He said: "He mentioned my brother's name. It was a difficult thing to hear. I thought if I had a hammer I would have made sure he felt some of the pain we felt.

"But at the same time that emotion came to me it ran out of me. I remembered the importance of forgiving and forgetting. It's the only way to move forward.'' Tourist minister David Allen said it was time to abolish the death penalty as laws which are not used bring all the nation's other legislation into disrepute.

He said: "It's a credibility problem if laws aren't enforced.'' He went on: "Jamaica has a high application rate of the death penalty and they also have a soaring murder rate. The Bahamas have a high murder rate and high hangings rate.'' Mr. Allen said it was ironic that some UBP members wanted to keep hanging but didn't support independence.

He said if Bermuda didn't abolish the death penalty then England could suspend the Bermudian constitution and enforce the change.

He said: "Bermudians are a wonderful people but they do like to have their cake and eat it too.'' He said prisoners in Trinidad and Tobago were getting their death penalty overturned by appealing to the Privy Council.

And he wondered why MPs were debating something which they would have to abolish anyway because Britain demanded it. He said hanging had only been used in Bermuda twice in the last 50 years.

"It is extremely unlikely anyone will ever be executed in Bermuda. It's not a deterrence, it's simple a gesture.'' He said there was political mileage to be gained by abolition as member state of the EC, which has abolition as one of its policies, were investing in Bermuda.

He said: "It's about jobs and the future in Bermuda, about the livelihood of our young people.'' Opposition leader Pam Gordon said she was worried about how people would view replacing the death penalty with sentences of 25 years.

"It's horrendous when there's no alternative.'' She added that the 25 years should be a starting point.

She said: "With time off for good behaviour the maximum people will serve is eight to 12 years. Is that sufficient?'' She said there had been no need to rush into abolition because the UK government was unlikely to turn the White Paper on overseas territories into law until 2001.

She said: "The UK government can't find time in the parliamentary calendar to deal with the basic issue of citizenship.'' She said the Government were not addressing the concerns of the community.

"Safety is sometimes a state of mind - a need to feel a sense of comfort.

People want to know they are not going to be invaded when they close the doors at night.

"They are concerned for their safety and it's government's responsibility to ensure safety and well being of the people.

"What's wrong with the government stepping back for a year so they are able to put in place proper sentencing, a proper rehabilitation programme and half way houses? "The police still lack resources and still have manpower shortages. 15 years for a heinous crime is really something to think about.

She said capital and corporal punishment should have been put in separate bills.

She said: "I think whipping is a nonsense.'' Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb said the bill gave her great pleasure as she had always opposed the death penalty.

"I remember the commandment -- thou shall not kill. It didn't say you can only kill if you are the government.'' Ms. Webb hit back at the claim most Bermudians didn't support the abolition of the death penalty.

She said: "Most Bermudians didn't support the abolition of slavery. If there had been a referendum we would still be slaves now.'' "Even if a poll showed they were a hundred percent against abolishing the death penalty I would not change my decision.'' Ms. Webb added: "94 countries have the death penalty, 51 have abolished it.

But where are those places, the hangers would like to move to? In Saudi Arabia they kill people in public. You can see people being stoned, beheaded or having their hands chopped off. It's a real festival.'' Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said the issue of abolishing capital punishment ranked in importance with debates surrounding abortion and independence.

He claimed that the Bermudian public had been silent about the issue over the past few weeks, and he suggested a period of discussion followed by a referendum.

And Mr. Dodwell claimed the only reason the legislation was being debated was because of pressure from the UK.

He posed the question, "Why the rush? Why can't Government slow down and listen to what the people have to say?'' Health and Family Services Minister Nelson Bascome supported abolishing capital punishment, and stated: "If I were a retentionist, I think I'd take a strap and flog the Opposition.'' "The concept of an eye for an eye is barbaric -- and if we really enforced that, everyone would be walking around blind,'' he added.

And Mr. Bascome said that defending human rights should never depend on popular opinion.

Shadow Environment Minister Gary Pitman noted that crime in Bermuda was increasing, and stated: "Living in Bermuda is becoming more stressful than living in New York City. At least in New York, they're doing something to decrease their crime.'' Shadow Youth Minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin suggested that the PLP was exercising "dictatorship'' instead of leadership.

And Ms Gordon Pamplin said that to be overly concerned with the rights of a "cold, calculating criminal'' succeeds in "trivialising'' the lives of victims.

Debate on abolishing the death penalty Premier Jennifer Smith accused members of the Opposition of not clearly declaring their individual stances -- which Development and Opportunity Shadow Minister Allan Marshall vehemently denied.

Ms Smith noted that life sentences without parole were not intended by legislators, since it would negate a penal system which supports rehabilitation.

And Ms Smith stated: "Statistics can be used to prove anything, but more than half the countries in the world are abolitionists -- in law or in practice.'' "If we value all life, then when any life is taken, it's a tragedy -- it's a shame. All life is sacred,'' she added.

Development and Opportunities Minister Terry Lister -- who tabled the Act -- stressed the "freedom'' of Government MPs to express their opinions.

He said the United States supported the death penalty because of racial factors, stating that it was equivalent to the "legalised murder of Black men in the US''-- a mistake, he added, which Bermuda should not repeat.

And Mr. Lister added: "There is no moral leadership in the United States.'' He accused the UBP of engaging in an act of "supreme cowardice'' for speaking about the legislative process rather than their position on the Act.

After moving through committee with no objections, the House voted.

All 13 of the Opposition MPs who were present voted against the Act, and all 19 of the Government MPs who were present voted for the Act.

Absent were Derrick Burgess, Reginald Burrows, El James, Wayne Perinchief, Paula Cox, Dennis Lister and Jim Woolridge.

Both El James and Wayne Perinchief left the Chamber shortly before the vote.

The next four pieces of legislation -- the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda Amendment Act 1999, the Consideration of a Draft Order entitled "The Banks and Deposit Companies (Exemption) Order 1999'', the Consideration of a Draft Order entitled "The Banks and Deposit Companies (Meaning of Deposits and Deposit-taking Business) Order 1999, and the Consideration of a Draft Order entitled "The Banks and Deposit Companies (Consequential Amendments) Order 1999'' -- were approved with minimal debate.

The rest of the orders were carried over.