BAHAMAS: HIGH COURT CRITICISES PARLIAMENT ON SENTENCING

more than a year after the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death sentence in The Bahamas is unconstitutional, President of the Court of Appeal Dame Joan Sawyer pointed out that parliament has failed to pass any laws outlining sentencing guidelines.
Prior to the Privy Council ruling, anyone convicted of murder in The Bahamas was automatically sentenced to death. Following the landmark ruling last year, then Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said that no laws needed to be passed as a result. But Dame Joan questioned whether the court could stipulate a sentence for murder and if so under what rule of law. "What is left for the sentencing court? Suppose we say we have power to increase the sentence, but to what? Where do we get our powers to render a strict sentence?" Dame Joan asked. "Parliament can’t do anything with cases that are before the court. They had a year to revise laws and did nothing – no degree of murder and no outline of sentencing for murderers." Dame Joan was speaking in the high court as justices considered whether to lessen the life sentence of convicted murderer Trono Davis. Davis and another murder convict, Forrester Bowe, were successful in March 2006 in their challenge to the mandatory death sentence to the Privy Council.