National

Today In History: June 24

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – RBDF Founder Commodore Casper Swinley passed away, police investigated a fraudulent letter about Dame Marguerite Pindling, and Craig Flowers had his 2009 gambling convictions overturned.

Published

6 months ago

June 24, 2025

Kendeno Knowles

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – On June 24th, 2014, Casper William Swinley, the founding father of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, passed away in Guernsey, United Kingdom.

In October 1976, then Commander Swinley formed the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and became its first Commodore, serving from 1976 to 1981. Under the direction of former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling, Commodore Swinley was tasked with designing the Defence Force to be modeled after the Royal Navy.

A former British naval officer himself, Swinley drew on his experience and implemented systems and structures from the Royal Navy, helping to lay the foundational framework for what would become The Bahamas’ primary military institution.

Also on this day in 2014, local police launched an investigation into the source of a letter that alleged Dame Marguerite Pindling, then Deputy to the Governor General, owed a significant amount of money to the Princess Margaret Hospital. The letter had been circulated to several media outlets.

That same day, the Public Hospitals Authority released a statement notifying the public that it had informed police about the letter, calling it “fraudulent.”

Fast forward to June 24th, 2015, web shop operator Craig Flowers walked away with a clean record after Court of Appeal judges overturned his convictions and sentences tied to a 2009 police raid on one of his gambling establishments.

Along with quashing his convictions, the court also ordered that more than $800,000 seized from his web shop on April 28th, 2009, be returned.