Bahamas charges four men with manslaughter in deadly migrant-smuggling operation
By Jasper Ward
NASSAU (Reuters) – Prosecutors in The Bahamas on Friday charged 4 males with manslaughter after their vessel capsized because it tried to smugle principally Haitian migrants into the US, leaving 17 folks lifeless together with kids and a pregnant lady.
The vessel had some 45 folks aboard and was on its technique to Florida when it capsized round 5 nautical miles from Nassau’s harbor, in keeping with official studies.
Among the many victims have been a 13-year-old lady, a one-year-old child and a pregnant lady.
Twenty-five folks, together with two Bahamian males, have been rescued in waters close to the place the incident passed off.
The defendants — Donald Watson, McKenzie Jerome, Eulan McKinney and Wilbens Joseph — appeared in a Nassau court docket earlier than Chief Justice of the Peace JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt.
Watson and McKinney have been additionally charged with reckless operation of a vessel and working a vessel with out a legitimate license.
It was not instantly evident how lengthy the lads might spend in jail if convicted.
Jerome, who was not represented by a lawyer, was the one defendant who spoke throughout the proceedings.
“I wasn’t part of any of this,” Jerome mentioned. “No one referred to as my identify apart from after they got here and arrested me. I do not get it. Why am I right here?”
Proceedings within the case are scheduled to renew on Oct 28.
Watson in 2019 was convicted in Florida of illegally bringing an alien into the US by driving a ship with a foreigner onboard from The Bahamas to Palm Seaside, the place the vessel was intercepted by legislation enforcement, in keeping with court docket data.
Watson was sentenced to 2 years in jail and was launched in 2021, the data present.
The Bahamas is a frequent transit route for Haitians searching for to succeed in the US. Harmful sea voyages in rickety vessels have change into more and more widespread over the past 12 months as Haitians flee poverty and rising gang violence.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Brian Ellsworth; Modifying by Cynthia Osterman)
