NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle said yesterday that in hindsight of the double murder of Alicia Sawyer and her eight-year-old daughter, facilities must be in place for police to respond to incidents of domestic violence.
According to reports, Sawyer, 30, and her daughter Asria Ednique Wallace were found dead in their Stark Street, Nassau Village residence on September 28.
Rolle told reporters that police were on the hunt for the man wanted in connection with the double murder hours before the incident.
He said Sawyer filed a report with the police, identifying the suspect, the day before she was found dead.
Rolle noted the suspect was moving about and “changed vehicles a couple of times” during the course of the night, as police sought to track him down.
“He was determined to do it,” the commissioner said.
Asked about the measures in place for police to adequately respond to those complaints, Rolle said: “This is a good time that we can have that conversation where more may need to be done and more facilities be made available when instances like this happen.
“At it stands right now, a person comes into the police and they make a complaint.
“Police have no facility as such to take a person and put them in a safe house as such.
“What we did was we went in search of the suspect in that incident. We will continue to do that.”
Asked whether an officer could have been stationed at the victim’s home for protection, Rolle said: “In hindsight, there’s a lot of things that we could say could have been done. We have to learn from this incident…That is something that when we look back at it, we learn from it.”
The commissioner of police furthered that current legislation does not extend to those types of situations, given that the victim and her alleged killer did not live in the same household.
“This is a good time to look at it and fix it,” he added.
“As we fix it, it gives me a little more to work with. It gives police a little more to work with and it gives the agencies that we call upon a little more to deal with.”
