By JUAN McCARTNEY, Guardian Senior Reporter, juan@nasguard.com

Nearly one out of every three people charged with committing one of the 41 murders that have occurred so far for 2008 was already out on bail for other crimes at the time those murders were committed, Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest has revealed.

"Out of those 41 murder cases, 58 percent of the victims had a prior criminal record, 52 percent of the suspects had a prior criminal record and 29 percent (or nine) of those persons were out on bail at the time they allegedly committed the offense," Turnquest said.

He added that 70 percent of the murder victims in 2008 knew their alleged assailants.

"These were not random crimes against the individuals. These are targeted cases where the victims knew their assailants," Turnquest said. "Crime is at an unacceptable level in our country, but violent crime is by and large not a random act taken against individuals in our society."

Turnquest gave those details about the 41 murders that have occurred so far for 2008 at a Town Meeting held at the British Colonial Hilton Tuesday night.

He also said that 2008 police statistics show that most of the murders were revenge killings.

"Out of the 41 murders that we have had so far this year, 17 of those were either revenge or retaliation, nine were armed robberies, six were domestic (disputes) and two were arguments," he said. "So if you say revenge, retaliation and arguments, that's 19, six were domestic (in nature), nine (were) armed robberies and seven were unclassified. Of the victims, 36 were male and five were female."

As far as the weapons police said were used during the commission of those murders, according to Turnquest, 25 were committed with firearms, 12 were committed with knives and four committed with blunt objects.

Despite those troubling numbers, Turnquest said the police have noticed "a slight decrease in crimes against the person."

"[The decline is being seen] in particular in the more serious crimes, such as murder," he said.

That apparent decline in crimes against the person in the first seven months of 2008 compared to the same period last year, is in stark contrast to an apparent rise in crimes against property during that same period.

"We are however noticing an increase in the number of housebreaking and shop breaking, and that has caused the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) to employ additional strategies to deal with that," he said.

In the first seven months of 2008, Turnquest said police recorded 855 crimes against the person and 4,967 crimes against property (see table).

Turnquest revealed earlier this year that for the entirety of 2007, police recorded 1,489 crimes against the person, including the widely reported 79 murders that occurred, and 7,984 crimes against property.

Tuesday night, Turnquest said the figures he gave came from data collected from January 1 through July 28, 2008. Figures for the same period last year were not available up to press time last night.

Turnquest also reaffirmed that the number of guns within the country continues to rise.

"We also note that there are an increasing number of illegal firearms on our streets and the police are receiving more and more information on where those firearms are and we are recovering more of those firearms off the streets," Turnquest said.

He said the government is aware that people are gravely concerned about the fear of crime within the community.

"It is obvious that if persons are fearful, that the level of crime in The Bahamas is at an unacceptable level, that investors would not want to invest or that local merchants and others would not want to have longer hours or go into other businesses and that the rise in cases of pilferage and other crimes would cut into their bottom line," said Turnquest.

In a recent interview with The Nassau Guardian, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the government was doing all it can to address the country's crime problem.

Ingraham said there is no immediate solution to the problem.