08272020 NEWS AND SPORT by tribune242

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VOLUME:117 No.188, AUGUST 27, 2020

OBITS OFFICIA

CLASSIFIED TRADER: CARS, CARS, CARS & MORE CARS

No charges for lockdown demo

INSIDE

L SOUR CE

FRONT PORCH

BY SIMON SEE PAGE EIGHT

Out-of-court deal stops prosecution and avoids arrested suing police By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net THE people arrested last week for protesting New Providence’s immediate seven-day lockdown will not be charged in court, according to attorney Wayne Munroe, QC, one of the lawyers representing the group. Mr Munroe said an agreement to allow the protestors to go free has been reached with Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle. “We arrived at an agreement with the

Commissioner of Police,” Mr Munroe said, “that the protesters wouldn’t have to go to court and that they would release the police from suing them over their arrest since the police weren’t sending them to court... So the police don’t have to fear not sending them to court and then getting sued.” Despite multiple attempts, Commissioner Rolle did not respond to a request for comment up to press time. Police said 39 people SEE PAGE THREE

COOPER CALLS ON GOVT TO DETAIL STATE OF TREASURY By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party deputy leader Chester Cooper yesterday called on the government to provide a report on the current state of the Public Treasury and all loan agreements approved for this year. Speaking to reporters outside the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr Cooper said Bahamians are in need of weekly or monthly updates from the Minnis administration on the country’s

financial state of affairs due to reports that its assistance programmes “are running out of money”. He said: “One day, we hear the minister of finance talk about the possibility of programmes running out of money. We heard the minister responsible for public service and national insurance make a similar comment. We hear similar comments from Bahamasair and Water and Sewerage Corporation, and we know BPL is in crisis. SEE PAGE THREE

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE FOUR passengers from Abaco are lucky to be alive after their small aircraft crashed into water off Treasure Cay yesterday morning soon after takeoff. Full story - Page 5

JOBS CRISIS HITS CHURCH FUNDING ROW ENDS IN FATAL STABBING

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

RELIANCE on the church has grown “exponentially” amid the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, a reality that has created challenges across the board, according to Bahamas Christian Council president Bishop Delton Fernander. Chief among the challenges is that high unemployment has had a

trickle down effect, meaning less people are able to give resources to the church to assist with outreach to those most in need. “Forty percent of the society is unemployed,” the BCC president told The Tribune yesterday. “You can only imagine that that’s 40 percent of congregations that are unemployed and churches do their very best to help their own. “We’re really challenged with everything. We are a part of society so if 40

percent are unemployed, churches are not the building, so there are 40 percent of people who cannot help with outreach, who cannot give the finances. “We run the majority of the schools. We run the majority of the homes. We run the majority of the atrisk programmes and if we can’t fund them they aren’t running at full potential. “Churches have been running the homes, paying

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are investigating a stabbing incident that occurred on Tuesday night which left a man dead. ASP Audley Peters reported that shortly before

SEE PAGE FOUR

SEE PAGE SEVEN

SPANISH WOMAN, 73, WAS COCAINE MULE

STATESIDE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

AN elderly Spanish woman who was arraigned earlier this year in connection with the seizure of 12 pounds of cocaine was yesterday released to the Department of Immigration for deportation after spending five months in custody.

LYNDEN Pindling Airport Esperanza Bonet-Roig, 73, of Majorca, Spain first appeared before Deputy

Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes in March, after officers seized cocaine from her. At the time, Bonet-Roig was charged with dangerous drug possession with the intent to supply and importation of the contraband into the country. After spending five months on remand,

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE SEVEN

HOW MELANIA IS STARTING TO LEAD THE TRUMP SHOW SEE PAGE NINE