Bahamas child rapist to appeal 'inhumane' flogging sentence

[GAP]

Maybe this would be a good thing to bring back in Canada.....

Bahamas child rapist to appeal 'inhumane' flogging sentence
June 18, 2007
Article Link

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - A Bahamian man who is to be flogged 10 times with a whip for raping a six-year-old girl will appeal that part of his sentence, his lawyer said Monday.

Andrew Bridgewater was sentenced to the flogging and seven years in prison for attacking the girl. He will not seek to reduce his prison sentence but should be spared corporal punishment, defence lawyer Wayne Watson said in an interview.

The whipping - from a whip made of nine, knotted cords - would come in two sessions spread over two weeks.

"Seven years was enough under law but the cat-o'-nine tails is harsh and inhumane," Watson said, noting his client has shown remorse.

Prosecutors had sought a 14-year sentence last month in addition to flogging after Bridgewater pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the child. The girl was in hospital for more than two weeks after she was raped and left in an abandoned car last year.

Some Bahamians deplore the cat-o'-nine-tails as a legacy of slavery.

The Grand Bahama Human Rights Association has denounced it as a "a vicious, obscene and sordid invention by white slave masters" that should be abolished.

Flogging was abolished in the 1980s but legislators voted unanimously to bring it back in 1991. The punishment has since been carried out on only two occasions.
More on link

 

[DaveTee]

Let me get out the world's smallest violin for a child rapist...yeah right! Enjoy the cat o' nine tails pal, you'll ONLY have 7 years to reminisce about it.

 

[Journeyman]

Oh well, the child rapist "has shown remorse." Remorse for the appalling act? Getting caught? The sentence?

Now that the six-year-old victim has been recovered from an abandoned car and spent more than two weeks undergoing treatment in hospital, what feelings will she be carrying for the rest of her life? Does the rapist care?

While there are no further trial details in the article, the fact that the accused is OK with the jail sentence certainly implies he's guilty, in my mind. And there aren't too many more examples of crimes more worthy of such harsh punishment.

And as for some Bahamians deploring the whip as a legacy of slavery, the legislators (who in any democracy constantly have one eye on being re-elected), voted unanimously to bring it back. I suggest the majority of the electorate accepts its use in extreme circumstances.


If this sentence is not carried out, it's yet another example of "democracy" being appeasement of a vocal minority, rather than implementing the will of the majority.


Edit: ranting-induced typos

 

[Juvat]

For such a disgusting and deplorable crime he is only getting 10 lashes?!  Spread over a few sessions over two weeks?!  Give him more I say!

 

[Teflon]

:crybaby:

the guys lucky this is all he gets

 

[safeboy43]

All I can say is WTF? How much more Liberal can this world get? I have absolutely no sympathy for this man and personally believe that he should be getting a helluva lot more than 10 lashes for what he has done.

Then again, that's just me.... :

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

I wonder when the NDP delegation will depart to convince the Bahamanians to commute this scumbags sentence to house arrest. :

 

[safeboy43]

I wonder when the NDP delegation will depart to convince the Bahamanians to commute this scumbags sentence to house arrest. :

I thought the NDP said that was too harsh. Community service maybe?

 

[GAP]

When I was growing up in Winnipeg, there was always talk of guys getting the lash at Stoney Mountain Pen....Anybody know any of the history of that?

 

[Michael OLeary]

The only act mentioned here that can be considered

. . . harsh and inhumane . . .

or

. . . vicious, obscene and sordid . . .

is the

. . . raping [of] a six-year-old girl . . .

I hope they find a very large and strong relative of the girl to weild that whip.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

I thought the NDP said that was too harsh. Community service maybe?

I was being facetious towards the NDP....

While in prison I hope he gets a taste of what he put that child through.

EDIT: The last sentence is my own personal opinion.

 

[XMP]

When I was growing up in Winnipeg, there was always talk of guys getting the lash at Stoney Mountain Pen....Anybody know any of the history of that?

The Criminal Code Of Canada used to include the sentence of lashes in addition to penal servitude for certain crimes. As an example, the crime of rape was punishable by life imprisonment with whipping. Once uopn a time, sentences had real impact (!), but all that started to change in the mid 1960s. Penal servitude  could be awarded with or without hard labour, and hard labour involved making gravel out of boulders. The maximum penalty for breaking and entering a dwelling was life... and a life sentence usually meant just that. The Kingston Pennitentiary Museum has a flogging rack on exhibit. Ah for the good old days....

 

[beach_bum]

While in prison I hope he gets a taste of what he put that child through.

I'll second that one!  Disgusting!  He deserves a whole lot more than just ten lashes!  He deserves a lifetime sentence as well!  That poor child got one.....  :'(

 

[Genetk44]

Folks....the maximum prison time allowed under Bahamas law is 7 years for a first offence...not enough in my opinion but thats what it is. The flogging aspect I don't have a problem with but it is a very touchy subject in a country that is 90% black and that has had majority rule for only 35 years.  On the other hand I can tell you that HMP Foxhill is known as Foxhell for a very good reason....our oldest,worstest 
prison here in Canada is a country club compared to it...and this animal will be made to suffer regardless of the flogging issue.

 

[geo]

Cat O 9 tails,... I LIKE IT!

How about a keelhaul?

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Old Vlad Tepes has the right idea.....impalement!

 

[Sheerin]

I am so conflicted on this.  Part of me wants to say that while his crime was barbaric, it shouldn't be used as an excuse for the state and society as a whole to degrade themselves by using an uncivilized punishment.

While the rest of me thinks the guy is getting off WAY too easily.