Man killed in New Year’s Day murder

Man killed in New Year’s Day murder

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Police yesterday launched investigations in the country’s first homicide for year in Coconut Grove.

According to reports, a man was shot and killed at Third Street off Palm Tree Avenue.

Earlier yesterday, Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson cited the adjustment in policing strategies to response to Hurricane Dorian as one of the reasons certain categories of crime, namely murders, slipped away from law enforcement in the months following the Category 5 storm.

Speaking to reporters on Bay Street at the 2020 New Year’s Junkanoo Parade, Ferguson said: “You could always say what things you would like to do. I think you have to be optimistic about these things, but you have to appreciate and understand that only the good Lord can predict the future. I believe I can say the officers performed especially well.

“I had indicated in a much earlier report that up to the 1st September the murder count was at 61 and once Hurricane Dorian hit us we had to adjust our policing strategy, so September and October we saw some increases in there, but immediately after we adjusted our program and you see the numbers went extremely down and we managed it from October straight into the very last day of the year.

“And so, I am very pleased. I cannot ask for anything else of out the officers. They performed exceptionally well having to police New Providence and [the] Hurricane Dorian tragedy in Abaco.”

There were 95 murders last year, according to Eyewitness News’ records.

In 2018, there were 91 murders, the lowest murder count since 85 was reported in 2009.

This represents a four percent increase in murders.

The murder count in 2018 represented a 26 percent decrease in murders compared to the 122 murders in 2017.

On the first anniversary of the Minnis administration’s victory at the polls in 2017, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis heralded the reduction in crime as the government’s most important achievement at the time.

As murders continued to trend down near the end of 2018, Minnis that Bahamians were no longer fearful of crime.

The government has committed to addressing the root causes of crime.

The commissioner is expected to release crime statistics for 2019 as well as his 2020 policing plan sometime this month.

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.