The Bahamas Ministry of Education is collaborating with the Attorney General’s Office to establish specialized criminal offenses specifically for assaults occurring on school premises. This legislative initiative comes in response to growing public outcry over campus violence, highlighted by the recent sentencing in a brutal attack against a Grand Bahama principal.
Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin announced the policy development during a press briefing in Grand Bahama, emphasizing that the proposed measures would classify school campus assaults as aggravated offenses carrying enhanced penalties compared to similar attacks occurring elsewhere. The initiative aims to create stronger deterrents against violence in educational environments.
“We are determined to send an unequivocal message that school campuses are inviolable spaces,” Minister Hanna Martin stated. “Those who believe they can commit violent acts on educational grounds will face consequences of a significantly more severe nature. Our collaboration with the Attorney General’s office seeks to establish aggravated offense classifications specifically for assaults occurring on school property, which would impact both sentencing severity and the fundamental nature of the offense.”
The policy development follows the judicial resolution of a high-profile case involving Kenneth Farrington, who received a 30-month prison sentence for attacking McLean’s Town School principal Simone Butler-Cornish with an iron bar in her classroom in June. The victim was assaulted while retrieving a student’s report card for Farrington, after which she fled outside and feigned death to halt the attack.
Butler-Cornish and her colleagues have publicly expressed that the sentence was insufficient given the brutality of the assault and Farrington’s previous convictions for similar offenses. While Minister Hanna Martin declined to comment specifically on the sentencing, she emphasized that such attacks must carry substantial repercussions.
Regarding the principal’s future placement, the minister indicated that any decision about reassignment would rest entirely with Butler-Cornish herself. The government’s overarching objective remains ensuring that school campuses become completely secure environments where educators and students can operate without fear of violence.