Tour guide on John Dresp trip fined for not having licence

A tour guide involved in the disappearance of an American cruise ship passenger has been fined for not having a valid license. According to court reports, this morning forty year old Bernard Mortis pleaded guilty to the charge of operating as a tour guide without first obtaining a license. Magistrate Harry Hulett then ordered Mortis to pay three hundred and fifty dollars, one hundred of which was to be paid immediately. Mortis was the guide in the water with a group of snorkellers at Shark and Ray Alley just off Caye Caulker when one of them, sixty-eight year old John Dresp, went missing. According to Dresp’s brother and sister-in-law, Donald and Winifred Dresp–who were also on the trip–conditions at sea that day, including a strong current and poor safety standards, contributed to their loved one’s disappearance. The Dresps and fifty-five other guests were aboard Belize Pride, owned and operated by Discovery Divers Limited. That company has denied any wrongdoing. Today in court, a summons served for the owner of Discovery Divers, David Gegg, for hiring an unlicensed tour guide was withdrawn on a technicality because the document was printed in the name of David Gegg and Discovery Divers simultaneously. We understand the logic behind that is that if both names are used it is unclear to the court who the action is being brought against. Despite an intensive search in the waters off Caye Caulker following the disappearance of John Dresp, his body was never recovered. The Dresps had arrived on November sixteenth aboard the Norwegian Dream for a one-day visit to Belize.