May 2011 timeline
May 1: Jason Smith, a 22-year-old Regiment Lance Corporal, becomes the fifth murder victim of the year. He was shot dead at the junction of Overview Hill and North Shore Road in Pembroke.May 2: Angry cruise ship passengers call Bermuda’s public transport system “a complete joke” after being faced with hour-long waits for buses and ferries from Dockyard.May 3: The United Bermuda Party votes to disband and join forces with the Bermuda Democratic Alliance. Police say they are treating the case of Denise Evans-Wilkinson, whose body was found floating in the water, as murder.May 5: Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva reveals that convicted gangsters could be sent overseas to jail under proposed new measures to tackle shootings.May 6: Curtis Mallory, 21, is jailed for eight years for holding up the Fresh ‘N’ New shop in Devil’s Hole at gunpoint.May 9: Mother’s Day is observed with a prayer gathering at Albouy’s Point where five white carnations bearing the names of the year’s five gun victims are dropped into the waters.May 9: Two major Supreme Court trials get underway: financiers David and Antoinette Bolden amid allegations of company theft and Kevin Warner on allegations of murdering 24-year-old Dekimo Martin.May 10: A handful of UBP members obtain a temporary court injunction in a bid to stall their party’s planned merger with the OBA.May 11: UBP MP John Barritt says the merger has been delayed.May 13: Shohreh Darooyan speaks of her shock after police tell her that her motorbike, held at Southside police station after she broke her leg in a Christmas Day accident, has been thrown away by mistake.May 15: Rebel UPB MPs meet to discuss a permanent injunction against the merger.May 17: The One Bermuda Alliance is officially launched with John Barritt at the helm.May 18: Government House announces that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary will inspect the Bermuda Police Service in the autumn.May 19: Kevin Warner is convicted of the premeditated murder of Dekimo Martin.May 20: Minister of National Security Wayne Perinchief announces plans to confiscate glitzy possessions such as cars and boats from criminals who have profited from their crimes.May 23: Two men are injured in a drive-by shooting in broad daylight on Palmetto Road, Devonshire.May 25: Around 100 placard-waving supporters gather on the steps of City Hall to call for an end to homophobic discrimination in Bermuda.May 26: A group of 20 scantily-clad cheerleaders grab attention when they arrive on the inaugural AirTran Airways flight from Atlanta to BermudaMay 27: United Bermuda Party leader Kim Swan announces he’s dropped his injunction against defecting members who formed the One Bermuda Alliance. Police shoot and kill a pit bull dog after it attacked and injured two people in the Court Street and Elliott Street area of Pembroke.May 29: The SPCA calls for stricter laws against owners who mistreat pets after the May 27 pit bull incident. A teenager was alleged to have turned his aggressive dog on an animal warden and police officer, causing them to shoot it.May 30: Two Fairmont Southampton hotel ground staff, Luscious Lindo and Derek Jones, pull mother Kim Rhoda-Bean and her young son and daughter to safety after their car skids over a cliff.May 31: Education Minister Jennifer Smith announces that a fifth of Bermuda’s paraprofessionals and educational therapists have had their jobs axed amid budget cuts.