Privy Council put dagger in my heart
Published On: Friday, June 17, 2011
By CELESTE NIXON
Tribune Staff Reporter
cnixon@tribunemedia.net
THE grieving father of the teenage girl brutally murdered by Maxo Tido last night attacked the Privy Council for quashing his death sentence.
Heartbroken Don Conover told how he has become disillusioned with Bahamian justice and is "sickened" by the ruling.
And he warned how the Privy Council's decision could lead to vigilante justice breaking out if people continue to lose faith in the system.
Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Conover, father of Donnell Conover, 16 at the time she was killed, said he is reliving his daughter's brutal and tragic death and questions how a court thousands of miles away has the right to interfere with justice for him and his family.
"These people are sitting up on their throne in England and don't know the serious amount of crime that is going on here," said Mr Conover.
"The Privy Council has put another dagger in my heart - they do not know the pain we go through when our loved ones are taken away from us like that."
The London-based court, the highest recognised by Bahamian law, delivered its judgment Wednesday, allowing the appeal of Tido's death sentence which was handed down by Supreme Court Justice Anita Allen in March 2006.
A jury found Tido guilty of brutally murdering Donnell Conover in 2002. Her body was discovered battered and bruised and her skull crushed. Evidence also revealed that parts of Ms Conover's body were burned after her death.
Mr Conover said that the Bahamian justice system is failing the people and if the authorities are not careful, people will start taking matters into their own hands.
He added that criminals have no deterrent - they get bail easily, and therefore know they can murder without consequences.
"You have people on the streets out on the bail who know there is no justice in the land because they will not hang anyone, they aren't scared of anything," said Mr Conover.
He said that his daughter was brutality murdered and feels that her killer deserves the same punishment.
"It is really sickening - I feel as there is no justice in the world for victim's family," said Mr Conover.
He also questioned the reasoning behind the Privy Council's decision, asking how gruesome a crime has to be to merit the maximum penalty.
Death Penalty Deterrence - News
While not opposed to capital punishment, Rev Moss said he does not enthusiastically support it and wishes that the country would rise above the need to view the death penalty as a deterrent of crime. He said: "Capital punishment is on the law books of
It will achieve justice for victims and allow for deterrence to those who would enter the homes of others to murder them," O'Brien said in a statement after the vote. Death penalty opponents argued the bill was flawed because it would allow the death
Stam, an attorney, said the resulting delay in executions had reduced the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent -- leading to more murders. "There's a real cost in innocent human lives because of this moratorium," said Stam, a Republican
Dustin Krutsinger reminds us that in 1996, when he was speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich introduced a bill (PDF) mandating the death penalty for drug smugglers. He explained: It is because you have made the personal decision that you are prepared to
'A death penalty would have been more appropriate for a man who has committed mass murder.' But he is also worried about the influence Bashir still holds, and doesn't see prison as a deterrent. 'Even though he will probably be behind bars for the rest
Reprieve—Myth #2 - The death penalty reduces crime
MYTH
The death penalty acts as a deterrent to potential criminals
FACTThe death penalty doesn’t deter crime. It stimulates it.
The death penalty doesn’t deter crime The five countries in the world with the highest homicide rates that do not impose the death penalty have nearly half the number of murders per 100 000 people than the five countries with the highest homicides rates which do impose the death penalty (United Nations Development program).This holds true within the US, where states with the death penalty have murder rates at least 48% higher than the states with no death penalty. Studies of capital punishment in the US have consistently shown that the death penalty is not a deterrent. People do not consider the consequences of their actions at the time they commit murder.
People who commit murders either believe they will not be caught, are acting in a moment of a blinding anger or passion, or are substance abusers who murder impulsively. Furthermore, because the death penalty is discretionary, a defendant could not know in advance whether he would be sentenced to life or death.
“Those who believe in the dissuasiveness of the death penalty ignore the humane truth. The criminal passion is not more stopped by the fear of death than any other passion, which are more noble. And if the fear of death were stopping men, you would not have noble soldiers, nor famous sportsmen. We admire them but they don’t hesitate in front of death. Others, carried away by their passion, do not hesitate either. It is only for the sake of the death penalty that one has invented the idea that the fear of death prevents Man from his extreme passions. Executions are often carried out in secret. Potential criminals can’t be expected to be deterred by something they are not aware of or can only speculate about. In the US many states carry out executions at midnight. In Japan, the condemned are taken to the gallows without warning and executed in secrecy; their families aren’t even told. In China, which executes more people than any other country, 1,718 documented executions were carried out in 2008. Executions in China are shrouded in secrecy and the true number of executions is thought to be many times this. Future killers couldn’t be deterred by something that is hidden from them. 2. The death penalty stimulates crime.
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