Serving Time for Old Fisheries Fines

Sanasermo Torres

A fisherman of Sarteneja Village is tonight serving a four-year sentence at the Belize Central Prison after old fisheries fines dating back to 2003 caught up with him.  Earlier today, forty-eight-year-old Sanasermo Torres pleaded guilty to possession of ninety-five undersized conch but that charge was dismissed by Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith.  Torres appeared before the court on Monday to answer to the charge and was remanded into police custody.  When he showed up this morning accompanied by Senior Counsel Simeon Sampson, the allegation was dismissed.  He was instead ordered to pay in full almost four thousand dollars in outstanding fines or in default spend four years in prison.  Torres, court records would indicate, has frequented the courts on a number of occasions for fisheries offences.  The fisherman was unable to meet his debt and at midday was transported to Hattieville on a committal warrant to commence his jail term.