Did Dorian Pakeman Violate Bail Condition with Trip to U.S.?
Dorian Pakeman
Government of Belize chief press officer, Dorian Pakeman is due back in court on March tenth. He faces a charge of causing death by careless conduct for the traffic fatality that took the life of a Biscayne mechanic, Dean Dawson, back in March of 2016. There was no objection to bail when he was finally charged in January 2017, but Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer ordered that he cannot leave the country without first notifying the court that he must travel. Two weeks ago, Pakeman posted photographs on social media from an apparent trip outside the country. According to his attorney Bryan Neal, the court was informed of the trip, though no hearing was held to secure permission. So is that a violation of the bail condition? We put the question to Neal today.
Bryan Neal
Bryan Neal, Attorney for Dorian Pakeman
“Mister Pakeman, as a condition of his bail – the learned Senior Magistrate ordered that he had ought to ask for permission if he needed to leave the country. He needed to leave the country and he in fact informed me, and I had sent a letter to the Magistrate’s Court, the clerk of court, in fact requesting the permission. But he had left before we got an opportunity to get a hearing before the Magistrate and subsequently we did not get an opportunity to see the Magistrate in respect of that particular issue.”
Reporter
“So he would technically be in violation of the conditions of his bail?”
Bryan Neal
“I would hope not. We took steps to inform the court. It was not a situation where he was forbidden, or he had to seek permission – it was just simply to inform the court; as I understood the order, to inform the court when he wanted to [travel] – otherwise, the court would have taken away his passport.”
Reporter
“Can you say if the travel was of urgent necessity – I mean for medical or other reasons? Can you go into that?”
Bryan Neal
“I neva gan pan di trip so I don’t know.”
Reporter
“Okay but I guess he will address that matter when he goes back to court on the tenth?”
Bryan Neal
“I believe so; the magistrate will no doubt raise it and we will deal with it in court on the tenth of March.”
A number of allegations have been made in Pakeman’s case, including that he tested positive for cocaine at the time of the accident. It also came to light that a blood sample from Dawson was tainted with an excessive concentration of ethanol.
