He signed for bail… and is now in jail

This next story is a cautionary tale for anyone considering posting bail for a friend. Tonight one Belize City resident, Napoleon Vicente, is behind bars after his “good buddy” skipped town. According to Vicente, two years ago he agreed to sign a twenty-five hundred dollar bail for Santos Armando Arzu after Arzu was charged with possession of false documents. But since then neither hide nor hair has been seen of Arzu and after a number of adjournments, this week the court came knocking for its money, money which Vicente could not produce. As a result, Magistrate Earl Jones informed him that if Arzu or the money didn’t show up by the end of business today, Vicente would go straight to jail. Well, last time we checked, “no money no deh,” which means the big spender will spend the next six weeks considering his powers of judgement. The really bad news is that if at the end of that sentence the money still isn’t paid, he will spend six more weeks behind bars.