THREE CORPORATIONS..

June 1998 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

THREE CORPORATIONS FOUND CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT IN ABACO MAN'S DEATH
by Silbert Mills, Radio Abaco News

On 11th July last year, Godfrey Williams went to work at Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (BaTelCo), Marsh Harbour. His last assignment was to examine and trace a faulty phone line in Dundas Town. While tracing the line, Williams was electrocuted. He was declared dead on arrival at the local doctor's office where his wife, Sherry, worked at the time.

Coroner Winston Saunders - along with a three man, three woman jury - commenced an inquest in early January of this year. On Saturday 2nd May the jury returned its verdict.

The evidence submitted during the inquest revealed that Williams had been transferred from the BaTelCo exchange where he had worked for over six years. The transfer came about because of an alleged argument with another employee of the corporation. The transfer landed Williams in the outside plant where he had had some previous experience. Williams was placed to work as a subordinate to a man who was his junior. Williams had no refresher courses to reorient him to his outside plant duties. He wore no protective gear on the day of the accident. Testimony revealed that BaTelCo never enforce such a practice.

The evidence further showed that the site of the electrocution was the very same site where a previous BaTelCo employee had received a serious electrical shock in 1989 and had been airlifted to Nassau. The Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) lines at the site were below the minimum separation required by the law of 24 inches. Even though the BEC Manager for Abaco testified that the line situation on Abaco was a mess, no efforts were made to correct the site in question until after Williams' electrocution. Instead of 24 inches apart, lines carrying 2,400 volts of electricity were approximately 18 inches apart.

The lines from Cable Bahamas compounded the problem and, according to photo exhibits, a piece of Williams' skin was found on Cable Bahamas line.

The jury was given several options by Coroner Saunders in his instructions: death by accident, where Williams may have contributed to his own death; criminal negligence by BaTelCo; criminal negligence by BEC; or criminal negligence by Cable Bahamas. The panel debated for the full hour required by law before returning a verdict of criminal negligence on the part of BaTelCo, BEC and Cable Bahamas. According to the jury foreman, BEC's failure to correct the line condition after a previous accident was the most pronounced bit of evidence against the corporation.

Clarita Lockhart, attorney for the Williams family, said that the case was grossly under publicised by the media given its national implications and effect on the three corporate bodies involved. Attorney Lockhart questioned the integrity of Williams' union, the BCPOU, for failing to address his transfer. She added that the Union, of which Williams was a fully paid up member, had shown no interest in the proceedings or the outcome. Any compensation, she said, would be large.

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