THE BAHAMAS. PRIME MINISTER DECLARES SUPPORT FOR HANGING

in what has amounted to his strongest statement in recent times on capital punishment, Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie declared his full support for hangings and said he would be willing to fight those who opposed the death penalty. Christie made the statement at the funeral of Corporal Dion Bowles, a prison officer stabbed to death in a violent prison break on January 17.
"I am not in agreement with those who say capital punishment should not be in place," said Christie at the service.
 "I am personally for capital punishment."
He added, "Prime ministers don’t go around saying things like that, but I want to tell you all that and plenty people do not agree. That is what I believe and as long as I’m prime minister the brothers and sisters who don’t believe it I will fight with them."
The prime minister was supporting a call for the resumption of hangings made by the overseer of the United Christian Church, Bishop Albert Hepburn.
Bishop Hepburn asked why it was that criminals could be punished for carrying or selling drugs, but murderers were not made to pay the ultimate price for their crimes as stipulated by law.
"It’s on the books," he told a packed church. "I believe that if it is on the books, that if a man takes somebody’s life his life should be taken. If we fail to do it, (or) if the government fails to do it, then we would look like a hypocritical nation because it’s on the books. If we are not going to carry it out, take it off the books." His call came days after Olivia Bowles, the mother of Corporal Bowles, said that those responsible for her son’s death and other death row prisoners should be hanged immediately.