Four men arraigned on 18 counts of manslaughter
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Police Commissioner Clayton Fernanader said yesterday that investigations continue into the alleged human smuggling operation that led to the drowning deaths of 17 people.
During an Office of the Prime Minister Press briefing, Fernander said police believe there were more individuals involved.
An autopsy revealed one of the women victims was pregnant with a male fetus.
PHA Managing Director Aubynette Rolle said all three migrants that were being treated for near drowning have been released to the Immigration Department. Health officials have identified five people: one man, a one-year-old toddler, a 13-year-old girl, and two women.
“It was 17 persons dead but it rose to 18 after it was discovered during an autopsy that one of the females was pregnant,” said Fernander, noting that some of the victims came from various Family Islands.
“The investigation continues into this matter because I believe there are some more individuals involved. Based on our investigations have to be some safe houses and where the destination was there has to be someone on the receiving end.”
Fernander credited the collaborative efforts of local agencies in the investigation and noted that US partners are also working closely with local investigators. Twenty-five people were rescued after the boat capsized.
Four men were arraigned in Magistrate’s Court yesterday for their suspected involvement in the operation.
McKenzie Jerome, 53, Donald Watson, 39, Eulan McKinney, 49, and Wilbens Joseph, 37, a Haitian national with a work permit, were charged with 18 counts of manslaughter for the unintentional death of 15 women, one girl toddler, one man, and a male fetus.
Watson and McKinney received an additional two charges of reckless operation of a craft.
The men will return to court on October 28. They were not required to enter pleas to the charges and were denied bail.
At yesterday’s OPM briefing, Defense Force Captain Glenn Mcphee noted that search and recovery efforts have been suspended.
“As it relates to that incident we have suspended our search and recovery efforts owing to the fact that we have explored and analyzed the data as it relates to the tide, sea state, wind, current, and probability of survivability to date,” he said.
“Given those results, we have suspended our search and recovery efforts however all of our assets remain on routine patrol to canvas those areas just in case we can activate our full-scale search and rescue recovery efforts if any detail is favorable to such reactivation.”
Immigration director Keturah Ferguson noted that two of the persons involved in the tragedy held legal status in The Bahamas.
“Others came in as visitors, some overstayed their times, some had time, and others even though they claimed to have time we were not able to find them in our database,” she said, noting that some persons used aliases.
Anthony Pierre Brutus, Charge De’ Affairs at the Haitian Embassy in Nassau noted that the Haitian government will cover the funeral expenses for the drowning victims.
Press Secretary Clint Watson advised all migrants wishing to visit The Bahamas to apply for the necessary documents to do so. He said there is a Bahamian embassy in Haiti and advised all migrants to follow the law.
Loading ...
