Consequence Must Suit the Crime, Says Christian Council

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Bahamas Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander is calling on officials to find different means to carry out capital punishment.

Fernander’s comments follow the brutal death of 21-year-old Omar Davis Jr., who was found in a garbage bag in the back trunk of a black Honda Fit.

Prior to Davis’ death, four-year-old Kenton Seymour Jr. was tragically killed last month and four-year-old Bella Walker a few months prior.

Fernander says it seems lawbreakers aren’t taking it serious enough.

In 2006, the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death sentence was unconstitutional and left the door open for trial judges to determine what sentence to hand down to murder convicts.

In 2011, the Privy Council upheld the murder conviction of Maxo Tido in the brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl in 2002, but ruled that the crime did not warrant execution.

The last person executed in the country was David Mitchell in January 2000. He was convicted of stabbing two German tourists to death.

Mitchell’s execution by hanging came with much controversy as it was carried out as he had a pending appeal before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

Fernander says officials need to take a closer look at the issue.

As for the crime issue, Fernander says there needs to be a greater focus on the issue.