NASSAU, BAHAMAS — United Public Transportation Company’s President Harrison Moxey yesterday sought to dismiss harmful generalisations concerning bus drivers and their alleged relationships with school-aged girls that he claims has negatively impacted the industry.
Moxey was responding to sentiments made by Senator Maxine Seymour during a debate on amendments to the National Heroes Awards Honours.
Seymour underscored the importance of highlighting everyday Bahamians, like bus drivers, but added that some of them “molest little girls”.
“It’s so easy to focus on the bad things that are happening in our society,” she said.
“But I have to say that there are still good things happening among us.
“And yes Madam president, there are absolutely bus drivers who molest little girls who are passengers on their bus.
“But there are also bus drivers like Johnny who has been driving for at least 30 plus years…and I haven’t heard in 30 plus years of anything other than safety, and him making sure he follows the law, drivers at a certain speed and see looks out for his passengers.”
Seymour insisted that there are several others in the industry “who do well by our children, who make sure our children get where they are going without any interruption”.
The issue was raised amidst growing conversations regarding a change of the age of consent in The Bahamas from 16 to 18 and sexual crimes in the country after a 40-year-old man was recently sentenced to four years for impregnating a 14-year-old girl.
Last March, Dennis Clarke, a bus driver, was fined $200 or one month in prison by Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister for an incident that reportedly occurred in October 2019 with him allegedly putting his hand under her skirt.
The sentencing was met with public outcry and labeled as a “slap on the wrist” after Clarke was found guilty of the indecent assault of a 14-year-old girl.
But United Public Transportation Company’s President Harrison Moxey said that this is not the case for the entire industry.
“We have people work in all facets of society that commit a crime in various facets of society and I never heard nobody brandish a school teacher,” he said.
“You’ve had it with school teachers molesting children they take care of. You’ve never heard anybody say school teachers molest children. You’ve had it with other incidents of other caretakers and caregivers.
“I’ve never heard a broad stick being painted on anybody like that. Something like that I find to be very offensive.
“…Not every bus river is a rapist. We have children too. If you have that, when you deal with a situation you deal it with a case by case matter.”
He admitted that the matter has happened with bus drivers, but it has also happened with hoteliers and even with the police.
“If one police were to get involved with a young child and some of these things would have happened, you still have to call the police because you don’t believe all of them are corrupt and you trust in the commissioner of police to go and deal with the one that is corrupt.”
Moxey added that as a father of a 14-year-old daughter, he finds the suggestion offensive.
“I believe the responsibility is always on the adult even if a child stands before you naked and presents themselves to you,” he said.
“I still believe it’s your responsibility to be an adult, to know better than what somebody is doing, whether it’s a proposition or not. I do not support in any way for something like that to happen.”
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