Mark Flowers Gets Bail in Supreme Court
Superintendent Mark Flowers, former commander of the Gang Suppression Unit, is out on bail tonight after posting a bond of seven thousand, five hundred dollars, plus one surety of the same amount. The embattled senior police officer was remanded to the Belize Central Prison on Tuesday, after being arraigned on two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse. The charges against Flowers stem from allegations made by a teenage minor who claims that he had sexual intercourse with her on two occasions. There were light moments in the courtroom during the bail hearing when Justice Adolph Lucas took jabs at Flowers. Flowers, in a candid interview with News Five earlier this week, said that he had fired his accuser’s stepfather as a farmhand on his property on July first. He left for vacation to the United States the following day and, upon his return two weeks later, was faced with a complaint made by the pregnant teen. While Flowers has gone on record to insist on a DNA test, the matter remains before the court. Flowers appeared before Justice Lucas this morning, where he was granted Supreme Court bail under the condition that he does not interfere with the complainant. Following the hearing, Senior Counsel Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley spoke briefly with the media concerning the matter.
Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley
Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley, Attorney for Mark Flowers
“Mark Flowers appeared in front of Justice Adolph Lucas on his petition which was an urgent petition which was filed in just this week. And in relation to the two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, he was granted a bail which is a bit high, of seven thousand, five hundred dollars, stipulated to be a land paper. So I might have to go and check with Mr. William Mason if there is any land paper knocking around. But the conditions of the bail are the usual conditions, except that you would have heard the Crown Counsel Shanice Flowers, from the D.P.P.’s Office, saying to his Lordship that in fact she would want to respectfully request the court to instruct, as part of the conditions for bail, that Mr. Flowers does not in any way or through any other person interfere or communicate with the complainant in the matter. And his Lordship asked the media not to mention the name of the minor which of course would be against the law and I would have to apply for bail for any of you if you did that. So Mark Flowers is going to be free in another few minutes and then that drama over his life in this phase hopefully is over.”
Prior to handing himself in to Belize City police on Tuesday afternoon, Flowers sat down with the media individually and spoke openly on a number of issues aside from the allegations against him. During that interview, he accused Minister of National Security John Saldivar of masterminding a plot to blackmail him and railroad his career. Similarly, he also alleged that Saldivar received well over fifty thousand dollars from suspected murderer William ‘Danny’ Mason for the Belmopan Bandits.
