Cop Acquitted Of Extortion

Richard “Dickie” Bradley

Thirty-one year old Constable Amir Moh of San Jose Palmar, Orange Walk District, was caught up in allegations of extortion of a medical technician, forty-eight-year-old Alexander Tate. As reported at the time, in January of 2012, Moh demanded that Tate pay him to get out of driving an uninsured vehicle when he was stopped at a police checkpoint. Police discovered the marked bills – four hundred Belize dollars – in P.C. Moh’s possession. He was charged and awaited his trial date. But today in the Supreme Court, a nine-member jury ruled in Moh’s favour, seven to two, that he was not guilty of the charge, following an about-face by the accuser, who now says that he never fingered Moh or any other officer involved in the checkpoint stop for trying to extort him. Moh stood with attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley as he expounded on why Moh deserved to walk free.

Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for Amir Moh

“The twenty-sixth of January, 2012, Mister Moh and other officers were at the checkpoint; I am of the view – but I didn’t say it to the jury, I just hinted – that there was more to this matter, because the prosecution and the police case is that the complainant was on his way to Lords’ Bank to haul, to tow a wreck. And when he reached the checkpoint they told him, “No man, you have to have license and registration for this vehicle.” And then he said that the police said, ‘Gi me a wah lee sohnting.”  In a statement that he gave to police at the time he said that in fact he never identified who he is claiming attempted to or did extort him. And that is the evidence; the evidence is that he said somebody asked for money, he didn’t have any money; they told him, “well, we will still make you go through but when you pass back…” Can you imagine that? If you know the complainant, the complainant is a “bush lawyer;” he would have said, “Boss, me deh back pah my way, you find anything? You have proof of anything you find…” He told the jurors: “Noh study weh I have eena my statement; weh deh eena my statement dah no true; weh I di tell you eena court is the truth – the truth is I don’t know who asked me for money; in fact, he said, nobody asked me for money.” The police officers who were present, one of them said, “Gi me wha lee something.” He gone all the way to Lords’ Bank, dropped off the wreckage vehicle, collected four hundred dollars, come back down – listen to this part – he told the jury, when he was coming back down, he put his hand through the window – you heard it – he put his hand through the window and somebody took the money! No evidence whatsoever – this man was not put through an identification parade; this man was not taken – I mean the whole thing was – this man has suffered. And I’m hoping that he will be readily reinstated to get on with his life. He has a wife and he has children. But a jury found him not guilty; that is the important matter. He is a man of very few words; he spoke to the jury, you heard him, explaining his side of the story; and I know he wants to say thanks to everybody for helping him, and thanks to the jury for giving him the benefit of the doubt.”