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Volume: 122 No. 89, March 31, 2025
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1
FAMILY DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR SAMMY Answers sought as man dies three weeks after injury to head By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net SAMUEL “Sammy” Thompson was bleeding from the head and disoriented when he sent a video to his cousin after a night out in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. It would be one of the last times Philicity Sands,
Children among those forced to flee GB fires
his cousin and best friend, ever heard his voice. He reportedly told her: “I don’t know why, I was only trying to help her. They were arguing and he just hit me.” Thompson, 29, died nearly three weeks later in hospital, just two days before the second SEE PAGE THREE
POLICE SHOOTING RULED MANSLAUGHTER BY INQUEST By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net THE parents of Deron Okoye Wilkinson wept in court on Friday as a jury found that his death in a 2018 police-involved shooting was a case of homicide by manslaughter. The officer involved, Police Constable 3620
Lee Dormeus, has previously been linked to two other fatal police shootings. He was interdicted in 2021 after being accused of murdering Danrico Carey, and in 2023, a Coroner’s Court jury returned an open verdict in the 2017 death of Ronald Mackey, citing insufficient evidence SEE PAGE FOUR
THICK smoke covers Regency Park in Grand Bahama as bush fires destroyed a home, several properties and several vehicles over the weekend. Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and a delegation visited the affected communities of Hawksbill Creek, Sunset and Regency Park on Saturday distributing hot meals and speaking with residents. Photo: Vandyke Hepburn By DENISE MAYCOCK his home and displacing “I leave everything nice Tribune Freeport Reporter dozens, including children and when I came back, evedmaycock@tribunemedia.net from the Grand Bahama rything was gone.” Children’s Home. The fires left several A REGENCY Park “I am staying by a friend’s homes with smoke damage, resident has been left with place,” the man told Prime gutted vehicles, and forced nothing but the clothes on Minister Philip “Brave” the evacuation of about 30 his back after wild bushfires Davis on Saturday. “The children to a local resort as tore through parts of Free- only thing I have is what I port on Friday, destroying am wearing.” SEE PAGE TEN
CONCERNS OVER ABACO SHANTY TOWN DEBRIS FUELLING FIRES
Judge in corruption case: Delays could crush system By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net A SUPREME Court judge has warned that prolonged delays in criminal proceedings in The Bahamas could “crush this system”, as he raised alarm over outstanding evidence and scheduling issues in the
high-profile bribery case involving a former senior police officer and a prominent attorney. Justice Dale Fitzpatrick, a Canadian judge appointed in January, made the remarks during a hearing on Friday for former Chief Superintendent SEE PAGE FIVE
FORMER Chief Supt Michael Johnson.
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net ABACO residents are urging the government to clear debris from demolished shanty towns, claiming the rubble is fueling fires that pose serious health hazards to nearby communities. Last week, residents sounded the alarm over a raging fire in the Gaza shanty town near SC Bootle SEE PAGE 11