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The Tribune L AT E S T
Volume: 123 No. 14, Wednesday, December 10, 2025
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VENDORS’ HEARTACHE AS STALLS RANSACKED Displaced vendors lose thousands in theft amid complaints of poor security and relocation delays By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net A REGULAR morning turned into dismay for straw vendors at Fort Charlotte yesterday when they opened their tent stalls to find them ransacked and stripped of merchandise worth thousands of dollars just weeks before Christmas.
The scene was grim as vendors surveyed their losses. One said the “heart-aching” discovery left some so emotionally overwhelmed they went home because they could not bear to work. Others trudged through the rain, trying to salvage the day by approaching tourists directly to make up for their losses. Margarette
Rahming-Jones, visibly shaken, said nearly $30,000 worth of inventory was stolen from her stall, including jewellery, bags, sweatshirts, stuffed animals, customised souvenirs, and other goods. A long-time vendor who once operated at Fort Fincastle, she said petty thefts have been happening for months, but VENDORS - SEE PAGE FOUR
‘I woke up with him on top of me,’ ‘STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’ - MOTHER woman testifies during rape trial WELCOMES ACQUITTAL APPEAL IN SON’S KILLING EUGENE WOODSIDE
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A WOMAN testified yesterday that she woke up to a man on top of her as the trial into her alleged rape in Andros in 2022 continued. The complainant, whose name is being withheld to protect her identity, testified in the rape and
burglary trial of 27-year-old Garnet “GJ” Thompson Jr before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns. Prosecutors allege Thompson broke into the complainant’s Cargill Creek, Andros home on the night of November 18, 2022 and raped her. She was 27 at the time. The victim said she woke up to the defendant on top
of her. She said that as she shoved him off, she felt his penis in her vagina. The defendant allegedly cursed as he was pushed away and stumbled back into a corner. The victim said she did not know how long the defendant had been inside the home, but that he fled RAPE - SEE PAGE FIVE
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net A GRIEVING mother yesterday welcomed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution’s decision to appeal a direct acquittal and a judge’s refusal to hear an
KENDRA WOODSIDE
anonymous witness application in the trial of two men once accused of killing her eight-year-old son. Kendra Woodside described the appeal decision as a “step in the right direction”, even as she continues to struggle with being excluded from the collapsed trial into her son Eugene
Woodside Jr’s slaying. “I will allow them to do what they have to do,” she said, but adding that she wouldn’t call herself happy. Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Fraizer confirmed yesterday that an amended appeal was filed APPEAL - SEE PAGE THREE
Eight held as RBDF disrupts suspected human smuggling plot THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force said officers disrupted a suspected human smuggling operation on Wednesday following coordinated surveillance and patrol activity over a two-day period. According to the RBDF, intelligence officers first received information from partner agencies
on December 2 about a suspected 32-foot Donzi Contender–type vessel, registration FL5631JP, reportedly preparing for a smuggling attempt. Surveillance units monitored the vessel overnight but detected no activity. On December 3, at about 4.20pm, an RBDF Harbour Patrol Unit intercepted the vessel in
the area of John Alfred Dock. Eight people were on board. During boarding and inspection, Defence Force officers identified multiple Customs and Immigration discrepancies. The vessel and all persons were taken into custody and escorted SMUGGLING - SEE PAGE FOUR
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
Herschel Walker is now officially the 14th US Ambassador to The Bahamas. See PAGE TWO