Law - Greater Belize Media

Corozal North Constituents Weigh in on Leadership Dispute

The battle for recognition as the true leader of the United Democratic Party (U.D.P.) between Leader of the Opposition and Mesopotamia Area Representative, Moses “Shyne” Barrow, and Albert Area Representative, Tracy Taegar-Panton, continues to intensify. Earlier this week, Panton made a bold move by taking over the party headquarters on Youth for the Future Drive in Belize City, asserting her control over the compound and party organs. In response, Barrow has enlisted the legal expertise of Jamaican attorney Doctor Christopher Malcolm to strengthen his position. Meanwhile, the U.D.P.’s First Deputy Leader, Hugo Patt, remains a key figure amidst the factional dispute. News Five’s Marion Ali traveled to the Corozal North constituency, where Patt serves, to ask him if he feels caught in the middle of this U.D.P. tug-of-war. We also spoke with several residents of the constituency to gather their perspectives on the ongoing conflict. Here’s that report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Moses “Shyne” Barrow and Tracy Taegar-Panton may have their differences, but they share one commonality: both have named Corozal North Area Representative, Hugo Patt, as their First Deputy Party Leader on their executive slates. Today, we visited Patt to ask if he feels caught in the middle of this political tug-of-war.

Hugo Patt, First Deputy Leader, U.D.P

“I’ve spoken to both sides and I told him that my position is presently is that I will respect the process that transpired last year in August, if I’m not mistaken, where you had, the National Party Convention basically taking a decision and where an executive was endorsed and so my position is to respect the process. If in the case of Tracy and Shyne, we were to look at the situation, if Tracy had been in the position that on around that Shyne is right now, I would have supported her. If Patrick would have been there, I would have supported her and him. If anybody else was there, I would have supported that person. To maintain in order for the United Democratic Party to have certainty going forward. That is my biggest concern.”

Patt expressed his desire for both factions to reconcile their differences. Despite Panton securing the majority of UDP delegates at the convention two Sundays ago, Patt emphasized that he would have preferred to see both sides come together and mend fences.

Hugo Patt

“I’m aware that there was a substantial number of delegates in the activity that Honorable Panton did. I cannot personally underestimate that. I had advised Ms. Panton, look, wait it out. It’s just a few months, in my opinion, that’s left before we have a general election. Let us work together. Let us focus each on our individual constituencies so that we can put a decent fighting whenever we have the general elections. And I spoke to Honorable Vara as well. I told him, look, we have to sit down together and talk to everybody. We will have differences but let us agree to leave our differences aside. And for the sake of our people, let us make sure that we do the right thing, but that’s as far as I can go.”

But who do the constituents in Corozal North believe is their true party leader? We got mixed responses.

Sinai Arana, U.D.P. Supporter, Corozal North

“I go with whosoever is the leader. I’m not taking no sides.”

Marion Ali

“But both of them are claiming they are the leader.”

Sinai Arana

“Yeah, well, honestly, on my side, as a UDP, I do not agree in the fight they’re having at the moment and that was one of the reasons I was not present. In fact, I was never called for the convention, “so-called” convention they had. I was not called as a delegate. They never consult me or called me or anything. So I was not present at the moment.”

Marion Ali

“You said “so-called” convention. My thinking is that you’re supporting Mr. Barrow.”

Sinai Arana

“No, I’m not supporting anyone.”

Vilma Vellos, U.D.P. Supporter, Corozal North

“I’m not going to take part for any of them, not either Tracy, nor Mr. Barrow because I think both of them can be great leaders, but I think it’s not the time for this at this moment.”

Inecita Hall, U.D.P. Supporter, Corozal North

“I am a supporter of Hugo Patt. I, as a leader of the village – the best we want is to make this problem stop. It’s for the betterment of our party. Well, that’s, I can take part with Mr. Shyne or Ms. Tracy. Everybody has their own opinion, but we only want this problem to end.”

Marion Ali

“So if I were to ask you, who do you think is the real leader of the UDP? Who would you say?”

Inecita Hall

“Well, on the last, um, convention, I vote for Shyne Barrow.”

Hugo Patt felt the need to say sorry to U.D.P supporters for the ongoing feud that’s been tearing the party apart and weakening its stance as the opposition.

Hugo Patt

“I want to tell this to the Belizean people and particularly to the thousands of the United Democratic Party supporters that we have across this country that I must apologize on behalf of everybody for what’s happening. Certainly myself, I feel very disheartened at what has been transpiring for quite some time now, to the point that we have been segregated. And I don’t think that it is fair for, or I think it is a disservice to all of our thousands of supporters that, you know, we are going through this. Many, many Belizeans, many of our supporters, the country is depending on a, on a strong opposition.”

Marion Ali for News Five.

Special Envoy Says Stronger Policies Would Deter Gender-Based Violence

And while the police were swift to deal with the family who are accused of assaulting and committing aggravating offences against the victim of the kidnapping in Belmopan, today the Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children, Rossana Briceño, also weighed in on gender-based violence against women. Briceño expressed her view that crime and violence, particularly against women, are on the increase because of a lax effort to strengthen the policies that deal with these crimes.

Rossana Briceño, Special Envoy, Development of Families & Children

“With all the stories that you’re hearing now, I get frustrated sometimes, and I personally feel, and this is my personal feeling here, that more can be done in terms of policy. We do have policies in place, but I think the implementation of the policies really need to take center stage now, and make sure that they are being implemented, and we need someone, someone to do the check and balance and evaluate if these things are really working because if they’re not working, we need to do better. And we have time. We can always do something, especially for women. Most of the time, it’s women that are the victims.”

Six Prisoners Challenge Denial of Parole in High Court

Today, six Belizean prisoners appeared before the High Court to contest the parole board’s decision to deny them parole. The inmates, who were convicted of serious crimes such as manslaughter, murder, and kidnapping, argue that the board’s decision was unconstitutional, as it failed to follow the legal mandate to assess whether their release would pose a public safety risk. Leslie Mendez, their attorney, explained after the court session that the parole board did not properly address this key consideration.

Leslie Mendez, Attorney-at-law

“The parole did not make its decision according to the law and the considerations that they ought to have taken into account. So what we say and what the cases say, and in fact what the Caribbean Court of Justice has said, that when you’re determining whether or not to grant parole, the question is whether or not the prisoner continues to pose a threat to public safety. And in this case, we’re seeing that the parole board did not take that, or did not answer that question, really, when it decided to deny parole.”

Reporter

“All the prisoners would have because it’s parole, completed their time served, time allotted. And they have had good behavior and so in prison to warrant parole?”

Leslie Mendez

“Right. So again sentences in Belize and what the case is established, as I mentioned, are served in two parts. Basically, the first part is your non-parole period. And sometimes the judge sets that or the parole acts as that. But after you have served that non-parole period where you can absolutely not be released, you have to remain confined. The next part of the sentence is a security period where you remain confined. If you continue to pose a threat to public safety, it’s a very specific question that must be answered by the parole board in order to for them to determine whether to deny you parole.”

Prisoners Fight for Supervised Reintegration into Society

The six prisoners who appeared in court argue that they do not continue to pose a threat to public safety and can be reintegrated into society with adequate supervision. Their defence attorney, Leslie Mendez, told reporters that the purpose of the trial is to review the decision of the parole board to deny the prisoners, with the goal of coming to a new decision, having made the adequate risk assessments.

Leslie Mendez, Attorney at Law

“The submissions were concluded today, but what the court did is that the court heard us, she has all our written submissions as well, all our authorities, but the court asked that we come back in November because the court wants to have time to review the written submissions, and then basically continue the discussion, have further submissions before the court. We’re not here for the court to grant parole or not. We’re here to review the decision of the parole board. So all of that evidence of good behavior or bad behavior would have been presented to the parole board. At this point what we’re telling the court is that based on what was before the parole board, there was no reason to deny them parole because none of them have established a real risk that they continue to present a threat to public safety. And so what should obtain now is their re-integration into society but supervised.”

Ciau Family Seeks Support for Two Children After Loss

In its press release, the Social Security Board stated that Ciau Junior’s beneficiaries are entitled to claim Survivor Benefit. We asked the family if they intend to claim these benefits; here’s what they had to say.

Santiago Ciau Sr., Father

“The turning around they’re doing with my daughter-in-law right now for that survivor benefit. The turning around Social is giving me right now? They want this, they want that, they want that. They request for certain information. Those informations were given to them. So I don’t know what’s the turnaround for this. The fact is that, I think, my grandchildren are due something. He’s leaving two kids, a boy ten years and a girl fifteen years. And one in primary school and one in high school. All I want to say is that I hope that someone at the Social Security Board have souls with them and to look after the kids of my son. The government had spoken to us and given some information, and we are looking forward to see what will be done with that information that they gave us. We spoke, and they said they’d see what they can do. But, uh, as yet, nothing. The Treasury Department cut off the pension right away. And said, nothing for the kids, nothing for the wife.”

Has the buzz around the Port of Magical Belize fizzled out?

Is there still any interest from Boskalis and Royal Caribbean in investing in the Port of Magical Belize after the political mess with the Definitive Agreement? Minister Coye, reading from a prepared statement, stressed that there has been zero foreign investment, no capital flow, no job creation, and no foreign exchange generated. He also highlighted that while the country has taken a hit, the only ones who seem to have benefited from this apparently failed project are the entities that sold land to Portico for the cruise terminal development.

Chris Coye, Minister of State, Finance

“As I revisit my experience over the past couple years on this matter, it is unfortunate what has transpired. Since change of government, it became reasonably clear to me that there was serious investment interest from such parties as Boskalis and Royal Caribbean, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. With the barrage of propaganda on this project and even this inquiry, it is unclear where that level of interest now stands. From a development perspective, as it relates to this project, Belize has lost. There has been no foreign investment, no capital inflow, there has been no employment generated, there has been no foreign exchange generated. There has been no economic diversification in this area. In fact, the cruise tourism product has experienced degeneration not modernization. While overnight tourism has been performing tremendously, cruise tourist arrivals continue to fall. Unless a modern cruise port is built soon, the ships and their passengers will just pass us by. While Belize has lost, there have been beneficiaries. Those who sold lands to the Portico entity enjoyed the proceeds of sale. Then there are certain foreign funded NGO’s who in fact raise money on the backs of their purported achievements for conservation while at the same time halting development opportunities to the detriment of our people. The scuttling of such a project of this nature could very well be seen as a victory for those certain special interests.”

Policeman Remanded for Assaulting Olympian Shaun Gill

Tonight, a police officer accused of assaulting Olympian Shaun Gill last week is currently on remand at Belize Central Prison. His bail application is expected to be heard as early as Friday, October fourth, 2024. Earlier today, PC Lewis Pascascio, who resides on Gabourel Lane, Belize City, appeared in court at around ten a.m. with his attorney, Emérita Anderson. He faced two criminal charges: aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of threatening words. However, before the charges were read, the police prosecutor withdrew the charge of threatening words, citing procedural issues. This left Pascascio to answer only the aggravated assault charge. Shaun Gill alleges that PC Pascascio threatened him, saying, “if you make a report against me, that will be the last report you ever make”. In Courtroom #1, before the Chief Magistrate, Pascascio was formally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, specifically a firearm, against Shaun Gill. He pleaded not guilty. Due to the severity of the offense, bail was denied, and Pascascio was remanded to Belize Central Prison until November 30, 2024.

ACP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“Shaun Gill reported on Thursday, the twenty-sixth of September, 2024. He was driving his vehicle along with a female on Cemetery Road. When he was intercepted by another vehicle who blocked his way. Thereafter Shaun Gill made checks to see what was happening. At this point, he was assaulted by a male person. who with a firearm. Thereafter to another police who was in the area intervening, the firearm was taken away from this male person. An investigation was carried out. And we have since arrested a child named Pascasio, a police officer of the crime of aggravating assault. He was taken to court this morning.”

Reporter

“Dis he also threaten Shaun Gill when he went to make a report?”

Hilberto Romero

“There were both at the station at the time of an exchange of words. That is also being dealt with.”

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“You can’t compare the issue with Makin and the one with Pascasio. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. Sargeant Makin was responding to a complaint from two miners who had complained to him. of being assaulted by a group of people. Pascasio incident, he was not working. He was responding to his feeling of jealousy. How could you compare the two? We have to be fair. And call things from what they are. And not try to twist our story. Doesn’t make sense..”

ComPol Scolded for Bordering on Contempt of Court

Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams found himself in hot water with Belize’s Association of Defense Attorneys. In a press release, the association chastised Williams for making a statement to the media where he expressed dissatisfaction with the results of several court rulings. In the case of Jaron James, the Belizean-American who was charged with assaulting Williams, he stated that the fine of one thousand, five hundred dollars was not a harsh enough punishment. Conversely, Williams also said that he believed the charges levied against Inspector Christopher Martinez, who was accused of abusing a detainee, were excessive. In response, Commissioner Williams says that he is entitled to his opinion.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“When one of those same members of the Association for Defense Attorneys had gone and given interview to the media and said that we are bringing white judges to send black people to jail. Was there any concern with this? I would say that border contempt of court as well. We have a society where some people feel that they can do certain things. But when others do less than what they did, they want to make an issue. That association, while I have the utmost respect for its members, their job is to defend those persons who fall within the domain of the police who have committed a crime. And of course, they will do all they can to make sure that they defend their constituents. As a commissioner of police, I have a responsibility. Not just to myself, but to the country and the officers that I knew. And I maintain my position that the same way we’re saying to police officers, don’t abuse the public, because if you do, you’re going to jail. The same way we must tell the public, don’t abuse the police, because if you do, you’re going to jail. You can’t, we can’t have a society where people don’t respect the police. They don’t respect the courts. They don’t respect the media. They don’t respect public officers. The group of people I mentioned just now do or perform a duty to respond to when that duty is being executed, we must be respectful. Including you, it cannot be that when you’re out there trying to cover a very important story, somebody comes and assaults you and gets away with it. It cannot be. By so doing they do a disservice to the nation.”

Businessman Could Lose Gun Licenses

Earlier this month, a man who allegedly pulled an assault rifle on a road works crew on the Coastal Plains Highway and then saw the charges withdrawn in court, may lose his licensed weapons. Today the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams told reporters that he has instructed the officers who confiscated the guns from businessman, thirty-year-old Efrain Rejon after the incident to not return them. The incident in question happened when, according to a contractor, Rejon threatened him and his fellow workers at a road construction site on the Coastal Plain Highway. The contractor told police that Rejon arrived at the site armed with a high-calibre rifle during an argument over damage that a passing truck had caused. Rejon, the report alleges, pointed the rifle at the workmen. This was one of three weapons that Rejon reportedly has, and while it may raise concern among other civilians how many gun licenses one can hold, Williams says the law allows for it.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I have already written instructed the police not to return any of those weapons to Mr. Rehon. And um, even though the complainants have gone to court and will write to the Firearms and Emergency Control Board and seek their intervention to have the license revoked.”

Reporter

“Mm. You had been the one who issued the licenses in the first place. What was your justification to allow Rehan to have these guns? Again, you’re wrong. I, some of them he got under me and he also got under the previous commissioner.”

Chester Williams

“There’s nothing in law to say that a person cannot have two, three, four, or five guns. I have said to you, there is a man who has 21 licenses. None of them were issued by me, none. You are not making an issue out of that. And even though he had, he has 20, nothing wrong with that. They have a number of persons who have 18, 19, 17, and it’s not an issue because there’s nothing in law. So why, I don’t understand why every time there is an incident where a person has more than one, You have a gun license, you are mechanical of it. There’s nothing in law to prevent any person from having that. A person may have a gun license for hunting, um, sports hunting. They may have one for farming. They may have one for special protection. They may have for different reasons. Some people are gun enthusiasts. Some people are collectors. They have guns for different reasons. So we cannot just look at things at the face of it and then we try to impute improper motive on anybody. Seeing as though this is a second case. The first one was Brandon. What was his name? Brandon Gillett, where he also pulled out a 223 and threatened violence in public. Do you feel that there should be some type of limit since you’re saying, you know, some people have 20, so much guns. There should be some type of limit to the amount of licenses, especially as it relates to these powerful weapons. I would agree with you on that. Maybe Parliament should look at that to put a limit in terms of the amount of license a person can have at any given time. That I think would make sense.”

Association of Defence Attorneys Officially Registered in Belize

The Association of Defence Attorneys has officially registered as a professional organisation dedicated to defending human rights and enhancing legal practices. In an official statement, the Association declared it is “dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights, the Belize Constitution, and the enhancement of legal defence practices within the country.”

In its statement, the Association confirmed the election of its first Executive Committee, comprising of:

President: Dickie Bradley
Vice President: Audrey Matura
Secretary: Oj Elrington
Treasurer: John Nembhard
Membership Director: Lynden Jones
Education Director: Leeroy Banner
Communications Director: Rachel Montejo
Ethics Director: Emerita Anderson
Pro Bono Director: Dale Cayetano
Public Policy Director: Arthur Saldivar
Immediate Past President: Michelle Trapp

The formation of the association in March 2020 was aimed at addressing these critical issues. Attorney Dickie Bradley emphasised back then the need for lawyers to advocate for the rights of the poorer population in Belize. “Police officers are in fact peace officers. They are there to protect us. They are not there to chance us and take advantage of us,” he stated.

The Association of Defence Attorneys stands ready to promote human rights, provide continuing legal education, advocate for fair legal practices, support legal aid services, and foster ethical standards among attorneys.