Men Charged With Murdering Former Bahamas Government Legislator to Return to Court in May

NASSAU, Bahamas – Two men accused of murdering former government legislator, Donald Saunders, will return to court on May 30 for the presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment, which will send the case to the Supreme Court for trial.

Donald Saunders (File Photo)The men, Jaico Choute 25 and Nicarson Nixon 21, made their first appearance in court on Monday, charged with murder, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.

They appeared before Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley with the prosecution saying that they murdered Saunders at a bar on March 27 this year while attempting to rob him. They are also accused of robbing the bar of US$650.

The accused were not required to enter pleas and remanded into custody. However, they were advised of their right to seek bail in the Supreme Court.

Attorney David Cash, who represents Nixon, told the court that police “unlawfully assaulted both men” with the intention of coercing them into participating in a record of interview.

The attorney asked the magistrate to have the accused examined by a doctor upon admission to the prison.

He also argued that the armed robbery charge was not properly particularized and that the  prosecution had failed to name the person who was robbed at the bar.

Saunders, 48, the foster child of Archdeacon Keith Cartwright, was an attorney and father of two, who served as a deputy chairman of the main opposition Free National Movement (FNM).

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner, Clayton Fernander, has dismissed suggestions that Saunders’ murder was solved quickly because of his status in the country.

“We had a total of 37 murders for the year and our [detection] rate is 73 per cent at this time. You don’t see that anywhere in the world. Give your officers some credit,” he told reporters.

Fernander said it’s simply a matter of the evidence available regarding the murder of the former deputy speaker of parliament, insisting “as we deal with the investigation in any matter, we pursue it based on the information and the evidence that we have on hand.

“There (are) going to be matters that we call a slam dunk case because all the evidence is right there. So, the first 48 hours in any investigation [are] crucial, and that determines the (detection) rate of that,” he added.