The DPP’s Office has lost a landmark case after a Supreme Court judge ruled that a voluntary bill of indictment was illegally signed.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions David Bakibinga signed the VBI for a Haitian man accused of statutory rape.
According to the Criminal Procedure Code, only the Attorney General or a legal practitioner acting on his behalf can sign VBIs.
But Bakibinga isn’t a legal practitioner, as he’s been denied the right to practice by the Bahamas Bar Association.
Justice Deborah Fraser agreed with attorney David Cash’s argument that the VBI was invalid. So, she quashed the indictment and sent the matter back to the Magistrates’ Court.
The ruling could have far reaching consequences as Bakibinga and Deputy DPP Nkiruka Jones-Nebo have signed hundreds of VBIs, although they are not recognized legal practitioners.
The FNM government insulted local prosecutors by bringing in the unqualified foreigners, resulting in a mass exodus from the DPP’s Office