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VOLUME:115 No.259, DECEMBER 4TH, 2018

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AMBUSHED

Gunmen slay couple as they leave hospital

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net AN ENGAGED couple were murdered yesterday in an apparent ambush near the general entrance to the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre in Fox Hill.

The incident, which shocked many who had gathered in the area, reportedly played out as the victims attempted to leave Sandilands following a therapy session.

The male victim was said to be undergoing physicaltherapy treatment at the

facility following a recent shooting.

Responding officers found the man’s body sprawled across a section of the lawn in the northwestern section of the property, and the body of his female companion in the driver’s seat of the car they were driving. EMS pronounced both victims dead at the scene.

While police did not identify either of the victims, The Tribune can confirm that they were Neil Deveaux, 33, and his fiancée, Ashlee Hilton, 30.

SEE PAGE THREE

‘RENEW’S BOSS COST ME $600K’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

MICHAEL Cox, the former Renew Bahamas CEO fighting allegations in court of working without a work permit, is facing a new court action alleging he defrauded a Bahamian contractor with whom he went into business in 2016.

His co-defendants are James Owen, a chartered accountant, and Myles Laroda, a lawyer and chairman of the Public Disclosures Commission.

Ronald Miller, 69, is suing them for $595,000 and wants the Supreme Court to restrain them from taking possession of machinery and equipment for their joint business venture.

The lawsuit is among several Mr Cox has faced since his time as CEO of Renew Bahamas, the failed venture that attempted to remediate the New Providence Landfill under the Christie administration.

Renew Bahamas’ contract was terminated shortly SEE PAGE SEVEN

NEIL DEVEAUX, 33, and his fiancée, Ashlee Hilton, 30 were both murdered yesterday.

Photo: ICandy Photo Mansion

MINNIS MEET WITH UNIONS FALLS FLAT

...BUT DOCTORS ROW MAY HAVE PROGRESS

UNION leaders branded Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ large-scale meeting with them a flop yesterday, dismissing the event as an elaborate courtesy call rather than a productive attempt to resolve their

SENIOR doctors could resume non-emergency services at public hospitals today following a satisfactory meeting with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday.

Consultant Physicians

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

issues. Rather than leading to conciliation, the meeting and its three-hour airing of grievances gave way to talk about a general strike among trade unionists, The Tribune was told.

Bahamas Public Services Union president Kimsley Ferguson left the meeting and told the press the SEE PAGE SIX

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

Staff Association president Dr Locksley Munroe said the CPSA secured Dr Minnis’ commitment to increase their base salary from 48,000 to 60,000 between January and May next year and to provide them with some form of health insurance simultaneously. He said Dr Minnis SEE PAGE SIX

SANDALS COUPLE - WE’LL SEE YOU IN COURT

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

THE lawyer representing the couple in a $30m Sandals resort sexual assault lawsuit yesterday defended the couple’s decision to wait for two years after the alleged incident occurred to file a case, saying the couple had to “heal somewhat” before they could “look to see justice done”.

John Nicholas Iannuzzi also said the accused butler

ASHLEY Reid Pascarella and her husband John Pascarella

“not guilty” to “guilty” was “very strange”, adding the courts will ultimately determine whether the Pascarella couple’s lawsuit is “real or a scheme”.

Mr Iannuzzi made these remarks in an interview with The Tribune yesterday, following Mr Adderley’s weekend interview when he maintained that all he did was hug the bride-to-be — at her request.

Last week, Ashley Reid

Moral Adderley’s reasoning for changing his plea from

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE FIVE

FACE-TO-FACE

GOOFING AROUND IN CLASS WITH THE FUTURE PM

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Junkanoo struggling in Grand Bahama

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net A MINISTRY of Youth, Sports, and Culture official in Freeport has said officials are struggling to keep the culture of Junkanoo alive in Grand Bahama.

Monique Leary, cultural affairs officer at the ministry, said officials have seen a decline in the number of groups participating in the upcoming New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade in Freeport.

She also indicated that due to economic challenges in Grand Bahama many groups are having challenges securing sponsorship from the corporate community.

“We know a lot of Junkanoo groups are having challenges in terms of sponsorship and so once again we appeal to the community to come forth and assist these Junkanoo groups – they are doing this for the community of Grand Bahama,” said Ms Leary in an appeal to the community.

Kevin Russell, of the Grand Bahama Junkanoo

Committee, announced at a press conference on Monday that the parade will take place at downtown Freeport beginning at 5pm on January 1.

According to Ms Leary, a total of seven groups will be competing in the parade; four in the A category and three in the B category.

Platinum Knights, the defending champions; Swingers; Classic Dances; Kingdom Culture, and a new group, Spartan Titans are in the A category. B groups include the Bushwackers; Showtime and Sting. There is one “fun group” called Freedom International Ministries, a church group.

Ms Leary said culture officials are looking forward to a wonderful parade, despite some of the challenges the groups are facing this year.

“We know things are a little difficult in Grand Bahama economic-wise, but we are still asking corporate sponsors to come forward and assist them.

We thank those who have sponsored the groups and are still asking for more additional help,” she stated.

She also urged residents to turn out and show support.

“We lost Junkanoo groups from the west Grand Bahama, which is the largest community (on the island),” she said.

She noted that the island also lost one of the top performers from Lewis Yard following the devastation of the last hurricane.

“We are struggling to try to keep this part of the culture alive in Grand Bahama. A lot of people have lots of negativity to say about Junkanoo, but it is spiritual, and it represents our culture and who we are.

“It is not happy spending a year in the shack producing these wonderful costumes to come to Pioneer’s Way to parade to empty bleachers,” said Ms Leary.

She noted that tickets for VIP seating are $20 and only $10 for general seating. Vendor booths are also available, and persons interested in securing a booth can make application to the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture

by December 14.

THE TRIBUNE

THE PLATINUM KNIGHTS, above, last New Year’s Junkanoo winners in Grand Bahama and, below, a Superstar Rockers member hard at work finishing up a costume in the shack last year for the parade.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 4, 2018, PAGE 3

SANDS ORDERS REVIEW OF SECURITY AT CENTRE

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE security and surveillance protocols at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre in the lead up to the double homicide at the property yesterday will have to be reviewed, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has said.

Health Minister Dr Duane Sands told The Tribune last night: “What we will now do is look objectively at the security measures that were in place because we would want to be sure that if anything could have been done better, that we consider it moving

forward. We are deeply concerned about the welfare of our patients and staff. Any tragic event, either in or around the premises, is a tremendous cause for concern.”

Concerns were yesterday raised over the level of surveillance and security at the Sandilands Centre in the lead up to and following the brazen daylight shooting.

Staff members at the property who spoke with The Tribune following the shooting questioned the placement of the security staff at the property, regretting the lack of officers at the main entrance, which gives cause for concern.

According to staff, there

Gunmen slay couple as they leave hospital

is a security area at the main entrance, but the area often goes unmanned for extended periods of time.

The victims of yesterday’s shooting, an engaged couple, were attempting to leave the property when two gunmen got out of a black SUV and opened fire on the vehicle in which they were leaving.

The male, Neil Deveaux, died on the property’s lawn while his fiancée, Ashlee Hilton, was shot dead inside their car.

Police said they suspect the gunmen were stationed in the area for some time before the shooting took place.

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surveillance cameras, which reportedly have been inoperable for some time.

One source told The Tribune: “None of the cameras are working today. You believe that?”

Chief Superintendent of Police Solomon Cash had suggested police would rely on the footage captured by the property’s surveillance system.

At the time of his interview, CSP Cash said he was unsure what, if anything, was captured by cameras.

Meanwhile, Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling is due to make her annual visit to SRC on Friday.

THE CRIME SCENE WHERE TWO DIED IN FOX HILL

from page one

Family members of the male victim, who were at the scene, confirmed that he was “troubled.”

They were parents to a His father, George three-year-old son. Hilton Deveaux, said he spoke is a graduate of Queen’s with his son just hours College. before his death, but had no In an interview with idea that it would have been reporters at the scene their last conversation. yesterday, Chief Superin“We talked about some tendent Solomon Cash said things I had to finish, police suspected the couple some things I had started was targeted by persons in yesterday.” search of Deveaux.

Mr Deveaux said his CSP Cash con- son was incarcerated some firmed Deveaux was known 15 years ago, adding that to police, referring to him his son’s time behind bars as “one of our prolific left quite an impression on offenders”. him.

Expecting some form of “He was changed after retaliation, police said they that. He was young when would beef up the presence he went in. He was differof officers in Fox Hill. ent when he came out.”

“We believe he came to Moments later, Mr do therapy, based on the Deveaux could be heard information we are working saying: “That prison tough with thus far,” he said. on these young boys. That CSP Cash continued: is make them criminal.

“We are getting informa- Like how a bakery is make tion that a black, SUV jeep bread…. Yea, that prison is may have been involved in make them.” this incident. We have been In addition to Mr told that two men emerged Deveaux, several other from that SUV and they family members and friends approached the white vehi- of the victims showed cle and they opened fire on up at the scene over the that vehicle. Subsequent course of the two and a half to that, the male victim hours that it took police ran from the vehicle and to conduct their initial he was chased from these investigation. same assailants who opened Many of them who fire on him, subsequently showed up appeared shooting him. shocked in disbelief. A “We don’t know the few had to be consoled by description of (the assail- others. ants’) clothing at this time.

CSP Cash said police We only know the descrip- would increase patrols in tion of the vehicle we and around the Fox Hill suspect these two persons community, where Neil came from.”

Deveaux reportedly lived.

He also said police were “We suspect, based on uncertain how many times the profile of the victim, Deveaux was shot. that it could be some form “We know that it was of retaliation,” CSP Cash a handgun that was used, said. “Based on what we based on the firearm evi- are working with, is that dence found on the scene,” the victim is connected to CSP Cash added. the Fox Hill area and we Responding to further will be looking at that parquestions from reporters, ticular area; looking at the CSP Cash revealed that associates of the victim the male victim was gang and also those persons who affiliated and that his death came to our attention who could have been an exten- may be persons of intersion of his involvement in est for perpetrating this some other activity. crime.”

“We suspect, based on the Following the incident, profile of the victim, that Sandilands Rehabilitation it could be some form of Centre suspended services retaliation against the male for the remainder of the victim,” CSP Cash said. 4th December day. 2018 Tuesday,

SRC officers are reportedly stationed at a security checkpoint at the entrance of the staff parking area and at a service entrance that gives access to several wards at the facility.

This formation, according to staff, allows uninhibited access to the property, with initial screening sometimes not taking place until a person attempts to enter the staff parking area or gain access to either the Geriatric Hospital, Administration Complex or the service entrance that gives access to the wards.

Absent of those areas, the facility depends almost exclusively on its system of

CHIEF Superintendent Solomon Cash at the crime scene yesterday.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

PAGE 4, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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Money not the only issue in Minnis juggling act IT’S hard to know what was likely to come out of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ meeting with unions this week.

Cramming so many groups with so many different complaints into one room was never likely to resolve any specific issues – and so it proved, with rumblings in this winter of discontent continuing.

It seems that Dr Minnis was hoping that the presence of the nation’s leader might be enough to show unions that the government is taking matters seriously, but that alone isn’t going to pay the bills.

The disputes strike to the very heart of the running of the nation – doctors are complaining, nurses are protesting, teachers are concerned.

For some, it’s about money. For others, it’s about working conditions.

And for some, we fear, it is about furthering their own personal agendas.

Solving these will cost money for the government to solve.

At the same time, however, we have had Cabinet Secretary Camille Johnson criticising the country’s civil servants, saying that the public service sector was overstaffed by up to 40 percent, and that the cadre of deputy permanent secretaries was “extraordinarily weak”.

Are we robbing Peter (the nurses, doctors and teachers) of the pay and conditions they need to pay Paul (the underperforming members of the public service)? Could our money be used better?

Well, if that’s the case, it doesn’t seem as if the government is planning to

rectify that particular balance any time soon – with Public Service Minister Brensil Rolle galloping to reassure civil servants and claiming they are an “easy target”.

It seems that the Minnis government is in the middle of a rather unwieldy balancing act. Goodness knows that the vast weight of the public workforce can be a difficult one to manage, but there are mixed signals about tackling genuine problem areas as opposed to merely keeping workers happy come what may.

The international report that highlighted the weakness of the civil service picked out examples of unusual practices – such as teachers being transferred to other parts of the public service while remaining on the Ministry of Education’s payroll, exacerbating teacher shortages because those transferred had not formally left their posts. In short, the ministry struggled to replace those who had been moved because they were still on that ministry’s budget.

So perhaps – as the government deals with the demands of the unions to resolve long-standing issues – the unions too can play a part in helping to reform situations that are causing extra workload for their own members.

It won’t help the bottom line for the government – the demand for more money that will have to be found in times of tight pockets – but if sides are sitting down together, then maybe this is the time to resolve issues that affect the whole nation, not just the two sides of the table.

Government seems brain dead EDITOR, The Tribune

BP&L…receivables of at least $91.6million unsure if that includes what government owes them, which usually is in excess of $30 million so BP&L are owed a whopping $115 million!

The info minister Bannister tabled raises an issue – since the legalising of Gaming and the massive proliferation of gaming across Nassau has BP&L seen an increase in delinquency in settlement of

BPL bills? Can they track that payments have gotten worse since the web shops opened?

Everyone knew there would be consequences as a result of the Christie reversal of the Referendum unfortunately the “no” campaign did not take the decision to the Supreme Court to find if the Christie government had acted illegally. We suffer for we are tempted so much to try to get that big win and leave essentials, such as your

BPL monthly bills unpaid.

So blame who?

Placing solar panels on government buildings will put BPL with worse financial problems — who will compensate them for the loss of revenue? Well, government rarely pays, so that might not be an issue.

Is this government brain dead of conceptual ideas to solve our problems?

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau November 30, 2018

Do MPs not understand basic finances?

EDITOR, The Tribune WHEN politicians simply talk garbage and refuse to state the Cost of Operating BP&L which is the real cost reflected in the billings then we are nowhere close to resolving the issue.

Exempt VAT all you like it is so small it is laughable. On a bill of $200.00 that is. $24.00…on $300.00 bill that is $36.00 every 30-days…the majority spin that in seconds…it would be exceptionally interesting to study has non-paying of bills increased since the establishment of number houses? I believe YES! The minister read off the debts - accounts receivable…millions - we heard a long time ago thank God

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Atlantis makes sure they pay their bills on time alleged to be in excess of $2 million. No MP asked what the government owes BP&L? Would a figure in excess of $40 million surprise you or is that low?

BP&L has to cut management costs…stop overtime period except for emergency crew and only and solely when absolutely essential. Cut all expenses that are not necessary. I see BPL have a lot of new vehicles - can they really afford them?

We cannot change the

price of Bunker C or diesel or the future fuel LNG all are controlled by international markets - I hope no one thinks with LNG in two-years we will not have a fuel surcharge. What about the financing cost for the $165m to pay off BEC debt when we changed the name to BP&L? Sooner than you think there will be an additional $10.00 a month financing - paying off debt charge.

Over time has to go expenses cut to the raw minimum - no waste if not you and us all will suffer.

Do none of these MPs understand basic finance?

JEROME HUGGINS Nassau November 28, 2018

Why Christians should oppose legalising marijuana EDITOR, The Tribune LETTER writer Porcupine’s recent write-up was more an atheistic polemic against Christianity in particular and theism in general than a counterargument against the Biblical injunction on recreational marijuana.

The misandric tenor of the letter leads me to believe that the writer is female. Be that as it may, hardly anything was said in defence of recreational marijuana. Porcupine’s quote from famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein about belief in a personal God being childish piqued my curiosity because in Walter Isaacson’s Einstein: His Life and Universe, the famed physicist said the following: “There are people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views.”

Like the noted Jewish-Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, Einstein was a deist, although he was deeply influenced by atheist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.

To be sure, Einstein’s theology was convoluted, to say the least.

He didn’t believe in free will, immortality or eternal judgment.

Einstein was what you would call a determinist. Whatever Einstein was, he was not an atheist, although he tried feverishly to repudiate the clear implications of his groundbreaking general relativity theory by coming up with another theory, the Cosmological Constant.

One cannot conflate deism with atheism. Atheism is defined as the lack of belief in God, as per American atheists. Medieval Catholic theologian Anselm defined God as “that than which nothing greater can be thought.”

Granted, while Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of God is deductive, it is, like Thomas Aquinas’s (a posteriori) Efficient Cause argument, insuperable. As Dr Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino stated in Unshakable Foundations, God is the First Cause or uncaused Cause, therefore it would be just as meaningless to ask how the colour green tastes as it would be to ask when was God created.

Anyone who would ask such a question would be guilty of committing the infinite regress fallacy.

Also, as Augustine once noted, there was no time before the creation of the universe. God dwells in eternity, where the physical laws of science do not apply. Consequently, it would be meaningless to ask what was God doing for billions of years before we came along. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years did not exist prior to Genesis 1:1.

Porcupine mentioned science as if it is pitted against Christianity and the Bible, apparently ignorant of modern science being birthed in the Catholic monasteries of Christendom Europe during the Middle Ages. Also apparently unbeknownst to Porcupine, Einstein’s general theory of relativity, as well as Hubble’s Law and the

expanding universe and Arno Penzias’ and Robert Woodrow Wilson’s discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation and NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer satellite data all corroborates the Genesis account of the beginning of space, time and matter.

Moreover, the most fundamental law of physics, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, corroborates the Fall in Genesis 3. This scientific law states that everything breaks down and tends towards disorder. That is why humans and animals grow old and die. And that is why Romans 8:20 says that creation has been subjected to futility.

Bear in mind that at the time of the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation in the 1960s, two-thirds of scientists subscribed to Sir Fred Hoyle’s Steady State theory, which is a repackaged version of Newtonian science and the cosmological theories of the ancient Greeks and Romans, Buddhism and Hinduism. Like the late Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time, who posited a multiverse theory, all of the foregoing cosmologies contradicts, not only the Biblical account of creation, but settled science as well. What’s more, both Buddhism and Hinduism have been invalidated as true religions by cosmology, as both “posit endless cycles of time stretching into the indefinite past.”

The Bible is not a science

textbook. Its moral, civil and ceremonial laws are prescriptive; whereas scientific laws are descriptive. The Bible deals with both the phenomenal (physical) and noumenal (spiritual) realms of reality.

Some 134 years after the death of Charles Darwin, evolution continues to experience insurmountable hurdles. It is a theory filled with gaping holes. Human physiology with its intricate, complex design is a glaring indication that the theory of intelligent design is unassailable.

One of the more vocal members of the so-called Four Horsemen of New Atheism, biologist Richard Dawkins, said the following in his 1986 publication The Blind Watchmaker: ‘‘There is enough storage capacity in the DNA of a single lily seed or a single salamander sperm to store the Encyclopaedia Britannica 60 times over. Some species of the unjustly called ‘primitive’ amoebas have as much information in their DNA as 1,000 Encyclopedia Britannicas.’’

As an avowed atheist, Dawkins obviously understands the implications of the breathtaking complexity of human cells, hence his advocacy of directed pansmermia, a theory that says that extraterrestrial beings had transmitted organisms on earth.

Porcupine, based on the tenor of her letter, is obviously morally outraged at the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity.

As for the Inquisition, the Crusades and the Salem witch

hunts, only about 200,000 persons were killed in these events over a period of centuries. Conversely, atheist regimes have murdered 148 million human beings between 1917 and 2007, which is just 90 years. Atheists love to exaggerate the crimes of Christianity by inflating the casualty numbers, while conveniently ignoring the ‘democide’ numbers of the likes of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong. A small fry like Cambodian dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge communist administration murdered two million people between 1975 - 1979. That’s about nine times the number of persons killed by the church in its 2,000 years of existence.

In closing, the main bone of contention Porcupine has with my Biblical worldview is that I dared to voice my opposition to recreational marijuana on Biblical grounds. Once again, I believe science supports my position, as it also supports the Biblical view of creation in the Old Testament Book of Genesis - a text that Porcupine scoffs as being a fairytale.

The issue of recreational marijuana is not only a moral one. It is also a health issue. Therefore the Christian Council as well as the entire Christian community should oppose any move to legalise recreational marijuana.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport Grand Bahama November 28, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 4, 2018, PAGE 5

THE GLAMOROUS Sandals resort in The Bahamas.

We’ll take our claim to court, say Sandals couple from page one

Pascarella and her husband John Pascarella filed a lawsuit against Sandals in the Supreme Court of the state of New York.

According to court documents, Sandals assigned Mr Adderley to the couple as part of their “dream wedding” package. On April 15, 2016, the lawsuit alleges Mr Adderley “stealthily entered the bedroom of (Mrs Pascarella) and undertook surreptitiously to fondle, grope, and take sexual liberties of (her) beneath her bed-clothes and clothing.”

When contacted about Mr Adderley’s version of the story, the couple’s lawyer said: “All I can say is obviously there (is) certainly a substantial difference of opinion or point of view in connection with the two versions of what occurred. And I guess we’ll have to wait until the court sorts it out.

“I can’t comment in reference to anything further, except it’s very strange that somebody would plead guilty because he was afraid pleading guilty would bring him to jail — I mean pleading not guilty because he was afraid of going to jail, so he pleaded guilty instead.

“But frankly I have no comment, I think courts have to sort these things out, that’s what the courts are for.”

In an interview with Eyewitness News on Friday, Mr Adderley said his initial plea was “not guilty”.

However, he said after the magistrate said he would be remanded to prison for three months, he asked what would happen if he changed his plea.

“She said it would go on my record and I would have to pay a fine to the Crown.

My family told me not to

The lawyer also responded to critics who questioned why the couple waited more than two years to come forward with a lawsuit.

“It was a result of the fact that (it) was such a traumatic event that the people want to face it, they had to heal somewhat. And they did - somewhat, not completely.”

He added they healed “sufficient enough to move forward, sufficient enough to look to see justice done.”

Mr Iannuzzi also said the couple “certainly” always

ASHLEY Reid Pascarella and her husband John Pascarella.

Below, Moral Adderley. but when my father passed would have been the away I did not have the funeral,” Mr Adderley said. chance to see him on his “It was unfair but easier dying bed, the next chance for me to plead guilty, pay the fine and walk. To this day if I could go back there I still wouldn’t change it.”

When asked if the Pascarellas felt that Mr Adderley’s punishment of being fined and fired was adequate, Mr Iannuzzi said: “I think that’s a matter of internal functioning of the people at Sandals. I think the determination of the court was more significant.”

MAJOR CASE DELAYED AS ATTORNEY FALLS ILL

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

DWIGHT Major’s $280,000 drug case was adjourned for another four days yesterday after his attorney told the court he was too ill to continue with the proceedings.

Ian Cargill, with a noticeably hoarse voice, asked acting Deputy Chief Magistrate Swain to start the matter on Friday as opposed to yesterday because of his own illness.

The senior magistrate ultimately agreed

to his request, but not before regretting the adjournment and asserting that the case must be seen to advance “at every turn”.

Major, and his coaccused, Rommel Virgil Rolle, remain on bail until that time.

In April, Major and Rolle were arraigned before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on one count each of conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply and possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

It is alleged that on April 4, they conspired to and

were subsequently found in possession of some $283,000 worth of marijuana with intent to supply.

According to initial reports from police, shortly before 4am on Wednesday, DEU officers assisted by Mobile Division officers, while at Tonique WilliamsDarling Highway and Baillou Hill Road, stopped and searched a Nissan March with two male occupants and discovered 283 pounds of marijuana.

The two men were taken into custody.

Both men have denied the charges.

had the intent to file a lawsuit, noting they retained his services “shortly after” the alleged incident occurred.

In his interview, Mr Adderley said Mrs Pascarella is not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but instead is not telling the truth.

“Sooner or later - could be one of their family members is going to come forward and say it’s just a gimmick, a scheme,” he added.

In response to these comments, Mr Iannuzzi said: “That’s easily said,

but it’s a legitimate lawsuit, and again, the courts will have to make a determination as to what the ultimate result will be, and that will be a determination of whether it’s real or a scheme.”

When asked if there have been any updates in the lawsuit, Mr Iannuzzi said: “Not yet…it was just the filing of a complaint, we have to have a service of the complaint and then we have to have an answer.

And then it’ll be discovery.

So it’s the ordinary procedure in the processing of a lawsuit.”

PAGE 6, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Minnis meet with unions falls flat... from page one country could see a repeat of the 1942 Burma Road Riot “if we continue along this particular vein”.

“Persons are taking the plight of workers very, very lightly in this country,” he said.

The meeting was part of Dr Minnis’ effort to suppress the burgeoning labour crisis in the country as unions representing senior public doctors and Morton Salt take industrial action and unions representing nurses and teachers plan steps to do the same.

One by one yesterday, union leaders complained that the scope of the meeting made it futile because it was impossible to address the concerns of all 30 unions in attendance.

They complained that because labour officials have been told of their concerns through correspondence and meetings, action is now needed, not more talk.

“There was no commitment to anything,” Bahamas Union of Teachers President Belinda Wilson said, summing up the consensus.

“All I saw it as was an opportunity to regurgitate the same problems we have been articulating for years and years and years. I knew having a large number of labour leaders in one room for a few minutes could not give adequate time for the concerns.”

Dr Erecia Hepburn, the membership secretary for the Union of Tertiary Educators of the Bahamas, said her time would have been better spent marking student papers.

“All you have to do is address the issues,” she said. “They were written before, they were stated before, I don’t know if we have to do some kind of dance to get them to understand.”

She also complained that officials took their cellphones away.

“I guess this government’s whole goal of transparency is out of the door,” she said.

Union leaders said they could not recall a meeting with a prime minister of this scale and suggested another one would be a bad idea.

“How can you have a meaningful meeting with 30, 40 individuals?” said Tyrone “Rock” Morris, general secretary for the Trade Union Congress.

“It is an exercise for you guys, so it can be seen by Bahamians that the prime minister is doing something to address the many ills that beset workers in this country. We want to thank the prime minister for giving us an opportunity for coming to be in his presence and for saying ‘how you doing’ because nothing meaningful was achieved, nothing meaningful was expected by me.”

Most union leaders didn’t specify their concerns

PM Hubert Minnis met union leaders yesterday in an effort to suppress the burgeoning labour crisis.

to the press, but Mrs Wilson, back after a recent suspension, said millions are still owed to teachers and Family Island educators are awaiting rental allowance for September, October and November.

“They’re being threatened by landlords that if they do not pay they will be evicted,” she said.

“These are the same challenges we have faced over the years and we were of the view that with new people coming in we may have had an opportunity to have some of these matters resolved. Having to go now and meet with the minister of labour and discuss the same matters we articulated in there, and the minister of labour was present, I feel like it was just another round of bureaucracy.”

For his part, Labour Minister Dion Foulkes said he thought the meeting went well. The purpose of the meeting was to sensitise the union presidents to the prime minister’s views and for the prime minister to hear firsthand what their concerns are, he said, adding that he is hopeful the issues will be resolved in the coming months.

As for a talk of a general strike, he said: “It all depends on unions making a decision in the interest of their membership. The government has to make a decision on the entire country and I think the prime minister is doing a good job striking that balance.”

...but doctors row may have progress from page one committed to considering a further salary increase for them in future budget cycles.

He said the CPSA will not end its industrial action until a preliminary agreement is signed, however that is expected to happen today.

The $12,000 base salary increase constitutes the Public Hospitals Authority’s last offer to the CPSA. Doctors previously rejected it. Dr Munroe said accepting it now represents a major compromise for them because they wanted an increase to $75,000.

Had PHA not refused to negotiate with them last week, senior doctors would have accepted the increase then and returned to full service last week, he claimed.

“We went there last week with that same $60,000, but the man (PHA Chairman Julian Rolle) say he ain’ talking to us,” he said.

“This could have definitely been finished last week and there would have been no more disruption of services.”

Dr Munroe described Dr Minnis’ tone as more respectful than that of PHA officials. He said Dr Minnis blamed the PHA for the “deficit” in their salary over the years.

He said Financial Secretary Marlon Johnson gave a presentation to them during yesterday’s meeting, warning them of the government’s financial limits.

“Mr Johnson said if we get all the salaries and things we want, we gon’ cause the country go into a downgrade,” he said.

“Right now we are willing to compromise. It’s not about as (former Minister of Labour) Shane Gibson would say the ‘greedy doctors,’ but simply you state what your worth and value are, understand the financial situation of the country and you’re willing to compromise.

But what the PHA was doing is making it seem

like we don’t understand and it seems they think we don’t know what our worth is. I think Dr Minnis understood perfectly and he was honest and upfront when he said right now I shall correct the deficit.”

A sticking point for doctors has been their lack of a pension plan.

“Dr Minnis said that is probably going to be more difficult because of the way they have it set up right now,” Dr Munroe said. “They have a noncontributory plan so he said going forward the plan will have to be one where the employer and employee make a contribution to the fund.”

Labour Minister Dion Foulkes also described the meeting as productive.

He said: “The prime minister wanted me to say that he thought the meeting went extremely well and there are some financial issues that will be addressed tomorrow in a subsequent meeting with the financial secretary.”

CONSULTANT Physicians Staff Association president Dr Locksley Munroe.

PHA DECIDES TO DELAY NEW SHIFT CHANGE FOR NURSES ‘INDEFINITELY’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority has indefinitely delayed a shift change that drew the ire of nurses and was scheduled to take effect next Monday.

Discontent with the shift change is propelling the Bahamas Nurses Union to take a strike poll today.

This is the second time the PHA has delayed the shift, which would change nurses’ shift from four on/ four off to five on/two

off. The change was first planned for September 3 but was shelved as nurses complained.

PHA has insisted it has the legal authority to change the shift. Its position was undercut last month when Labour Director John Pinder said a 2014 agreement between the PHA and the BNU that sanctioned the shift was non-binding.

As BNU’s then-president, Jannah Khalfani signed the agreement on behalf of the group. She told The Tribune she always knew the agreement was void because the

PHA did not initiate the proper process for amending the BNU’s industrial agreement.

The current BNU president, Amancha Williams, said she found out on Sunday that the shiftchange has been delayed.

She said it was disrespectful for the government to inform nurses of the change on Sunday and through email.

She was one of 40 union representatives who were disappointed with a meeting Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis had with labour leaders yesterday, saying it did nothing to dissuade her from pressing forward with today’s strike vote.

“It was just another visit to the Prime Minister’s Office,” she said. “We came because we respect the Prime Minister’s Office but resolving issues and deadlines was not done at all, so here we went back out into the community empty handed. We should’ve had something tangible to present to the people and the workers of this country. We should’ve been given dates and time limits. The union is powerful. December 4 is the day we answer back to

the prime minister and to PHA.” Ms Williams thought the prime minister would say something to prevent today’s strike poll.

“We’re the largest employees in the hospital,” she said. “If we go on strike, could you imagine what’s going to happen? Along with the doctors not there?

Could you imagine? And you didn’t say anything towards that?”

Labour Minister Dion Foulkes was asked if it was disappointing not to resolve the nurses’ issues and prevent industrial action from them.

He said: “It is the constitutional right of all unions in the country to apply for a strike vote and we are mandated by law to supervise it once it’s properly done. I don’t want to get into details about any of negotiations that’s going on.

I don’t want to say anything that would prejudice any potential matter that would come to me on appeal.”

Dr Minnis also had a meeting with representatives of the Consultant Physicians Staff Association about their issues after doctors began industrial action last week.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 4, 2018, PAGE 7

from page one after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 when the company invoked its contract’s force majeure clause.

Mr Miller alleges in his affidavit filed last week that shortly after Renew Bahamas ceased operations at the landfill, Mr Cox sought his partnership in a new venture intended to carry on Renew Bahamas’ metals recycling business with its trading partner, Ferrous Processing & Trading Company, a US company.

Mr Miller said he agreed to a 60 percent beneficial interest in the company. The lawsuit portrays the three defendants as taking advantage of Miller and his seeming lack of sophistication in dealing with the management and financial side of the business despite bringing most of the resources to the table.

Mr Miller said he was responsible for managing the production and processing of recycled materials while Mr Cox was responsible for managing “sales contracts, export documentation, and general accounting functions.”

The pair did not immediately finalise the formalities of the company, citing “chaos in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew,” according to Mr Miller.

They did, however, begin operation on October 9, 2016, shipping a container of recycled cars on October 11 of that year, he said.

It was only in December 2016 that Bostwick Law Partners incorporated Bahamas Processing & Trading Company Ltd and BPT Assets Co LTD. Mr Miller said he “incurred all the financial strain and burden to fully support” the venture but only received his first pay, $1,900, on January 15, 2017.

“At this point,” he alleged, “I had already processed $168,000.

Mr Cox told me that Ferrous Processing and Trading Co was wiring him the venture’s sales proceeds and then he would wire partial amounts of those funds from his US Bank of America account. I explained to Mr Cox that I had already funded all of the venture’s expenses of well over $77,000 and that $1,900 he wired from his Bank of America account in Florida was short of meeting the ongoing operational expenses I was paying. “… I had neither visibility to the final export invoices of the venture nor visibility of the payments that Mr Cox was receiving against those invoices into his Bank of America account. Mr

I have suffered significant loss, claims contractor MICHAEL COX, the former Renew Bahamas CEO fighting allegations of working without a work permit.

Cox and his wife, Christel Cox, had sole control and custody of all those transactions.”

Mr Miller said Mr Cox told him early on that some of the proceeds were needed to pay debt owed to Renew Bahamas’ creditors and Ferrous Processing, with whom he had a personal debt. It wasn’t until February 2018, according to Mr Miller, that Mr Cox brought Mr Owen and Mr Laroda on board.

He said Mr Cox told him he wanted to include the two men as his personal representatives and that he did not have government’s approval to legally own any shares of the venture.

At the company’s first board of directors meeting, Mr Miller said he signed documents granting himself and Mr Owen 2.5 shares in the company. He said he did this even though he believed this did not represent his total ownership of the venture since by that point he already invested over $350,000 of his own cash to support the payroll of the company and produced “over 402 containers of recycled cars weighing over 9,701 tons with an approximate value of $2.3m.”

He and Mr Owen opened a Commonwealth Bank account for the company in March, he said, and he believed both their signatures were required for all bank transactions. However, he soon became concerned the defendants were depleting the company’s funds.

Mr Cox had instructed him to sign $50,000 cheques for his children to attend Lyford Cay International School and $6,000 cheques for his monthly beach house rental at Eves Cable Beach, he alleged.

Later, he claims Mr Owen “unilaterally announced” to him he would pay himself a weekly salary of $1,500. Between these events, he said he became concerned enough to ask his daughters to help him get a grip on the company’s finances.

Yet on a work site in May, he said he signed a document Mr Cox brought to him without the aid of his reading glasses. “It was not represented nor did I appreciate this encounter with Mr Cox to be a formal meeting enjoined by the company to elect additional directors or conduct any formal business of the company,” he said.

“Mr Cox was not a director and not a shareholder of the company so I did not anticipate or expect that Mr Cox would be handing me a document pertaining to the formal arrangement of the company.”

Mr Miller said he became disturbed on October 27 when he found Mr Cox’s name listed on a delivery ticket for scrap metal that came from Crystal Palace’s demolition site and was intended for Larry Burrow’s Manpower yard.

Because no one was present at Mr Burrow’s business location

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on the evening when a Bahamas Waste truck delivered the material, Mr Miller said he learned of this arrangement the next morning when a Bahamas Waste driver came to BPT’s office off Cowpen Road to have someone sign off on the delivery ticket. He said he only later learned the transaction was part of a joint-venture agreement between BPT, Manpower and Lenova, the contractor managing the Crystal Palace demolition, and was not included in discussions to implement the joint venture.

He said he discovered around that time his signature was no longer required for processing cheques at Commonwealth Bank because Mr Owen had removed him from BPT’s account.

Tensions soared, but he said the men were unable to resolve their issues during a heated meeting they had at Mr Laroda’s law from on November 2.

Mr Miller said: “On the 4th of November 2018, I went to service the Lefort shear car crushing equipment which had been on the Manpower yard at the landfill since October 2016. Upon entering the yard - as I had done over the past two years - Mr Burrows informed me that Mr Cox instructed him not to allow me to enter the property. I wrote an email informing both Mr Owen and Mr Laroda that I was denied access to the BPT worksite located in the premise of Mr Burrow’s yard.”

Later, Mr Miller said he discovered that Mr Owen “issued a non-sufficient funds BPT payroll cheque” to someone in the amount of $300 drawn from the BPT Commonwealth Bank account.

“Mr Owen knew he had already intentionally overdrawn

this account and knew this payroll cheque would bounce,” he alleged.

He said a few days later Mr Owen brought police to BPT’s business place, demanding keys to the equipment.

But after declaring himself president, director and shareholder of the company, police left, having determined it was a civil matter. A similar event was repeated eight days later.

On November 13, Mr Miller said he was told by a teller at Commonwealth Bank that BPT’s account, which held $37,000 the previous week, had been withdrawn by Mr Owen and was now overdrawn.

He said he never received a full accounting of the company’s financial transactions, bank statements, cash flow statements, assets and liabilities, profit & loss statement or trial balance.

“The actions of Mr Cox, Mr Owen and Mr Laroda in recent months, perpetrated deliberate acts to purposely usurp my right of ownership as the majority shareholder of the venture and subject companies,” he said. “Their actions were deliberate and with intent to defraud and deny me my rightful authority and investment rights in the venture and subject companies, and to illegally force me out of my own business which I started with my personal resources.”

Mr Miller said he has suffered “significant loss and damage as a result of the malicious behaviour of Mr Cox, Mr Owen and Mr Laroda and their naked usurpation of my rights as the owner of the business interest in my companies BPT and BPTA.”

PAGE 8, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

T

OO often when we see successful people, we automatically think they had it made or the road was well paved for them. We look at where they are today but don’t know what it took them to get there.

Since I began interviewing people for Face to Face nearly a year ago, I have come to realise many of the affluent people in this country did not come coasting down an easy road. In many cases, decades of sacrifice got them where they are today. The column exists for this very purpose – to do away with assumptions and shed light on the truth about people’s lives so that we can all take away important lessons from their experience.

In this case, I was highly impressed by the tenacity and wit of L Frederick Albury, a young boy from Palmdale who grew up in a home of modest means, never went to college, yet became one of the biggest names in the automotive industry in The Bahamas.

He is the son of Lionel Augustus Albury of Marsh Harbour, Abaco and Lurey Albury (of the Curry and Gates clans) of Green Turtle Cay. Like many Abaconians back in the day, they married and migrated to Nassau to look for work, settling in the Palmdale area. Lionel was a carpenter by trade while Lurey worked in housekeeping at the Montague Beach Hotel. Together, they raised their children Jeffrey, Lionel (Frederick), Carolyn and Arlene and worked hard to provide for them.

Frederick enjoyed his days growing up in Palmdale, especially with the camaradarie of fellow Abaconians. He was able to visit the island during summer breaks, like many of the kids. Back then, people’s properties were not closed off from one another.

They were connected by gates and children could pass through from one yard to another without having to run about on the streets. They would, however, ride bicycles together. This close knit setting would bode well for his upbringing.

“Life was great growing up in Palmdale,” he recalled, attributing a part of it to his experiences affiliated with Calvary Bible Church where many of the residents in the area worshipped.

“On Wednesday evenings, the kids would gather at Home Furniture, where the owner Mr Roberts would loan a truck for the youth camp. All the kids from the neighbourhood would meet there and get on the truck and head to Gladstone Road for an evening of camping.”

Frederick attended St Thomas Moore Primary School right in his Palmdale neighbourhood, and then continued on to St Augustine’s College. His father maintained the family as it grew and his mother became a homemaker. He found work at British American Insurance and then with Home Furniture Company as a credit collector. Later he went on to work at Commonwealth Bank when it first opened its doors, originally under the name Commonwealth Industrial Bank. As a seasoned collector, he became valuable to the bank and worked his way up to the manager of the mortgage department.

F

REDERICK’S parents pushed him and he took on the challenge to attend St Augustine’s. It was an all-boys school with a rigorous learning schedule that started at 8 in the morning and ended at 5 in the evening. It wasn’t until Frederick was in Form Three that the all-girls school, Xaviers, was amalgamated into St Augustine’s. The discipline at the school, he said, was “hard and firm” under the leadership of Father Bonaventure Dean and Father Burton.

He comically recalls an incident in which he and the current Prime Minister Hubert Minnis were “goofing around” in the back of the class. The Dean of the school would use a leather barber strap to discipline students. The boys “assumed the position” with their hands on the table to receive their lashings, but Minnis got the worse end of the deal on that occasion and to this day, he jokes with his childhood friend that he took a lashing for him. However, the discipline and the Catholic education, with teachers like Vincent Ferguson and Leviticus Adderley who “helped turn young boys into men”, paid off as many of his classmates are the movers and shakers of today’s society including former Chief of Justice Michael Barnett and current University of The Bahamas President Dr Rodney Smith.

FREDERICK ALBURY, third left, with, from left, grandson Isaac Fox, daughter Adiza Anne, wife Daisy, daughter Natasha and son Lionel James.

Goofing around in class with the future PM - what would come next?

LEFT, a 1979 photo of Frederick and two salespeople posing for a photo used for an advertisement in The Tribune. Above, his daughter Nadia, Miss Bahamas 2002. Right, with a Hyundai representative from South Korea.

Life was not easy for him even though he attended the prestigious school and at the age of 12, he helped to support himself by getting a job at Nassau Bicycle company where he earned $2 a day. At the age of 14, he worked as a packing boy at JD Albury and Sons grocery on the weekends.

“Mom and dad were not rich by any means, they could not afford to put me through college and I was no rocket scientist academically at the time” Frederick said.

However, he was fortunate to have found his career path early. His brother Jeff, eight years his senior, became a shareholder in the used car dealership owned by Kenneth “KC” Cartwright. He began working at the car lot after school, on weekends and holidays and found something he truly loved. He even saved up and purchased his own car. “I found my passion in automobiles,” he said, and I sought to know them inside-out.”

Frederick graduated from SAC in 1971 and a year later, he and Jeff started Quality Auto Sales Ltd, selling cars from a gas station Jeff was involved in. After that, the brothers gained their own location between Elizabeth and Victoria Avenues.

“I learned how to clean a vehicle and dress it up,” he said. “I learned about marketing. I learned certain things from the accountant. I learned everything I could about the industry. It was the university of hard knocks but it was a good way to learn.”

In 1979, Quality Auto Sales Ltd moved to East Shirley Street. Up to 1982, used cars remained the mainstay of the business. But there was a growing trend in new car sales and the brothers responded.

They obtained the rights to sell brand new Suzuki vehicles for The Bahamas. A year later, the company was approached by the now giant South Korean brand Hyundai to represent them. This allowed them to sell new small Suzuki vehicles and the bigger Hyundai models.

By 1990, following the struggles of ABC

Motors Ltd, Frederick was successful in adding the Toyota brand to their group of companies after tough negotiations.

The first fleet arrived in 1992. Executive Motors Ltd. started with the Toyota brand at their Collins Avenue location but due to demands, a larger facility was required. In 2002, the former John S. George property became available and the company was able to relocate in 2006 where it remains today.

The Auto Mall Group of Companies includes Executive Motors, dealers of the Toyota and Lexus brands; Quality Auto, which promotes Hyundai and Suzuki vehicles; and Omega Motors established in 2011 (headed by his son Lionel James), which covers the BMW and Mini brands.

The company also has a branch in Freeport, Grand Bahama. In 2003, Quality Auto Sales Ltd and Nassau Motor Company came together to start Abaco Motor Mall Ltd to represent both companies in the Abaco market. The Auto Mall group of companies has since expanded to include hybrid vehicles, after the FNM government’s incentive in 2010 offering lower tariffs for these vehicles. Today, it is the leader in hybrid auto sales and also has a Wulff Road location. The company also offers a parts and service section. Today, the umbrella company supports around 100 employees.

Frederick is still learning even today as the automotive industry is always changing.

He stays in constant contact with his suppliers and attends international conferences to learn as much as possible and adapt his business to the changing trends.

“Times are changing, technology is changing at the moment, and we are in a new industrial revolution in which we will see massive changes in the automotive industry in the next five years” he advised.

“Every four years, Toyota has a world

FREDERICK, far right, at a conference in Japan in 2015; Above, inset, his parents Lionel and Lurey Albury.

conference in Japan. We go there to get the reports on what has happened in the last four years and to get the vision for the next four years. Toyota is investing in its TSS (Toyota Safety Sense) which allows vehicles to just about drive themselves with the exception of steering. There are sensors in the front of the vehicle that will automatically brake if you come too close to a car in front or speed up when necessary. It will stop if a pedestrian steps in front of you.

The wheel will vibrate if you fall asleep.

“As this equipment gets into vehicles, the next step will be putting in GPS tracking. Toyota is moving away from being just an automotive company; they are moving into mobility. Toyota is going to be a major sponsor in the next Olympics and the plan is to showcase its new products there in which they have invested billions of dollars in research, including electric buses, flying cars, electric scooters and a wide range of mobility devices including those designed for the disabled.”

The industry, he added, is moving away from regular combustion engines to hybrids, using a mix of gas and electricity. In 2015 during his visit to Japan, he drove his first fuel cell vehicle which runs on hydrogen and is a much quieter drive.

The Auto Mall continues to diversify to keep up with international trends and respond to the local market. Frederick believes much of its success occurred over the decades because of the great partnership that he and his brother has.

“I am the more upfront, face of the business, and he is more of the background with the banking and accounting, and it makes for a good partnership,” he said.

“You have to have a passion for this. Most people get up and go to work because they want to earn a pay cheque. You have to be prepared to put in extra hours and learn about the product. You have to be concerned about your clients, your consumers and their welfare. You also have to not be greedy and milk the company’s profits if you have a few successful years.

We pay ourselves a salary just as if we were working anywhere else and the profits are invested back into the company.”

He doesn’t seem to be ready to slow down any time soon. In his downtime, he loves visiting his beloved Abaco and going deep sea fishing with his mates. He is husband to Daisy Albury (nee Moss) and is father to four children of his own and two step children, all of whom he considers his children. They are Lionel James, Natasha, Nadia (Miss Bahamas 2002), William Miller (2015 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Champion), Ernea Miller (who has her private pilot’s licence), and his youngest Adiza Anne Albury.

Frederick and Daisy are also proud grandparents to seven grandsons.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, December 4, 2018, PAGE 9

RBC worker told to pay back $170,000 he stole

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net A FORMER Royal Bank of Canada employee was yesterday ordered to pay back the $170,000 he stole from his former employer over a four-month period two years ago.

Acting deputy chief magistrate Subusola Swain ordered Traves Mackey to pay the $172,778.93 he stole from RBC’s East Hill Street location between February and May 2016.

The former business service representative was further ordered to pay $19,000 in fines — $500 on each of the 38 fraud-related and/or stealing by reason of employment charges levied against him.

Mackey has until March of next year to meet those obligations. He will return to court on March 24, 2019, for a review of the statuses of his payments.

Defaulting the compensation order would result in a custodial sentence of three years, while failure to pay the fine would result in two years in prison.

The senior magistrate said the sentences are to run concurrently.

The orders came moments after the 37-year-old pleaded guilty to the 38 fraud-related charges. He had previously pleaded not guilty to all of the charges when arraigned last month.

Besides the $177,778.93 he stole, Mackey also made false entries in RBC’s computer system, which he was required to maintain, to show that Marvin Gay, trading as Tat’s Rentals, was entitled to $130,116.71 in payments.

MARVIN GAY, left, and Traves Mackey, centre.

Mackey also made mul- fines for stealing $61,000 tiple false entries in RBC’s from his former employer system to show that Kenja late last year or otherwise King was entitled to $12,503 face two years in prison.

At the time, acting in payments between April Deputy Chief Magistrate 6 and May 12, 2016.

The Faith Gardens resi- Swain further gave Mackey dent also made false entries 30 days to fully reimburse into the system to show RBC the $61,588.97 he stole that Ernika Enterprises, from that bank between Prince Mackey, and Phil- October 11 and 31, 2017, or lipa Watkins were entitled face an additional year in to payments of $32,873.43; prison.

Meanwhile, a second $16,000 and $3,500 former RBC employee, respectively.

He also laundered 57-year-old Kenja King, $172,778.93 between Feb- along with another man, ruary 22 and May 26, 2016, 51-year-old Marvin Gay, which in part represented are accused of aiding and the proceeds of criminal abetting Mackey in stealing over $130,000 from conduct.

In a separate case, ear- RBC between February lier this year, Mackey was and April of 2016, with ordered to pay $13,0000 in King further accused of

stealing $28,500 from RBC by reason of her employment, and defrauding the bank of $13,000 between April and May of that year.

Concerning Gay, it is alleged he abetted Mackey in stealing $118,683 from RBC, which he had access to by reason of his employment, between February 22 and May 26, 2016.

Gay is also accused of having acquired and laundered $118,683 between those dates, which in part represented the proceeds of criminal conduct.

King, meanwhile, was charged with stealing $28,503 from RBC, which she had access to by reason of her employment,

between April 6 and 27, 2016. King, a business service representative, also allegedly made multiple false entries in RBC’s computer system to show that Mackey was entitled to $13,000 in payments between April 6 and May 9, 2016.

She is also alleged to have aided and abetted Mackey in stealing $12,503 from their employer between April 6 and May 9, 2016.

King is further alleged to have acquired and laundered $25,503, which in part represents the proceeds of criminal conduct, between the same dates – April 6 and May 9, 2016. Gay and King will face those charges on Friday.

KENJA KING

PAGE 10, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

THE TRIBUNE GOVERNOR General Dame Marguerite Pindling meets a patient in Princess Margaret Hospital and, below, PHA deputy chairman Robert Carron with Flora Hanna, one of the oldest Yellow Bird staff members at the hospital.

Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

‘It’s getting better at PMH’ says minister

By RIEL MAJOR

DR DUANE SANDS, Minister of Health, is presented a gift by Samiya Brown along with Dr Camille Glinton.

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands highlighted yesterday a number of significant accomplishments achieved at Princess Margaret Hospital this year and project goals for the hospital in 2019.

Dr Sands said he was proud to highlight the important infrastructural work completed in 2018 but “privileged to forecast the significant projects which will be undertaken in the year to come.”

He said: “These works include the much-anticipated Accident and Emergency urgent care project which was launched in August this year. This complex multi-million-dollar undertaking will result in enhancements to the PMH Emergency Room waiting

room, triage, asthma bay and treatment rooms here at the hospital.

“The project also includes upgrading the Elizabeth Estates Clinic and South Beach Clinic to urgent care centres for emergency triage levels three, four and five.”

The minister continued: “As amazing as the Emergency Department’s staff are, and as important as the improvements and renovations to the hospital’s Emergency Room will be, the most significant aspect of this project will be the expansion of urgent care services to Elizabeth Estates and South Beach Clinics.

“This aspect of the project not only facilitates an enhancement of access to care, but also allows for a reduction in demand for service at the already oversubscribed hospital emergency room.

“I am pleased to advise that early in the New Year we expect to launch significant renovations to Children’s Ward South. These improvements will not only improve the conditions and aesthetic of the clinical areas, but also will include the provision of a hospital school room, a tutorial room, and a day treatment room.”

Dr Sands said he is looking forward to progress being made on remedial works to the cafeteria’s roof, the relocation of the hospital’s business office to the old St Luke’s Chapel, improvement works to PMH’s laundry department and the renovation of doctors’ lounge. He said PMH’s dialysis department has been prioritised and the roof leak in the area is being addressed and further improvement works are expected next year.

This year, Dr Sands expressed his satisfaction of the completion of the Corey Newbold Ward, the completed upgrade in the Radiology Department, and the installation of new equipment.

He said: “Today I am pleased to report that all renovation works have been completed, and that the ward has been officially reopened to patients following a brief blessing and commissioning service on November 28.

This will result in a least 25 medical/surgical beds reincorporated into circulation.

“I am also pleased to report that the initial phase of the PMH Radiology Department upgrade has been completed, and the department was commissioned back into service last month.

“The renovation of key areas within the department, the installation of digital x-ray equipment and a 64 slice CT machine, and the implementation of Picture Archive & Communication System or PACS has taken the radiology services provided to the Bahamian people to a new level.”

Dr Sands said the Patient Relations Department was relocated to the former registry office and the Oncology Clinic floor has been renovated.

The health minister said: “The Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department

senior staff oversaw renovations to the hospital’s Labour Ward. The renovations included replacing the flooring, upgrading the Nurses’ Station, and enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the ward.

“The significance of the Labour Ward renovation is heightened as it will allow, in some cases, for a woman in delivery to be accompanied by her partner during childbirth; a privilege that, while helpful to mothers, was formerly only available to patients accessing private care.

“Another significant change has been the introduction of the maternity day assessment unit to assist with overcrowding on the labour ward. This allows for a space where mothers who may not be in labour, but are required to be assessed, can be facilitated… in the newly established unit.”

He spoke of the improvements made from the legacy entrance, inclusive of the remedial roof repairs damaged by hurricane Matthew.

The hospital had issues with the air conditioning system delaying surgical procedures while work was conducted to make the system functional.

“I am pleased to report that, having prioritised work on the air condition system for the operating theatres, ICS, and the medical block; the A/C systems for (Critical Care Block) and the Medical Block have been repaired,” Dr Sands said.

His comments came during Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling’s annual visit to the hospital yesterday. In a brief address, Dame Marguerite said: “I consider it a privilege that I have once again been afforded the honour of cutting the ribbon at two important areas of the hospital, returning them to the service of the Bahamian people.

“This year, I am particularly happy to address the staff of the Princess Margaret Hospital, not only because it is part of this age-old yuletide tradition of an official visit, but rather because I am aware of just how much of an impact each one of you makes in the lives of your patients and their loved ones on a daily basis.

“Princess Margaret Hospital is the place where the vast majority of Bahamians are born, it is where so many us bring our loved ones when they are ill and injured, and it is often where we seek care as life comes to an end.”

She said despite the many challenges faced, this institution, and those who serve within it, have time and time again risen to the challenge when duty calls.

She said the dedication to service above self was showcased on the national stage this year as hospital staff demonstrated expertise and compassion on so many levels during the tragedy of the Labour Day march and after a fatal Exuma boating accident.

She said: “I extend heartfelt appreciation for your heroism and selfless acts of courage, caring and clinical excellence.”

Robert Carron, PHA deputy chairman, welcomed Dame Marguerite and Dr Sands to the PMH. Mr Carron said: “Your Excellency, many of us were stunned by the crumbling, dilapidated state of our public health infrastructure… which greeted our arrival in July, 2017. While I cannot imagine what it must have been like working under such challenging working conditions, those gathered here and other members of the PHA/ PMH team not present unselfishly and tirelessly devoted themselves to the task of providing quality healthcare to those in need… To each and every one of you, we salute those efforts and deem them worthy of being called ‘Unsung Heroes’.”

People at all levels within the health service, he said, had “devoted considerable time and efforts in order to execute our Minister’s mandate to transform the delivery of healthcare in our Bahamaland and resolve years of ‘unconscionable neglect’.”

In the future, said Mr Carron, the health service would need to change a number of things.

“If we want to change the delivery of healthcare in our nation, we got to find the right person to paddle along beside us!” he said. “…Sometimes no matter how well one prepares or performs we will not achieve that which we strive for. Life is unfair.

But, as many here can attest, if we want to succeed then we must be at our best when all around us things are at their worst! ‘…If we want to change the world then we must never ever give up.

Together, we can transform the delivery of healthcare in our nation and change

THE TRIBUNE

POLICE HUNT FOR SUSPECTS AFTER SERIES OF ARMED ROBBERIES POLICE on New Providence are searching for the men responsible for three separate robberies, including a home invasion, which occurred on Sunday.

The first incident occurred shortly before 1pm when two armed men entered a home on Hutchinson Street, off Poinciana Drive and held residents up. The residents were robbed them of cash and cell

phones before the thieves escaped.

Then shortly before 7pm, police were told a woman was standing in front of a residence in Blue Hill Heights, when she was approached by two men, who pushed her to the ground and robbed her of her handbag which contained cash and other personal items, before getting into a black Toyota Passo and

speeding away.

The last incident happened shortly after 10pm.

Police were told a man was sitting in his vehicle in a parking lot near Potter’s Cay Dock when he was approached by a group of men, one armed with a firearm, who robbed him of cash, a cell phone and jewellery before running away.

Investigations are ongoing.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018, PAGE 11

BLAZE DESTROYS PROPERTY IN GRAND BAHAMA

FIREFIGHTERS responded to a house fire on Hearn Lane in Grand Bahama on Wednesday of last week. The structure was completely destroyed. No one was injured.

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

PAGE 12, Tuesday, December 4, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

VIOLENT PROTESTS IN FRANCE REVEAL A HARD-TO-HEAL FRACTURE PARIS Associated Press

A GRASSROOTS protest movement in France has ballooned and radicalised, unleashing anger that devastated the heart of Paris in weekend riots and revealed a fracture in the country between the haves and have-nots.

Tough talk by President Emmanuel Macron, who has been roundly blamed for the chaos, isn’t likely to mend the growing sense of social injustice.

Discontent about the rising cost of living among the “little people,” as many protesters call themselves, had been growing, along with a sense of marginalisation. The approach of Macron’s fuel tax increases in January, meant to wean the French off fossil fuels, has caused things to snap.

The weekend violence in Paris, in which more than 130 people

were injured and over 400 were arrested, was the worst in the country in decades, officials have said.

The protesters say they want to level a playing field that they believe is tipped in favor of the elite and well-off city dwellers.

The fuel tax “was the spark,” said Thierry Paul Valette, a Paris protest coordinator, in an interview. “If it hadn’t been (that), it would have been something else.”

“People want fair fiscal justice. They want social justice,” he added, as well as improved purchasing power.

Members of the nationwide movement call themselves the “yellow vests,” after the fluorescent safety clothing that all French motorists are obliged to keep in their cars.

“It’s clear the position of President Emmanuel Macron is untenable ... contempt for a France that suffers and contempt for a France that’s not doing well,” Valette said.

AMBULANCE workers protest outside the National Assembly in Paris yesterday.

The Yellow Vest movement has no leaders but is trying to organise and choose legitimate representatives to negotiate with the government.

An attempt to meet last week with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe failed. Reports that another rendezvous announced for Tuesday was cancelled by the protesters could not be immediately confirmed.

The movement, which organised on social media in October, was initially made up of retirees, the self-employed, artisans and others having a hard time making ends meet, often from rural France and in their 30s and 40s, said Sorbonne sociologist JeanFrancois Amadieu, an expert in social movements.

As the government braces for a fourth weekend of protests, discontent spread yesterday to ambulance workers and some high schools with students upset about scholastic reforms.

George HW Bush goes back for one final time HOUSTON Associated Press

GEORGE HW Bush went back to Washington for a final time yesterday, heading for the Capitol to lie in state as the nation paid tribute to the 41st president for a lifetime of service that began in the Navy during World War II, ended with four years as president and was characterised throughout by what admirers say was decency, generosity and kindness.

Sent off from his beloved Texas with a 21-gun salute, Bush’s casket was carried to Andrews Air Force Base outside the capital city aboard an aircraft that often serves as Air Force One. Former President George W Bush, the eldest of the four Bush sons, and his wife, Laura, along with brother Neil Bush and his family, boarded the plane for the cross-country trip to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

On Sunday, students, staff and visitors had flocked to Bush’s presidential library on the campus of Texas A&M University, with thousands of mourners paying their respects at a weekend candlelight vigil at a nearby pond and others contributing to growing flower memorials at Bush statues at both the library and a park in downtown Houston.

“I think he was one of the kindest, most generous men,” said Marge Frazier, who visited the downtown statue on Sunday while showing friends from California around. A similar outpouring is anticipated in Washington this

THE FLAG-draped casket of former President George HW Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to Special Air Mission 41 at Ellington Field during a departure ceremony yesterday. week during the state funeral for Bush, who died late Friday at his home in Houston. He was 94.

Bush, who was president from 1989 to 1993, will lie in state in the US Capitol rotunda for a ceremony and public visitation until Wednesday. An invitation-only funeral service is set for Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral.

President Donald Trump and first

lady Melania Trump are to attend.

Bush’s family has not said who will speak at the service. Former President Jimmy Carter also will be there.

Afterward, Bush will be returned to Houston to lie in repose at St Martin’s Episcopal Church before burial Thursday at his family plot on the library grounds. His final resting place will be alongside

Barbara Bush, his wife of 73 years who died in April, and Robin Bush, the daughter they lost to leukemia in 1953 at age three.

Bush’s casket arrived in Washington yesterday afternoon aboard the US military airplane. The crew was tasked by Trump with carrying out “Special Air Mission 41,” a reference to Bush’s place in the roster of America’s presid

UN: OVER 150 SEXUAL VIOLENCE CASES IN SOUTH SUDAN IN 12 DAYS

Associated Press

MORE than 150 women and girls have sought treatment in the past 12 days for rape and other acts of sexual violence near Bentiu, the second-largest city in South Sudan, UN officials said yesterday.

A joint statement from the UN

humanitarian chief and the heads of the UN children’s agency and the UN population agency condemned the “abhorrent attacks.”

They said “the assailants have been described as armed men, many in uniform.”

Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark

Lowcock, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and UN Population Fund Executive Director Natalia Kanem called on authorities “to publicly denounce the attacks and ensure that those responsible for these crimes face justice.”

In the first half of 2018, they said, some 2,300 cases of gender-based

violence were reported to medical and aid groups in South Sudan, the vast majority perpetrated against women and girls and over 20 percent against children.

“The actual number of cases is far higher, as gender-based violence continues to be severely underreported,” the UN officials said.

ASTRONAUTS SAFELY ABOARD INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION KAZAKHSTAN Associated Press THREE astronauts who were launched into space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft yesterday entered the International Space Station nearly eight hours later, a relief to relatives and scientists months after a rocket failure aborted another mission.

The hatch of the capsule carrying NASA astronaut Anne McClain, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Russian space agency Roscosmos was opened while the station was flying over the southern coast of Yemen.

The three were greeted upon arrival by the station’s current crew members, who had waited outside the hatch after the astronauts’ capsule docked and underwent safety checks.

Their Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft launched from the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday at 5:31 p.m. then entered a designated orbit nine minutes later.

The spacecraft made four orbits over six hours as it chased down the space station for the docking.

The astronauts were the first sent to be sent to the space station since a crewed Soyuz launch was aborted in October after a booster rocket failed to separate properly, crippling the rocket. The families of the crew, other astronauts and space officials from several nations breathed a sigh of relief after observing the flawless launch.

After two hours waiting in their capsule to confirm their ship was firmly docked to the station, they exited the capsule to join three astronauts already aboard the orbiting outpost at 1:37 am.