TIGblogs - Dennis Dames

By JUAN McCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard.com:

"Go and sin no more," Supreme Court Senior Justice Anita Allen told South Andros MP Picewell Forbes yesterday when she released him from possible contempt of court charges after he unequivocally apologized and threw himself on the mercy of the court.

Forbes was appearing before Justice Allen to explain why he should not be charged with contempt for an outburst he made at the PLP convention last week that led to a mistrial in the high profile attempted extortion trial of American actor John Travolta.

Justice Allen yesterday told Forbes that she had heard and read his apology that he delivered to the media on Tuesday. But she asked him to repeat it for the court's records, which he did.

"You have been severely condemned and rightly ridiculed across this nation and the world and I believe you have suffered greatly," Justice Allen told Forbes Thursday morning. "I find that you have purged your contempt and I am satisfied that you have been sufficiently punished. I will temper justice with mercy."

After the verdict, Forbes issued a statement thanking God for His "justice and mercy in these trying circumstances".

"I am pleased and satisfied with the outcome," Forbes said. "My life will continue from here on to be informed by these events. My apology speaks for itself. It is left only for me that (I) thank the court (and) Senior Justice Anita Allen for accepting my sincere apology."

In court yesterday, Forbes' attorney Wayne Munroe told Justice Allen that Forbes had been vilified in the local and international media and had also offered an unqualified apology.

Justice Allen told Forbes that she had contemplated "imposing on you, a severe punishment for your contempt" such as "a hefty fine or imprisonment".

"Your actions show a dangerous lack of appreciation on your part of the need to uphold and protect the sanctity and integrity of our system of justice," she said. "We all have a responsibility to ensure that the dispensation of justice is fair, transparent and uncompromised. By your conduct on that fateful evening, you failed in this responsibility and I send this clarion warning to you and other members of society: That the course of justice must not be either deliberately or unintentionally interfered with for any purpose and in any circumstances whatever."

Outside of court, Munroe said that Justice Allen's words should serve as a warning to the general public as well.

"The matter is now concluded," Munroe said. "And the judge has spoken. Not only to this matter but the matter widely and said that people must be tempered and people must be accurate. That goes not only for Mr. Forbes but for everybody when they speak about anything related to the administration of justice."

Former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne were accused of trying to extort $25 million from Travolta following his son's January death at a family vacation home in Grand Bahama.

Last Wednesday, while the jury was still deliberating, Forbes boomed from the podium at the PLP convention, "I have some good news PLPs. Pleasant (Bridgewater) is a free woman, PLP. Pleasant is free."

Forbes subsequently admitted that he never confirmed the information.

Forbes' remarks at the convention prompted Justice Allen to dismiss the jury in the case and order that Bridgewater and Lightbourne be retried.

Justice Allen appeared exasperated when she dismissed the jury last week, but said she had no choice because Forbes' announcement gave the appearance of a possible jury leak.

On Thursday, Justice Allen told Forbes that his actions "imperiled the integrity of the jury's deliberations, casting a cloud of suspicion enveloping all nine jurors in this matter".

She said his actions also imperiled the rights of "the accused persons to a fair trial" and the "right of a complainant to justice in an uncompromised and transparent system".

She said his actions were further exacerbated as he is a member of the fourth estate (the media) which "forms an essential pillar in our democracy in that it informs and educates our citizenry".

"Accuracy of information, temperance and propriety of conduct should be the hallmarks of its practitioners," she said.

Justice Allen also pointed out that Forbes is a legislator in The Bahamas and added that "this case, which ran some five weeks, had to be aborted at great cost to the accused, the complainant and the Bahamian taxpayer."

Forbes had originally been summoned to appear before Justice Allen last Friday, but his attorneys (including Anthony McKinney and Alfred Sears) asked for more time to properly formulate a response to the charges.

There has been no word on when Bridgewater and Lightbourne will be retried. Both remain free on bail.

October 30, 2009

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