标签： Bahamas

A tragic industrial accident has claimed the life of a 52-year-old Jamaican man in Grand Bahama, who died after becoming trapped between a vehicle and a car-crushing machine at a local junkyard. His body was only recovered by worried relatives who launched a full search after being unable to contact him for more than a day.

Local news outlet The Tribune has confirmed the victim as Leon Taylor, an employee at a service station operated by FOCOL, though police have not yet released his name to the public. Taylor’s unresponsive body was discovered just after 9pm on Sunday at the rear of Kent Motors Ltd, a junkyard located along Queen’s Highway in Freeport.

The timeline of the incident remains under preliminary investigation, with conflicting accounts emerging about Taylor’s authorization to be on the property. According to official police statements, Taylor was a regular visitor to the junkyard seeking mechanical parts, and was reportedly granted permission to enter the premises on Saturday to collect electrical components. However, Dave Atkinson, the owner of Kent Motors, denies giving Taylor approval to be on the property after hours on Saturday, when the business was already closed to the public.

Falan Jean-Jacques, Taylor’s cousin, shared that family members grew alarmed when repeated attempts to reach Taylor went unanswered. They first checked his home and his regular workplace before tracing his steps to Kent Motors, where they found his personal car parked outside the entrance. A relative had already spoken to Taylor at the junkyard during Saturday afternoon, confirming he had made it to the location that day.

The family immediately contacted Atkinson, who agreed to join their search effort. After combing the large junkyard property, relatives eventually found Taylor pinned between a Honda vehicle and the site’s car-crushing machinery, and promptly called emergency services.

Superintendent Nicholas Johnson, head of the local Criminal Investigation Department, explained that first responders required heavy equipment to reposition the vehicles and free Taylor from the trap. Once extricated, emergency medical services rushed to provide immediate medical care, but their efforts were in vain. Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene, with no signs of life detected by medical personnel.

Atkinson told reporters he was contacted around 8pm on Sunday as he was leaving church, and immediately traveled to the junkyard to assist with the search. During the search, the team noted several vehicles throughout the yard had their doors and hoods propped open, indicating someone had been sorting through them looking for specific parts in the hours before the accident. After spotting the open tailgate of a Honda Fit, the group searched the nearby area and found Taylor’s trapped body.

Atkinson emphasized that he has known Taylor for an extended period, but reiterated that no permission was granted for Taylor to enter the yard that Saturday night. “I had no communications with him for him to be in the yard,” Atkinson said, adding that the business is completely closed on Sundays, and he never grants access to the unattended yard after hours.

However, Jean-Jacques pushed back on the claim that Taylor was trespassing, noting that Taylor had a longstanding, friendly relationship with the Atkinson family, and regularly collected vehicle parts from the junkyard with the family’s knowledge, paying for the parts after picking them up. “Yes, the owner and we are family friends,” she said. “Mr Atkinson of Kent Motors and we are family friends.” She added that Taylor would often trade parts with the Atkinson family as well, creating a mutually beneficial regular arrangement.

Atkinson separately acknowledged that Kent Motors has dealt with repeated issues of unauthorized after-hours entry for years, with people sneaking onto the property to steal scrap metal, copper wiring, catalytic converters and valuable auto components from unused vehicles. Police have not made any claims that Taylor was involved in theft, nor have they suggested his death is connected to the ongoing problem of trespassing at the site.

Jean-Jacques remembered her cousin as a kind, hard-working and dependable member of the community, saying “He was hard-working, easy-going all the time. He was a sweetheart. Always there when you need him.” The tragedy comes just months after Taylor traveled back to Jamaica to attend his mother’s funeral, leaving his family reeling from an unexpected second devastating loss.

For the grieving family, the sudden loss remains difficult to process. “It’s still unreal,” Jean-Jacques said. “You never expect a loved one to go like that.” Taylor’s siblings living in the United States, the United Kingdom and Jamaica have all been notified of his death. An official autopsy has been scheduled to confirm the exact cause of death, as police continue their preliminary investigation into the accident.

A midday public shooting in Abaco has left high-profile suspected drug trafficker Warren “Spy” Ellis dead and a young child injured, sending shockwaves through the tight-knit island community and stoking widespread anxiety over potential follow-on violence.

The 51-year-old victim was gunned down by multiple assailants wielding high-powered firearms yesterday as he exited Parts City Auto Parts, a well-known local auto retailer. The young boy, caught in the barrage of bullets, was airlifted urgently to the main hospital hub in New Providence to receive specialized emergency care that was not available locally.

As of the publication of this report, Bahamian law enforcement has released only limited official details on the attack. Chief Superintendent Sheria King confirmed that a specialized investigative team from Grand Bahama has been deployed to Abaco to support local authorities in processing the scene and advancing the case. Unnamed police sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Tribune, indicate that investigators believe the gunmen are not residents of Abaco, and that the killing itself was likely an act of retaliation connected to prior criminal disputes.

Graphic videos of the aftermath circulating widely on social media show Ellis lying motionless on the pavement outside the retail store, with catastrophic visible injuries. Local media confirm his body remained at the crime scene for multiple hours before coroners removed it, a delay that drew hundreds of curious and concerned onlookers to the area. As word of the shooting spread across the island, the growing crowd revealed deep divides in public opinion: some residents openly mourned Ellis’ death, while others quietly expressed relief that a figure long linked to criminal activity had been killed.

Witnesses from nearby businesses described the terrifying moments of the attack, saying they heard dozens of shots ring out in quick succession before scrambling to take cover behind counters and walls. Multiple bystanders noted that Ellis’ cell phone continued to ring repeatedly as his body lay unattended at the scene, a small, haunting detail that has stuck with many in the community.

Roscoe Thompson, top administrator for the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township, told reporters he counted at least 25 spent shell casings left scattered across the pavement after the attack. Thompson emphasized that the sheer boldness of carrying out a mass shooting in broad daylight, outside a busy commercial business where civilians and children regularly pass, has pushed community anxiety to new heights.

“It just shows you that if someone wants to get you, it doesn’t matter if you’re out in broad daylight or behind closed doors at night,” Thompson said. “If somebody is that brazen, they’re going to get you.”

Thompson added that the crime scene investigation clogged local roads, with police blocking off large sections of the main thoroughfare to preserve evidence, creating major traffic disruptions for hours after the shooting. “It’s just sad, and it’s concerning,” he said. “Is there going to be retaliation now? What’s going to happen next?” Local residents and government leaders are calling on law enforcement to maintain a heightened visible presence in Abaco to prevent further bloodshed.

Ellis had a long history of attracting law enforcement attention, even as formal convictions against him remained rare. In 2018, he and his wife were taken into custody at Lynden Pindling International Airport as they prepared to board a flight to Canada, after officers found $13,000 in cash stashed in their checked luggage. All criminal charges against the pair were ultimately dropped before they could go to trial. For years, Ellis’ name has appeared repeatedly in social media posts linking him to large-scale drug trafficking operations across the Bahamas, though none of those allegations were ever proven in a court of law.

According to The Tribune’s ongoing annual homicide tracking, yesterday’s attack marks the second murder recorded in Abaco so far this year, and the 52nd homicide across the entire Bahamas in 2024 to date. The killing comes amid ongoing national concerns about violent crime and gang-related retaliation across Bahamian island communities.

A devastating loss has sent deep ripples of sorrow through the tight-knit Abaco community in The Bahamas, after the sudden passing of 20-year-old Dahphaney Maxine, a standout second-year nursing student and accomplished athlete at the University of The Bahamas.

Maxine, a native of Abaco, was discovered unresponsive in her on-campus dormitory shortly after midnight. University officials confirmed that cardiopulmonary resuscitation was initiated immediately, and emergency response teams were dispatched to the scene quickly. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. The cause of her death remains undetermined at this time, and university administration has confirmed it is cooperating fully with relevant law enforcement and public health authorities to investigate the full circumstances of the incident.

Beyond her academic pursuits in nursing, Maxine built a remarkable legacy across the university community. She served as a student leader, worked as a resident assistant in campus dormitories, and was a key member of the university’s volleyball team. She was also an active and devoted member of her local church, touching the lives of many through her off-campus engagement.

For her mother, Crystal Bostwick, the loss comes with an added layer of heartbreak: Maxine’s passing fell just one day before the first anniversary of Bostwick’s own mother’s death. In an emotional post on Facebook, Bostwick opened up about her overwhelming grief, while leaning on her faith for strength. “This is hard, but I know that God would not put more on me than I can bear,” she wrote.

Bostwick remembered her daughter as a vibrant, full-of-life young woman with endless potential to give to the world, describing their uniquely close bond that blended maternal love and deep friendship. “The first beat outside of my body,” she said. “If you know, you know that this was my chocolate baby. My baby that had been with me through thick and thin. I knew when to be a friend, I knew when to step in as her mother. We were peas in a pod.”

Keturah, Maxine’s cousin and lifelong best friend, reflected on their decades-long inseparable connection, saying the pair had been “attached to the hip” since infancy. She remembered Maxine as a consistently reliable source of support through every high and low, and pledged to carry her legacy forward. “Through good times and difficult moments, she was someone I could count on,” Keturah said. “Her love, kindness and impact will live on.”

The University of The Bahamas Student Government Association also issued a formal statement of condolence to Maxine’s family, affirming that the entire campus community shares in their grief. The association highlighted the unique discipline and commitment required to thrive as both a full-time student and competitive athlete, noting that Maxine embodied those values fully.

“As fellow Mingoes and student athletes, we recognise the dedication, discipline, sacrifice, and commitment required to excel both in the classroom and on the court,” the statement read. It went on to praise Maxine for embodying the core values of teamwork, leadership, perseverance, character and integrity, all while lifting up and supporting every person around her.

As summer draws to a close and families across the Bahamas gear up for a new academic year, one grieving community in Crown Haven is confronting a stabbing pain that has not faded in 12 months. A year ago this August, 12-year-old Montana Ferguson, a seventh-grader at Sherlin C Bootle Secondary School, lost his life when an overnight stay at a friend’s home turned deadly, consumed by an out-of-control house fire that has since sparked urgent calls for long-overlooked fire service infrastructure in the island’s small northern communities.

Montana was staying at the Crown Haven residence of Oceanna Scott on August 25, 2025, when the fire broke out. Scott and her three children managed to flee the burning structure, but they escaped with nothing but the clothes on their lives. Montana, trapped inside the single-story wooden home, could be heard crying out for help as desperate nearby neighbours scrambled to save him, smashing windows and hurling buckets of water in a frantic, futile attempt to douse the flames before emergency crews arrived.

That help was nearly an hour in coming. The nearest fire department in Cooper’s Town faced a 40 to 50-minute drive to reach the remote Crown Haven scene, and by the time firefighters pulled up to the property, the home had already been reduced to ash. Today, Montana’s family says the empty space the seventh-grader left behind feels just as raw as it did the day the fire broke out, especially as back-to-school season arrives.

“It’s been rough, especially for the whole family,” Jacqueline Duncombe, Montana’s aunt, told local media. “We’ve been mourning for a couple of days.” Duncombe explained that her own son shared an especially close bond with Montana, and had looked forward to another school year alongside his cousin. “Ain’t nothing change,” she said of the family’s ongoing grief. “It’s still the same. We still have the same feeling and the same emotion.”

The tragedy reignited long-simmering demands from Little Abaco residents for permanent fire safety infrastructure: a dedicated local fire truck and a network of functioning fire hydrants to cut down on deadly response times. While North Abaco took delivery of a new fire truck in January this year, Montana’s family says the progress comes at a devastating cost, noting the upgrade only came after their loved one’s preventable death.

Law enforcement launched an investigation into the fire within weeks of the tragedy, concluding by last September that the blaze was sparked by an electrical fault, with no evidence of foul play. Assistant Superintendent Stephen Rolle confirmed at the time that once the police probe was finalized, the case file would be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions to review whether negligence charges should be filed. The incident is also scheduled to be examined by the Coroner’s Court, leaving the family still waiting for formal closure one year on.

A viral video capturing a wild rat roaming through patient areas of Princess Margaret Hospital has forced the Public Hospitals Authority to issue a public apology and launch immediate pest mitigation and sanitation overhauls at the facility. The circulating footage, which sparked widespread public concern over healthcare hygiene standards, shows the rodent traveling from a main hospital hallway into an open ward lined with patient beds, pausing to climb onto a medical weighing scale before retreating back down the corridor.

To date, the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) has declined to release specific details about exactly which wing of the hospital the incident occurred in, nor has it confirmed the date the video was originally filmed. An initial internal investigation launched shortly after the video came to light has already pinpointed multiple potential access points that allowed the rodent to enter the building, with a number of these gaps tied to active construction work ongoing at the hospital.

According to PHA statements, crews have already begun sealing these vulnerable entry points rolling out broader corrective interventions to prevent similar incursions. Beyond structural repairs, the authority has activated full pest control treatments, deep sanitation sweeps, and comprehensive environmental health inspections across the facility. It has also ramped up regular monitoring protocols for the affected zone and all adjacent areas to catch new pest activity early.

PHA leadership and Princess Margaret Hospital administrative teams are coordinating closely with the national Ministry of Environmental Health to conduct further in-depth assessments and develop long-term solutions to resolve the pest issue. “The PHA takes this matter extremely seriously,” the authority said in its official statement. “We remain fully committed to upholding a safe, clean, and well-maintained healthcare environment for every patient, staff member, and visitor that enters our facilities.”

A controversial fence that was abruptly constructed across a section of Paradise Island’s Cabbage Beach earlier this week is set to be removed, after long-time local vendors launched a public outcry warning the structure would destroy the tourism-dependent small businesses that support hundreds of Bahamian families.

The unexpected construction caught vendors completely off guard. For decades, these small business operators have served tourists at the iconic public beach, earning income to pay mortgages, cover school tuition, support household costs and raise their families. When vendors arrived for work the morning the construction began, they found crews already erecting the barrier with no prior notice of how their operations would be able to continue moving forward.

According to the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, the developer’s unilateral decision to move forward with the fence without completing required stakeholder consultations was “regrettable”. Officials confirmed that the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) had already stepped in to intervene after the vendors raised their objections. Prior agreements between the ministry and the developer called for a joint site walkthrough to assess potential impacts on local vendors before any construction work got underway – a step the developer skipped entirely when erecting the fence.

Vendors say the barrier would have cut off critical working space, leaving too little room between the fence and the shoreline for their stalls, beach rental equipment, umbrellas, customer seating and room to move inland to avoid high tides. Ishmael Sutherland, a 50-year-old vendor who has operated at Cabbage Beach for 32 years, explained that the fence would have entirely put him and other operators out of work. He noted that vendors regularly shift their equipment further inland during high tide to avoid storm damage, and the fence would have blocked access to that necessary safe space.

The fence was installed in conjunction with a proposed Four Seasons resort development on adjacent land acquired by the project. Sutherland said vendors had previously received formal assurances that their operations would be accommodated throughout construction and beyond, with commitments that vendors wanting to stay would retain beach access and those who relocated temporarily would receive compensation for any lost revenue during construction. Even with that promise, the unannounced fence construction left vendors fearing their livelihoods were at imminent risk.

Twenty-two licensed vendors currently operate at Cabbage Beach, many of whom hire additional local staff, meaning any disruption to their businesses would ripple out to impact dozens of additional workers and their families. For Varnell Tamika Williams, a 49-year-old vendor who has worked on the beach since childhood and raised three daughters on income from her business, the dispute is about more than just a fence – it is about protecting the livelihoods of generations of Bahamians who built up the beach’s reputation as a top tourist destination.

Williams emphasized that all Cabbage Beach vendors operate legally: they hold active business licenses, pay national insurance contributions, maintain required health certifications and carry official Ministry of Tourism identification, meaning they operate as legitimate, tax-contributing businesses just like any other formal employer. She criticized the complete lack of advance consultation, noting that even regular ministry contacts could not explain the construction when vendors first reached out. Even with the upcoming fence removal, Williams said vendors’ core concerns about future disruptions from the resort construction remain unresolved. She called for the developer to commit to a temporary operating zone for vendors during construction, provide assistance relocating stalls, and give formal, written guarantees that vendors can return to their spots once the hotel project is complete.

Maurice Major, a third-generation vendor who has worked the beach for 31 years after inheriting his late mother’s business, one of the first established at Cabbage Beach, called for direct intervention from Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Tourism Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin. He stressed that while the developer owns the adjacent inland land, Cabbage Beach remains public property, and no private development can restrict public access or displace long-time local operators. “They can do whatever they want to do up there [on their own land], but they can’t own our beach,” Major said.

Local elected official Lincoln Deal, Member of Parliament for Free Town, where Cabbage Beach is located, has publicly backed the vendors, saying they deserve full consultation and fair treatment in any decisions that impact their ability to earn a living. “Cabbage Beach is in Free Town, but it is also one of our country’s most iconic public beaches,” Deal noted. “We must protect public access, respect Bahamian livelihoods and ensure that development never comes at the expense of our people.”

Even water sports operators, including jet-ski provider Auderly Smith, who has worked the beach since 2007, warned the restricted shoreline access would also hurt their businesses, as reduced space would limit their ability to launch and retrieve equipment.

After the intervention, the Ministry of Tourism announced that once the fence is removed, multi-stakeholder discussions will resume between the developer, DEPP, affected vendors and ministry officials to map out an acceptable path forward for the development. The ministry made clear it has “zero tolerance for the economic displacement of Bahamians whose livelihoods depend on participation in the tourism economy”, and reminded the developer of its existing legal and contractual commitments to compensate any affected vendors and ensure local people benefit from the economic activity generated by the new resort.

The ministry emphasized that private development and inclusive local economic participation do not need to be opposing goals. “Environmental protection and economic opportunity can and must coexist,” the ministry said in a statement. “The way forward requires consultation, cooperation and a solution that protects the beach while safeguarding the livelihoods of Bahamians.”

For many families raising autistic children across The Bahamas, gaps in affordable, accessible special education support have long created crippling uncertainty. But one determined mother from Grand Bahama has turned her personal struggle into a growing resource for communities across the islands, after teaching herself to care for her non-verbal autistic son when existing programs were out of reach.

Willinique Wilson-Smith, a 25-year-old mother who goes by the social media handle Miss Spectrum, first began her autism journey when her son Asheene – known widely as AJ – received an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis at the age of two. Now four years old, AJ is non-verbal and homeschooled full-time by Wilson-Smith, who provides round-the-clock care for her son. Wilson-Smith made the decision to pull AJ from formal programming after discovering that while limited options do exist, their cost puts them out of reach for most Bahamian families. “There are programmes available,” she explained. “Most of us were not able to afford these, and I was one of those parents.”

Rather than accept that her son would go without targeted support, Wilson-Smith chose to take her son’s care and education into her own hands. “If I can’t afford it, it doesn’t mean I’m not going to be able to educate myself to help him as best as possible,” she said.

Wilson-Smith’s experience is far from unique. For decades, Bahamian families of autistic children have raised urgent concerns about the severe lack of accessible special education services across the country. Many families have even been forced to travel to the United States or Canada to secure formal diagnostic assessments for their children, a costly and logistically draining barrier for most households. Just this past July, the Bahamian Ministry of Education unveiled plans to create a national autism registry, during a town hall where caregivers highlighted the widespread lack of post-school therapy and support, leaving many families overwhelmed and unsure of their children’s long-term futures.

Wilson-Smith notes that while Grand Bahama does host a small number of schools with special education programming, available spots are extremely limited. Beyond limited school spaces, she also points to a critical shortage of early intervention services for children diagnosed at young ages, as well as an overall shortage of trained special education teachers across the country. She advocates for systemic change, including earlier routine screening for autism, more affordable diagnostic assessments and ongoing therapy, and lower-cost support services for low and middle-income Bahamian families.

Wilson-Smith’s first introduction to her son’s autism came when she began noticing unexpected developmental changes: AJ began to regress, lost his ability to speak, struggled with walking, and developed common repetitive autistic behaviors such as persistent hand-flapping, and intense frustration when his daily routine was disrupted. Wilson-Smith did not immediately suspect autism, but she was determined to get answers for her son’s changes. For her, the diagnosis itself was not devastating – growing up in a family of educators, she was raised to celebrate neurodiversity rather than fear difference. “When I got that response in the doctor’s office, I say, ‘Okay, great. Let me start to educate myself,’” she recalled.

Today, Wilson-Smith’s daily life revolves around AJ’s care and homeschooling. While running a small side babysitting business to support her family, she structures each day around AJ’s needs: starting with getting him dressed and preparing breakfast, followed by morning devotions and personalized learning activities. Because AJ is non-verbal, Wilson-Smith uses picture cards and an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device to help him express his needs. She has only heard AJ call her “mummy” once, and says she waits patiently to hear it again when AJ is ready.

What started as a personal mission to support her own son has quickly grown into a public resource for hundreds of other Bahamian families. Operating under her Miss Spectrum brand, Wilson-Smith shares free, culturally relevant guidance online for local families, covering topics ranging from de-escalating autistic meltdowns to understanding the breadth of the autism spectrum, and evidence-based strategies for supporting autistic children at home. She also plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in special education at the University of The Bahamas if a specialized program becomes available, to expand her ability to support local families.

Her next major project is aimed at closing the gap in affordable educational resources for Bahamian families: an animated subscription-based educational program called STIM Pals, scheduled to launch in 2025. The series will feature child-friendly characters covering core skills for autistic children, including communication, sensory awareness, routine management, emotional regulation, inclusion, helping others, friendship, and celebrating neurodiversity. For Wilson-Smith, the project is personal: she hopes it will bring much-needed affordable support to Bahamian families who, like her own, have struggled to navigate the gaps in the country’s current special education system.

After three weeks of crippling power disruption that upended daily life across Grand Cay, Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) has moved to provide immediate relief to local customers by covering their most recent electricity bills, with full service restoration completed on the evening of August 26. The prolonged blackout, which stemmed from delays in generator repair and shipping delays for a replacement unit, has pushed the utility to fast-track long-term plans for a far more robust and reliable power generation system for the island community.

Local resident Craig Cephas, one of the earliest voices calling for BPL to offset the steep personal costs residents incurred from relying on portable generators, confirmed that the utility had wiped out his latest round of electricity charges, which totaled nearly $600. While his existing outstanding balance of around $843 remains unpaid, Cephas noted that the credit does not come close to matching the $1,890 he estimates he spent on fuel for his personal generator over the three-week outage. Even so, he framed the move as a welcome gesture of good faith from the company.

“It isn’t the full amount I paid out of pocket, but it at least shows they recognize what we went through,” Cephas said in an interview. “I didn’t expect them to cover 100% of our fuel costs, but any relief makes a difference. That $90 a day I spent was money I couldn’t really afford to lose; it’s just gone now.”

For Grand Cay residents, the restoration of regular power has marked a long-awaited return to normalcy. After weeks of coping without reliable cooling, running water, or consistent phone service, Cephas said the mood across the community is one of widespread relief. “Having air conditioning back in your home makes everything feel calmer – it’s night and day compared to the frustration we dealt with for three straight weeks,” he explained. “Water and phone service are back up too, and honestly, almost everyone is just glad to have normal life back.” A brief one-hour interruption to power on Thursday morning was confirmed as a scheduled, pre-planned shutdown to allow BPL crews to complete post-restoration checks, according to Cephas.

Marvin Green, BPL’s Northern Regional Manager, acknowledged the significant frustration and hardship the extended outage caused for Grand Cay residents. He confirmed that the company is now turning its full attention to improving the long-term reliability of the island’s power supply. Green noted that BPL has been developing a comprehensive long-term generation solution for Little Grand Cay for over two years, a project designed to boost overall generation capacity, add sufficient backup power capacity, and strengthen overall energy security for the community.

Looking ahead, BPL plans to host an on-island community meeting to give residents a chance to share their concerns directly and receive up-to-date information on the planned generation improvements. During the visit, residents who suffered damage to home appliances or other electrical equipment from power-related issues during the outage will be able to submit formal damage claim forms for review under the utility’s existing claims process. In a statement, BPL acknowledged the severe hardship that extended outages create, especially for small Family Island communities, and thanked local residents for their patience throughout the complex restoration process.

A high-profile legal proceeding unfolded this week in the Bahamas, where former Georgia beauty queen Lindsay Shiver returned to a Bahamian court to fight prosecutors’ bid to revoke her bail. Shiver, who faces a conspiracy to commit murder charge alongside two local men, Terrance Bethel and Faron Newbold Jr., is accused of plotting to kill her husband Robert Shiver back in July 2023, and prosecutors argue she has repeatedly violated the strict terms of her pre-trial release.

The hearing, held before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson, centered on persistent issues with Shiver’s court-ordered electronic monitoring equipment, which is a core requirement of her bail agreement that allowed her to return to the United States to await trial. A representative from Migrafil, the private monitoring firm contracted to oversee Shiver’s location tracking, took the stand to outline the long-running issues the company has faced with her monitoring devices.

The witness testified that multiple monitoring devices assigned to Shiver experienced malfunctions over the course of several months. According to their testimony, problems with Shiver’s monitoring can be traced back to December of last year, when Shiver notified the company that she could not attend a scheduled device servicing appointment at the firm’s designated service location in Miami, Florida. The witness confirmed that Migrafil offered to replace Shiver’s malfunctioning device back in December, but Shiver declined to travel to Miami at that time.

Defense attorney Terrel Butler pushed back against prosecutors’ claims that Shiver deliberately violated her bail terms, arguing that equipment malfunctions are a common issue in the electronic monitoring industry, and that technical failures do not equal intentional non-compliance. Butler explained that Shiver was unable to travel to Miami for the December servicing appointment because she had a separate pre-scheduled court matter in the United States that barred her from making the long trip. By May of this year, the Migrafil representative confirmed the company had made three separate attempts to arrange device servicing, but all fell through before a replacement was finally completed.

Butler also told the court that Shiver was unable to check in with the monitoring company in May because she was suffering from an illness. When the replacement eventually took place, the swap was conducted inside a vehicle in a U.S. post office parking lot, a far cry from the designated Miami location. The defense added that even for this ad-hoc appointment, Shiver had to drive more than five hours to reach the meeting spot while sick with a summer flu. The Migrafil witness acknowledged they could not confirm Shiver had made any deliberate attempt to evade monitoring, and also could not say whether the mobile service provider responsible for the swap could have arranged a closer meeting location for Shiver.

This is not the first time Shiver has faced threats to her bail. Earlier in 2024, she briefly lost her pre-trial release after prosecutors alleged she had repeatedly left the state of Alabama in violation of a court-ordered travel restriction. The current conspiracy charge stems from an alleged plot to kill Robert Shiver on July 16, 2023. Authorities have said they first uncovered the alleged plot after seizing a mobile phone during a separate, unrelated criminal investigation on Guana Cay. Shiver was granted bail last year and allowed to return to the U.S. under strict monitoring conditions, a decision that has been contested by prosecutors throughout the pre-trial process. Karine MacVean represented the prosecution in this week’s hearing.