Worst Of The Worst', 'Rarest Of The Rare

• Author: Derence A. Rolle Davis
• Pages: 109-117

The Law: The Social and Economic Effect on The Bahamas 2000 - 2020

24. “WORST OF THE WORST”,

“RAREST OF THE RARE”

The year 2011 found The Bahamas in a state of surprise and

bewilderment. A declaration from the country’s highest court, the Privy Council

in the case of Maxo Tido v. The Queen [2011] UKPC 16, left the citizens, from the

judiciary to the ordinary man on the street, with a jaw dropping motion. The use

of the words “the worst of the worst and the rarest of the rare” in that case, and

the application to which those words were to be used spurred a distaste and a

call for action from many social quarters.

The following cases demonstrate a progression of the law on the issue of

the mandatory death sentence and the culmination of the term by the Privy

Council.

The Legal Effect

Bowe v. The Queen (2006) UKPC 10 was heard before the Privy Council. It

was decided in that case that section 312 of the Penal Code of The Bahamas

(now section 291) should be accepted as a discretionary and not a mandatory

sentence of death. The matter was sent back to the Supreme Court for

appropriate sentences. 29

Simmon & Greene v. R (2006) UKPC 19 was another case heard before the

Privy Council in which it was found that the mandatory death sentence is in fact

discretionary. This case involved the approach to be taken in cases where a

confession is obtained in breach of the constitutional right to have counsel. The

approach is that the defendant has the right to have counsel, but if he chooses not

to, it is not damning. The death sentence was overturned and the case remitted to

the Supreme Court for sentencing.

Since these cases were decided the legislature has not sought to amend the

penalty for murder. However, the issue of whether death should be imposed in

cases of murder was unsettled. The society accordingly felt the hopelessness of

the system to adequately punish those who sought to run afoul of the law. No

29 Other Laws passed during this year are: Privatisation of Bahamas Telecommunications

Limited Act, 2011, Law Reform & Revision (Misc. Amendment) Act, 2011, Securities Industry

Act, 2011, Customs Management Act, 2011, Straw Market Authority Act, 2011, Interpretation &

General Clauses (Amendment) Act, 2011, Penal Code (Amendment) Act, 2011, Criminal

Procedure Code (Amendment) Act, 2011 (1 & 2), Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2011, Bail

(Amendment) Act, 2011, Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 2011, Criminal Evidence (Witness

Anonymity) Act, 2011, Court of Appeal Amendment Act, 2011, and the Sexual Offences

(Amendment) Act, 2011.

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