Bishop Simeon Hall, was chair of the government-appointed National Advisory Council on Crime has expressed that it is clear that if families of murder victims are to ever have justice, The Bahamas must abandon the Privy Council, at least for murder appeals.

“The ruling by the Privy Council raises serious questions as to what is happening,” Hall said.“I understand to some degree the Privy Council has the last word, but certainly my big problem I’m wrestling with is what is the justice system saying to families of victims of murder, and then to persons who do the murder?

“It seems that the whole system now is lending its way to criminality. For the law lords to conclude that this was a bad murder but it’s not counted as the worst of the worst, I think it’s time for us to cry shame on the justice system.”

“The murderers have all the rights,” said Conover, who added that she learnt of the ruling last week via the evening television newscast.

“What I would like to know is what is the worst of the worst because murder is murder. If this is not the worst of the worst, could somebody explain to me what is the worst of the worst?” Conover said the murder tore her whole family apart – she and her husband subsequently divorced, one of her sons is on the run from the law, and the other children have had their own emotional challenges.

(Parts of this article were written with content submitted in a Caribbeannewsnow publication)