or not he played any role in arranging the flight.
His comments came after The Tribune reported Tuesday that he declined to answer a series of questions about the crash and how Jonathan “Player” Gardiner, a rescued passenger now in US custody, came to be on the aircraft.
Mr Smith’s name surfaced after Olympia Outten, one of 11 passengers aboard the downed aircraft, claimed he helped arrange travel for her family on the flight after a ticketing mix-up.
Ms Outten and her family travelled from Marsh Harbour, Abaco, to Grand Bahama to vote in the general election.
She claimed a flight agent mistakenly booked her and her family on the wrong flight, prompting her to contact Mr Smith.
“He told me, ‘Miss Outten don’t worry, we sending in a charter, a charter coming in from Nassau, you and your children can jump on that
charter because he sending them there for us,’” she said. “That’s how we got to go on that plane. Me and my sons weren’t supposed to be on that plane. We were supposed to be on Flamingo Air.”
Mr Smith said he was aware of news stories about him and called them “an obvious attempt to argue a negative.”
The Tribune put a series of questions to Mr Smith, including how Gardiner came to be aboard the flight and whether or not he knew him, or pilot Ian Nixon, also a convicted drug smuggler. However, he declined to elaborate and said: “We will get to that at some point.”
The questions were again put to him yester day. No response was forthcoming, other than his statement.
Gardiner, who was previously imprisoned in the United States for drug and money laundering offences, had been under DEA surveillance for up to three years as a central figure in an alleged international drug trafficking organisation.
2024 indictment of former Royal Bahamas Police Force Chief Superintendent Elvis Nathaniel Curtis and others on federal narcotics and firearms charges.
his buildings to launder drug proceeds. The Davis administration has not commented on any connection to Gardiner, but has said it is fully cooperating with
He appeared in court in Orlando, Florida, on Friday charged under US drug laws with attempted and conspiratorial international drug trafficking offences. His case is now under the jurisdiction of the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
His arrest appears to connect him to the Georgia-based drug syndicate named in the November
indictment alleged the group trafficked drugs through The Bahamas and into the United States with help from corrupt Bahamian government officials, including politicians and senior members of the police and defence forces.
A DEA deposition also alleges that two years after Gardiner was deported from the United States, six years into his sentence, his Bahamian construction company “bid for and secured Bahamian government-issued construction projects” and that he used
authorities through diplomatic, consular, legal and treaty channels.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it continues to seek consular access to Gardiner and will remain engaged with US authorities on the matter.
Mr Smith, who served as parliamentary secretary in the first Davis administration after winning the West Grand Bahama and Bimini by-election, has not yet been appointed to any official government post in the new administration.
FNM demands answers from govt on identity of ‘Politician-1’ in drug probe
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
FREE National Movement officials yesterday pressed the Davis administration to say what it is doing to identify the person described in a recent United States court filing as “Politician-1”, warning that if the person is among those being sworn in to Parliament today, they should not be allowed to take the oath until the allegations are fully investigated.
The demand came as pressure mounted over allegations that an unnamed politician met inside the House of Assembly with people believed to be members of a drug trafficking cartel, a claim opposition figures said has stained the country’s reputation and raised urgent questions about whether the person could be returning to Parliament.
The government has said it has received no official information from US authorities identifying any public official in the matter – that it does not know the identity of the person known as ‘Politician-1.’
However, FNM figures pressed the administration to say whether it knows more than it has disclosed, what steps it is taking to confirm the politician’s identity, and whether anyone facing such allegations will be allowed to sit in Parliament.
In a video circulating on Facebook, FNM Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright said the allegations had brought “disrepute not only to this institution but to the people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”
“The government must stand up and let the Bahamian people know who is this politician who was in this house, is it someone who, in fact, will be sworn in tomorrow to come back in this house?” he said.
“The question is today, why is the government so silent on this issue that has brought reputational damage not only to this institution but to the people of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. There's a collective cry throughout this country, the people of this country are demanding answers.”
“How could it be in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas that someone who is sworn to protect the constitution of this country and who should be a lawmaker, not a lawbreaker, how does this happen?”
Mr Cartwright noted that the FNM has called for a commission of inquiry into the allegations.
Party chairman Dr Duane Sands added: “...the country has been rocked by allegations that Bahamian government officials and a high-ranking politician are complicit in a trans-national multi-million dollar drug trafficking scheme.” He added: “Simply put, this politician was meetings in the halls on parliament trying to swing a $30 million drug deal. International press has picked up on this dark story . But it feels like we back in the 1980s when our Bahamas was a ‘nation for sale,’ because the PLP was letting drug dealers poison the bodies and spirits of the country’s sons and daughters, with coke.
“We were overrun with drug money, corrupting our country and government at every level. And sadly today, the press is reporting on the ‘cocaine files’ with the most sickening allegation about government officials.”
He asked if there were ‘one, two, three or more people’ in the Prime MInister’s government ‘selling out our Bahamas to cocaine cowboys. The Bahamian people are demanding plenty answers from Philip Davis. Is he investigating the matter or will he simply ignore the allegations made by
the US government? Why is the prime minister jeapordising our relationship with the United States? The allegation suggest that one of his cabinet minister gave government contracts to Eric Gardiner. The allegations further suggest that the drug money may have been laundered through these contracts.”
He demanded to know of any business dealings and contracts the government had with Gardiner, now under arrest in the US having been charged with drug smuggling offences.
Long Island MP-elect Dr Andre Rollins said he believes the Davis administration knows the identity of the politician referenced in the US court documents.
Dr Rollins alleged that, to limit further embarrassment, the administration excluded the politician from Cabinet and did not reappoint the person as a parliamentary secretary.
“Th PLP politician in question has brought shame and disgrace to our country and our parliament,” Dr Rollins said. “He has caused people to once again be reminded of the 1980 drug era when international media notoriously labeled our country as “A Nation For Sale.” This was the badly tarnished reputation that the FNM, under the leadership of Hubert Ingraham, fought valiantly to change.”
“Rather than allow this matter to bring even further embarrassment to our country, this individual should do the honourable thing, which is to not take his seat at the opening of parliament tomorrow. If he lacks the moral compass to guide him to do the right thing, the PLP, in the national interest, should force him to do so.”
Dr Rollins pointed to a press release from West Grand Bahama MP-elect Kingsley Smith, saying it did not explicitly deny involvement. He said Mr Smith should directly answer whether he met in Parliament to discuss a $30m cocaine transshipment.
Former FNM candidate Heather Hunt also called on the government to say what it knows about the identity of “Politician-1” and what steps it is taking to establish who the person is.
“Who the hell is politician number one?” she said in a Facebook Live. “Who is it? If the government of the Bahamas does not know who it is, the Prime Minister needs to be saying to us, the Bahamian people, that he's going to move
and
WEST GB MP KINGSLEY SMITH
JONATHAN ERIC GARDINER
Govt asks US to name politician in drug probe
America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has kept the government and local law enforcement completely in the dark regarding a major threeyear narcotics investigation, much of it with undercover ‘co-operating sources’ working on Bahamian soil.
Last night a US Embassy spokesperson said: “The United States is committed to working with The Bahamas to take on the tough challenges facing our nations: stopping illegal migration, securing our borders, combating transnational crime, and countering drug and firearm trafficking.”
The affidavit alleged that the politician met in October 2024 with an undercover DEA source posing as a drug trafficker and a drug mule pilot inside the Bahamian Parliament building to discuss a cocaine shipment allegedly worth $30m.
A statement from the OPM acknowledged they do not know the identity of ‘Politician-1’ – the subject of widespread speculation throughout The Bahamas.
“To date, the government has received no official information identifying any public official in relation to this matter,” the OPM said yesterday, breaking its silence on the latest allegations.
“The position of the government of The Bahamas remains that wherever wrongdoing is established, any person involved will be held accountable without fear or favour, and the chips will fall where they may.”
Yesterday’s statement from Mr Davis’ office said that the government takes the allegations seriously and will pursue the matter as it conducts its own inquiries.
Meanwhile, former House Speaker Halson Moultrie said it would be difficult for the government to review surveillance footage of Parliament to see who met with “Politician-1” unless the alleged meeting occurred in the public gallery.
government to check it, but I believe that the government should be very concerned about it because we cannot allow our most sacred chambers and institutions in our government to be desecrated by such activities and by such individuals,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the US Coast Guard for rescuing Gardiner and the other Bahamians aboard the aircraft, saying it is fully cooperating with authorities through diplomatic, consular, legal and treaty channels.
The ministry said it continues to seek consular access to Gardiner and will remain engaged with US authorities on the matter.
Gardiner was among 11 Bahamians rescued by the US military after a twin-propeller aircraft crashed into the sea during an Election Day storm.
The US Coast Guard later discovered that Gardiner was a wanted man and a key figure in an international drug trafficking network under a three-year undercover DEA surveillance operation, despite previously being jailed for 18 years in a US prison for drug and money laundering offences.
When rescued on May 12, he was allegedly carrying three mobile phones and $30,000 in Bahamian currency “packed in a manner consistent with narcotics proceeds.” The cash was inside an envelope labelled with a handwritten name of a politician whose name was redacted by US prosecutors.
The politician is the same unnamed figure referenced in the explosive November 2024 indictment issued by the US Southern District of New York.
That indictment alleged the unnamed politician was expected to authorise Bahamian law enforcement to facilitate a $2m cocaine trafficking scheme into the United States.
The latest DEA affidavit went further, alleging that the politician met inside a Bahamian Parliament building with people he believed were
involved in drug trafficking.
The allegations have intensified questions about drug trafficking, political access and corruption in The Bahamas, while prompting opposition calls for a commission of inquiry.
The Davis administration previously sent a diplomatic note requesting further details about the unnamed Bahamian politician mentioned in the case after the allegations first surfaced.
However, officials have repeatedly said their requests for information went unanswered, and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis appeared frustrated by the lack of details during a luncheon with pastors in December 2024.
Mr Davis initially condemned the allegations and pledged commitment to anti-corruption efforts.
His tone shifted last April, when he told reporters the American operation appeared, on the surface, to involve entrapment. Mr Davis suggested the officers named in the indictment may have been deliberately lured or manipulated into participating in the scheme.
“That whole operation is concerning to me, because on the face of it, it appeared to be an entrapment of officers, and that is concerning,” he said.
The administration had passed an Independent Commission of Investigations bill following the November 2024 indictment, saying it would target corrupt senior government officials. However, the watchdog has not yet been established. In recent months, former Attorney General Ryan Pinder did not respond to The Tribune’s questions about the body’s status.
The commission was
pitched as a way to investigate serious misconduct involving police, defence force officers, corrections officers and specified public officials, including parliamentarians. Its absence leaves the administration without an independent body with clear investigative teeth, forcing it back onto diplomatic requests and vague local inquiries as fresh allegations again raise questions
about public officials and drug trafficking.
Critical questions remain unanswered, including who owns and chartered the downed Panama-registered Beechcraft King Air 300 twin-prop aircraft and why Gardiner was on board, allegedly with thousands of dollars. A rescued passenger claimed that Kingsley Smith, the PLP MP for West Grand Bahama, told them he would arrange a chartered flight from Abaco to Freeport. However, Mr Smith declined to answer when contacted by The Tribune on Monday.
The Convenient Law of Absolute discretion
To all my pledge supporters of St. Barnabas.
On behalf of myself and team, I wish to offer my sincere apology for the humiliation of showing up to the polls on election day(s) while having to suffer great pain, disappointment and loss of priviledge to mark your “X” to the name and symbol of your prefered candidate due to the same not appearing on the ballot.
However note, it is my prayer that the new incoming elected legislators will garner the courage and dignity to immediately address the indiscriminating inequities with respect to the laws governing our electoral process.
Furthermore, I wish to make a humble and urgent clarion call to the professing Prophetic Ministers of God, to consider their ways pursuant to the Biblical narrative written in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 verse 21.
May the Lord extend grace to the fallen.
Michael P. Butler “Would be” Independent Candidate, St. Barnabas
PARLIAMENT buildings Downtown, Bay Street.
MICHAEL P. BUTLER
BCC urges PM to reconsider gaming-linked Cabinet picks
By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas Christian Council has urged Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis to reconsider the Cabinet appointments of Sebas Bastian and Leslia Miller-Brice, warning that their longstanding ties to the gaming industry have raised serious questions about conflict of interest, public trust and the integrity of executive power.
Pastor Mario Moxey, the new president of the Christian Council, said yesterday that the appointments should be tested in court, but that the council has no intention of taking legal action.
The religious body released a pointed statement criticising Mr Davis’ decision to appoint Mr Bastian as Minister of Innovation and National Development and Mrs Miller-Brice as Minister of Culture, Art and Heritage.
The BCC said its concern was “not personal” but centred on governance, public confidence and whether the “spirit of the law” had been honoured.
The statement acknowledged that the ministers reportedly satisfied the legal requirements to serve, but argued that the appointments had “created a dark cloud” because of the Gaming Act’s restrictions on Cabinet ministers and close relatives holding gaming licences or maintaining financial interests connected to licence holders.
The council said the issue goes beyond technical compliance.
“The Bahamian people
should not be asked to accept what appears to be legal gymnastics crafted to get one over on the law,” the statement read. “When a statute is enacted to prevent a particular ethical danger, government must not appear to be searching for pathways around the very concern the law was designed to address.”
The BCC referenced Sections 25 and 26 of the Gaming Act, which outline restrictions intended to keep Cabinet authority and gaming interests separate.
The council said those safeguards were intended to prevent conflicts between public office and private interests, guard against undue influence in regulatory decision-making, and maintain confidence in Cabinet decisions.
It also argued that the provisions were meant to prevent the perception that national policy could be shaped by commercial gaming interests and to keep the gaming industry from improper proximity to executive power.
The statement drew on the history of the 2013 gaming referendum, when Bahamians rejected the regulation and taxation of web shop gaming and the establishment of a national lottery.
Despite that outcome, the Christie administration legalised and regulated the industry through the Gaming Act in 2014, drawing criticism from religious groups and others who argued the government ignored the will of voters.
“Whatever one’s view on that decision, the Act included an important and
deliberate safeguard: a firewall intended to keep Cabinet authority and gaming interests clearly separated,” the statement read. “That firewall was not accidental. It was not incidental. It was a matter of sound public policy.”
The council argued that no public evidence had been provided to address whether Mr Bastian and Mrs Miller-Brice had “truly and completely relinquished any direct or indirect” connection to financial benefits from gaming enterprises with which they were previously associated.
In March, it was reported that Mr Bastian stepped down as chief executive officer of Island Luck, a leading lottery retailer and gaming lounge he co-founded 17 years ago.
Meanwhile, Leander Brice has reportedly resigned as chief executive officer of GLK Limited, owner of A Sure Win.
The BCC said the ministers’ connections to gaming were not “distant, incidental, or obscure”, but longstanding and publicly known.
“The public is therefore hard pressed to believe, without clear and compelling disclosure, that all relevant interests and benefits have been fully severed in substance and not merely rearranged in form,” the statement read.
The council cited a July 2025 statement from Mr Davis, who said he had no intention of changing the law to allow Cabinet ministers to hold interests in gaming licences.
The BCC said that the statement reflected “sound judgement” and the
“wisdom of the law”.
Mr Bastian’s rise in politics and Mrs Miller-Brice’s Cabinet appointment have revived years of debate over whether people connected to the gaming industry should hold senior government positions in a country where the industry is heavily regulated and politically sensitive.
When Mr Bastian emerged as the Progressive Liberal Party’s candidate for Fort Charlotte in 2025, Mr Davis welcomed his entry into politics but ruled out amending the Gaming Act to allow Cabinet ministers to remain involved in the gaming industry or maintain related interests.
In July 2025, Mrs Miller-Brice, the Seabreeze MP, publicly supported revisiting the law that appeared to keep her out of a Cabinet position during the first Davis administration before the PLP’s re-election last Tuesday.
The BCC also tied its concerns to The Bahamas’ upcoming Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Fifth Round Mutual Evaluation, scheduled for October 19 to 30.
The regional body will assess the country’s compliance with global standards set by the Financial Action Task Force
BCC PRESIDENT MARIO MOXEY
and examine the effectiveness of The Bahamas’ anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism and countering proliferation financing framework.
The council noted that the Central Bank of The Bahamas previously described 2026 as a “crucial year”.
While acknowledging that the appointments do not automatically affect the mutual evaluation, the BCC argued that they risk “sending a conflicting signal” when The Bahamas must demonstrate strong governance standards and sensitivity to conflicts of interest involving highly regulated sectors.
The council said the financial services industry was “too important to the national economy” for the government to ignore concerns that may raise questions about transparency, regulatory credibility and the integrity of public
decision-making.
The BCC also cited 1 Thessalonians 5:22, which states: “Abstain from every form of evil.”
It argued that the public interest should stand above the advancement of any person and that leadership must recognise that some decisions, while technically lawful, may still be “politically unwise, morally troubling, and damaging to public confidence”.
The council said reconsidering the appointments “would not diminish” the prime minister’s leadership.
“Our appeal, therefore, is made in hope,” the statement read, urging the prime minister to honour the spirit of the Gaming Act in a manner that “protects The Bahamas’ international reputation, and reassures the Bahamian people that good governance will remain the defining mark” of his leadership.
Govt completes executive team with five new secretaries
By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net
THE Davis administration completed its executive team yesterday with the swearing in of five parliamentary secretaries.
The appointments came days after the Progressive Liberal Party’s landslide victory in the May 12 general election, when the party won 33 of 41 seats. The Free National Movement secured eight seats.
Randy Rolle, MP-elect for Bimini and the Berry Islands, was appointed parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, while Bradley Fox Jr, MP-elect for Central and South Abaco, was appointed parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works and Family Island Affairs.
Southern Shores MP-elect Obie Roberts was sworn in as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
Clint Watson, now a senator, was sworn in as parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, while Keenan Johnson, another
senator, was sworn in as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
For unclear reasons, the government did not invite independent media companies to cover the event, despite several inquiries.
Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper delivered remarks on behalf of Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, congratulating the men on their appointments and saying they had been given an opportunity to serve at a serious time for the country.
“Let us never forget this, we are all servant leaders. No office is above the people,” Mr Cooper said.
“No title is greater than the duty to serve, and no appointment matters unless it helps improve the lives of the Bahamian people.
The Prime Minister has assembled this executive team with a clear mandate to deliver. The Bahamian people expect progress- the progress that we promised that they can see, feel, and trust. They expect government to move with urgency, to listen, to act, and to remain close to the realities of their lives.”
Mr Cooper said the Davis administration’s executive team is now complete and the real work begins.
The appointments came as the Davis administration continued to face criticism over the size of its executive team.
On Monday, Mr Davis defended the size of the team, saying he needed the “best hands-on deck” to deliver on the PLP’s expanded mandate. His comments came after Opposition Leader Michael Pintard accused the government of weakening parliamentary oversight by placing most elected MPs inside Cabinet, leaving too few government backbenchers to scrutinise the administration from within. The administration faced criticism after unveiling the largest Cabinet in Bahamian history: a 29-member ministerial team that includes 21 Cabinet ministers, seven ministers of state and the prime minister.
Among MPs, only West Grand Bahama MP-elect Kingsley Smith and Nassau Village MP-elect Jamahl Strachan have not been appointed to the Cabinet.
Customs official denied bail over bribery charges
BRIBERY from page one
and was driven away with a blanket covering her head.
The case places a senior revenue officer at the centre of serious corruption allegations tied to the exercise of public authority at the Bahamas Customs Department.
Williams, who wore whitewashed jeans and a white blouse, appeared calm and unmoved as the lengthy list of charges was read. Relatives believed to be her sisters sat quietly at the back of the courtroom.
It took the magistrate nearly an hour to read all of the charges. At one point, he paused for a drink of water.
Williams is accused of 19 counts of bribery. Prosecutors allege that between March 2023 and April 2025 in Exuma, while acting as a public servant, she solicited $56,320 from Costal Systems Bahamas Ltd and $1,725 from Geoffrey C Lawes without lawful authority or reasonable excuse while performing or exercising her asserted power as chief customs revenue officer.
She also faces 19 counts of extortion. Prosecutors allege that during the same period, in relation to her duties as a public officer, she obtained multiple cheques
totalling more than $56,320 made payable to her from Costal Systems Bahamas Ltd and three cheques totalling $1,725 made payable to her from Mr Lawes, knowing she was not lawfully authorised to demand the money.
Williams was also charged with 19 counts of money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that she concealed multiple RBC Royal Bank of Canada cheques totalling more than $56,320 drawn on the account of Costal Systems Bahamas Ltd for unauthorised services and made payable to her. The cheques were allegedly deposited into RBC account 7294366 bearing the name Pamela Williams for the purpose of concealing the proceeds of crime. It is also alleged that Williams concealed three Bank of America cheques drawn on Mr Lawes’ account for unauthorised services. Those cheques, made payable to Williams, were allegedly deposited into an RBC account in her name for the purpose of concealing the proceeds of crime. She also faces 19 counts of fraud by false pretences. Prosecutors allege that between March 2023 and April 2025, while stationed in Exuma, Williams obtained cheques from Costal Systems Bahamas Ltd and Mr Lawes totalling
CHIEF Customs revenue officer Pamela Williams, with a plaid blanket concealing her face, escorted by police officers to a police vehicle following her arraignment on Tuesday in Freeport at the Magistrate’s Court on 77 counts of bribery, extortion, money laundering, and fraud by false pretenses, involving a total of over $58,000 while employed at Bahamas Customs Department in Exuma.
$56,320 and $1,725, respectively, with intent to defraud. The funds were described as the property of the Bahamas Customs Department and the government of The Bahamas. There was also one charge of fraudulent breach of trust. Williams was not required to enter a plea to the charges. She was denied bail, though her attorney, Ernie Wallace, was told he could apply to the Supreme Court for bail.
Corporal 3700 Kenton Smith prosecuted the case. The matter was adjourned to September 26 for voluntary bill of indictment proceedings.
Man convicted of indecent assault of his nine-year-old cousin
By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN was convicted yesterday of indecently assaulting his nine-year-old female cousin at a home on South Beach Drive in 2014, but was acquitted of indecently assaulting the victim’s five-year-old sister that same night.
The 28-year-old defendant, whose name is being withheld to protect the complainant’s identity, was found guilty of one count of indecent assault and not guilty of a second count of indecent assault before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson.
The defendant sucked his teeth under his breath as the judge delivered her verdict at the conclusion of a judgealone trial.
The complainant testified that she woke up around 2am on April 27, 2014, and felt the defendant dry-humping her.
She recalled feeling the defendant’s penis being thrust between her thighs.
The complainant said she was scared during the ordeal and explained that she knew about male genitalia at that
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:
age because of family health classes in primary school.
She said the defendant hid in the bathroom before returning and allegedly fondling her younger sister and rubbing his genitals against the five-year-old girl’s buttocks while she slept.
The complainant, now 21, said her underwear and clothes were to the side during the assault, but had not been completely removed.
The defendant denied the allegations during his testimony, claiming that he never left his mother’s bedroom that night. He said he would never do this to his young cousins and claimed his aunt threatened to kill him when the allegations were first made.
The defendant said there were disagreements between his mother and aunt, who both lived in the same home.
He claimed there was “bad blood” after he took his aunt’s shoes without permission to go to a party.
The defendant said he returned home around midnight on the night of the incident after attending a party with his mother’s boyfriend. He said he blacked
Substantial decision-making
out and could not remember what happened that night. He also denied being aroused.
Justice Grant-Thompson recalled the defendant laughing when prosecutors put the allegations to him in court. While she found the outburst disturbing, she attributed it to nerves.
The defendant’s mother testified that she did not believe her son committed the indecent assault.
The defence claimed there was a discrepancy over the number of beds in the complainant’s room that night, arguing that witnesses gave conflicting evidence about whether there were one or two beds in the room.
Although the defendant had a prior conviction for unlawful possession in 2016, Justice Grant-Thompson found he was of good character.
A doctor testified that the complainant had no marks on her and that there was no sign of penetration.
No forensic evidence was submitted during the trial.
Five males lived in the house at the time of the incident.
The complainant’s mother testified that around 3am,
her daughter tearfully told her about the assault.
She said she confronted the defendant in his mother’s room and that he was the only person awake there. She claimed he was sweating profusely when she entered and that an argument followed.
The complainant was taken to the hospital after the assault and remained there for two weeks.
Afterwards, the girl required counselling, experienced night tremors and lacked confidence.
Justice Grant-Thompson said she found it difficult to believe that a child would lie and invent allegations because of a dispute over shoes.
The judge said the
complainant was stoic, clear and calm during her testimony. The court found her convincing and unwavering during both testimony and cross-examination.
Before delivering her judgment, Justice Grant-Thompson called the assault an “indecency”.
After being convicted on one charge and acquitted on the other, the defendant maintained that he would never commit such acts against his young cousins. He said he knew he did not do it and claimed he does not drink or smoke.
The defendant said he recently lost a child, prompting Justice Grant-Thompson to offer her condolences.
He said he has a seven-year-old daughter and
would not want something like this to happen to her.
Defence attorney Ryan Eve claimed it would have been impossible for the accused to touch the older sister first because she was against the wall on the bed and he would have had to cross over the younger sister.
The defendant has been on remand since last October.
Before being returned to prison, he was allowed a moment with the mother of his child, who appeared visibly distraught after the verdict.
He returns for sentencing on May 28.
Karine MacVean appeared for the prosecution.
The Tribune Limited
NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI
“Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”
LEON E. H. DUPUCH,
Publisher/Editor 1903-1914
SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .
Publisher/Editor 1919-1972
Contributing Editor 1972-1991
RT HON EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B.
Publisher/Editor 1972-
Published daily Monday to Friday Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207
TELEPHONES
News & General Information (242) 502-2350
Advertising Manager (242) 502-2394
Circulation Department (242) 502-2386
Nassau fax (242) 328-2398
Freeport, Grand Bahama (242)-352-6608
Freeport fax (242) 352-9348
WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK
www.tribune242.com
@tribune242
tribune news network
The law is the law on Cabinet
Of all the possible outcomes of the election, one of the most predictable was that Sebas Bastian would be a likely candidate for a Cabinet seat if the PLP won power.
Sure enough, that came to pass, although few of us perhaps would have predicted that quite so many would end up in Cabinet seats after the election. It is surprising then that the Bahamas Christian Council did not perhaps speak up earlier over its concerns about Cabinet spots for people who have had long-standing links to the gaming industry.
In the new Cabinet, Mr Bastian has been named the Minister of Innovation and National Development, while Leslia Miller-Brice – who was not in Cabinet in the previous term in office – has been named the Minister of Culture, Art and Heritage.
Both of the new ministers have distanced themselves from their connections to the gaming industry – with Mr Bastian having resigned from his role as CEO of Island Luck. Mrs Miller-Brice, meanwhile, was entangled by the criteria that involves family members being in a role as a licence holder, with her husband now having reportedly resigned as chief executive officer of GLK Limited, the company that owns Asure Win.
The Christian Council’s own statement appears to undermine its own argument by stating that the pair have satisfied the legal requirements to serve, although it refers to “legal gymnastics crafted to get one over on the law” and questioning whether the “spirit of the law” has been honoured.
Legal is legal, and illegal is illegal, this is not an area where you can be a little bit legal, just as you cannot be a little bit pregnant.
If the pair have satisfied the legal requirements, then that is that, their positions are legal.
That does not mean you have to like it. It can certainly be challenged – and given that it was an important criteria in the resolution that saw web shops regularised despite a national referendum rejecting such a notion, perhaps it should be challenged. It is a law that perhaps ought to be tested, even if simply for the purpose of establishing the precedent so it is without question in future.
The Christian Council is right when it points out that the Gaming Act 2014 established “a firewall intended to keep Cabinet authority and gaming interests clearly separated”.
The council is also right when it says that there has been no public evidence produced to show the two ministers have “truly and completely relinquished any direct or indirect” connection to benefits from the gaming businesses they were so recently closely involved with.
That is the kind of area where a challenge can be made to determine if everything is as above board as it should be.
However, if indeed the ministers have done as they said they have – and it should be noted that no public evidence has been produced to show otherwise – then the law is the law, and they have abided by it.
It is surprising that the council did not raise such questions more prominently ahead of the election, or make their concerns more clearly known about the prospect of individuals connected with gaming being handed Cabinet seats.
As we say, it seemed incredibly likely that if the PLP won, Mr Bastian would be offered a seat at the table.
There is one other concern the council notes – namely the next evaluation of The Bahamas by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. That will scrutinise the country in terms of its anti-money laundering regimes, and other areas of financial concern.
Here perhaps is some common ground – where publishing clear evidence showing a separation of both ministers from both their former roles and any financial benefits from their former institutions would satisfy those with legal concerns, while also providing a framework to spell out to the task force assessors that there is nothing to worry about.
The council’s concerns obviously date back a long way – to the referendum for starters, where Christian groups marched in opposition to gaming in our country.
Those are valid concerns, and should not be dismissed. Spelling out every process to show that the so-called firewall remains is a reasonable request, if only to confirm what measures have been taken to separate government and gaming.
Still, there should be no one who has been taken by surprise by this move –and there was plenty of time to speak up about such concerns on the election trail.
Further clarity would be welcome –but the law is the law, and if it has been followed, then let the ministers get on with the business of serving the public.
You see what you have been taught to believe
EDITOR, The Tribune.
POLITICS is not just a battle over policies; it’s a contest of perceptions.
Many people believe they are judging political parties objectively, but they are often interpreting information through narratives formed long before any evidence has surfaced.
When members of a political party are successfully portrayed as unprepared, that perception extends to all individuals in that party, even the most capable, disciplined, experienced, or intelligent among them.
The label comes first; the interpretation follows.
This is how political branding functions. It doesn’t need to counter every argument; it merely needs to shape the way people perceive the argument.
If voters are led to believe that their survival depends on a specific political party being in power, they will not only support that party but also defend it fiercely.
They will excuse its failures, rationalise its contradictions, and attack anyone who threatens its hold on power.
This intense loyalty becomes political dependency.
Michael Pintard’s message, as evidenced and practiced in Marco City, focused on a different idea: that opportunity should not be controlled by party headquarters, political gatekeepers, or government favors.
Pintard advocated for the belief that opportunity can be built, expanded, and made accessible everywhere under disciplined leadership.
However, the wider voting population has been conditioned to think that opportunity only arises when a particular party is in office.
This belief is potent because it turns poverty into political loyalty.
The Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) support base has long been anchored among the poor and economically vulnerable.
As poverty increases, so does dependency.
Consequently, as dependency expands, so does the political base of those who benefit from it.
This is the danger.
A poor population should not be treated as a permanent voting bloc. Poverty should not be managed as a political asset.
Economic hardship should not be transformed into electoral security.
The real divide in Bahamian politics may not be between the PLP and the Free National Movement (FNM); rather, it may be between dependency and ownership.
If people believe they are powerless without a party, they will seek permission, favors, and protection.
But if they believe they are in control of their own destiny, they will begin to recognise opportunities, discipline, enterprise, and ownership all around them.
That is why political belief matters.
Because you do not simply believe what you see. You see what you have been taught to believe.
Mind Wide Open.
AMUN DUNAMIS Freeport, Grand Bahama May 17, 2026.
Should Pintard resign
EDITOR, The Tribune. FREE National Movement Leader Michael Pintard’s detractors are salivating over the Progressive Liberal Party’s landslide victory on May 12. Some of them are now calling on Pintard to adhere to the Westminster convention by immediately resigning from the House of Assembly as the duly elected representative for the Freeport based constituency of Marco City. I beg to differ. If Pintard were to follow through with this unreasonable demand, it would further destabilise an already reeling FNM. Pintard’s victory in Marco City over the PLP’s Edward Whann II was impressive, considering the tidal wave of opposition mounted against him. The PLP’s election campaign was unlike anything I have ever witnessed in the 39 years I have been monitoring Bahamian politics. It was a lopsided contest that pitted Pintard against the powerful PLP government; the Numbers Boys and thousands of gambling addicts who view them much the same way the Greeks view Zeus and Hercules in Greek mythology; the media, inclusive of ZNS TV and Radio, Island Luck TV, JCN TV, Beyond the
Headlines, The Tribune, The Nassau Guardian, Bahamas Press and the Haitian community, which number in the tens of thousands. Pintard also had to contend with the Coalition of Independents and its feisty leadership that relentlessly targeted him with the well calculated aim of weakening him in the eyes of the watching Bahamian public. This strategy worked to a certain extent. The one caveat though, was that it did nothing in helping the COI to secure a seat in the House of Assembly. The COI is still a seatless fringe political party. Pintard also was ruthlessly targeted by the Dr Hubert Minnis camp. That the FNM was able to walk away from the May 12 electoral contest with eight seats is in and of itself a miracle. And considering the very unusual nature of the May 12 General Election, in which underperforming MPs were reelected by wide margins of victory, I believe Pintard deserves to remain the MP for Marco City. He earned it. He is always present in his constituency and is always working tirelessly on behalf of his constituents. If Pintard were to resign, that move would lead to the FNM losing
Generational mental illness
EDITOR, The Tribune.
SEEMINGLY long ago, people wanted a thing or experience for a reason, a reason so simple it would boggle the mind of our present day, generation. Own something to wear, use and or experience. Yup the object was taken out of its wrapper, its original box and played with, experienced and enjoyed. But not so now. At present our society cherishes items and experiences only as a way to make money. Re-sell, that is the game. Buy a ticket to the up-and-coming Celine Dion Tour not to enjoy experiencing this entertainment titan, but to sell the tickets x five the price it was bought. The chances of buying such a ticket are very slim indeed, since you’re competing with multiple A.I. robots purchasing at a speed you cannot keep up with. Thousands of tickets bought at competitive prices only to be sold for extreme profits. Mimi capitalists seem to be everywhere. My son experienced such a fiasco in Toronto
a day ago. Swatch was coming out with a new pocket watch. There was a line up two days before the launch in Toronto, New York, Milan and elsewhere. People lined up to buy one product, but many also connived with a control group in line buying a watch for $168.00 each and selling it later for thousands of dollars. What is seen to be unique, well branded can fetch a pretty penny these days. Tweaker’s, users of modern-day chemistry and other folk lined up, and often forced their way into Malls in order to get into line first. Fights, arguing and general hooliganism brought these events to a standstill and were cancelled. Mall guards, police and security attempted to bring about a form of controlled chaos to each venue as the world watched. Is greed our new Nirvana? Is the game of life based upon the rules set before us? “He who has the most toys win”? What ever happened to the powerful emotional aspects of experiencing something that may never happen again(Cline
Marco City in a by-election at a time the opposition party can ill afford to lose another stronghold area. There’s no guarantee that the FNM would be able to recapture Marco City in 2031 in the event Pintard retires from front line politics. Who could possibly replace Pintard in Marco City?
The PLP’s election campaign machinery would overwhelm the FNM candidate and the opposition party’s apparently limited resources. I cannot think of one suitable FNM replacement for Pintard who would be able to stave off the PLP. The Bahamas is already flirting dangerously close to becoming a one-party state. Opposition parties play a very important role in keeping the government accountable. Yet it looks like Bahamians were attempting to wipe the FNM out of existence. I implore the FNM leader to ignore the calls for his resignation from Parliament. These people care nothing about the FNM and are only looking to stir up unnecessary political drama.
KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama May 18, 2026.
Concert)? Owning something that will bring joy to you and your loved ones(Cabbage Patch Kids & Furby)? Owning a supreme hockey card of the Great One(Gretzky) or Bobby Hall and not wanting to sell it. The re-sell market has taken over social media, the digital field and other forms of communication. Can we not realise that re-selling something is also depleting us of a chance to enjoy, experience life and its magnificence? My wife and I have experienced many of the great entertainers of my generation, and not once did I want to sell a ticket/experience for cold cash. I work had for my money, and re-sellers do not. They prey upon the consumer and the marketplace, transforming a system once fair into a predatory torture chamber. Waiting for hours hoping to get a ticket at a fair price. Often undoable.
STEVEN KASZAB Bradford, Ontario May 17, 2026.
Privy Council orders state to pay Ngumi another $50K
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas must pay
Douglas Ngumi another $50,000 after the Privy Council ruled that immigration officials had no lawful basis to keep the Kenyan man locked up for nearly three months while they did nothing to obtain the deportation order that could have justified his continued detention.
The award comes on top of the $750,950 the Court of Appeal had already ordered the government to pay.
The ruling deepens the legal condemnation of one of the country’s most notorious unlawful detention cases: a six-anda-half-year imprisonment at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, where Mr Ngumi was beaten, exposed to disease, held in degrading conditions, and left for years in a system that failed to deport him, release him, or respect his constitutional rights.
The country’s final appellate court rejected the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal’s conclusion that immigration officials were entitled to detain Mr Ngumi for three months while arranging his deportation. The Privy Council said that the period could not be treated as lawful because no deportation order was ever made and no meaningful steps were taken to arrange one.
“Although the law
empowered the appellant’s detention for the purposes of making a decision to deport him, and thereafter (if authorised by the Governor-General) pending his removal from The Bahamas, no deportation order was ever made,” the Board said. “Indeed, nothing was done in the initial three-month period by way of arranging either step.”
The Board awarded Mr Ngumi $50,000 for that additional period of unlawful detention, with interest from the date of the writ at 6.25 per cent.
Mr Ngumi, who was arrested by immigration officers on January 12 2011 and released on August 4 2017, had asked the Privy Council to go much further. His lawyers argued that the courts below undervalued the gravity of his detention and abuse, and that the global award should have been far higher. He had previously sought more than $11m, arguing that the damages awarded did not match the scale of what the state had done to him.
The Privy Council rejected most of his challenge, including his complaints about the handling of damages for assault and battery, constitutional breaches, aggravated damages, exemplary damages, interest and costs. However, it sided with him on the central legal point that the first three months of detention should not have been deducted from the period for which he deserved
compensation.
The decision clarifies that once a court recommends deportation, immigration officials do not have an open-ended window to hold someone while the bureaucracy idles. The minister must act quickly to decide whether to make a deportation order, and the Governor-General must act quickly to decide whether detention should continue for the purpose of removal.
The Board said that, absent special circumstances, such decisions should ordinarily be made within one or two working days. If the authorities cannot justify a longer period, the legal basis for detention falls away, and the person must be released.
That finding strikes at the heart of the state’s defence of the initial period of Mr Ngumi’s detention. The Supreme Court had found that three months was a reasonable time to organise his deportation. The Court of Appeal upheld that view. The Privy Council said both courts were wrong.
The Board found that Mr Ngumi was lawfully arrested, and that his initial detention was lawful. However, he was not brought before a magistrate within 48 hours, making the days that followed unlawful. After he pleaded guilty to overstaying, the Magistrates’ Court recorded that he was ordered deported to Kenya, though the Privy Council said the court had
TikToker on bail for murder charged with stealing SUV
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
POPULAR TikTok personality Elias Fritz was granted bail after he was accused of stealing an SUV last week.
Prosecutors allege Fritz, 20, and Q’Shawn Turnquest, 21, stole a red 2014 Nissan Juke belonging to Miranda Adderley on May 11. The vehicle is valued at $10,500.
At the time of the alleged offence, Fritz was on bail for murder and attempted murder.
Fritz, who has more than 300,000 TikTok followers and is known online as Jaido World, and a 16-year-old boy are accused of trying to rob Theodore Fernander of his white Honda Odyssey on August 11, 2025, and attempting to kill him.
The pair also face charges of firearm and ammunition possession and the attempted murder of two police officers. They were arrested after a police chase ended with their vehicle crashing into a utility pole on Eastern Road last year.
Fritz and Turnquest pleaded not guilty to stealing
MAN CHARGED IN FATAL STABBING
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN accused of murder in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, in March was remanded to prison yesterday.
Prosecutors allege that Ian Fox Jr, 28, caused the death of Ruel Louis on March 19. Louis had apparent stab wounds to the back. Fox was not required to enter a plea to murder when he appeared before
Deputy Chief Magistrate Shaka Serville. He was told that his case would proceed to the Supreme Court by voluntary bill of indictment. Fox was also informed of his right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court.
He was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until service of his VBI on December 10. Inspector Cordero Farrington prosecuted the case.
and receiving charges before Senior Magistrate Raquel Whyms.
The defendants were each granted $6,000 bail.
Fritz must sign in at the Elizabeth Estates Police Station every Tuesday by 6pm. Turnquest must sign in at the Wulff Road Police Station every Tuesday by 6pm. Their trial begins on July 2.
Sergeant 2507 Wilkinson prosecuted the case.
no power to order deportation and the record should be treated as a recommendation for deportation. That recommendation allowed only a short period of detention while the proper authorities acted. They did not.
“In the absence of any deportation order in that time or at all, his detention after the expiry of the two-day period was and remained unlawful,” the Board said.
Mr Ngumi’s case has long stood as a grim indictment of immigration detention practices in The Bahamas.
Justice Indra Charles, who first awarded him damages in 2020, accepted his evidence that he suffered cruel and inhumane treatment while detained. He said that on one occasion, officers took him from the dormitory into the kitchen, stripped him naked, tied him, handcuffed him under a table and beat him with a PVC pipe. His back wounds became infected.
He also testified about severe overcrowding, dirty water, a toilet that would not flush, illness, disease, raids and the use of tear gas. Justice Charles accepted that he was badly beaten on several occasions by officers and subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
The government filed no witness statements at trial.
Justice Charles found that the respondents did not produce evidence to rebut
Suspect
Mr Ngumi’s description of what happened to him. In 2020, she awarded him $641,950, the largest Supreme Court award of its kind at the time. That included $386,000 for false imprisonment, assault and battery, $50,000 in aggravated damages, $100,000 in exemplary damages, $105,000 in constitutional damages and $950 in special damages.
The Court of Appeal later increased the global award to $750,950 after finding the Supreme Court’s compensatory award too low. However, it rejected Mr Ngumi’s push for millions, saying his claim was in “fantasyland”.
The Privy Council did not disturb that broader conclusion. It said local courts are better placed to assess compensation based on Bahamian conditions, and that damages for long unlawful detention should not be calculated by simply multiplying a daily rate by the number of days a person was held. Instead, courts must consider the detention in the round, including its length, the conditions, the treatment suffered, the misery endured, and whether separate awards are needed for false imprisonment, assault and battery, aggravated damages, exemplary damages or constitutional damages. The Board said Justice Charles had not overlooked the assault and battery claim, even though a separate award would have been preferable.
It found that her global award did include compensation for the beatings and mistreatment Mr Ngumi endured.
The ruling also rejected Mr Ngumi’s bid for interest from the first day of unlawful detention, saying that would overcompensate him because only one day of damage had accrued at that point. The Board also refused to interfere with the lower courts’ refusal to award indemnity costs. Still, the judgment leaves the government with a larger bill and a sharper legal warning.
For years, Mr Ngumi’s case has raised questions not only about unlawful detention, but about whether damages awards are strong enough to deter abuses by state agencies. The Tribune previously reported that after winning his Supreme Court case, Mr Ngumi said he was still sleeping in a borrowed vehicle, going hungry and bathing outside. “From 2017, I’ve never slept in a bed or locked a door,” he said at the time.
Attorney General Ryan Pinder said after the Privy Council ruling that the decision would not change current immigration detention practices because reforms had already been implemented. He said the Office of the Attorney General meets weekly with the detention centre to ensure people are detained and deported according to law and that their constitutional rights are protected.
denied bail after shooting man over gambling
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN accused of shooting a man after losing money to him in a gambling dispute on West Street earlier this month was remanded to prison yesterday. Prosecutors allege that Neville Knowles, also known as Neville
Richardson, 36, attempted to shoot and kill Ronel
Aime, 42, after the two argued over money in a yard around 3pm on May 3.
Aime was treated in hospital for a gunshot wound to his right leg. Knowles was not required to enter a plea to attempted murder when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Ancella Evans. He was told that his case would proceed to the Supreme Court by voluntary bill of indictment. Knowles was also informed of his right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court. He was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until service of his VBI on August 27. Inspector K Wilkinson prosecuted the case.
Security officer killed in tow truck collision while walking home in GB
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
A SECURITY officer
walking home from work was killed by a flatbed tow truck in Grand Bahama on Sunday night, compounding grief for a family still mourning the recent death of his sister.
Joshua Rolle, 67, had just finished his shift at LaRoc Bar and Grill when he was struck shortly after 10.45pm on Coral Road, near Indianna Lane.
His relatives said he had been expected to sing at his sister’s funeral on May 30. Instead, the family is now preparing to bury him as well.
Rolle, a father of three, was remembered by relatives as warm, upbeat and friendly.
His niece, Tammy Butler, said the family was devastated, especially because relatives were still mourning the recent death of an aunt. She said the family did not initially know what had happened to Mr Rolle and only learned more after contacting police on Monday.
“We are trying to deal with it as best we can,” she said. “It's a blow to the family. We didn't even know what happened to Uncle Josh. The police didn't even notify the family.
“We actually heard little ‘sip sip’ and then we started investigating on our own, and I reached out to a police friend of mine who told me to go to the Traffic Division.”
“This morning I went down there and spoke with the inspector,” she said. “He told us that the guy said that he didn't see him. By the time he saw uncle, he tried to avoid him but it was too late and he hit him.”
Ms Butler said police are still investigating and are reviewing CCTV footage from the area.
Fighting back emotion, she said her uncle was deeply loved by his family.
“Everyone is devastated by the news,” she said. “He was my favorite uncle and he would always say I was his favorite niece, everybody was his favorite niece.”
Ms Butler said when her mother died several years ago, Rolle performed a touching song tribute at the funeral.
She said the family is especially heartbroken because Rolle had also been preparing to sing at their Aunt Carrie’s funeral later this month.
Rolle leaves behind three children, all of whom live in the United States. His daughter was expected to arrive in Grand Bahama on Tuesday morning. According to police, around 10.45pm on Sunday, May 17, the driver of a 1997 flatbed tow truck, licence plate MV2257, was travelling south along Coral Road when a male pedestrian reportedly entered the roadway, resulting in a collision.
The pedestrian suffered severe injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by Emergency Medical Services personnel.
Ms Butler said she visited the Traffic Division and spoke with an officer who explained the circumstances surrounding the fatal collision.
PHA celebrates World Doctor Day under theme ‘Compassionate Care in a Digital World’
TRAFFIC fatality victim Joshua Rolle pictured with his niece Tammy Butler.
THE PUBLIC Hospitals Authority (PHA) celebrated World Family Doctor Day Under the theme “Compassionate Care in a Digital World” for Family Doctor Day 2026. They held a family game night and engaged in fellowship and team-building. Dr Brunèe Dorsett spoke to the participants.
Photos: Shawn Hanna
Credit where credit is due…
Climate scientists heap praise on BACSWN’s world-first aviation platform
The Bahamas Aviation, Climate & Severe Weather Network’s ‘First-of-its-Kind’ US Certified real-time aviation carbon credits platform has attracted attention from leading climate researchers and policymakers examining emerging technologies capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector.
Delegates at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meetings hosted in Nassau expressed strong interest in BACSWN’s innovative approach after watching presentations by Michael Strachan, BACSWN’s Chief Operating Officer, and Quincy Rolle, CEO of Tribune Digital Labs and chief project developer, as they demonstrated some of the benefits of BACSWN’s flight path intelligence software.
BACSWN’s carbon credit platform integrates advanced, real-time meteorological data and 3D terrain mapping with live flight tracking analytics to help airline dispatchers and flight crew optimise flights, thereby reducing fuel consumption and generating measurable carbon reduction outcomes.
Among those engaging with the presentation was Kisolel Lina Posanau of Papua New Guinea, a respected climate research officer, meteorologist and expert reviewer for the IPCC, who praised the platform’s potential value for vulnerable island and developing nations seeking climate adaptation and sustainable aviation solutions.
Winston Chow, the prominent Singaporean climate scientist and co-chair of
IPCC Working Group II, who has described The Bahamas as “a living case study of the current climate realities,” acknowledged the importance of scalable technologies capable of connecting climate science, operational efficiency and emissions reduction.
The IPCC gathering at the British Colonial Hotel, sponsored in part by BACSWN, represents the largest meeting of its kind staged in the Caribbean, marking a critical milestone in the development of the AR7 report due for publication in 2028.
In delivering the keynote address, Prime Minister Davis noted the government’s partnership with BACSWN and the OPM’s Climate Change Unit in bringing the meeting to Nassau.
The flight path intelligence platform presented at the IPCC on Monday builds on years of development by the company and growing interest from international airlines. The system utilizes BACSWN’s WxSenseNet™ weather network while integrating live flight data and a custom-built algorithm capable of tracking aviation emissions in real-time. Rolle confirmed at the S&P Global Carbon Markets Conference in Barcelona late last year that the full system is now complete, with 16 patents filed and pending. The platform’s journey from concept to global stage has been swift. BACSWN first unveiled its real-time US Certified Aviation Carbon Credits Platform at the S&P Global Carbon Markets Conference in Barcelona in December 2024, returning
the following year to present major advancements.
This initiative, an ancillary benefit of the $427 million Heads of Agreement signed with the Bahamian government in May 2025, encompasses the creation of the Caribbean’s first Next-Generation Aviation Weather Centre. It utilizes multi-function phased-array radars from US defence contractor Raytheon Technologies alongside partnerships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, Tomorrow. io and The Weather Company. As the exclusive Meteorological Weather Provider on behalf of the contracting state for international civil aviation, BACSWN’s primary goal is to assist the FAA with the safe, efficient and expeditious passage of the flights of any commercial, cargo or private carrier using our airspace.
Representatives from several countries attending the IPCC meetings expressed interest in how BACSWN’s technologies could support national climate initiatives, sustainable transportation frameworks and future carbon market strategies.
The international response reinforced growing recognition of The Bahamas as an emerging leader in aviation climate innovation, and of small island developing states as contributors of meaningful technological solutions to the global climate conversation.
“Our aviation-based
carbon credits platform offers a powerful tool to reduce the environmental impact of air travel, particularly in the airspace of island nations like The Bahamas, which are highly sensitive to the effects of climate
change,” Rolle said of the platform’s mission. The IPCC meetings continue through May 22.
PRIME Minister Philip Davis pictured with Winston Chow (right of PM), co-chair of IPCC Working Group II. Also pictured are Bart van den Hurk (left of PM), fellow co-chair, Dr Kenneth Romer Director of Aviation and Robert Dupuch-Carron (left), founder of BACSWN and Vince ‘Curly’ McDonald.
Quincy Rolle, President and CEO of Tribune Digital Labs, presents the BACSWN platform to the panel. As chief project developer, he explained how the system uses real-time weather data delivered to flight decks to help airlines cut fuel consumption and therefore lower carbon emissions.